Carousel Nights Read Online Free Page B

is now a CPA with more money sense than the other two of us put together.”
    â€œHope it helps,” Evie said.
    â€œCredibility,” Jack said, “helps make up for the fact another one of the owners is a Broadway dancer who never sticks around.”
    June narrowed her eyes and threw a pencil at him. The elevator outside Jack’s office dinged.
    â€œMom,” Jack whispered. “And she’s got Betty with her. I just saw them outside.”
    Virginia Hamilton zipped into the room. She pulled a red wagon behind her and parked it by Jack’s desk. The brown, black and white dog snoozing on a blanket in the wagon opened one eye, yawned and went back to sleep.
    Evie rolled over in Jack’s chair and stroked the dog’s ears. “Betty smells good today,” she said, smiling at her mother.
    â€œJust picked her up from the groomer. She rolled in something dead on the beach yesterday,” Virginia said. “How’s it going here in the war room with one week before the big opening?”
    Jack groaned loudly. Evie rolled back to the desk. And June looked out the window, thinking about big openings she’d been part of before. Opening day at the park every year through her eighteenth birthday. Opening night of four major Broadway productions. She was getting to be a pro at pulling a show together.
    The elevator dinged in the silence and Mel ambled in.
    He stopped. His eyes met June’s and held for a heartbeat until he shifted to the oldest member of the family.
    â€œSorry,” he said. “Don’t mean to interrupt. I just came by to see if Jack wanted to get some lunch. I need a break from trying to figure out how water got into the circuit boards of the Silver Streak over the winter.”
    June hadn’t seen Mel since he’d turned on her lights at the Starlight Saloon. She’d heard through Jack that Mel was rewiring the entire theater before he’d allow even one extension cord to be plugged in, so she’d avoided the Saloon for a week, focusing on costume and prop designs instead.
    â€œGus is bringing lunch,” Jack said. “She’s coming over anyway to get her three bakeries ready to open.”
    â€œI hear she’s working up some new creations for this summer, themed pies and turnovers,” Mel said, wiping a fake tear and using a tragic voice, “I love your wife.”
    Jack punched Mel’s shoulder. “There’s probably enough lunch for you, but no way am I sharing dessert.”
    â€œI can live with those rules,” Mel said. He dropped to one knee and made kissing sounds to Betty, who hopped out of the wagon, threw herself at him with embarrassing abandon and rolled over for a belly rub.
    Virginia cleared her throat. “While we wait, I thought we could talk about my STRIPE program this year.”
    June turned back to the window, staring outside. Every year, Virginia muscled someone into running the Summer Training and Improvement Plan for Employees. Every employee had to participate and learn a specific skill such as conversational French, water rescue, ballroom dancing, knitting. In the past, the program had been mandatory. Last summer, it had become voluntary. But it was still an onerous task for whoever Virginia chose to be the STRIPE sergeant.
    â€œAny ideas?” Virginia asked, enthusiastically. “What should the STRIPE topic be this year?”
    â€œI’m off the hook,” Gus said, coming through the door with a cardboard box filled with paper bags and drinks. “I taught hundreds of people to decorate a birthday cake last summer. I’m still recovering.”
    â€œAnd you were wonderful,” Virginia said. She cleared a space on Jack’s desk so her daughter-in-law could set the box down.
    Jack approached the food, eyeing the bags but avoiding direct eye contact with his mother. June smiled at his pathetic attempt. If he thought cowering would save him, he was in for