"I heard you." It hadn't been one of the best moments of his life. "When I jumped out, ran toward the door, I heard crashing, thumping, God knows what from inside. I couldn't get the goddamn door open."

She heard it now, the emotion in his voice, the fear he hadn't let show while they were doing what needed doing. She rose, did them both a favor and crawled right into his lap.

She was still there, cradled in his arms, when Cybil strolled in.

"Hi. Don't get up." She took Quinn's chair. "Anyone eating this?" Studying them, Cybil took a forkful of eggs. "You must be Cal."

"Cybil Kinski, Caleb Hawkins. We had a rough morning."

Layla stepped in with a coffee mug and sleepy eyes that clouded with concern the minute she saw Quinn. "What happened?"

"Have a seat, and we'll run it through for both of you."

"I need to see the place," Cybil said as soon as the story was told. "And the room in the bowling alley, anyplace there's been an incident."

"Try the whole town," Quinn said dryly.

"And I need to see the clearing, this stone, as soon as possible."

"She's bossy," Quinn told Cal.

"I thought you were, but I think she beats you out. You can come into the bowling center anytime you like. Quinn can get you into the fitness center, but if I can't be there, I'll make sure either Fox or Gage is. Better, both of them. As far as the Pagan Stone goes, I talked with Fox and Gage about that last night. We're agreed that the next time we go, we all go. All of us. I can't make it today and neither can Fox. Sunday's going to be best."

"He's organized and take-charge," Cybil said to Quinn.

"Yes." She pressed a kiss to Cal's cheek. "Yes, he is. And I've made you let your eggs get cold."

"It was a worthwhile trade-off. I'd better get going."

"We still have a lot to talk about. Listen, maybe the three of you should come to dinner."

"Is someone cooking?" Cal asked.

"Cyb is."

"Hey!"

"You ate my breakfast. Plus you actually cook. But in the meantime, just one thing." She slid out of his lap so he could stand. "Would Fox hire Layla?"

"What? Who? Why?" Layla sputtered.

"Because you need a job," Quinn reminded her. "And he needs an office manager."

"I don't know anything about-you just can't-"

"You managed a boutique," Quinn reminded her, "so that's half the job. Managing. You're on the anal side of organized, Miss Colored Index Cards and Charts, so I say you can file, keep a calendar, and whatever with the best of them. Anything else, you'll pick up as you go. Ask Fox, okay, Cal?"

"Sure. No problem."

"She calls me bossy," Cybil commented as she finished Quinn's coffee.

"I call it creative thinking and leadership. Now, go fill that mug up again while I walk Cal to the door so I can give him a big, sloppy you're-my-hero kiss."

Cybil smiled after them as Quinn pulled Cal out of the room. "She's in love."

"Really?"

Now Cybil turned her smile on Layla. "That got your mind off taking a bite out of her for pushing that job in your face."

"I'll get back to that. Do you think she's in love with Cal-the uppercaseL ?"

"About to be all caps, in bold letters." She picked up the mug and rose.

"Q likes to direct people," she said, "but she's careful to try to direct them toward something helpful, or at least interesting. She wouldn't push this job business if she didn't think you could handle it."

She blew out a breath as she walked back toward the kitchen. "What the hell am I supposed to fix for dinner?"

CHAPTER Fifteen

IT WAS HARD FOR CAL TO SEE BILL TURNER ANDsay nothing about Gage being in town. But Cal knew his friend. When and if Gage wanted his father to know, Gage would tell him. So Cal did his best to avoid Bill by closing himself in his office.

He dealt with orders, bills, reservations, contacted their arcade guy to discuss changing out one of their pinball machines for something jazzier.

Checking the time, he judged if Gage wasn't awake by now, he should be. And so picked up the phone.

Not awake, Cal decided, hearing the irritation in Gage's voice, hasn't had coffee. Ignoring all that, Cal launched into an explanation of what happened that morning, relayed the dinner plans, and hung up.

Now, rolling his eyes, Cal called Fox to run over the same information, and to tell Fox that Layla needed a job and he should hire her to replace Mrs. Hawbaker.

Fox said, "Huh?"

Cal said, "Gotta go," and hung up.

There, duty done, he considered. Satisfied, he turned to his computer and brought up the information on the automatic scoring systems he wanted to talk his father into installing.

It was past time for the center to do the upgrade. Maybe it was foolish to think about that kind of investment if everything was going to hell in a few months. But, if everything was going to hell in a few months, the investment wouldn't hurt a thing.

His father would say some of the old-timers would object, but Cal didn't think so. If they wanted to keep score by hand, the center would provide the paper score sheets and markers. But he thought if someone showed them how it worked, gave them a few free games to get used to the new system, they'd jump on.

They could get them used and reconditioned, which was part of the argument he was prepared to make. They had Bill onboard, and he could fix damn near anything.

It was one thing to be a little kitschy and traditional, another to be old-fashioned.

No, no, that wasn't the tack to take with his father. His father liked old-fashioned. Better to use figures. Bowling accounted for more than half, closer to sixty percent, of their revenue, so-

He broke off at the knock on his door and inwardly winced, thinking it was Bill Turner.