Granny Apples 05 - Ghost in the Guacamole Read Online Free PDF Page B

slipped out of her sister’s grasp and took a step back. A smug smile crept across her face. It was the sort of smile that raised Emma’s hackles, but she kept her seat. “Today Mom’s having a good day,” Lucy announced. “Today she’s siding with me.”
    Hector approached again to calm the noise down so it wouldn’t bother the other diners, but Rikki held up a hand to silence him.
    â€œDoesn’t matter,” Rikki said to Lucy, her jaw set and her eyes flaming. “You need my vote to make it happen, Lucy. I will block this sale, and I can keep it up forever.”
    â€œNot if I take you to court over it,” Lucy said in a quick comeback. “I’ll sue you to break up the company and force the sale if I have to.”
    The threat of fighting over the business in court only enraged the diminutive Rikki more. “Over my dead body will I let you win, Lucy. I swear that to you.”
    Lucy’s smug smile spread wider. “Get in my way, Rikki, and you might just get your wish.”

• CHAPTER THREE •

    A FTER Lucy left, Rikki sat back down in her chair with a heavy thud. With elbows on the table, she rested her face in her hands as if the weight of her head were too much to bear. “I don’t know what’s gotten into Lucy. Ever since Dad died, she’s been determined to divorce herself from everything our family’s built.”
    â€œWhy don’t you buy her out?” Emma suggested. “Let her go her way and have the family retain Roble Foods. I’m sure you could find someone to run the corporate end for you.”
    â€œWhen she first told me she wanted to sell, I suggested that. I even suggested she leave to pursue her own dreams and retain her stock. I know several people capable of taking over the reins of the company management-wise. Tomas Mendoza is our chief financial officer. He’s not on the board and isn’t an owner but is Lucy’s right hand and has been with the company for several years. They met while getting their MBAs. Lucy was the CFO and stepped into the CEO spot when Dad died. The board promoted Tomas to CFO. He’s doing a great job and Lucy likes him. And he’ll be family soon enough.”
    Emma leaned forward. “What do mean by soon enough? Is he dating Lucy?”
    Before Rikki could answer, a tall man in an immaculate suit approached the railing. “Are you okay, Rikki?” Without waiting for her reply, he quickly went to the entrance of the restaurant and entered, nodding to Ana as he strode past her. Emma noticed that as he passed the young coed, Ana lifted her chin and her chest and gave him a beaming smile. He seemed to have a similar effect on a couple of women passing by the restaurant at that moment. Hector had just come out of the restaurant. The man stopped, said something to Hector, and shook his hand. For the first time since she arrived, Emma saw Hector flash a hint of a genuine smile. Pleasantries exchanged, the man came up to their table. “Are you okay?” he asked Rikki again, placing a hand on her shoulder. “I was told that Lucy came down here on the warpath.”
    Instead of answering, Rikki turned to Emma. “Emma, this is Tomas Mendoza. The person I was just telling you about.” She made the introductions.
    Tomas held out a hand to Emma and shook hers warmly. “Call me T.J.,” he told her. “Everyone does.”
    Emma smiled and did a quick study of T.J. Mendoza while he turned his focus back to Rikki. He wasn’t a handsome man. His nose was too crooked, his chin and eyes too small, and his face slightly pockmarked by the ghosts of acne past. Tall and slender in build with wide shoulders and good posture, he exuded take-charge masculinity and competence like a heady scent. In reaction to his presence, Emma found herself straightening her posture just like the much younger Ana had. When she caught herself doing it, she