Eduardo Keller had told her to come back in the morning, and he would personally see that human resources got her processed first thing. He said they had a lot of work to do.

Darcy walked around the side of the building to a courtyard that overlooked the river. She noticed the hot dog stand and realized that Eduardo Keller had also promised her lunch. He must have forgotten that part.

She opened her purse and pulled out her wallet. That Starbucks coffee had cost her nearly her last dime, but it had landed her a job. But she was starving. Maybe she could find the three dollars for a hot dog.

She was in luck. Stuck behind an Old Navy credit card, which wasn’t even active since she’d forgotten to pay the bill on time, there was a five dollar bill. She pulled it out and headed to the stand that said Frank and Sons.

“What can I get ya?”

She looked over the menu. “I think just a regular dog, please.”

“Anything else?”

She looked at the five dollar bill wadded in her hand. “No, that’ll do.”

As the vendor went about getting her hot dog, she felt a man walk up behind her. She didn’t turn to look at him, but the man behind the cart gave him a nod.

“The usual, Ed?”

“You bet. And I’m paying for hers, too.”

Darcy turned and noticed Eduardo Keller standing right behind her. “You don’t need to do that.”

“I think the deal was I’d get you a job and buy you a hot dog.”

“So, you did remember that?” She turned back to toward the cart and took the hot dog as the man handed it to her.

“Frank, get us each a soda and a bag of chips, too.” He walked up next to her and pulled two napkins out of the dispenser. “You can’t have a dog without soda and chips.”

“You can if you’re being conservative.”

He only nodded as he reached for his hot dog. Frank handed them each a soda, and they pulled their chips from the display.

“There’s a table over there.” He pointed toward the river with his elbow.

Darcy followed him to the table, and they both sat down.

She’d always loved Nashville, though she’d only been a few times. Her parents never seemed to want to be there too long, and she guessed it had something to do with the fact that perhaps her birth mother was there. It was a mystery to her. Maybe they didn’t even know her birth mother.

She looked up to see Eduardo watching her.

He opened his soda. “You look like you have a lot going on in that head of yours.”

“I usually do. My father says I have more conversations with myself than I do with other people.”

He found that amusing as he bit into his hot dog. “That keeps you company then, right?”

“I guess.”

She took her first bite into the hot dog. She hadn’t realized just how hungry she was until she’d sat down to eat.

“Thank you for lunch.”

“You’re welcome. Thank you for ending my search for an assistant. I was seriously dreading having to give it more thought.”

She wasn’t sure that was very positive. “Have the applicants been bad?”

He shook his head. “No. I just have a hard time with finding one I want to keep around. Maybe I have a personality flaw.”

A crude comment came right to mind, but she pushed it back. “I’ll do my best. I promise.”

“I know you will. You can tell when someone needs a job and will do the job. Trust me, after this many years, I’ve seen every kind of employee out there.”

“How long have you been at this company?”

“Twenty years. My first job was working a site after school when I was fifteen. My uncle, well he wasn’t my uncle then, but he used to have me work with a different kind of craftsman every week. I thought he was just trying to keep me busy. He was pretty smart. He was teaching me every job on a site.”

“He sounds like a very smart man.”

“Oh, he is. The first job he gave me was to design an office for my aunt. It was a masterpiece. She loved it.”

“How old were you?”

“I was just about sixteen. I wish we had some pictures of it.”

Darcy opened her soda and took a sip. “She doesn’t work in it anymore?”

“It burnt down just days after I got it done.”

She watched him as he talked about it. He didn’t seem too saddened by the loss, but she could see it had been a big deal to him at the time.

“Did you design her a new one?”

“You bet I did. It was even better.” That brought the glimmer back to his dark eyes.

“What about you? You said if you didn’t find a job you’d have to go home. Where is that?”

“Kentucky.”

“Oh, you’re not too far from home then.”

“Far enough.” The pang of guilt and sadness was just enough to bring tears to her eyes that she batted away quickly.

“So, why come to Nashville for a job?”

“Something I had to do.” She wasn’t going to tell him that somewhere within the organization of Benson, Benson, and Hart the truth to who she was lay hidden—and for the time being, it was hidden from her, too.

The private investigator got her that far, but without more funds, he wouldn’t keep searching. At this point, she was on her own.

“You also said you needed a place to live.” He opened his bag of Doritos and crunched one between his teeth.

“Yes. I’m on my last two days at the motel.”

“I know of a nice basement apartment just about twenty minutes from here.”

“Really?” This guy really was into helping people, or he had an ulterior motive.

“My aunt has a house with a very nice basement apartment. My brother lives upstairs right now…when he’s in town.”

“He travels a lot?”

“He’s a semi-professional baseball player.”

“No kidding?” This guy had an amazing group of people he knew. Already he’d mentioned aunts, uncles, brothers…who else did he know?

“Do you have a car?”

Darcy shook her head. She’d sold it to pay for her trip.

“Well, it’s on a bus line, and I know for a fact the bus comes straight here. The rent is decent if you’d like to look at it.”

She’d be a fool not to accept the offer to look at it. After all, at eleven the next morning she was going to be homeless.