15
SADIE SAT IN the office of Get and Gather, papers strewn across the desk, her laptop opened to various spreadsheets she was pouring over.
It had felt good to tell Charlie what was going on, but the peace from that had faded the minute she’d opened the store and then came into the office to tackle what now sat before her.
She and Charlie had talked more about the details of her situation. Talking through her options did help some. The thought of selling the house or having to move the store sounded a little less scary, and yet Sadie’s stomach still turned at the thought of either choice.
History was important to her. She’d practically made it her whole life. And there was rich history for her and JoJo in their house. Her grandparents had bought it years ago and raised their daughters in it, and then she and JoJo had made it their home. It was all Sadie knew. They’d already had to get a mortgage on it after her grandparents passed during a time when things were tight, but business had picked up and for years they’d been able to make the payments. Until now.
And she had the same history with the store. She grew up wandering around all the furniture and lamps and knick-knacks and books. When she was little, her grandmother would let her choose whatever she wanted from the shelf of children’s books they had and then she’d curl up in a big chair and read. Watching her grandparents and JoJo visit with customers while helping them find what they were looking for were some of Sadie’s favorite memories. The house and the store were more than buildings to her, they were her life. And it tore her insides apart to think she might have to sacrifice one of them to save the other.
Yes, she could always find a different spot for the store, but she’d already looked around only to find places not big enough or with rents too high. Not to mention the current location was right in the center of town, prime real estate for foot traffic.
She leaned back in her chair and looked at the sepia-toned photo of her grandparents that hung on the wall. They stood side-by-side, her grandfather’s strong arm around her grandmother’s waist. She was smiling so big that her eyes were closed, laughing at something Sadie’s grandfather had just said, his face turned to his wife as if whispering in her ear. A private moment someone caught on film that was an accurate depiction of them and their marriage.
All that James had said about his marriage floated into her thoughts. It would be easy to look at that photo of her grandparents and believe they didn’t have struggles. Never argued. Sadie had lived with them. She knew better. Not that things were bad, and she’d been a child, so it wasn’t as if they argued in front of her. But even with any ups and downs, there wasn’t a doubt in her mind her grandparents had loved each other and that they had a good relationship.
Sadie’s grandfather would make her grandmother laugh and then look at Sadie and say, “Best sound in the world. I feel ten feet tall when I make her laugh.”
Sadie sighed and turned her attention back to the most recent letter from her landlord. She had until the first of the year to make a decision, not nearly enough time to come up with the money to pay down JoJo’s medical bills as well as have a plan for increased rent on the store.
Charlie suggested Sadie speak to JoJo. That her aunt was tougher than Sadie was giving her credit for and was the person Sadie needed to make any big decisions with. She had no regrets in not telling JoJo up to this point, but JoJo did seem to be doing much better and it would be more jarring for her to have Sadie just say they needed to move. She needed to give JoJo time to process it all, as well as have a vote. Of course she had a vote. It was her life, too. Sadie had just wanted so much to handle this for her aunt. Feel for once as if she was the one taking care of everything for them rather than the other way around. JoJo had been her rock almost her entire life. She just wanted to be that for her in return.
She rubbed her thumb along her bottom lip as she thought about what Charlie had said about gold being buried in Nearlake. It was pretty close to ridiculous to think she’d find any beneath the store, and yet she couldn’t subdue the grandiose notion that that could potentially solve all her problems.
Couldn’t it?
She shook her head. “Get your head on straight, Woods,” she said to the empty room.
It was time to stop chasing fantasies in her head and get to work. She stacked the papers together and shoved them into the desk drawer. They would have to wait until after closing for her to pore over them again, praying an answer would come to her via divine intervention.
Leaving the numbers behind her, she went into the store to check in with Moira and see how things were going with Kenny and Maddie. James had dropped Maddie off earlier, coming inside to say hello as well as steal a short kiss while no one was looking. He’d also asked her out on a date Friday night. She smiled at the memory, the image of James acting shy when he asked her to dinner. Thinking of James helped her worries float away to a corner of her mind where she could ignore them.
She found Moira behind the main desk wrapping up an order for a customer. Maddie’s blond head was bent over a stack of books she had laid out on a table, her focus lasered in on her task. Kenny was diligently rubbing a dresser with a dust rag, his tongue sticking out of his mouth a little, his mind intent on getting every speck of dust from the surface.
Sadie smiled. It was hard to believe only a few weeks ago she’d been upset over her window being broken with no one to step forward to own up to the mistake. Now Kenny had become a part of the store’s family, winning over everyone who worked there, including her.
For a precious moment, she breathed in peace. It would be okay. It had to be.
The bell over the door tinkled and she looked over to see a short, bald gentleman step through. As the door closed behind him, a whoosh of cold air breezed through, sweeping away with it all peace she’d had only moments before.
She knew the man. He worked for the company that owned the building.
Before Moira or anyone else saw him, she made her way over and stood before him, if anything to keep their interaction brief and have him gone before anyone else noticed.
“How may I help you today?” she asked.
“Hello, Miss Woods. I’m from…”
“Yes, I know where you’re from.”
“Oh. Well.” He put a fist to his mouth and coughed. “I am just stopping by to make sure you’ve received the letters we sent informing you of…”
“Yes. I did. I’m aware of the situation and am figuring things out.” She looked behind her, relieved to find Moira still helping a customer and the others going about their work without paying the two of them any attention.
“Okay. Well, good. Just know you have until the first of the year.”
“Yes, I know.” She forced a smile and gestured toward the door to signal him to leave which, blessedly, he did.
“Good day, Miss Woods.”
As she watched him go down the outside steps, she took in a deep breath and let it out. Her heart raced inside her chest, her awareness that the up and down of her emotions couldn’t be good for her.
She made sure he got in his car and drove away before she went back to work. Stopping by to see how Maddie was doing would be a good start.
“How’s it going, Maddie?” Sadie asked, hoping her smile looked more genuine than it felt, her heart still pounding against her ribs.
“Great. I’ve made stacks of the books based on genre but then some of them have such pretty binding and covers that I’m using those to add as décor around the store.”
Sadie’s eyes wandered to the spot of rug where the passageway sat beneath. Maddie had left a couple of stacks of books there. The two of them hadn’t discussed the passageway since the night Sadie had dinner at James’ house. Things had been busy, so it wasn’t as if they’d had much opportunity, but Sadie had a feeling James had also made it crystal clear to his daughter not to push the issue after he’d found Sadie down there. Curious as she may be about it, Sadie’s stomach turned at the thought of anything bad happening to Maddie, especially if she’d encouraged her.
And yet, she couldn’t help but keep thinking of what Charlie said about buried treasure in Nearlake. Why would the original owners of the building have a hidden passageway beneath if not to keep something secret?
“Sadie?”
Maddie’s voice snapped her back to the moment. “Yes.”
Maddie’s eyes wandered to where Sadie had been staring and then back to her. “I’ve been thinking about it, too,” she whispered. Based on the face she pulled, Sadie was right that James had been adamant with his daughter to not entertain any ideas about what might be down there.
The last thing Sadie wanted was to fuel the fire of her curiosity so telling Maddie about potential treasure would not be happening.
“I’ll admit, it’s hard not to,” Sadie agreed. She stared longingly again at the spot on the floor as if it might hold the answers to all her problems. She sighed then focused on Maddie again. “But your dad is right. It’s dangerous down there and until we really know what we are dealing with, it’s best to leave it alone.”
Although she said the words, believing them was hard, her desire to know what was down there overpowering all rational thought. Maybe after everyone was gone, she’d go again. Just for a quick peek.
“Yeah. I guess so.” Maddie shrugged. “It’s almost time for me to go. My friend and her mom are coming to get me and drive me to her house for dinner and study for a math test. Is it okay if I leave these stacks here until tomorrow?”
“Absolutely. Good luck with your test.” She patted Maddie on the arm. With a chuckle at the eye roll Maddie threw her way, she went to help Moira start the list of To-Do’s it took to close up the shop each night.
Grateful for the distraction of her daily work, Sadie was able to get the shop closed and everyone off for the evening without her mind wandering too often to the stacks of bills awaiting her in the office. But every time she passed the rug covering the trapdoor, she almost felt it calling to her to go back inside. As much as she tried, she couldn’t help but hope that maybe Charlie was on to something.
After Moira left and the store was empty, Sadie double checked that everyone was gone, locked the doors, then grabbed a large flashlight behind the main desk and went over to move the stacks of books Maddie had left on the rug.
Her pulse raced as she wove a story in her head, a tale of robbers needing a place to hide gold, the owners of the shop not knowing, building the passageway to tuck away something valuable to them, not knowing what was truly down there. Which would mean there could be even more than gold to be discovered.
As she pulled back the rug, she had to laugh at herself. It was clear she’d read too many mystery novels. The grandiose story she’d just concocted was far-fetched, even for fiction.
Or was it?
A loud knock caused her to jump and scream.
She turned to find James standing outside the front window, a look on his face of concern sprinkled with irritation. It was now dusk outside, the sun fading as the few lamps she still had lit in the store began to glow a bit brighter.
She unlocked the door and let him inside.
“You were going to back down there, weren’t you?” The tone of his voice did nothing to hide his frustration.
“Well…I just…” Her shoulders sagged, her hope fading. “I just wanted to take a peek.”
He rubbed a hand down his face and put his hands on his hips. “You will be the death of me, Woods! You promised you wouldn’t go down there again, at least not without me.”
Her spirits lifted at that. “You aren’t going to tell me not to go down there?”
Would it make a difference?”
She pursed her lips together to hold back a smile.
“I didn’t think so. My best bet is to bite the bullet and go with you.” He took off his jacket and laid it across a nearby chair. Sadie knew it was his day off, so he was in jeans and a long- sleeved button down. He rolled up the sleeves and moved over to the trapdoor together. With a tug at the handle, he lifted the door, the squeak of the hinge echoing through the empty store.
“I go first this time.” He grabbed the flashlight she had sitting on a table nearby and flipped the ON switch. “Stay behind me.”
She nodded, not trusting her voice or her words. Excitement, curiosity, desperation, and a touch of fear ping-ponged through her system, each emotion vying for top billing. Her stomach turned. She swallowed hard as James made his way down the stairs. She followed behind him, the flashlight he held illuminating the beginning of the tunnel.
Sadie wasn’t exactly sure what she expected to see. It wasn’t as if gold bars would now be dancing across the lighted tunnel asking to be found.
James took a few steps, Sadie sticking close to his back. He held the flashlight in one hand, the other curved behind him, holding her close.
“I knew you wanted to come back down here,” James said, “but what made you decide to do so today?”
“Charlie told me that she was reading some local history books and found out there could be gold down here.”
With that, James straightened up and turned to her. “Are you serious? It’s Idaho. There could be gold buried anywhere.”
She looked up at him. “I know that. But what if it’s buried right here ?”
He shook his head and resumed his position, flashlight pointed forward, Sadie tucked against his back. “And what if it is?”
“Well, I just… Why did you come to the store anyway? I mean, not that I don’t want to see you, you just scared me.”
“Maddie texted me and said you didn’t seem yourself, like something was bothering you.”
Sadie grimaced inside at not hiding her feelings as well as she thought but was touched that James would come and check on her. Now that they were in the tunnel, she was grateful to not be alone.
They took a few more steps.
“Look up ahead.” Sadie pointed around his body. “It looks like there’s a door.”
They continued.
“Sadie. I don’t like this.”
James’ tone was one Sadie had never heard before. Where he’d been scared the first time he found her down there, it was because he thought she was hurt. Now, it sounded as if he was afraid for both of them.
She didn’t think it possible, but Sadie’s heart raced even faster. She stepped around him and moved toward the door.
His hand reached out and grabbed her arm. “Sadie, wait. We have no idea what’s behind there.”
“That’s why I want to open the door.”
His hand held her tight as if he’d lose her if he let go.
She placed a hand over his. “I won’t get hurt, James. I need to see…” Desperation began to take the lead of her emotions, her voice raising as she spoke. She pulled her arm away and turned back towards the door.
He moved in front of her. “Fine. But I go in first. We have no clue what’s in here.”
She didn’t know whether to be touched by his chivalry or irritated. From the looks of things, it was a storage cellar. Until that moment, she didn’t realize how much her hopes gripped to their being something valuable inside.
A large, metal latch held the door closed. James moved the latch, a loud creak echoing as he pushed the door open.
Sadie’s heart pounded in her chest as she followed him into the room.
James shined the flashlight around, giving them the chance to see the walls lined with shelves. Sadie moved to one side which held stacks of old newspapers, the paper yellowed with time. Three ink bottles sat nearby, one tipped on its side.
James scuffed his boot along the ground near a cluster of broken glass. He picked up an old bottle off one of the shelves on the opposite side of the room and turned it in his hand.
“These are old booze bottles,” he said.
That would explain the glass in the passageway Sadie had cut her hand on. “The building originally held the town newspaper, but why bottles of alcohol?”
“When was it built?” James asked, turning to her.
“19.”
“My best guess is that someone used this for bootlegging during prohibition.”
Sadie’s mind spun. The history lover in her was geeking out inside at what they’d found, but the hope she’d clung to that they’d find something valuable dimmed and died. The walls of the room began to slowly move in.
James’ eyes met hers. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
“I need… air.”
He put one arm around her and led them back through the passageway, the flashlight in his other hand.
As she climbed the stairs ahead of James she found it harder and harder to breathe. She mentally berated herself for thinking this could have been her chance to find a way out of her financial mess. What was she thinking? The weight of her reality came crashing down.
She reached the store, tears falling with no way to hold them back. Her breathing was ragged, and she feared her heartbeat pounding in her ears.
James came to her and wrapped an arm around her waist. “Hey. Hey. It’s okay. Breathe with me. Slow. Steady.”
He took long, deep breaths beside her. She tried to do the same, but it felt as if her lungs had shrunk. Her mind spun with panic, her eyes flowing tears like a faucet. What was wrong with her? How could she lose control like this?
As if reading her thoughts, James moved in front of her and held her shoulders. “Look at me, Sadie. Look at my eyes.”
She had to blink away tears to do so, but she found his eyes. Deep pools of blue. They reminded her of the ocean when JoJo had taken her once to the beach. It was a calm day, the waters playful and welcoming. Sadie had waded in, knowing she’d be safe.
She was safe. James was here. She was safe with James.
He’d kept his breathing deep and slow and as she focused on his eyes, her breathing began to match his, her heart rate slowing down.
“That’s it. That’s better.”
She nodded, her breathing returning to normal.
He swept a stray hair away from her eyes and tucked it behind her ear then cupped her face in hand, the other still holding her shoulder.
The tender way he held her face and his eyes searching hers for answers melted away the panic.
“I’m going to lose…” she stuttered between breaths. “I’m going to lose everything.”
He pulled her to him and held her close as she cried; with every sob a piece of her breaking apart inside.
* * *
James held Sadie close, his heart breaking with every sob.
He’d driven immediately to the store when Maddie told him Sadie didn’t seem herself. And he was glad he had. He had a sixth sense she was going to go down into that tunnel alone and the mere thought of it terrified him.
But nothing scared him more than coming out of the cellar and finding her having a full-blown panic attack. No stranger to them himself, as well as helping people through them in his work as a cop, his instincts had kicked in.
Helping others was one thing, but this was Sadie.
Sadie, whose wide brown eyes stared into his, so much fear swimming in them. He’d prayed right then for God to let him carry the weight of her world on his shoulders rather than her.
Seeing her hurting gutted him.
She’d cried in his arms for a while. It didn’t matter. She could have done so for hours for all he cared. Holding her was like coming home. Protecting her something he felt born to do.
Once her breathing and sobs subsided, he guided them to one of the sofas in the store.
He tucked her close against him, not wanting to let her go. She sank into his embrace willingly. His own heart rate slowed as he felt her body begin to relax against his.
“I’m sorry.”
“You have absolutely nothing to be sorry for, Sadie.”
“The rent on the shop is going up. I’m behind on JoJo’s medical bills. I fear we’ll have to sell the house…” her body moved with small sobs again. “And like an idiot, I had a grand idea this mysterious cellar would hold something valuable to save me. Faith misplaced doesn’t even begin to cut it, does it?”
James smiled and placed a kiss on the top of her head. If that didn’t show how tenacious the woman was, he wasn’t sure what would. So determined to solve things on her own, she risked going into a dark, dangerous tunnel in search of gold.
You couldn’t write this stuff.
“I don’t know. I think it took quite a bit of faith for you to believe in gold beneath your store.”
She swatted his leg with her hand, her body shaking with a small chuckle. “Don’t tease me.”
“Zero teasing here, ma’am.”
She tucked her legs beneath her, settling her head in his lap.
She fell asleep for a while. With Maddie at a friend’s house, James had all night and there was nothing he’d rather do than spend time holding Sadie in his arms. He stroked her head, tucking her hair behind her ear and reveling in the peaceful sound of her breathing.
He knew now more than ever that all he wanted was to take care of her. Be there for her. He only hoped she wanted that as well.