Chapter 52
FIFTY-TWO
Piper
Most of the time, I loved being at Silver Linings. This place was such a part of me. I was one of those lucky people who’d turned her passion into her job.
But today? Ugh, why couldn’t we just close already? I wanted to go pick up Ollie from school. Grayden had made plans to meet us at O’Neal Martial Arts for Ollie’s Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu class, which Ashford taught.
We were going to watch the class, then grab dinner with Ashford, Emma, and Maisie. Seriously. I could not wait.
“You keep checking the time on your phone,” Rina said. “If you want to meet your hot-ass man for sexy times, you can just go. Have fun and send photos.” She added a wolf whistle.
I glanced at the dining area, where a couple of people were enjoying afternoon coffees. A prim older woman pinched her lips at us in disapproval.
“I appreciate the enthusiasm, Rina,” I said. “Not sure that’s a work-appropriate subject, though.”
“Hey, you’re the boss. You would know.”
The news about Grayden’s and my relationship was out. There were also some lingering rumors about Grayden being responsible for Danny’s attack, despite Grayden having a clear alibi.
Then again, the townsfolk of Silver Ridge despised Danny, so that rumor probably scored Grayden a few points in their eyes.
The minutes ticked by toward closing time, and Rina and I worked on the afternoon checklist. I was checking our inventory of oat milk when she said, “Hey, Piper? I’ve been meaning to mention something.”
“Oh?”
“I feel conflicted though. Like, I’m not the type to badmouth another employee, and that’s not what I’m trying to do. But I’m just concerned, you know?”
I turned away from the supply shelf and faced her. “I can’t read your mind, Rina. You’ll have to be more specific. What’s going on? Who are you concerned about?”
“It’s Dillon,” she said quietly. As if someone might overhear, though our customers had left and it was just us in the shop.
“The past few days, while you were out dealing with your family stuff, he hasn’t been acting like himself.
Burned half the batches of croissants. And yesterday, he switched salt for sugar in a batch of scones.
Thankfully we noticed before serving any. ”
“Okay, yeah. That’s definitely bad.” Today was Dillon’s day off, so another of my employees had handled the baking. I hoped he was alright. “Thanks for letting me know, Rina.”
I had to tread carefully about personal questions with my employees. Maybe the baking mishaps meant nothing. Everybody screwed up sometimes. But if Dillon had an issue and needed time off, I hoped he would talk to me instead of suffering in silence.
I made a mental note to give Dillon a call later in my office.
About ten minutes before closing time, the bell on the door jingled. “Welcome,” I said automatically, then did a double-take when I noticed who it was.
Zach Kirby.
“Hey, Zach. Haven’t seen you in here in a long while.”
“Piper.” He rubbed his face, eyes darting around. “Yeah, I’m not much of a coffee drinker. But I could use a bottle of water. And maybe one of those blueberry muffins.”
Sometimes I forgot that Zach was Dillon’s older brother. The two of them shared the same dark hair as their mom. Zach had graduated from Silver Ridge High the same year as Grace and me.
Dillon was much younger, and as far as I knew, he wasn’t that close to Zach. Or so the local gossip went. I’d mentioned Zach to Dillon a time or two, but Dillon never said much. And I almost never saw the two of them together.
But maybe that had more to do with their family’s past tragedy than anything else. While hardship could bring a family together, it could just as easily tear it apart.
Given my discussion with Rina just a few minutes ago, though, it was hard to imagine Zach’s appearance was a coincidence.
I grabbed the tongs and opened the bakery case. “Were you hoping to see Dillon here? He’s not working today.”
“Actually, I’m here to see you.”
“Me?”
His gaze moved around the shop again. “It’s a little sensitive.”
If this wasn’t about Dillon, there was only one other subject I could think of. The incident last week, when Zach and his coworker Earl had found the fake drugs at Grayden’s place.
Couldn’t imagine why Zach would want to talk about that.
I passed him the muffin in a paper bag, along with a bottle of water. “On the house. How about you come back to my office? We can chat there.”
“Great. Thanks, Piper.”
We passed Rina, who was tidying the kitchen. I opened the office door, going in first, and Zach closed it behind him.
“Have a seat.” I grabbed some stray papers from the chair across from my desk, then squeezed over to my desk chair. “It’s tight in here.”
“Nah, no worries.” He set the water and muffin on my desk. Then rubbed his palms against his oil-stained jeans.
Now that we were alone, Zach seemed even more anxious. I noticed sweat stains under the arms of his work shirt.
“So? Is this about Dillon?”
“Uh, this is going to sound strange. But it’s actually about Danny.”
“My ex Danny?”
“Yep, that’s the one.” Briefly, Zach’s eyes glinted with something I couldn’t interpret. “I hear he’s in the hospital.”
My arms crossed. “Everyone’s probably heard that.”
“See, thing is, there was an item he promised to sell me. And with him out of commission, in the hospital and all, we didn’t get to finish that transaction. It’s important to me. I thought maybe you could help me with it.”
All I could do was stare at him. This made absolutely zero sense.
I’d suspected Danny wanted my mom’s old jewelry box for some scheme. But I’d never imagined Zach could be involved in it.
“What kind of item?” I asked. “Was it a jewelry box?”
His features sagged with relief. “Yeah, that’s it. Do you have it?”
“Why do you want it? What exactly did Danny claim was inside?”
“That’s kind of private. I just need what Danny promised. I’ll pay.”
“You’ll pay,” I repeated in a monotone.
He lifted his hands, squirming in his seat. More sweat beaded at his temples. “Look, I know I don’t seem like I’m flush with cash. I’m not. But my mother has money. She’s not all that generous with it, as I told Danny. But for this, I can figure something out.”
“Your mother?”
“I just want this settled.” His eyes bored into me, turning hard. Same blue as Dillon’s, but a lot less kind. “I told Danny we could pay ten thousand.”
Did he mean dollars?
In high school, I’d thought Zach was cute. Dark hair, those blue eyes. He’d been a loner, a bad-boy type who’d naturally attracted me. Rode a motorcycle and everything.
But his family had been rich, and I’d literally been from the wrong side of the tracks. Nowhere near brave enough in those days to ask out the wealthy, quiet bad boy.
Aside from those fleeting impressions, I hadn’t known him well at all.
Then the Kirby family nearly lost everything. That awful fire killed their father and older sister. Destroyed their home. I’d felt terrible for the Kirbys. Even now, their mom still lived on the same massive property, but all alone.
A memory popped into my head. Something I hadn’t thought about in years.
About a month after the fire, I’d seen Zach in the school hallway and stopped to tell him how sorry I was.
If you need anything, I’d said.
Until I’d seen the look on Zach’s face. Pure hatred. Like I had been the cause of his suffering.
Same way he was glaring at me right now.
“Look, I have to get this done today,” he said. “Now. My offer is ten thousand. If that’s not enough for you—”
I laughed incredulously. Not because this was funny, but because it was so strange. “I don’t have the jewelry box.”
“Danny demanded a lot more, and I told him what would happen if he fucked with me. Don’t test me, Piper.”
All at once, the room telescoped around Zach, like he was finally coming into focus. What I saw was not good. Not at all.
“It was you,” I breathed. “You’re the one Danny was supposed to meet with.”
Zach was probably the person who’d attacked Danny too. Broke into my garage. Tried to frame me and Grayden.
Holy. Crap.
It didn’t matter why. Not right now. Didn’t matter that none of this made sense.
I had to get out of here.
I lunged for the door, but Zach leaped up and blocked my path. I gasped.
My hand searched my back pockets for my phone. But it wasn’t in my jeans. Wasn’t in my apron either. I’d left it on the counter when I was chatting with Rina.
Rina. She was still here. I opened my mouth to scream.
Zach pushed me back, his hand slamming over my mouth. “Yell for your employee, and I’ll do to her what I did to Danny.”
My eyes bugged. I wanted to gasp for breath, but struggled to get enough air with Zach’s hand on my face.
“Will you give me the jewelry box or not? I’m going to move my hand. Stay fucking quiet.”
As soon as the obstruction was gone, my chest heaved a few times. Pulling in oxygen. Then I whispered, “I don’t have it. I swear to you, Zach. I have no idea what any of this is about. Whatever Danny told you, it has nothing to do with me.”
His eyes narrowed with hatred again. “It has everything to do with you.”