Chapter 9 #2
Hopping in the shower, Jesse stayed beneath the scalding water until her skin was red and puckered.
For the first time since Victoria moved in, Jesse didn’t have to worry about the older woman bitching because she’d used all the hot water or that the steam from the shower was ruining her new wallpaper.
She even left her bedroom door open as she dried her hair, savoring the knowledge that there were no intrusive gazes monitoring her every movement.
Once she was ready for the day, she paused to stare in the mirror, smoothing her expression to hide the satisfaction that lurked just below the surface. Her father was hurting. She wouldn’t let him see how happy she was that she might never have to see Victoria again.
Convinced she looked properly sympathetic, Jesse left her room and headed to the kitchen. She was still in the hallway when she heard a loud slam from downstairs. Was that the door? Shit, was Victoria back?
Thoroughly disgusted, Jesse raced toward the steps and vaulted down them two at a time.
Victoria had treated her dad like he was trash.
Not only taunting him for his lack of sophistication, but bluntly confessing she’d never, ever loved him.
Jesse would be damned if she waltzed in and pretended that nothing had happened.
It didn’t matter if she pissed off her father or not, she was going to tell the witch exactly what she thought of her.
Her righteous anger was bubbling through her as she entered the main bar, but there was no Victoria there to vent it on. Just her dad, who was stumbling to the bar to grab a nearly empty bottle of whiskey.
Cautiously moving forward, Jesse took in the sight of the barstool that looked as if it’d been tossed across the room, and the broken glass on the floor. Had there been a fight? Was that what she’d heard?
“Dad?” She slowly walked forward, her gaze searching the shadowed room. “What happened?”
“Exactly what I should have expected to happen.” Without warning Mac slapped his open palm on the top of the bar. “Christ, Victoria was right. I’m an idiot.”
Jesse hurried to wrap an arm around her father’s shoulders, guilt slicing through her like a dagger. While she’d been upstairs gloating at the thought of Victoria leaving, her dad had been tortured with loss. He’d truly loved the woman, for whatever mysterious reason, and she’d broken his heart.
“Don’t say that,” she murmured.
“It’s true.” A choked sob was ripped from his throat. “How stupid did I have to be to believe a woman like Victoria would be interested in a man like me? I bet the whole town was laughing behind my back.”
“No one was laughing,” she insisted. “In fact, I don’t know how many times one of our neighbors said that Victoria hit the jackpot when you asked her to be your wife. They all knew she was lucky to ever have you.”
“They had to say that because I’m your dad.”
“No, because they know you’re a loyal, hardworking man who genuinely cares about people.” Her arm tightened around him, determined to make him realize how much he was loved by everyone in town. “You’re decent in a way a woman like Victoria could never appreciate.”
He snorted, but Jesse didn’t miss the gratitude that glowed in his weary eyes. “I’m just a glorified bartender who’s well past his prime. Victoria’s beautiful enough to have any man she wants.”
“If that was true, then why wasn’t she with one of those other men?”
“I’m sure she will be soon enough.”
“Good. I’m glad she’s gone.”
Mac flinched, bowing his head as if a heavy weight was settling over him. “You won’t be so happy when you learn what she’s done.”
Jesse frowned. “What do you mean?”
“She took everything. I’m sorry, Jesse.” She felt him shudder, as if he was battling against an intense surge of emotion. “I tried to stop her but couldn’t even do that right.”
She laid her head on top of his. “Don’t worry, Dad. I know it hurts now, but eventually, you’ll realize it’s for the best. She never truly appreciated you.”
“No. I mean it’s all gone. She took it,” he rasped.
“Took what?”
“The money.”
“What money?”
“Your money.”
Jesse tried to remember where she’d left her purse. Probably the living room. It would be just like Victoria to steal from her own stepdaughter.
“It doesn’t matter. I only had twenty bucks or so. It’s worth every penny to get rid of Victoria.”
“No.” Mac slammed his hand on the bar again, his smoldering anger abruptly flaring. “Your college fund.”
Jesse lifted her head. Her dad had obviously been drinking since he came downstairs—the whiskey bottle hadn’t emptied itself—and he wasn’t thinking clearly.
“Are you feeling okay?” she demanded. For as long as she could remember, the bar had barely scraped by. Any extra money was used for the constant repairs on the old building. “I don’t have a college fund.”
He glanced up, his bleary eyes filled with tears. “Your mother made me promise before she died that I would set aside money from the till every night for you to use for college, or just getting started in your own home.”
Jesse took a moment to absorb his words. “Are you serious?”
“It tore her apart to know she wouldn’t be there for your big moments in life. And she knew me well enough to realize I wouldn’t think of the future until too late.”
A savage combination of regret and bittersweet joy swept over her, nearly sending her to her knees.
“I had no idea.”
Mac reached up to place his hand over her fingers, resting on his shoulder. “It wasn’t a huge amount every night, but it added up to be a nice surprise for your eighteenth birthday.”
Jesse remembered the earlier argument and her stepmother’s accusation. Now she understood.
“That’s why Victoria claimed there was money missing.”
“Yeah.”
“How much?”
“Close to twenty thousand dollars. Not a huge amount.”
Jesse nearly choked. That was ten times more than she could ever have expected.
“Not a huge amount? That’s a fortune.”
Mac flinched, as if he’d taken a blow. “You’re right. It is a fortune. And now it’s gone.”
Jesse abruptly straightened, glaring down at her father as fury seared through her.
It didn’t matter that she’d never expected money for college.
Honestly, she’d assumed she would stay in Canton and work in the Tap Room.
Just like her dad and her granddad. But the knowledge that the beautiful legacy from her mother was stolen by a worthless cow made her want to punch something. Or someone.
“Victoria should be in jail.” Jesse could barely form the words, she was so angry. Then she was struck by a sudden realization. “Wait. When did she take the money?”
“Right before she left.”
Jesse glanced at the neon beer sign above the bar that doubled as a clock. A quarter to seven. Hope surged through her. The banks wouldn’t have opened yet.
“If she transferred it out of the account, then we should go to the bank as soon as it opens. There’s a good chance we can get it stopped. Or even if it’s gone through, we can try to have it reversed.”
Mac hunched his shoulders, grabbing the bottle of whiskey to drain the last dregs. He shuddered as the fiery liquid slid down his throat.
“It wasn’t in the bank,” he managed to croak. “I kept the money in the downstairs safe.”
Jesse blinked. She loved her father, but who kept twenty thousand dollars in cash in the cellar of an old building? It was insane. Even if was in a safe, there could be a fire or a flood.
Or a thief.
“Why would you have that much money laying around?” She glared at him as he polished off the last of the whiskey. “Dad?”
“I took a few dollars out before counting the till for the night,” he grudgingly confessed. “That way I didn’t have to add it to the total income. It was a college fund; why should I have to pay taxes on it? I just wanted to make sure you would have what you needed for your future.”
Jesse didn’t judge her dad for concealing a few dollars out of the till. It wasn’t like he was a billionaire hiding his money in offshore accounts. She did, however, blame him for letting her stepmother get her greedy hands on it.
If he hadn’t been so blinded by Victoria’s pretty face and soft curves, he might have considered whether or not she was a trustworthy partner. And maybe he wouldn’t be blind drunk at seven in the morning.
With a shake of her head, she squashed her frustration. She couldn’t change the past. She had to concentrate on salvaging something for the future.
But how? If Victoria had taken the cash from the safe …
“Oh my God,” she breathed as she realized that the older woman hadn’t simply stumbled across the cash. “Victoria knew it was there.”
Mac looked grim. “You’re right. She must have been spying on me.
Otherwise she wouldn’t have known the combination to the lock.
” He glanced over his shoulder. “When I came down to lock up I saw the door to the cellar was open. When I went downstairs I realized that she’d cleaned out every penny.
I didn’t even think about how she knew that it was there. ”
“We need to call the sheriff.” She reached into her back pocket, annoyed when she realized she’d left her phone upstairs. The sooner they caught up to Victoria the less chance she had of disappearing with the cash.
“No.”
Jesse scowled. “He can get our money back.”
“I don’t care. She’s gone. Just …” With a muttered curse, Mac grabbed the empty bottle and threw it against the wall behind the bar.
It shattered, leaving behind a deafening silence.
Jesse stared at her father in shock. The explosion of emotion was completely out of character.
“Just let it be, Jesse. I’ll get you the money some other way. I promise.”
Jesse clenched her hands. “It’s not about the money. At least not entirely. She shouldn’t get away with stealing.”
Mac turned his head, his face frighteningly pale. “Please, Jesse. I told you. She’s gone.”
Jesse refused to concede defeat. Her father didn’t understand. Her need to get back the money had nothing to do with what it could buy. It was what it represented. A connection to her mother.
“Maybe not. I should go look for her,” Jesse insisted, mentally running through the various places Victoria could go at such an early hour. “Maybe she went to stay with a local friend.”
“I told you, she’s gone,” her dad rasped.
“How do you know?” Jesse stilled, belatedly remembering the sound of a slam that brought her downstairs in the first place. “You didn’t go after her, did you?”
“Of course not. I can barely walk, let alone drive.” With a scowl that warned he was done discussing the subject, her dad pointed toward the back of the bar. “Go eat some breakfast and get to school. We’ll discuss this later.”