14. Carolyn
14
CAROLYN
“ I ’m glad you took today off,” Zach said to me the following Saturday morning.
“I wanted to spend time with my two guys.” I had Austin on my hip as I walked around the kitchen, putting items in a day pack we’d take with us on a hike later. “And Charlotte can handle the store, even if it is busy.”
“How do you know it’s busy?” He narrowed his eyes at me.
“I may have called her to check,” I admitted. He laughed and shook his head. “I have to be involved. It’s my business.” I’d promised to take the entire day off, but it was hard to unplug completely when I was worried about All That Sparkles and making my bottom line. Saturdays were usually high-profit days, what with the weekend shoppers. I reminded myself that customers would make purchases even if I wasn’t in the store, and that Charlotte knew nearly as much about the business as I did.
“I might as well tell you that I heard from Steve earlier.” Zach leaned against the counter.
I’d seen him take a phone call as he checked the backyard after breakfast. “I’m not going to like it, am I?”
“Afraid not, sweetheart.” He walked toward me, took Austin, and pulled out a chair at the kitchen table for me to sit.
“I’m really not going to like this,” I concluded.
He sat across from me, bouncing Austin on his knee. “Steve has serious concerns about your current tech company. He spared me the geek details, but he says their security systems are outdated, meaning that malware and other evil stuff can get through. Some elementary—in his opinion—steps to secure your account were just not taken. And, worst of all, alerts triggered on your email and other systems were suppressed or ignored.”
I gasped. “I pay them a small fortune every year, and they seem so efficient when I talk with them on the phone,” I said, sitting back in my chair.
“They may seem that way, but it’s all smoke and mirrors. Steve recommends you dump them,” Zach said. “He gave me the names of places he’d recommend.”
I blew out a breath as I processed the information. Zach was right; I hadn’t wanted to hear any of it. The question was, what was I going to do about it? “I can’t just fire them. I have a contract until the end of the year, unless my lawyer can get me out of it. Can Steve give me proof of their negligence?”
“He can. I’m sorry about this, sweetheart.” He reached across the table, taking my hand.
“Not your fault.” I sighed. “And I guess it’s good to know. Is it connected to my problems, though?”
“Steve couldn’t say for sure yet. He’s still digging.”
“He thinks it is, though, doesn’t he?” At my question, Zach nodded.
“Okay.” I felt as though someone had punched me in the gut. Setting up with a new tech company would take a ton of time and come with up-front costs. I wasn’t sure how I was going to get my budget to stretch that far. The blows kept coming, nearly enough to make me wallow in self-pity. Until I looked at Zach and Austin across the table from me, with their identical blue eyes and dark hair. Then I remembered I had a whole lot to be thankful for. Austin waved to me, his chubby toddler fingers splayed out, and I smiled at him.
“We’ll figure this out,” Zach said, squeezing my hand.
“We will.” Sometime in the past week we’d gone from singular to plural. It felt good to have Zach’s help. “I’m still thinking Mom’s former business partner might be behind all this.” After the conversation with my mother about the events of twenty years ago, I had confided in Zach.
“It was a long time ago,” he pointed out.
“I know, but I can’t think of anyone else who might have a grudge against my store or my family. We’ve never even fired an employee.” I had combed my memory for any incident, no matter how small, that might be coming back to bite us now. “I really think it could be her.”
“From what your mother said, Marta wasn’t the type to put together a complex revenge scheme. She didn’t appear to have enough drive for that. And what would be her motivation at this point? If she wanted revenge on your mom, why wait until Faith wasn’t even running the business anymore?”
“I don’t know,” I said, not letting the idea go. “I just can’t get it out of my head.” My gut was sending me a message. I’d learned long ago not to ignore those. “I’m going to do a little research.”
“No problem. I’ll keep this guy entertained.” Zach tickled Austin while he spoke. “We’re hiking later, though.”
“I haven’t forgotten. Give me an hour.” While Zach took Austin into the living room to play, I grabbed my laptop and started searching any information on a Marta Huntly in Springwell, Georgia. The name wasn’t too common, and our town was small enough that I hoped some records would be available.
After following several false leads, I came across an obituary from two years before. Fifty-eight-year-old Marta Huntly had died suddenly at home. It appeared she’d been unmarried at the time of her death, as no spouse was listed. She was survived by a son, Dale, and had been predeceased by a daughter, Gloria. My breath caught in my throat. Despite my feelings about what Marta had done twenty years ago, I wouldn’t wish that kind of grief on anyone. Shuddering, I closed the laptop, wanting nothing more than to hold Austin close.
“Find anything?” Zach asked, returning to the kitchen.
“Marta passed away two years ago, it seems,” I replied.
“That settles the question if she could be involved.” Zach put his hand on my shoulder. “Let’s get out of the house and go for that hike.”
“Sounds great.” I pulled myself away from sad thoughts to focus on having fun with my guys. “I’ll get Austin changed.”
“Already done,” Zach said. I was constantly impressed by how easily he’d taken on the responsibility of being a father.
We drove ten miles outside of town to a state park. When we were first together, Zach and I had hiked all the different trails, and I loved being out there as much as he did.
“I thought we’d take the Lone Elm trail,” Zach said after we parked. “It’s not long, but somebody has short legs.” He pointed in the back seat.
“Perfect,” I said, since we’d probably end up carrying Austin most of the hike.
I slung the day pack over my shoulder and followed Zach and Austin onto the shaded trail. The first part wound uphill gradually until it reached the lone elm tree at the highest point. We sat at the bench under the tree and looked out at the small valley before us. Austin had walked some and was tired enough to sit quietly between us.
“I haven’t been here in a long time,” Zach commented.
“Me either.” We didn’t say what we were thinking: that we were last there together more than two years before.
“We should make it a goal to hike a different trail every weekend,” he suggested.
“Including the expert ones?” I pointed down at Austin’s head.
“We’ll get one of those kid backpacks. I’ve seen other families with those.”
Other families? Was his use of that phrase intentional or unconscious? Either way, I liked the idea of a family activity. Austin, who’d been sitting very still, reached out and touched the bracelet I wore, drawing Zach’s attention to it.
“One of your designs?” Zach asked. “It’s pretty.”
“I…thanks.” I stumbled over the words. How did he know I’d designed the bracelet of intertwined silver and gold braids? “How did you know?”
He grinned at me. “I saw a couple pieces on your dresser. That bracelet and a necklace.”
“But what makes you think I designed them?” I’d never mentioned it to anyone, unsure of my abilities.
“Back when we were together before, I occasionally saw sketches of jewelry—although I think you tried to hide them from me. I was hoping you’d tell me about them someday, but I see I needed to be the one to bring up your talent,” he said with a grin.
I had tried to hide my designs, tucking them away when Zach was home on leave and bringing them out to help fill the time and occupy my mind so I wouldn’t worry while he was on a mission. Only a few of my ideas ever became actual pieces of jewelry. I’d learned how to design and make jewelry in art classes during college but rarely used my skills.
“I thought the pieces were beautiful then, and I still do,” Zach added. He put his arm across the back of the bench and touched my shoulder. “You should consider selling them at All That Sparkles.”
I felt myself blush at his compliment. “I don’t know about that.” The designs pleased me, but I was never sure if they were good enough to entice others to purchase them.
“Lookee,” Austin shrieked, pointing up the elm tree to where a squirrel scampered across a limb.
“Squirrel.” I enunciated the word.
“I want,” Austin said.
“No squirrels in the house,” I admonished jokingly. “They’d eat all our peanut butter. We’ll just look at them outside.”
“I bet if we keep walking, we’ll find other animals. I believe there’s a pond on this trail with fish and frogs,” Zach said, making Austin hop off the bench in excitement. The boy turned, grabbing at our hands as if to yank us up. Zach played along, pretending to fly up and stumble forward. Austin laughed in delight at his daddy’s antics, and I smiled.
“Nice slapstick,” I murmured to Zach when we’d started toward the pond.
“It’s fun having a kid to play with,” he said before frowning. He took a glance at Austin, who’d stopped to pick up leaves. “Sweetheart, I’m sorry I wasn’t here for you when you were pregnant or when Austin was an infant. I don’t know anything about babies, but I could have walked the floors with him at least.”
“I’m sorry you didn’t get the chance to be with him.” I sighed, acknowledging it was an emotional speech for the normally guarded man. “Zach, we can’t change what happened, but I’m glad you’re here now.”
“So am I.” He leaned in, giving me one kiss before scooping up Austin.
We made our way back to the parking lot after a stop at the pond, where Zach caught a frog and held it just long enough for Austin to touch the creature. Austin kept up a steady babble of frog, frog, ribbit, frog during the drive home. Following a quick cleanup, Zach took Austin to his room for a nap.
“Is he out?” I asked when Zach returned to the living room.
“Like a light.” He sat next to me on the couch, close enough that our shoulders touched.
“I think we’re going to hear the word frog a whole bunch for the next few days,” I said. New words were like that. They got stuck on repeat in Austin’s brain. “It sure made an impression on him.”
“It was a great day,” Zach said. “One of the best of my life. Thanks for sharing it with me.”
I reached for his hand, lacing our fingers together. I didn’t know quite what to say to his declaration, but I felt the same way. He raised our joined hands to his lips and kissed the back of mine. I felt my insides melt a little and didn’t object when he pulled me onto his lap. But right as his hands slipped under the edge of my shirt, my phone rang from where I’d left it on the kitchen counter.
“Ignore it,” I said, locking my arms around his neck and bringing my lips to his. Just before we touched, the ring blasted again. “Damn. It might be something important. I’ll be right back.”
Reluctantly, I got up and went to the kitchen. My sister’s name showed on the screen, so I answered it. Before Charlotte could speak, the wail of fire sirens came through the phone. I gripped the counter as fear ripped through me.
“The store…the store’s on fire,” Charlotte shouted over the din, confirming my worst nightmare.
“Is everyone out?” I glanced at the kitchen clock. It was twenty minutes past our Saturday closing time.
“Yes, yes. Just come.” Charlotte hung up without saying anything else.
“What is it?” Zach said from behind me.
“All That Sparkles is on fire,” I said, the shock temporarily stunning me until Zach wrapped his arms around me, making me snap out of it. “I’ve got to get there.” I tried to push him away, but he held me.
“I’ll drive you.” His voice was calm and firm.
“Austin?” I couldn’t take him to a fire scene, but I did want Zach with me.
“Alex was planning to just hang around the house today. He can be here in five minutes.” Zach already had his phone out to call his brother.
I rested my head against Zach’s shoulder as he spoke into the phone, telling his brother to be there ASAP.
“He’s on his way,” Zach said, hanging up. I felt his light kiss on my hair, trying to reassure me when I was possibly losing the store that represented twenty years of my family’s hard work.