Chapter 3
Chapter Three
S ara blinked and then blinked again, sure she’d misheard him. Maybe the stress had finally gotten to her, and she was having a stroke? “I’m sorry, what?”
“I’ll take all of them,” he said patiently. “That truck is for delivery, yes?”
“Yeah, it is but—” She looked around, but only the two men had stayed behind after her cash-only announcement. “Is this a joke?”
A frown overtook his model-worthy face, and the man stepped toward the table.
“It’s not a joke. I can’t do anything about what happened with the tree or the cash box, but I can take the rest of the trees off your…raccoon hands.”
The second guy made a noise that sounded like a choked laugh he tried to disguise. She glared at him and then turned it on the jokester himself. “Haha. Seriously, not in the mood, dude. I need to call the police and make a report, so if you’re done...”
The guy opened his wallet and studied the contents.
“I’ll make a deposit to secure the purchase and pay the rest first thing in the morning. Will that work?”
He handed her a stack of hundreds, twenties, and five dollar bills. Not a couple. A freaking stack . Sara went back to blinking. “Are these real ?”
The second guy outright laughed this time, and she shot him her best corporate glare. The layoff had done a number on her self-esteem because she’d been so blindsided by the news after rearranging her life in order to take the position. But she wasn’t an idiot.
“They’re real, sweetheart.”
Her cell buzzed again and again until she finally answered. “Dad, I can’t talk right?—”
“Sara? Are you okay? I saw what happened on the camera,” her father said in his booming voice.
She held the phone away from her ear because he was that loud without being on speaker.
“The police are on the way. I already called them.”
She’d forgotten all about the motion camera her father kept on the camper behind her. The notifications also pinged her phone, but it had been buried deep inside the folds of the costume and, truthfully, it went off each time anyone ventured too near the table, so that meant it was constantly pinging and she’d quickly started to ignore it. “Dad, I’m so sorry. I got distracted when someone took off with a tree, and when I got back to it the cashbox was gone.”
“Things happen, honey. It’ll be all right.”
But it wouldn’t be. It was yet another blow to her father when he barely kept his head above water now, what with her mother’s medical expenses already rolling in from the many surgeries she’d required—with more to come in the months ahead.
The man shifted in front of her, and she focused on the cash in his hand. “Dad? H-how many trees are here again?”
“I’d say about fifty now given the sales tallies. Honey, do you need me to call Buck to come back? Or…tell the city we have to cancel the contract? If it’s too much for you?—”
“No. Don’t you dare. Buck’s needed at the farm, and I can handle this,” she said, aware that the man across from her listened to every word.
“Buck wouldn’t mind. You know how much he likes you.”
Mr. Handsome’s gaze narrowed at the news.
“Dad, I need to go. I have a customer.”
“Your mama’s waking up anyhow. Call me after you talk to the police.”
“I will,” she said softly. “Let me know what the doctor says when he does rounds. I love you. Give Mama a hug for me.”
“Love you, darlin’. Don’t worry. It’ll all work out, but I’ll tell Buck?—”
Sara ended the call and tucked the phone into her pocket.
“Your mother is in the hospital?”
She nodded and shoved herself to her frozen feet, legs and back aching after a long day and the unfamiliar mattress inside the camper. “Yes,” she said, not giving any further information. “You said you want… all the trees?”
The man’s smile transformed his face, and she had that same niggle of I know him hit her once again. But from where? How? “Did you ever work in Raleigh?”
“No, I haven’t.”
“Oh. Sorry, you just— You look familiar.”
“I have one of those faces. Everyone says so.”
The man behind him lifted a hand to his mouth. Or was that to cover a smile? Was she missing something here?
Sara hugged her arms around her front in an attempt to stay warm with the sudden adrenaline drop and ridiculous raccoon costume. Who’d ever heard of a Christmas raccoon? “Well, there are about fifty trees here. And I can deliver,” she said, unsure of how she’d make it happen, but she would one way or another, “for a price.” She pulled an exorbitant amount out of thin air and waited.
The guy didn’t balk. If anything, he seemed amused by her attempt to negotiate, but if she had to hire a few guys to load and unload trees at two locations, she had to cover the cost.
“Sounds fair. I’ll take them all and let you know if I need more.”
“More?”
“I have a few big projects to do. Keep that as a deposit, and I’ll return in the morning with the remainder.”
“Um, okay,” she said, grabbing a pen. “The delivery address?”
The man rattled off a street address as the police arrived. Sara quickly counted the money and noted it on the pad before tucking it safely away. She then handed the man a hastily scribbled receipt.
That done, Sara sighed and braced herself to have to admit her stupidity in leaving the cashbox behind to chase after the tree-stealing couple.
The two men moved away, but she noted they didn’t leave the area. Instead they helped themselves to the coffee she’d brewed before everything had gone wrong.
Normally her parents would be there dressed in costumes like the one she wore. Her mother had amassed quite a collection over the years and made it part of the tree-buying experience along with coffee and cocoa.
Sara had taken on the job alone, confident it couldn’t be that hard if her aging parents could handle it. After all she’d navigated corporate boardrooms and the messy bar scenes where the majority of business negotiations had taken place. Selling Christmas trees to tourists and locals? She’d done it as a teenager—with her parents—but she was an adult now. Pfftt . Easy, right?
“You had a robbery?”
Yeah, not so easy at all.