Chapter 15 #2
It had bothered me, the way she’d locked herself away upstairs.
I’d gone out and picked up another latte—her obsession—and some lunch in the hopes I could lure her out of her office.
“I went up to her office.” To feed her and put my eyes on her and make sure she was okay.
“When I got close, I could hear her on the phone with someone I’m presuming is Alex.
Only I heard her say, ‘someone knows’ and then ‘How did they find out?’ followed by ‘too much exposure.’”
At that Wade stood up straighter.
“Tonight, when I picked the kids up, Mom told me Phoebe agreed to bake her cookies for the café for the weekends. But she wanted to alter the contract so she could make them at home, and then just have them delivered. I think she thought I knew, because she talked about some of the health department requirements for the kitchen she wanted me to keep in mind when I start working on it next week.”
Laying it all out like that felt…wrong.
Wade rubbed his hand on his jaw. “You know, come to think of it, I’m not sure I know exactly what Phoebe does. I’d say maybe this has to do with her job, but…”
Fuck, how did I miss that?
“It could still be nothing. Though there is the issue of the drugs.” But Wade now wasn’t so sure. Suspicion wrapped around him like a blanket.
“She was cleared of that.” I immediately defended her, not liking the implication.
“Her prints weren’t on the drugs,” Wade clarified. “However, I’m inclined to agree she has nothing to do with it. Still…has she paid her bills to you?”
I nodded. “On time with a certified check.” Granted, she’d only had two bills from my company. One for the emergency repairs and the other for the deposit to start the remaining build-out.
Wade stood silently thinking.
I felt like dirt for even suggesting Phoebe was maybe involved in something she shouldn’t be.
Maybe it was my last-ditch effort, finding something wrong, to keep myself from finally giving in and taking her, ultimately moving her chaos into my life.
It also didn’t sit well given how involved she was with my family. I’d die to protect them.
My gut screamed I was wrong to suspect her of anything.
“I think I should maybe do some digging.” Wade had that look on his face, the one that said he was going to dig into this whether I wanted him to or not.
I hesitated. On one hand, I wanted to know what the fuck was going on.
On the other, I didn’t want her privacy violated.
If there was one thing I knew about Phoebe, it was she was an extremely private person, going out of her way to make sure she didn’t draw too much attention to herself, even going out of her way to help others and not inconvenience anyone. Even when it was their jobs.
“We have to protect our family.” Wade made his decision.
I felt like a piece of shit knowing I’d just unleashed the Wade no one, other than criminals, got to see on Phoebe.
“If Phoebe’s gone this weekend, it might be the perfect opportunity to do a little digging.”
“What do you mean?” I stiffened, then shook my head. “No. Hell, no. That’s a huge violation of trust.”
“We won’t open drawers or anything. We’ll just look at what is out in plain sight. Scarlette spends half her time in that house now. You really want her in a situation where we don’t know all the facts?”
It was dirty pool, bringing my baby sister into this.
“Just what is out in plain sight?” I mean…I could live with that. It wasn’t like we were going through her drawers. It was just stuff I could see if I was there on a regular workday anyway.
“I do have to do some work upstairs,” I admitted. “Maybe she won’t ask me not to go into her office.” And I could pray she left it unlocked, knowing there was no way I could break into her space. I felt dirty even going this far.
“I can be there tomorrow after lunch.” Wade pulled out his phone, checking his schedule.
“I already told Phoebe I needed to do some work this weekend reworking the kitchen to meet some of the health department requirements.”
Phoebe had bitten her lip so hard I thought it would bleed, apologizing profusely for changing things and not telling me.
I hadn’t meant to bring it up when we got to the church, but with everything swirling around in my head, I wanted to see her reaction.
I had to reassure her when she looked like she was going to be sick at causing me extra work.
There was no way she could be involved in something bad, I thought. Not and still be so kind and genuinely concerned. Hell, it was her right to tell me to make changes. Instead, she started stuttering, saying she’d call Mom and tell her she changed her mind, so I wasn’t inconvenienced.
It pissed me off a little. I’d thought we were past her getting worked up over talking to me about anything.
Feeling like I was the biggest asshole on the planet, I told Wade what time to meet me. I bumped into Delilah just as we left the kitchen, who snapped at me before stomping off.
As we stepped into the events room, the sounds of child chaos bounced off the walls. Scarlette saw us and beelined for the box of snacks.
It was the sound of laughter, deep and genuine, that drowned out the other voices which had me turning.
“He’s been doing that for the last ten minutes,” Scarlette said, a soft look of happiness on her face. “Phoebe made him laugh.”
By the end of the night, Jesse was practically beaming. Now, thanks to Phoebe, he wanted to come and help me work like he used to. It was like my brother was back. I had her to thank for that.