by C L Bauer
Abby was blissfully sweeping the backroom floor when she heard the door’s buzzer. Mort moved quickly in front of her. “I’ll be right there,” she yelled. “Come on girl, let’s go see who it is.”
She was wiping off her hands with a towel as she walked into the shop and finally looked up from Mort. Her smile faded. Her skin crawled. She felt like she might throw up. Garrett Notte stood by the consultation table. His tanned face was in stark contrast to the muffler and overcoat he wore.
“Hello beautiful.”
For one of the first times in her life, Abigail Lewellyn was speechless. She pulled her hand back in a motion that instructed Mort to stand at attention next to her. Since the DEA flunk-out didn’t come with an instruction manual, she had resorted to watching Animal Planet for information; Jeremy did his research online. The shepherd immediately was alert, brushing the side of Abby’s jeans. Then she slowly stalked over to the intruder. Mort had lowered her body but continued to approach him.
Garrett took a step back. “Is that dog dangerous?”
Abby smiled. “Not sure, you worried?”
“Well, yes.”
“Good.” Mort began to sniff Garrett’s shoes and trousers, eventually sitting at his feet.
“There goes your five-star review, Abby. You just aren’t making me feel welcome.”
“You aren’t welcome. Lily isn’t here, and I’m just cleaning up.” What was wrong with her? You just told a headjob that you were there alone. Mort began to growl. Mort was growling?
“We could’ve been good together.” He casually looked out onto the sidewalk. Another man was coming toward the door.
Please let it be a customer, Abby prayed. When the man entered, he handed a very large covered plant to Garrett. The man was with the headjob. Great.
“And here I was bringing a gift of goodwill.” He set the plant on the table and headed to the door. “Tell your boss I hold her personally responsible for every single hour I’ve had to be questioned and every single day I’ve spent in a stinking jail cell. She may want to read the card as soon as she gets in.” He threw a small envelope onto the table and blew Abby a kiss. “Goodbye, honey. You’ll always be that assistant who sweeps the floor. You could’ve been Cinderella.”
Mort lunged at Garrett. Abby was feeling more confident in her safety.
“Oh, but then I’d need a Prince Charming, and you’re just a rat. Get out.”
He never turned back, but blew another kiss from the sidewalk. Abby reached down and hugged Mort for dear life.
“I love you. Thank you, thank you.”
She didn’t call Lily. There was no need to worry her too. She called Tom Fullerton instead. Surprisingly, it was nice to have the FBI on speed dial. He listened as she spilled her story over the phone. He also confirmed that Dev had the photos they had sent.
“Did you check out the plant?”
“No. I haven’t touched it. There’s a card too.”
“I’ll be there as soon as I can. Lock all the doors and put on the security system. Don’t touch that plant and move away as far as you can from it.”
As soon as Tom Fullerton hung up with the frantic Abby, he called the field office in Miami.
“Perkins, Fullerton here. I need to know if the DEA is running in Miami. I’m looking for Dev Pierce.”
“Tom, did you get the word from someone? Yes, they had something going down in Key West. Three agents were hurt, and an informant was injured. She’ll be fine. Two agents are in serious condition, and Pierce is stable. He’s been shot in the shoulder and battered pretty good.”
“What the hell happened?”
“A bad deal. They underestimated this guy. Hey, I’ve heard he’s from Kansas City.”
“Yes, we’ve dealt with him here. Thanks, George. I need to run. I’ve got to meet a bomb squad. I’ll call later.” Tom looked up to the ceiling. “How am I going to tell Lily?”
Lily arrived back at the shop to see a police van pulling away. Did it say “explosive”on the side? As she entered the shop she saw Tom Fullerton. Her smile faded as she saw Abby huddled with him by her desk. They looked up quickly as though she had just caught them doing something they shouldn’t be doing. There was a beautiful hibiscus plant setting in the middle of her consultation table. It had beautiful blooms, but it looked a little worse for wear with dirt thrown from the pot and torn leaves here and there.
The room was spinning a bit. She’d had such a great day shopping with Patricia, and now she knew she would pay for that joy. It always happened that way. “What? Just tell me now.”
Tom sat her down at the table along with Abby, and the two recounted the afternoon’s episode of “Guess Who Came Into The Shop Today” while Lily touched Dev’s ring around her neck.
“He brought this plant and a card with some nasty things about blaming you for his misery.” Abby handed her the card. “I’m sorry, but Tom and I read it. The bomb tech guys did too. They had to search the plant and the note.”
“Lily,” Tom interrupted, “before you read that, you should know Dev is fine.”
Lily’s hands were shaking as she carefully removed the card from the envelope. What kind of sick game was Garrett Notte playing? Perhaps his grandmother wasn’t delusional.
The card had been typed with only one letter “G” written at the end.
“Lily, by the time you read this I will have taken away the person you love, the only man who will ever love you. I don’t want to kill you. I want you to suffer and to live your life alone. This hibiscus plant will be a reminder to you that I won. Hibiscus, the last flower your boyfriend saw. Enjoy it every time you see it.”
“Dev is?” Her eyes were welling up, her voice was barely audible.
“He is alive. He’s been hurt, but he won’t die,” Tom answered directly. He grabbed her hand in his and held it tight. “I’ve talked to the DEA and you are booked on a flight tonight to Miami. Dev’s dad will pick you up. I knew you’d want to see him after reading that note. You will want to touch him, to make sure Garrett didn’t succeed. I suspect he’ll need to see you too.”
“Abby, throw this damn thing out or donate it to a senior center, but I don’t want to see it.” Lily gained volume in her voice. Her assistant immediately removed it from the table and carried it to the back room.
“Why is he doing this to me?”
“He’s a sociopath, Lily. They pick a target, a person to blame all their mistakes and inadequacies on and he picked you. Maybe you were just too nice or you were kind to his grandmother. Who knows, now, come on, let me get you home. I’ve talked to the DEA and they want you to come down. I’m taking you to the airport. I’ll put you safely on the flight. You’ll be picked up by Jack Pierce and a couple of agents down there. You’ll need to pack for the heat.”
Lily gave Abby a few instructions. Luckily, there wouldn’t be any weddings until April. “And Abby if you just have to close the store down, just do it.”
Abby shook her head negatively. “No. Lily’s will remain open. I can do it. I might have to have Jeremy do my wash, but I’ll take care of everything.” She saluted her boss. Mort nuzzled against Lily’s leg.
“You two are the best.” She hugged the dog and then Abby. “I know you can do it, Abs. You’ll never know how much this means to me. I’ll call you tomorrow if I can.”
“You better.” Abby continued to hold her friend in her arms. “Maybe we should tell Tom about Mrs. Notte’s comments. Remember?”
Lily pulled away. “Yes. It may make a difference.”
As the FBI agent and the florist left the shop, she began her story.
“We thought maybe she was out of her mind, Tom, but now I don’t think so.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
As Lily entered the hospital room, she realized she had absolutely no idea what in the world she was doing. The plane ride had been excruciating. Tom had literally walked her down the gangway and onto the aircraft like some criminal. She pre-boarded like a celebrity. T
he world, her world, was totally off kilter so she had a drink at 36,000 feet and then another and another. She constantly rubbed the ring around her neck not sure if she was hoping for good luck, asking for a wish or outright praying. She touched the necklace he had sent her. Lily was nauseous. Lily was uncertain. There was not one list being made in her head.
She was numb when two agents came onto the landed aircraft and escorted her off the plane. It was joy and tears when Jack Pierce took her into his arms for a warm fatherly embrace. He kept repeating it was going to be fine. What was going to be fine? Everything. Holy Lord, get me through this one and You can have anything. I’ll go to church every day, well maybe not on wedding days, but every day other than those long working ones. Garnering a deal with God is not my strong suit.
Dev was sleeping as she entered the room. His dad moved to the head of the bed and whispered his son’s name. Dev stirred and looked up at his father. The tossed hair, longer than usual, the stubble heavy on his usually clean chin, the bare chest marred by bruising and finally those beautiful eyes swollen were all parts of a man she knew, but a man who had been through something in a world she had only briefly inhabited from the sidelines. He was in the game. He appeared tired, beaten down. There was swelling around his eyes and a bruise on his chin that was deep purple in color. His left arm was immobilized.
“You have a visitor.” His father motioned to her, Dev’s eyes following his hand.
Lily waved. “Hi.” The man you love is barely conscious in a hospital bed and all you can say is “hi”?
“Lily? What are you doing here?” Dev was confused. Why would she be here? How could she be here? Was he dead?
Lily saw the confusion in those beautiful eyes and she knew in that instance she had made a dreadful mistake in more ways than one. She gulped. She hated hospital rooms and made it a habit never to go to them ever since her mother had passed away in one. The walls began to close in. They were telling her Dev would live, but her brain and heart were in combat fighting for a cohesive thought. “I’ll leave you and your dad alone.” She heard herself say the words as she fled the room. As she entered the hallway she still hadn’t heard anyone say “stay”.
She turned to her left and saw an agent and turned to her right to see a police officer. So she faced the wall and placed her forehead against said wall. She was trying in vain to be invisible right now. Lily began to cry, not a pretty cry, but that ugly cry when you watch the end of “Titanic”, and the end never changes. She felt like she was touching a lifeboat and then sliding underwater with Jack Dawson. She just couldn’t hold on any longer. What the hell was wrong with her?
It was all over, the fantasy of being in love with Devlin Pierce. What had she been thinking for almost two years? Her inner voice was telling her to go home. She couldn’t take a chance, give up her business, move across the country, and become a companion to that man. She wasn’t feeling sorry for herself; she was being realistic. She had her first sensible thought. She’d go in there and say goodbye for a final time. She’d give him back his class ring, maybe even the necklace. She could mail him back the earrings. Make a list, Lily. It will make you feel better. It was past time for her to end this lovely fantasy.
She was cleaning herself up for her great entrance, and exit when Jack Pierce appeared. He touched her shoulder. “Lily, you need to go in. He wants to talk to you.”
“This was a huge mistake, Jack. I shouldn’t be here.”
Jack Pierce was dumbfounded. Just a few months ago he had met a strong, confident woman. He knew she was the one for his son in a matter of minutes that night.
He took her by the shoulders. “This is not a mistake, Lily. Now go in there and talk to him. He wants to see you.”
Lily shook her head. “No, I can’t. He doesn’t want to see me. Did you see how he looked at me? He doesn’t want me here.”
Jack raised her chin up to face him. “I’m not sure what is going on. I heard a couple of agents talking about you. Maybe he doesn’t understand why you are here? Maybe you can’t stand being in a hospital?”
Lily nodded her head yes. “I can’t stand them and then seeing him like that in the hospital bed, well I might as well just walk away right now. I did this to him. I should’ve said something, warned him, but I didn’t know my sociopathic stalker would hurt him.”
“Lily, stop it. Let’s take one thing at a time. He is fine. He’s a little beat up and he’s been shot, but the boy has lived through a lot worse. He has scars, visible and invisible. We all do. You do too. We just do the best with what we have. You are the best medicine for him right now. As for this stalker, I’m not sure what all that is about, but I have a feeling that you and Dev can take care of that too. Now get your behind in there.” He sounded like a father and maybe that’s exactly what she needed right now.
Lily immediately wiped her face, took a deep breath and opened the hospital room door. She couldn’t remember her list. Damnation.
Dev was asleep. She walked slowly over to the bed and looked at him. She removed the necklace from her neck and removed the ring. Those bruises and that gunshot wound were the result of her stupidity, at least that’s how she felt. Garrett had done this. If only Abby had remembered those photos, if only she had told someone earlier about Mrs. Notte’s secrets maybe he wouldn’t be in this bed, but he was. He’d be furious with her when he found out she’d kept information from him. But how many times did he keep secrets from her? Could she live like that?
A nurse entered the room and smiled at her. She checked the monitors and IV line. “Your husband is going to be out for a few hours now. You might as well get some rest and come back later in the day.”
Lily only nodded. She didn’t correct the nurse’s mistake in terminology. If she did have Dev as a husband, would there be more times when she looked at him in a hospital bed? Would there be a time when he wouldn’t walk out of a hospital? Would there be a time when she had to order all the machines off? She couldn’t go through that again.
She lightly kissed him on the forehead and left the room. She needed some sleep. Her past life, her present one, and her possible future life were all crashing together in the mother of all traffic jams in her head. She needed to lay her head on a pillow, and just breathe, in and out, until she fell asleep with no thoughts creeping in and mucking up her reality. She exited the room silently, leaving a ring and a necklace by his phone. They’d be safe there; he was protected by guards.
Did the DEA have a hotel room with a bed somewhere?
Chapter Twenty-Six
“Beautiful weather.”
“Yes, nice breeze.”
Jack Pierce was examining the woman sitting across from him. Lily and he had slept for a few hours and met for a late lunch down by the swimming pool of the hotel. He’d just received a text message that Dev was sitting up and would be ready to see them around dinner time. It was time, probably way past time to cross the moat into Lily’s castle. He just hoped there wasn’t a fire-breathing dragon waiting to extinguish him.
“Lily, do you see a life with my son?”
She blinked a couple of times because of the sun in her eyes and the bold question. “There’s times I do,” she answered honestly, “and then times when I doubt it will happen.”
“That’s fair.” Jack took a drink of his iced tea and studied her a little more. “But do you want it to happen?” He noticed she was no longer wearing Dev’s class ring around her neck. The other necklace was gone as well.
Lily watched a teenager dive into the pool. The girl barely had a swimsuit on. Where was her mother? Who bought that for her?
“Yes,” she answered quietly.
“Then what is stopping you?”
She turned to face his questioning eyes. Why exactly did she like this man? Oh, right, he reminded her of Dev. She laughed uncomfortably.
“It’s not just up to me.”
“Oh come on, I can tell Dev and you have feelings for each other. What’s the hold up?”
“Well, our locations, our jobs, our lifestyles, and our timing. We had agreed to figure it out. I don’t know now.”
“I think you’re afraid. I saw it last night. You had someone you loved die in a hospital.”
Lily squinted her eyes at the man across the table. It wasn’t just the sun. His words were tapping at her heart.
“Well, haven’t we all? When my wife died I couldn’t even drive by that damn hospital for two years. I drove two miles out of my way, and in Northern Virginia traffic it was miserable. One day I refused to be afraid. I drove by it, and I parked in front of it. I looked up at the window of the room where she died. She wasn’t there, Lily. So, I put the car in drive, and I saved almost ten minutes off my drive that night and the next night and the next.”
“What am I afraid of?”
“Getting hurt. Dev is the same way, but I think you don’t believe you can have a life with him. You know, I’ve seen other girls, other women with my son over the years, and they have treated him like he was nothing. I told you to take him down off that pedestal.”
Lily held up her hand to stop him. “Have you seen your son? He is in a hospital bed right now.”
Jack Pierce reached over and gathered her hands in his. “Lily, there’s always going to be death in life, but it’s what you do while you are living that counts. So, take a chance. Have confidence where there is insecurity. What do you have to lose?”
Lily’s eyes lowered as she whispered, “My friend.”
Jack laughed. “You won’t lose your friend, and I can assure you that he doesn’t want you as a friend, Lily.”
