Absolute Trust

by Piper J. Drake

  “Don’t tell me you baked the bread yourself?” Elisa arrived and hooked the leg of a stool, taking a seat at the breakfast bar. “Boom will be along in a second. She had to run back to the house to grab something she forgot in her room.”

  “Gotcha. I’ll have her breakfast ready in a sec.” Sophie placed a serving in front of Lyn and another for Elisa. “I didn’t bake this bread, but maybe I will next time. This loaf was dropped off by a neighbor, and I couldn’t finish it before it went stale, so I decided to bring it along to share.”

  “Always enjoy your cooking, Sophie.” Lyn got started on her portion.

  “Good. I love cooking for all of you.” Sophie usually only got to bake or cook on the weekends. As she thought about it, she cracked an egg and accidentally let a piece of eggshell fall into the pan with it. She muttered a curse as she fished it out.

  “While we benefit from your habit of baking or cooking when you’re stressed, why don’t you talk to us about the reason for it?” Elisa suggested. “Also, don’t worry about breaking the yolk. Boom likes her eggs over hard lately.”

  Sophie huffed out a half-hearted laugh. “It’s fun trying to keep up with the way her tastes change. Is it because of tween taste buds?”

  Elisa rolled her eyes. “I don’t even know.”

  They all shared a chuckle over that.

  “Well, I haven’t come up with any epiphanies when it comes to my next steps in job hunting,” Sophie admitted as she plated another serving for Boom. “I’ve thought about it more, and while accounting is still something I like, it’s not what I want to do for the rest of my life.”

  Lyn nodded. “That’s fair. You like variety in your life. It follows that you might want a career that offers a broader spectrum of tasks to challenge you.”

  “What makes you happy?” Elisa asked.

  What, indeed?

  Sophie sighed. “This. The cooking and caring for a lot of people. Adjusting to changing tastes is challenging, too, and I love surprising you all with new recipes. But I don’t want just this. I take care of the finances for the kennels because I like the change of pace. If I could find a job that combined all my hobbies, I’d be incredibly happy. I just don’t think there is one out there. I thought I could do the most sensible thing as my career and just have the rest in my free time as hobbies, but…it wasn’t right. I don’t know what is.”

  Lyn chewed slowly and swallowed. “That’s an unusual set of things to look for in a job working for someone else. Small businesses or companies generally have the opportunity to fill multiple roles, but your interests are an unusual combination.”

  “Yeah.” Sophie sighed. “And it’s not like I could take it all and turn it into my own business.”

  But she’d dreamed of it.

  “But you have a concept in mind.” Lyn sounded like she was about to spring a trap.

  Sophie eyed her warily. “Maybe. I love bed-and-breakfasts. Everything about them. Running one would hit all those things and a lot of things I bet I haven’t even thought of yet.”

  There. It was out in the open. She’d been reluctant to say it out loud because it was a wild idea. Not practical at all.

  “It’s not something I should do.” She set Boom’s plate up on the breakfast counter next to Elisa.

  “Why not?” Elisa asked, stabbing the air in front of Sophie with a fork.

  Sophie blinked.

  “Lyn runs her own consulting business. Why can’t you run your own B&B?” Elisa continued with inexorable logic. “You know the business. You’ve definitely visited enough of them. And this is a good area for them.”

  “You cook. You make amazing things.” Lyn waved her fork over the remaining half of her fried egg and avocado on toast. Then she jumped on the idea and apparently decided to take it for a run. “You could incorporate your hobbies, like you said. No one has a better eye than you do for decorating a place to make it feel like a sanctuary. Maybe make it something of a yoga retreat and get certified to teach yoga classes, too. That’d differentiate it from the other bed-and-breakfasts in the area. You also feel passionate about mentoring the local high school kids. They’d be cheap labor to help you with cleaning and housekeeping if you’re willing to mentor them. Some of those kids you tutor for next to nothing would do anything for you, and they’re eager to make some extra pocket change.”

  “Having them do simple mail sorting or answering phones is great experience for a first-time job. It’s something to get a résumé started,” Elisa added. “I wouldn’t mind helping set up a bookkeeping system for you.”

  Wow.

  Sophie stared at her two friends, people who’d walked into her life in just the past year. They understood her, supported her, in ways she’d never experienced in anyone except Brandon. And she’d met them through him.

  “I’ve been saving, hoping I could open a B-and-B of my own someday.” Admitting her hope was harder than she’d thought it’d be. The words came out soft, barely more than a whisper. She was cringing, expecting some sharp, practical commentary on how she could better invest that seed money.

  Instead, both Elisa and Lyn sat up with excitement.

  “We could…”

  “When…”

  Sophie held up her hands to halt the enthusiastic start of a crazy discussion she wasn’t ready to let happen. “It’s not enough. I need the perfect property with a decent fixer-upper building or two. I need to budget for the renovation costs and startup costs. There’s a whole lot of administrative and business expenses, plus whatever it’ll take to set it up as a business. It’s not enough for all that. I need a job to keep saving, keep planning.”

  She’d thought about all of it over a lot longer time than she planned to admit. And she’d fiddled around with the numbers while she’d been stuck on her couch over the past couple of days.

  This just wasn’t the right time.

  Lynn studied her. After a long minute, she opened her mouth. “I…”

  Sophie shook her head with a gentle smile to take the edge off the denial. “I won’t take money from friends. Not as a gift, not even as a loan. It’s not the way to keep a friendship. And your friendships mean so much to me.”

  She reached out and took each of their hands.

  “I’ll make this happen. I will. I just don’t know how or when.” She swallowed hard because for a second there, she’d been excited right there with them. “It’s not going to be now.”

  They all shared one of those moments where words weren’t needed. Then Sophie became aware of Boom standing in the entryway.

  “What’s up, Boom?” Sophie watched the young girl fidget for a bit before coming into the kitchen. “Breakfast here. Don’t you need to get to school soon?”

  The girl was a tween now, and sometimes she was the cute kid who’d arrived with Alex a little more than a year ago and sometimes she was a teenager. All of them were scrambling to keep up with the split-second changes.

  Right now, Boom was a tween. And she was peering over her shoulder to make sure none of the men were in the room.

  “You’re all here. I thought I’d have to wait until Sunday. I’m really glad you’re okay, Sophie. But I have something I need to talk to all of you about.” Boom took a deep breath. “My birthday is coming up.”

  Sophie nodded. So did Elisa and Lyn. None of them would’ve forgotten, but just in case, every one of them had Boom’s birthday in their day planners. She was family.

  “Dad was asking if I wanted a laser tag party or a roller-skating-rink party or what.” Boom shuffled her feet under the table. “And those are cool and all, but they’re things everyone at the martial arts school does. All the guys.”

  Ah. Danger. Red flag. Sophie exchanged knowing looks with Elisa and Lyn.

  “Would you like to invite girls from the martial arts school or from your middle school classes, too?” Elisa was a brave woman. But then, she lived with Boom now and had the best feel for Boom’s mercurial phases.

  “Yeah. We do
every year. Dad wouldn’t ever leave them out.” Loyal as ever to her dad, Boom nodded with each sentence to make her point.

  “Okay.” Sophie said it slowly, opening the door wide open to invite Boom to get to her point before one of the men actually did come wandering into this conversation.

  Boom took a deep breath. “I wanted something different this year. Still fun, with lots of games and stuff. But…different.”

  Lyn nodded encouragement. “Sounds great.”

  Elisa and Sophie joined with the nodding. Nodding was good.

  Boom’s gaze locked onto Sophie’s day planner where it lay on the kitchen table. Sophie had been adjusting her week plans because she didn’t have a job to go to anymore, so she’d been trying to cheer herself up with pretty wash tape and stickers. Boom reached out and fiddled with a roll of cherry blossom wash tape.

  “It’s fun to have active stuff to do. I want this to be fun.” Reiteration was apparently a way to find one’s direction in a conversation when it came to Boom. “But for the food, I really like the stuff you bring from Sunday brunches, Sophie.”

  Ah. “Whatever you’d like for your birthday, Boom. I’d be happy to make anything.”

  A flush came to Boom’s cheeks, a happy one. “And, well, Elisa, the pictures you showed me of all those tea parties you and Sophie and Lyn go to. I really like those.”

  They were making afternoon tea a regular thing. And Elisa had a passion for taking pictures of all the food with her smartphone. Sophie laughed. “Elisa can make anything look super tasty when she takes a picture of it. I don’t blame you. I was there, and I look back at those pictures and want to go again.”

  Boom nodded. “Me too.”

  Oh. Sophie immediately tried to figure out how to yank her foot out of her mouth. They hadn’t meant to leave Boom out of those trips. But usually, she was at the mixed martial arts school. Sophie mentally kicked herself for never having thought to invite the tween.

  Obviously, Elisa and Lyn had come to the same conclusion. Lyn even dropped her forehead into her palm. “I can’t believe we’ve never taken you out with us.”

  Elisa added quietly, “You are always welcome. It’d be fun to have you join us.”

  Boom smiled. She was a generous soul. “Thanks. I’d like to. And for my birthday, I’d like to have a tea party. An Alice in Wonderland–themed one. The kind where any of the guests can come and try any of the foods.”

  She tipped her head to the side and quickly added, “Not so much the sit-there-and-be-super-polite kind of tea party.”

  Sophie grinned. “We can set up a big table with chairs on one side so guests can sit if they want or just come up and take a few bites to try out in between games. We’ll make it easy to choose.”

  Elisa nodded. “I can make fun Drink Me and Eat Me tags for whatever food Sophie makes.”

  “I can help with the table setting and stuff, too,” Lyn added.

  They were presented with a relieved, happy-looking Boom. “Awesome. That way Dad can set up a bunch of video and tabletop games and stuff for us inside, maybe some outside stuff if it snows. And we can enjoy all the delicious food, too. It’ll be awesome.”

  Sophie immediately started jotting down ideas on a notepad she had on the counter. “I’ll come up with a bunch of choices and you can pick. If there’s anything you want, just let me know.”

  Boom nodded and bolted down the hallway. “Thanks!”

  Lyn was staring at Sophie.

  Elisa looked from Lyn to Sophie, and apparently there was a psychic moment Sophie was left out of because both Lyn and Elisa had their gazes locked on her, and she wondered if she should run.

  Sophie leaned back on her chair. “What?”

  “If you owned a B-and-B, you could definitely host parties,” Lyn pointed out.

  Elisa tapped her plate with her fork. “Afternoon tea, cocktail parties, you name it. You could host it.”

  “You guys are incorrigible.” Sophie put down her pen with a snap. But they weren’t wrong.

  She could. If she had the place.

  * * *

  Forte heard the feminine laughter and made a quick decision to head out a side door into the kennel area rather than interrupt the fun the ladies were having in the kitchen. As much as he wanted to make sure Sophie wasn’t on her feet too much, he also didn’t want to cut short any fun they were all having. Besides, Lyn and Elisa would watch out for Sophie. Even Boom had been developing a knack for nudging someone into taking care of themselves when they might otherwise forget.

  It was something friends did for one another. Exactly what he hadn’t had when he’d first come off of active duty and searched for what to do with himself next.

  His smartphone rang, flashing a familiar name on the screen.

  “Forte.” He kept walking toward the kennels as he answered. He wanted distance between himself and the ladies for this call, but he didn’t want to cut past them to get into his office. Along the way, he’d make a visual check of the dogs in the kennels.

  “Beckhorn here. I read the latest update on Haydn’s progress. Good work.” The man kept in touch when Hope’s Crossing Kennels had one of his dogs on site. “I hear Sa is on site, too.”

  “Yeah. We’re having him run through the training courses with a couple of the dogs, see which is the strongest match.” This latest set of dogs had a lot of potential. Every one of them was sharp, eager to work. All of them had come through the initial phases of training with flying colors. The next deciding factor would be when they were paired with a potential handler or when they were evaluated by a military trainer for acquisition. Usually, Forte gave his military contacts first pick. Today was an exception.

  “I appreciate you making him a priority.” Beckhorn didn’t ask for favors often.

  “Not a problem.” Forte paused. “I may need a little help, too, actually.”

  “Yeah?” Beckhorn had done some digging for them in the past. He could be another angle besides Ky’s police investigation or Captain Jones’s covert operation.

  “I need to know about any new private contract organizations taking on domestic contracts.” Forte followed a leap of intuition. “They might be looking into training facilities like mine.”

  There was a pause. Beckhorn cleared his throat. “We interested in working with them?”

  “Unknown.” Forte set his jaw as his temper smoldered. The memory of Sophie lying pale and still in the hospital bed floated across his vision. “Not likely. I’m looking for connections to people or places in the area here, searches and inquiries. I want to know who’s out there.”

  “Your timing is creepy as hell.” Beckhorn didn’t spook easily. “There’s at least two private contract organizations growing a name for themselves. One is the team Sa is joining. The other one has a more corporate structure to it. All about the bottom line and too many redacted files in the background checks.”

  “What’s the name?” Forte could work with Rojas and Cruz to start their own searches.

  “Labs-Anders Corporation.” Beckhorn’s tone turned grim. “Started by a recently retired Navy officer and a group of ex-SEALs. They’re actively recruiting currently.”

  And Cruz had crossed a few former SEALs within the past year. Small world.

  “I’d proceed with caution.” Beckhorn’s warning came out with an edge. “Part of the reason I work with you is because you manage to stay clear of the shady shit.”

  “Yeah. That’s the way I’d like to keep it.” Forte hadn’t built Hope’s Crossing Kennels to get tangled up with any organization that’d force him to make the best bad decision in a shit situation again. “But someone close to us might have a target on her back.”

  She wasn’t just close; she was everything to him.

  The sound of typing keys came across the line. “I’ll do some discreet digging. File should be available to you in the next twenty-four hours.”

  “Appreciated.” And Forte would do some discrete research of his own.

&n
bsp; “If you’re talking about the food, I don’t believe you because you haven’t even tasted it yet.” Sophie stood at the edge of the dog runs holding a covered dish.

  Forte ended his call and turned his attention to her. “You shouldn’t be walking around so much.”

  She huffed out a laugh. “I’m getting to the end of my tolerance with people telling me what I shouldn’t be doing.”

  He crossed the distance between them before she tried to start limping toward him. “Sorry. Thanks for saving some for me.”

  Sophie gave him a smile. “Well, the others all came through and had some. I didn’t want you to skip breakfast.”

  He tried not to herd her back into the kitchen. Honestly, he tried. But they did end up back inside and sitting at the kitchen table.

  Sophie gave him a pointed look and sat with her right leg hoisted onto a chair next to her. “Okay. I’m off my ankle. Eat.”

  He chuckled and complied.

  “You know, everything was fine last night.” Sophie played with a napkin. “Maybe you can just drop me off at home this afternoon.”

  He swallowed too fast and had to breathe through his nose as the too-large bulk of toast and egg and avocado stuck in his throat on the way down.

  “I mean, I have to update my résumé and figure out what I’m going to do about a job.” Sophie’s words started coming out in a rush. “I’ve got savings set aside, but I’d rather not dig into them if I can help it.”

  “Sophie.” He waited until she met his gaze. “There was a bomb in your car a couple of days ago.”

  He’d been impressed with how functional she’d been, how well she’d been dealing with it over the past couple of days. He hadn’t realized until now that she had just pushed past it.