Noah

by Cristin Harber

“Thank you,” Bella said in a very petite, very adult way over the sound of the game in Will’s hand. “I appreciate that.”

  “Sure thing,” Teagan said.

  Noah smiled. “Then we’ll just swing back and pick you up.”

  “I’ll be so fast in the store, you don’t need to. The walk and the fresh air?” She shrugged. “We can hoof it, no problem.”

  They crossed Sentinel Bridge, made their way down the street, and pulled in front of the market. She leaned over and kissed Noah on the cheek, feeling a blush rise to her cheeks as his innocent looking hug gripped her tightly, then she let Will out and they waved goodbye.

  It took only a few moments to find the pine nuts and butternut squash and then check out. Walking down the street, swinging the heavy bag between them, Will asked, “Are you sure that you like kissing Noah?”

  She blushed, caught off guard by the directness and timing. “I’m sure. I like him a lot. And thank you for checking.”

  They continued down the block as Will explained fun facts about dung beetles, but she circled back to his kissing question. “Hey, sweet pea. Are you okay that I kissed Noah on the cheek?”

  It wasn’t the first time she’d asked him that type of question, though maybe she hadn’t opened the conversation like that before. But she and Noah had already talked to both kids ad nauseum, just to be sure, though a couple of their follow-ups had been scripted, intentionally indirect and super sly.

  “Sure,” Will said. “I just want to make sure that you’re happy before we do something that we shouldn’t.”

  Be still my heart. She melted into a puddle of mush and dropped to her knees, pulling him into a hug. She couldn’t love Will any more for grouping him and her together into a we. All of their conversations had paid off, and he understood that she’d move forward with a relationship only if he was on board.

  A million factors were in play, and all of them revolved around him. But that he referenced we, as though they were the ones pulling the strings for the relationship with Noah, really hit her in the feels. “You make me so proud. Thanks for looking out for your mama.”

  She stood up and let him wriggle away, changing the conversation back to dung beetles and mealworms. Will trotted ahead, and she floated for the rest of the walk home.

  They came onto their block and arrived at their house. He waited impatiently as she searched for her keys, and once the door was unlocked, Will burst inside and Teagan stepped in, dropping her grocery bag and purse while kicking off her shoes. She glided into the front hall on cloud nine, pausing at an unfamiliar stench of… dirt and tobacco.

  “Who’re you?” Will’s surprised voice faintly called from the hallway upstairs.

  And Teagan’s blood ran cold.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  “Will!” Teagan rushed up the stairs. “Will!” she sputtered, tripping over herself to pull her son behind her as she stared at the end of the hallway. “Spencer? What are you doing in here?”

  “Spencer?” Will repeated, now more curious than scared. He knew his father’s name. He peeked around her. “Is that—”

  “Hold on.” She pushed Will behind her, backing them both against the wall as two other men stepped out of the hallway bathroom. They stank of cigarettes and sweat, along with something else. A fine dust tickled her nose, tinged with the scent of home repairs, and Teagan studied one man who was covered in white dust. “Will, go downstairs.” She walked them along the wall, hanging onto Will. “Go next door and play with—”

  Voices and boots coming from her kitchen stopped her cold.

  At the base of the stairs, a new man stopped midstep as he saw her at the top of the landing.

  “Who are these guys?” Will’s whisper shook because even a five-year-old could sense evil.

  “They’re just friends of a friend,” she said lightly, turning back to Spencer. “My old friend stopped by with his friends.”

  Her light tone did nothing to ease the aggressive nature of the men surrounding them, and she silently pleaded with Spencer.

  “Why are they here?” Will pushed.

  “Spence?” Teagan bugged her eyes.

  “Looking for something?” a man with a cigarette tucked behind his ear offered.

  “Right.” Teagan swallowed against her dry throat. “I’d be happy to help. Could we do this in a less invasive manner?”

  He shook his head.

  Spencer didn’t give so much as a long look at Will, who tugged her shirt. “Is that my dad?”

  “Um, I—” She had no clue how to handle this real-life unfolding disaster. “We’ll figure out who everyone is soon enough.” She straightened and glared at Spencer with every ounce of anger that she could launch his way. “Can Will go next door and play? Please.”

  Her ex-husband shook his head. “He can stay put until we have what we need.”

  “And that is?” she prompted, finding a whole new level of eyeball anger to level at Spencer.

  “I allowed a business partner to store a few things for safekeeping before we—er, anyone moved in, and, well…” Spencer shrugged. “He owed my friends here a great deal of money. Plus interest, and we're here to recoup.”

  “A few things for…?” She blinked, unable to spit the words back at him. “Well, get them and go.”

  “I don’t know where exactly he stashed them.” He squinted. “And since he’s no longer with us, I can’t ask. Otherwise, we would’ve split ten minutes after you took off. I’d been trying to do this with less theatrics, but apparently the time for that search method has passed.”

  Her teeth sealed. “Well, thank you.” Teagan couldn’t have pried her molars apart for a pleasant conversation if she had to, and she growled the rest. “For trying to be considerate.”

  “No longer with us.” The other man behind Spencer gave a good snort.

  “You think this is funny?” she snapped. Maybe she didn’t have lockjaw after all as she failed to see the humor in breaking and entering then joking about murder in front of Will, even if he was too young to read between the lines.

  “Easy, Teagan. No one else needs to get themselves killed,” Spencer said.

  She swung toward him. “What? Me?”

  “The diamonds are worth more than you. Don't slow them down.” He glanced at her vents thoughtfully. “They're in the walls somewhere. We've found some, but not all, and none were where I thought they’d be.”

  “Diamonds?” she shrieked. Spencer had never told her! Wasn't that the entire point of his treasure hunting career?

  “Blood diamonds.”

  Oh, God. “In my house?”

  He lifted a shoulder. “They were an investment. We’d grab it when we needed them, and now, babe. I need them now.”

  She couldn't take it anymore. “Get out of my house!”

  “Yeah, it’s not going to work like that.” He motioned behind him to the man with a sway back. “Some friends are pushier than others.”

  The man at the base of the steps took a heavy step up.

  Tension stormed in her chest as Will fidgeted by her side. “Let’s find what you need to, and you can be on your merry way.”

  “Tea, don’t be a bitch.”

  The pressure in her head was too much. Teagan was going to explode. She should be scared, but instead it was white-hot fury like she’d never experienced before. The audacity! For him to call her a name! In front of her child! She shrieked, her hands balled into fists. “Don’t break into my house!”

  Spencer laughed. “Used to be ours, and I was more than fair to you in the terms of our divorce. All I needed was access. I just need it earlier than I realized, babe.”

  Babe? “Get out!”

  “Mom?” Will touched her back. “What if they kill him?”

  Teagan’s breath came in pants, and she needed to calm down, not wanting to say anything in front of Will that she’d regret. “He can sit in his room, and I’ll help you find whatever you want. Deal?”

  Spencer turned to the
other men then asked, “He got an iPad or anything?”

  “Can I have an iPad?” Will jumped to life, not realizing the gravity of the situation.

  The men laughed, and Teagan wanted to throat punch them one by one. “Go to your room, baby. I’ll check on you soon.”

  As though he didn’t understand that thugs—or whoever Spencer was in a bind with—were standing in the way, Will politely said “Excuse me” as he slipped past and into his room.

  “Nice kid,” the other man said. “My old lady’s all the time on our rug rat about ‘cuse me.”

  What world was she living in where criminals were complimenting her kid’s manners? “Thanks.”

  Spencer brushed by and walked toward the master. “Maybe it was the bedroom and we missed it.”

  “I can go downstairs and check for something. Just tell me where.” And maybe that would be by her phone, so she could call 9-1-1 and then Noah.” Why hadn’t she kept her purse on her shoulder!

  The other man came up the stairs. “You can stick with us.”

  “I prefer you to leave, if we’re being honest.”

  “We’d prefer your old man didn’t steal from us. But that’s life.”

  Her heart stalled. “You stole from them?”

  “Semantics,” Spencer said, downplaying. “Can we focus?”

  She walked into the bedroom. “Oh my…” The walls were sliced open. The wallpaper had been shredded. The vents were unscrewed and torn away, and the light fixtures were ripped down. “My bedroom.”

  “It’ll all fix.” Spencer didn’t bother to turn around as he passed a wall that hadn’t been completely mangled. “Maybe I put it in the kid’s room. What was that before? A study? A storage? Something like that?”

  “You can’t do this to his room, Spencer. He can’t see this.”

  “Unless you have a couple hundred grand to exchange,” the man from the stairs explained, “yeah, we’re gonna.”

  Tears burned in her eyes. “You’re animals.”

  “It’s business, Teagan. Calm down.”

  “Then your business stinks.” She shook, tears brimming on her bottom eyelashes. “You can’t destroy my house because this jackass thinks there are diamonds in the wall.”

  As if she’d said a code word, the three men crossed their arms, and Spencer rolled his eyes.

  She threw her hands in the air, storming down the hall. “What else have you shredded in hopes of finding it?”

  She stopped and kicked the bathroom open with her toe.

  “Really? Really!” The beautiful turquoise wallpaper that she spent weeks searching for then even longer saving for had been sheared into ribbons and dulled by white drywall dust.

  “Follow her,” someone said. “And keep looking. Not in the boy’s room for now.”

  “Thank goodness for minor miracles.” Teagan slammed the door. “Will, the bathroom is off limits.”

  “Okay, Mom.”

  “Stay where it’s safe and don’t come out.” Maybe she was off limits too because she was getting ready to have a nervous breakdown.

  “I’m going downstairs. Who wants to help me destroy that?” Teagan shouted then cringed. “Just kidding, Will. Everything’s fine.”

  Heavy boots clomped behind her. “Don’t follow me too close. I’m up to here—”

  “Look, lady, this ain’t our ideal, either.”

  She stopped on the stairs and screamed, “So get out!”

  The man genuinely seemed as if he appreciated the level of pissed off she’d reached. “Will do. Soon as we get what we came for.”

  Teagan’s head dropped. Her awful ex had struck again. “And what if you don’t? What if he’s wrong or he’s lying or… what if he’s still the same conniving SOB who tricked me into marrying him, and there’s nothing more?” Tears slipped down her cheeks, and she couldn’t tell why. Was she angry? Or hurt? Was she heartbroken for Will? Or exhausted? Violated?

  “It won’t be pretty.” He shook his head slightly. “Let’s only cross that bridge if we come to it.”

  Teagan pinched the bridge of her nose. “I hate you, Spencer Shaw!”

  Then, depleted, she went downstairs to watch as they destroyed her house for blood diamonds. She hoped that maybe they could find them without ripping the rest of her house apart—or maybe she’d get to her purse and call 9-1-1.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  Noah’s head swam from the time at the graveyard, and he still had to shake the cobwebs from the quiet time he’d spent with Lainey. He sat at his home office desk and tried to make heads and tails of purchase orders for parts, but all he saw was numbers that blurred together. Maybe he needed to go kick back in front of the television or see if Bella wanted to play football.

  As of yet, she’d not been convinced of its merits, but he was wearing her down. She was addicted to a word scramble game on his phone, and while he knew he shouldn’t let her play on it all the time, it helped him get a few minutes in on these purchase orders.

  The purchase orders weren’t working today. Neither was he, so she was done with phone time. “Ladybug, where you at?”

  “Right here,” she said a split second later, and Noah jumped back.

  “Hey, I didn’t know you were right there.”

  “I have a problem,” she whispered.

  He patted his knee. “Hop on.”

  Bella crawled onto his lap and laid her head against his chest. “Mommy always said if I did something wrong, I was supposed to tell her.”

  “Did you do something wrong?”

  She propped up. “I’m not sure.”

  “Try me, and I can help you figure it out.”

  “I know I’m not supposed to eavesdrop, right?” she asked hesitantly.

  His stomach tightened, wondering what she might have heard. “Right. Did you hear something you maybe shouldn’t have?”

  “I think so.”

  Well, hell. “Recently?”

  She nodded.

  Ugh. This wasn’t what he wanted to talk about. “With Teagan?”

  Bella nodded again.

  “Okay.” Noah ran his hand into his hair, for the first time appreciating that it had gotten long enough that he could tear it out. Had Bella heard him in bed with Teagan? “So…”

  Nothing came to him. He didn’t want to say too much, or not enough. Maybe he should call Teagan and ask what do. He hadn’t gone anywhere near that section of the parenting blogs because he figured he had years. Or maybe not.

  “When two people love each other…” Noah pinched the bridge of his nose, positive that he was going to break into hives.

  “I know you love her,” Bella interrupted. “But she sounded like she was screaming.”

  His face flamed. “Yeah.” Noah inhaled and sent up a prayer for strength. “About that. When two people think something is… fun—”

  Bella’s face pinched. “Maybe you should eavesdrop. I’m not sure that we’re communicating.”

  His eyebrow crooked. “I’m sorry?”

  “Will FaceTimed you, and I answered. I’m sorry. But we eavesdropped. And Teagan is shouting.”

  Noah’s brow furrowed. “Now?”

  She nodded.

  Unease hyperfocused his attention. “Where’s the phone, bug?”

  Bella scurried into the hall and came back in with his cell phone wrapped in a pink blanket, tucked into a baby carrier. Noah grabbed it, searching Will’s bored face. “Hey, buddy.”

  “Hi, Noah!”

  “What’s going on?” He kept his voice calm even as his heartbeat jackhammered.

  “These guys are here, and I’m not allowed to leave my room.” He leaned close to the phone, his eyes big, as if he was surprised and concerned. “And Mom is shouting.”

  “At who—”

  “The battery is about to die—”

  FaceTime showed the call ended, and panic like Noah had never known seized him. “Come on, Bella. Let’s go.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

  At t
he bottom of the stairs, Noah lifted Bella as he had when she was a toddler and put her on his hip. He bolted across their yard and hopped the small fence to the closest neighbor, the 9-1-1-calling Mrs. Eller, and rang the doorbell. No answer.

  Noah growled under his breath. She was home. Her car was there, and he’d spied her peeking out her window several times that day. Noah banged on the door twice. Come on, come on. “Mrs. Eller.”

  Finally he heard the shuffle of footsteps on the other side and the click of a dead bolt unlocking. Such simple sounds made his insides celebrate as her door inched open and a middle-aged woman peered out.

  No doubt, he was intimidating to look at, especially when he knew that she’d called 9-1-1 on him for burning dinner and started the Eagle’s Ridge grapevine extravaganza on his first day back in town.

  “Hello, Mrs. Eller,” Bella said with more manners than Noah could muster.

  Mrs. Eller inched the door wider with a somewhat embarrassed face.

  Maybe one day they would have a discussion about not calling 9-1-1 on neighbors when it wasn’t needed. But that wasn’t today. “I need you to watch Bella. It’s important.”

  “An emergency,” Bella added.

  Noah cringed, not wanting this lady to involve the authorities before he figured out what was going on.

  Suddenly more interested, Mrs. Eller shot an interested look at Noah. “Really?”

  “Hang tight on this one. Please. You can call the cops if you don’t hear back from me in thirty minutes.”

  “Why thirty minutes if it’s an emergency now?”

  “Because I don’t know that it’s an emergency now.”

  “I do,” Bella shared.

  Noah gritted his teeth but put on his most earnest, trustworthy face. “I’d like to check it out first.”

  “Hmm.”

  “Do you have Teagan Shaw’s phone number?” Because everyone seemed to have Teagan’s phone number for their crisis du jour.

  “Well, yes,” the woman mumbled.

  “Lainey told me I could trust you. That if I ever needed a trusted, helping hand, you could be a go-to.” He gave her an earnest look. “Thirty minutes. If you can’t get ahold of Teagan, call the cops.”