6
Prologue
Calida Lindley looked around the small building that she had used for her bakery her hazel eyes slightly sad although a small smile lingered on her lips. She walked around fingertips trailing over the counter before she went behind the counter heading to the office.
The building had been cleaned ready for the next owners to take over although she knew that there was going to be many changes starting with her oven and counter that she had placed in some time ago. She grimaced lightly as she entered the office eyes scanning the empty shelves before going over to the desk to make sure that she wasn’t leaving anything behind in the drawers.
Nodding her head in satisfaction, she picked up the box that held many things including the scrape books she used for her new creations whether they were good or considered awful.
“Calida,” she heard in rough but strong voice and Calida walked out of the office after another quick look around.
“Hi,” she said as she walked back into the main room of the store smiling at the man and his family who smiled back at her. “As you can tell, it is ready for you to renovate to suit your needs.”
The man stared at her intently and yet he couldn’t read anything in her face even though something flickered in the hazel depths before it disappeared.
“You spent a lot of time on building this up,” his wife mentioned walking over to the counter placing a hand on it feeling the smoothness of its surface. “Why would you so easily sell it without hesitation?”
Calida laughed before admitting, “It’s not without hesitation, believe me, because I’ve grown attached to this small building.”
She glanced around her eyes briefly flashing with pleasure and satisfaction before telling them in a much softer voice, “But there is something else I need to do and I promised myself that I would do it when it was time. I think it’s time, I just hope that I prepared enough to complete it.”
The man’s eyes narrowed at her words but his wife and children merely walked over to her offering to help her take her things to her car which he knew that she was selling just like she was doing with everything else here in Selena.
“Why don’t you go check out the back and see if we need to make any additional changes, sweetheart,” he suggested giving his wife a smile as his two children immediately headed in that direction.
Calida smiled as they called back to her ‘bye Calida’ without turning around and she shook her head turning to meet the eyes of the new owner.
“Is that wise, Calida,” he asked her in a low voice watching her closely.
“Probably not,’ Calida admitted shifting the box in her arms. “And yet, I’m still going to do it and hopefully these ten years haven’t been wasted.”
The man frowned before he sighed telling her quietly, “Thank you for everything you’ve done for me and my family. I’m sorry…”
Calida shook her head putting up a thin hand with short fingernails although she kept them well maintained and told him, “If you hadn’t had a family, you may not have gotten off so easy.”
He flinched at her words knowing how true they were but he nodded his head as he grinned, “Then I’m glad that I do.”
“You should,” Calida told him sternly her eyes slightly narrowed leaving him no doubt that she was telling him something. “You have a great family so don’t mess that up because you never know what can happen in a blink of an eye, and you understand that more than anyone else.”
“I do,” he told her with a voice soft as guilt and regret ran through its tone.
Calida glanced around the shop hearing the voices in the back room before she smiled and turned back to him, “This is your new start so don’t screw it up.”
The man laughed nodding his head before he asked hesitantly, “Will we see you again?”
“I’m not dropping off the face of the earth,” Calida teased giving him a wink heading for the door.
“Calida,” he called out turning around to watch her walk away, and she stopped briefly turning back to stare at him.
“I think you’re heading on the right path now,” she told him as his family started back in their direction. “If you need something, you have my number, but I don’t think you’re going to need anything because you have them.”
She nodded her head in the direction of his family as they came back into the main room his wife saying as she caught his attention, “I think we can make some changes…”
He heard the clank of the bell over his wife’s words and he turned around quickly seeing the door closing quietly seeing her walk away from the building her hand waving bye as she disappeared.
“You never told me, honey,” his wife said sliding an arm around his waist. “Where did you meet her from? Is she someone you met on one of your cases?”
He shook his head as he wrapped an arm around her while saying honestly, “She helped me when I was about to lose it all including,” he turned to stare down at his wife, “you and our children. I owe her more than I think I can ever repay, and I don’t think she expects anything more than us living as a good and strong family.”
“No problems there,” his wife assured him as she laughed and then dragged him to join them on the tour of their shop.
The man laughed and nodded his head as they all talked at him, but in the back of his mind he wondered what his wife would say if he told her the honest truth about the young woman who walked away with a wave.
“Honey,” she called out to him as he stood there lost in thought, and he shook his head giving a short blessing for Calida before he joined his family as they started making changes to what was now theirs to do as they pleased.
Calida sighed wearily as she wiped her sleeve across her forehead studying her almost empty apartment. Most of the furniture had already been given away to a habitat that bought old and used furniture to be refurbish and sold off again, and although she didn’t make a great deal of money from it, she was happy with what she did.
She still had money in her bank account more than enough to do as she wanted for another few years although she was definitely going to need another job to help sublimate her savings even though she hadn’t touched it since she bought the bakery using the funds from her sells to make any improvements that it needed.
The only thing she was taking with her was her clothes although she had sent some home to the woman and her husband who had been there for her since she was a baby.
“Home,” she whispered thinking about the place where she was born memories of her mother and father flashing through her mind before she cleared it as other unwanted memories tried to intervene.
She clenched her jaw forcing the memories to the back of her mind for now as she could ignore them when she was awake, but it was harder to do when she was sleeping as nightmares tended to plague her without stopping.
In the last ten years, they visited her every night and she learned to deal with them well but every once in a while they hit her hard, and she had a feeling that by going ‘home’ they would become even stronger.
“I’ve waited long enough,” she muttered hoping that what she had gathered would be enough, and still be useful, to end ten years of guilt although she knew that nothing she did would ever erase her sorrow and feelings of cowardice. “It’s time we both get revisited from her past sins, Jeffrey.”
With those words, she went back to work cleaning up the rest of her apartment putting on the radio so she could relax her mind and she hummed along with the song as she continued because in two weeks, she was going back to where it all began.
Her jaw tightened as her eyes narrowed lightly before a smile crossed her face one that showed determination, and more than that, a purpose.
She had some sins that she wanted to fix, and although it was too late to fix some of them, she knew that she could at least try to finally right the wrong that she committed ten years ago no matter what happens to her in the process.
“I owe…” she began only to stop forcing herself to not speak the words aloud as she continued working.
“You won’t believe what I just learned,” Tomas Landlin said walking into his best friend’s home office as he glanced up from his desk green eyes flaring briefly before he sat back in his seat.
“I hope it’s something good,” Edric Walwyn said on a sigh leaning his head back against his leather chair.
“I have a question first,” Tomas asked making his way over to one of the chairs in front of the desk. “Do you remember our talk about Jeffrey having a sister?”
Tomas watched as green eyes narrowed intensely as he sat forward elbows leaning on the desk before he stated in a hard voice, “Go on.”
Tomas smiled grimly as he revealed, “I just heard that Calida Reseda was coming back home after being gone for ten years. She will be arriving according to my source in two weeks.”
A smile began to cross Edric’s hard face as Tomas’ eyes narrowed, and he asked, “So what do you want to do?”
Edric didn’t comment right away as he folded his long rough hands together clenching them into a fist before resting his chin on them.
“I think…” Edric began as his green eyes hardened underneath black eyebrows and raven black hair that was messy after a long day of meetings as he laid out a plan to use Jeffrey Reseda’s sister in order to destroy the brother even if it meant destroying the sister at the same time because in Edric’s eyes…as sister for a sister.
Chapter 1
Two Weeks Later
Calida exited the airport hazel eyes shaded by sunglasses scanning the crowded area around her before she started walking toward a waiting taxi.
“Calida,” a familiar, and mature, voice called out getting her attention a few feet from the taxi.
Calida turned at her name a smile coming across her face as she caught sight of the man and woman walking toward her.
“Wilma, Jake,” Calida said in a soft voice as she put down the two cases she was carrying just as Wilma Kendall wrapped thin arms around her.
“We missed you, honey,” Wilma said tearfully as her husband smiled his hand reaching out to rest on Calida’s shoulder squeezing gently.
Wilma laughed as she squeezed Calida before she stepped back eyes narrowing briefly as she did a once over of the young woman she took care of since she was two months old although her mother had been a prominent figure in her life. Wilma noticed the slim figure encased in a pair of black jeans and cool shirt while she had her brownish-blonde hair pulled up into a loose ponytail sunglasses shielding her eyes from them, and she frowned slightly although the frown lasted only for a few minutes.
“You look good,” Wilma praised as Calida chuckled shaking her head at her words catching the brief frown that flashed across Wilma’s face. “I’m glad that you are home, though.”
Calida nodded her head a slight frown covering her own face as she asked, “Does he know…?”
“No,” Wilma answered before she could finish as Jake shook his head reaching down to grab Calida’s cases. “He doesn’t know yet.”
“Good,” Calida remarked with a sharp nod of her head as Wilma hooked their arms together following Jake through the crowd heading for the parking lot.
Wilma made small talk with Calida as they walked the short distance to her and Jake’s four-door car unaware of the narrowed eyes that watched them from a dark blue truck.
“Why don’t we stop off at Larina’s Restaurant to get something to eat,” Wilma suggested as they reached the car while Jake opened the trunk putting Calida’s cased inside before slamming it shut.
“I’m hungry,” Jake admitted with grin as Wilma shook her head while Calida laughed climbing into the backseat when Jake unlocked the doors.
“I’m hungry, too,” Calida admitted settling on the backseat eyes looking around her noticing the man in the truck and she stilled getting a weird feeling that he was watching them. She wondered if her brother had gotten some word that she had returned and not knowing when, he had someone watching the airport for her.
She shook her head turning her attention to Wilma as she glanced over her shoulder asking, “So will it be Larina’s Restaurant, then, Calida?”
Calida’s eyes shined behind her sunglasses as she said, “Do you have to ask, Wilma? Besides, I would like to see Mrs. Larina and how she has been doing.”
Wilma laughed as Jake started the car checking his surroundings before pulling out of the parking lot noticing the occupied truck and he frowned lightly thinking that he recognized the man.
He brushed the feeling away as he focused on leaving the parking lot as others pulled away from the airport while Calida and Wilma chatted catching up on the years that Calida had been gone.
Tomas kept the car in sight until it disappeared getting lost in the other vehicles leaving the airport before he reached for his cell phone sitting beside him on the console between the seats.
“Our information was accurate,” Tomas said after dialing a number and it being immediately answered. “Jeffrey Reseda’s sister arrived today getting picked up by Wilma and Jake Kendall as we surmised.”
The voice on the other end said harshly, “We should be able to find her at the Reseda Residence, but I want to know every move Calida Reseda makes.”
“That won’t be a problem, Ric,” Tomas told his best friend, and business partner, as he started the truck. “They left the airport but I don’t think they’ve gotten too far.”
Tomas heard the door open and a pretty voice that made his gut clench speak briefly before leaving, and his friend said over the phone, “I have an appointment that can’t be put off, but keep me informed of what you learn Tomas.”
“You know it,” Tomas told him before he hung up the phone putting the cell back down on the console before he shifted gears and left the parking lot.
He kept his eyes alert as he left the airport and almost a quarter of mile from Owens, he spotted the Kendall’s’ car in the Larina Restaurant, and Tomas passed before he made a u turn so he could pull into the restaurant parking lot.
He parked and went inside getting a table to his luck close by Calida and her companions, and he listened in on their conversation narrowed eyes watching Calida as she laughed and talked with her companions.
As his server came over to the table, he turned his attention to her with a smile as he gave his order unaware that Calida’s hazel eyes shifted in his direction.
Tomas had received his meal and was eating his eyes occasionally drifting over to the neighboring table when he suddenly heard, “You don’t mind if we join you, Tomas?”
Tomas glanced up in surprise as Edric Walwyn gave him a hard grin as the woman by his side pouted lightly eyes flashing with disappointment.
“I thought we were going to eat alone,” Sophia Jenkins pouted as Tomas nodded his head and Edric pulled out a chair for her.
Edric ignored her pouting as he glanced over at Tomas who tilted his head in the direction of Calida’s table and dark green eyes glanced at the table as Calida smiled shaking her head at something Jake had said.
“So that is Calida Reseda,” Edric muttered in a low rough voice eyes shifting to Tomas who nodded his head lifting his drink for a swallow.
Edric smiled briefly his eyes shifting back to the table landing on Wilma briefly before turning back to the young woman a slim hand playing with a glass in front of her although her eyes was focused on Wilma.
“Well, it shouldn’t be too hard,” he remarked returning his attention to his lunch companions seeing the narrowed look that Sophia gave him. “What would you like to eat, Sophia?”
Sophia gave him a smile before she turned her attention to the menu in front of her as Edric shifted his eyes to Tomas who scowled shaki
ng his head.
The server returned to the table getting Edric and Sophia’s order while Edric talked business with Tomas all the time conscious of what was happening at the table next to them.
Calida sighed in satisfaction as she sat back in her seat while Wilma and Jake finished their desserts just as Mrs. Larina walked over to the table eyes shining with delight.
“Calida,” she said in a soft voice as Calida stood up letting herself be enfolded in the older woman’s arms.
“Hi, Mrs. Larina, how have you’ve been,” Calida asked once they stepped back from the hug.
“Good, good,” Mrs. Larina repeated giving her the once over before she nodded her head. “You grew into your skin, didn’t you, Calida?”
Calida didn’t say a word and yet her eyes spoke for her, and Mrs. Larina smiled as someone called her from the kitchen.
“Make sure that you come back to visit us,” she warned Calida who laughed and nodded her head. “That includes the two of you, Wilma and Jake.”
She glared at them before she hurried off and Wilma grimaced as Jake said teasingly, “I told you that we should come here more often for lunch.”
Wilma gave him a glare as Calida chuckled accepting the bill as their server came over to them. She reached into her pocket pulling out a slim wallet and opening it to take out a card which she handed to the server.
“I think,” Wilma said seeing the weariness on Calida’s face, “we should head home so you can relax, sweetie.”
Calida gave her a small smile as the server returned with her card and the receipt for her to sign.
Wilma scanned the restaurant as Jake muttered, “I’m going to go and pull the car up” before walking out as Calida finished sighing the receipt getting a copy from the server.
“Thank you,” Calida said with a smile as she folded up the receipt and putting in her wallet with the card before replacing it in her pocket turning to Wilma. “Are you ready to go, ma’am?”
Past Sins Revisited Page 1
