Shoe Strings

by Christy Hayes

  “With what? Believe me, I’ve thought of this from every angle, but he’s made it sound like that’s the kind of move that would set these people off and get us all killed.”

  “Jesus,” Sophie dropped the shoe horn on the desk and stood up. “Steve is going to freak.”

  “I’m so sorry.”

  Sophie waved her hand in front of her face. “He’s a little freaked out these days anyway.” She walked to where Lita leaned against a small counter. “I’m not sure how to tell you this, but…” She took a deep breath. “I’m pregnant.”

  “Oh…” Lita felt the waterworks about to start again. “Sophie, I’m so thrilled for you and Steve.” She grabbed her friend in a fierce hug. She’d done the right thing, coming back, dealing with her father. There was no way she’d let him touch a hair on Sophie’s head, especially now.

  “I wasn’t sure how you’d take the news.”

  “What? I’m so excited for you. You had to know I’d be happy.”

  “Yeah, I knew you’d be happy for me, but I didn’t want it to make you sad, you know, because of what happened to you.”

  “Sophie, what happened to me was a long time ago and…” She felt her throat closing and turned away to get her voice back. “That’s not going to happen to you.” She turned around, smiled. “Please don’t worry about me. I’m thrilled and even more determined to do what Davi wants and be done with him.”

  “Do you think it’ll be that simple? If we do what he says, do you think he’ll leave us alone?”

  “I hope so, Sophie, because I don’t know what else to do.”

  ***

  Jesse heard the door to Ty’s room slam and chuckled. The kid had just gotten a call from a girl and bolted to his room for privacy. It felt good having him around, hearing noise in his impossibly quiet house. Funny how he’d always loved the solitude. Until he’d brought Angelita home and seen her in his kitchen, his bed, his life. Damn it, he had to stop thinking about her every second of every day. It would help if he couldn’t still smell her on his sheets.

  Ty bounded down the stairs a moment later, red-faced and acting as if nothing had happened. “Everything okay?” Jesse asked.

  Ty shrugged, slumped over his math book at the kitchen table. “Yeah, just a homework question.” He chewed the end of his pencil. “No big deal.”

  Jesse decided to let it go, for now. He had lots of time to wiggle information out of Ty now that he’d be staying the week with him while Kerri Ann and Bryce took some time to plan their wedding and enjoy their engagement. “I’m going to make chili with some of Cal’s venison. That okay with you?”

  “Sure, whatever,” Ty said, already tuning him out.

  Jesse had his head in the freezer when his cell rang. When he didn’t recognize the number, he stepped outside on the porch. “Hello?” He could hear the sound of cars zooming past and the whistle of wind in the receiver.

  “Jess, man, what the hell did you get me into?”

  “Mike?” he asked. “Where are you?”

  “I’m at a pay phone—you wouldn’t believe how hard those are to find these days. I swear to God, man, the next time you ask for a favor, I’m going to run in the opposite direction.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “That guy you asked me to check out, the Brazilian consul? Whatever you do, I suggest you stay as far away from him as possible.”

  “What’d you find out?”

  “Nothing, other than the fact that he’s under investigation by the Feds for brokering companies to smuggle drugs into the U.S.”

  “Are you serious?” Jesse could feel the phone slipping in his sweaty palm and his heart rate spike.

  “I’m not sure who I’m more scared of at this point, the Feds for investigating every facet of my life or him. My apartment got trashed.”

  “Jesus, Mike. I’m sorry, man. I didn’t know.”

  “I’m going to take you at your word and assume that’s true because if you had any idea, I’d have to kill you. This has seriously fucked with my life, not to mention my career.”

  “Shit.” Jesse’s brain bounced in more directions than he could count. “Is there anything I can do?”

  “Hold tight, my friend, because the Feds are about to crawl up your ass. I had to explain why I was poking around the consulate when I’m supposed to be writing about the new panda cub at the zoo.”

  “Be careful, Mike, and I owe you big time.”

  “That’s the understatement of the year.” He cleared his throat. “Watch your back, man, that guy’s bad news.”

  ***

  Cal had just walked Betsy Callahan to her car and watched the young woman drive away after she’d spent three hours cleaning the small cabin and getting it ready to rent when the sound of tires on the drive made him turn around. He knew Jesse was disappointed about Lita leaving without a word, but that was no excuse for driving like a maniac up the slope.

  “I’m glad you’re here.” Jesse hopped out of the car and pulled Ty’s duffle from the trunk. “I need you to watch Ty for a few days.”

  “Where the hell are you going?” The look on his son’s face and the concern in Ty’s eyes had him worried.

  “Atlanta. I don’t know how long I’ll be gone, but I promised Kerri Ann I’d let Ty stay with me for a few days and now I need him to stay with you. Is that a problem?”

  He smiled at Ty. “Of course that’s not a problem, but why are you going to Atlanta?” Like he didn’t already know. “Does this have something to do with Lita?”

  Jesse tossed the duffle to Ty. “Go unpack while I talk to your granddad.” He watched until Ty had gone into Cal’s house and the screen door had slammed behind him. “I’m going to find her. I think I know why she left. I think she’s in trouble.”

  “What kind of trouble?”

  “I can’t go into it now, but, trust me, she needs some help.”

  “What the hell are you talking about?” Cal laid a hand on Jesse’s tense shoulder and squeezed. “Look, Jess, I know you’re upset about her leaving, but you can’t just shuck your responsibilities here and run after her. You two barely know each other.”

  Cal saw a muscle in Jesse’s jaw clench. “I’m in love with her.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous.” He regretted the words as soon as he saw the angry look in Jesse’s eyes. “Don’t you think you’re rushing things a bit?”

  Jesse glared at Cal. He had to work at not squirming under the weight of his stare. “How many times do you think I’ve heard the story of how you and Mom met? What did it take you, Dad? Two hours to fall in love?”

  “That was different.”

  “You’re right, I’ve had about three hundred more hours to figure it out.” He pulled the hands he’d angrily stuffed in his pockets out and held them in front of him. “Look, if you can’t help, that’s fine. I’m sure Kerri Ann would understand.” He started off toward Cal’s house.

  “Wait just a minute,” Cal called, surprised when Jesse turned around right away. Maybe he wasn’t the only one who wanted to make up. “What kind of trouble is she in?”

  “Something to do with her father and her company. I can’t get into the details. I just need to go see for myself that she’s okay.”

  His pleading look said it all. “Go on, then. Just call me when you find her, let me know you’re both okay.”

  He rushed back to the car. “I will. Thanks.”

  Watching Jesse’s relief, his eagerness to get to Lita, made him realize how little credit he’d given his son. He’d fallen in love with a wonderful woman, someone who could make him happy, someone he could build a life with. Hell, he was half in love with her himself. “Wait just a second,” Cal said before Jesse closed the door. “I’ll be right back.”

  He rushed into the house, back to his bedroom to the carved wooden box next to the picture of his own beautiful woman. “I think it’s time, Ellie,” he said to her smiling face.

  Jesse sat in the car, his fingers impatiently tapping th
e steering wheel. He hopped out when he saw Cal running. “What is it, Dad? I need to get going.”

  Cal stretched out his hand and uncurled his fingers. Ellie’s rings sat in his palm, still as bright and beautiful as the day he’d given them to her. “These were your mother’s. She’d want you to have them.”

  Jesse stared at Cal, his hands jammed into his pockets. He cleared his throat before speaking. “I’d be honored.”

  Cal smiled and stuffed them into Jesse’s palm. “Go get our girl, then.”

  Chapter 30

  Sophie sat behind the counter, collected the checks from the register, and scrolled through the names at the top of each check. It was a habit she’d picked up lately, in the last three weeks to be exact, to try them out for size. “Amanda?” She scrunched her nose and moved on. “Carlyle?” No way. “Sarah?” Classic, she thought, and Steve would approve. Definite maybe. When the door chimed, she stuffed them back under the cash drawer and looked up.

  It was strange enough to see a guy walk through the door of Angelita Feet, but to see one so clearly out of his element put a smirky smile on her face as she stood to greet the customer. He had windblown dirty-blond hair, a chiseled jaw, and enough character around his eyes to make her queasy stomach tingle. He walked into the store the way she imagined him walking into any room, his loose limbed gait relaxed and yet purposeful enough to make every head turn in his direction. She may have been married and pregnant, but she sure as hell wasn’t dead.

  “Can I help you with something?” His hazel eyes homed in on her like a laser.

  “I’m looking for Angelita Barros. Is she in?”

  My, my, my…where did Lita stumble across someone so…manly? “She’s out at the moment. Is there anything I can help you with? I’m her business partner.”

  “Sophie?”

  “Yes, Mr…?”

  “Jesse.” He held out his hand. “Jesse Bloodworth.”

  The name didn’t sound familiar, but the pieces of the puzzle started clicking together in her brain as she placed her hand in his calloused one. This had to be Lita’s mountain man. “Mr. Bloodworth, as in Bloodworth Cabins?”

  He grinned and Sophie knew right away why Lita looked so lonely since she’d come back. “That’s my dad’s deal.” He cleared his throat. “Listen, I really need to find Angelita. Do you know where she is?”

  “She had some errands to run and then I think she was heading home.” She watched his brows draw together and his smile fade. “Was she expecting you?”

  “Ah…no, she wasn’t.” He looked around the shop, rubbed his hand over his day-old stubble, and when his eyes came back to hers she studied him curiously. “Look, Sophie, I think she’s in trouble. In fact, I know she is. I really need to find her.”

  “Is this about her father?”

  “She told you about him?”

  “Well, she said he’d forced her into brokering our vendors.” Her stomach clenched in worry. “Is there something else?” The door chimed again when two young women entered and began browsing. “I’ll be with you in a minute,” Sophie said over his shoulder and turned her attention back to Jesse.

  “Does she know why he wants to broker the materials?”

  “No. We’re both a bit stumped, but apparently he made some pretty serious threats about our safety if we didn’t cooperate.” Sophie reached out and clutched his arm. “Jesse, do you know something about Davi?”

  He pulled her over to the register when the customers came within earshot. “I had a friend look into it for me. Well, for Angelita. He’s under investigation with the DEA.”

  “Oh my God, you mean…the Drug Enforcement Administration?” Could she have sounded like more of an idiot? “Are you sure?”

  “Yes. Has she signed anything or done anything to make the deal legal?”

  “No.” She gripped the counter before she fell over. “We’ve got a meeting set up with him in a couple of days. Lita wanted an attorney to look over the contract he faxed over yesterday.”

  “Good.” Sophie saw his shoulders relax and then tense again when one of the women interrupted.

  “Do you have this sandal in size eight?” she asked.

  “I’ll check on that for you.” She then looked back at Jesse. “Lita had a meeting with an attorney this afternoon.” She pulled a piece of paper from behind the register and wrote down her address. “Here’s her home address and cell number. I’d give you the address to the attorney’s office, but I don’t know it.”

  He squeezed her arm and flashed a cunning smile. “Thanks.” He walked briskly out the door. She watched him stride out of the store like a long-legged gunslinger, admired his backside, and then went into the storeroom to look for the sandal. She prayed Lita’s gorgeous mountain man would save them from making a huge and potentially dangerous mistake with her father.

  ***

  Lita felt her phone vibrate in her purse and picked it up as she sat in the reception area of McAlister, Henry, and Smith, PC. When she didn’t recognize the number, she ignored it and threw the phone back in her bag. The half sandwich she’d eaten for lunch felt like a brick in her stomach. She’d met Barton Smith at a social function she’d attended with Sophie and he’d hit on her throughout the night with all the confidence of a buzzed egomaniac. She’d refused flatly and hadn’t given him a second thought until Steve’s recommendation.

  Steve had freaked out, as Sophie said he would, and then sent her to what he termed the best corporate law firm in the city. She’d already faxed Bart the contract, two pages of legal mumbo jumbo that seemed too small a document to chain her to her father forever. Thankfully, his pretty secretary retrieved her from the waiting area and led her to his office before she’d drawn blood twisting her ring around her finger.

  “Lita,” Bart said, his too bright smile and thousand dollar suit as glaring as the sun through the floor-to-ceiling windows of his office. “Come on in and have a seat.” He shook her hand in the way some men do, all wrist and no grip, as if her dainty self would melt under decent pressure. The last thing she wanted was a limp-wristed attorney. “Can I get you something to drink?”

  “No,” she said and heard the impatience in her voice. The million reasons she’d turned him down flooded her with as much anxiety as the contract she hoped he could decipher. “I’m fine.” She sat in the straight-backed chair in front of his desk and crossed her hands over her lap, tried to control her nerves. “So, what do you think?”

  “Everything looks good. It’s pretty straight forward, but thorough. You’ll relinquish control of importing textiles including, but not limited to, leathers, fabrics, and exotics to Davi Barros upon your and Sophie’s signature.” He sat back in his chair and pulled his tie out with both hands, a nervous gesture she’d seem him do the only other time their paths had crossed. “If you don’t mind my asking,” he sat up and flashed his capped teeth, “why are you agreeing to give up this much control over your company? I know he’s your dad, but, from what Steve told me, you and Sophie built this thing from the ground up.”

  Lita ground her teeth and wondered how little of the truth she should sprinkle into the mound of bull she was about to shovel. “I don’t know if Steve told you, but Sophie’s expecting.” His surprised expression told her he hadn’t known. “She’ll have less time to devote to the business and, well…” She crossed her fingers. “Who better to look over my needs than family?”

  “Of course.” He nodded his head as if her explanation said it all and got to his feet. Bart walked her to the door, cradling her elbow as if she were ninety and couldn’t make the six steps without his assistance. “Be sure to give Sophie my congratulations.”