Sweet Hearts

by Connie Shelton

Her joy at seeing how much her customers appreciated them—how could it all have backfired on her so drastically?

  She started her truck and pulled away from the curb. A half block away she spotted that distinctive silver Lexus. Felicia was still here in the neighborhood. Perhaps even inside the small inn at the end of the block. Sam felt a momentary urge to ram the car and then sprint along the row of buildings, to find Felicia and slap her way-too-pretty face. The image made her feel a little better but that sort of confrontation wasn’t her style.

  She waited at the corner for a break in the traffic, realizing that it had been a long day and she was exhausted. The drive to Albuquerque, the knowledge that a rival was after Beau—Sam decided to go home and lock her fragile emotions away for the night. In the morning, in a better state of mind, she would have to decide how to address this with Beau.

  Down inside her pocket her phone buzzed but she ignored it.

  Kelly’s red car sat in the driveway at the house and lights glowed from the kitchen and living room windows, a welcoming sight. But the peace was short lived.

  “Mom, what is going on between you and Beau?” Kelly demanded before Sam had even taken off her coat. Her daughter stood at the refrigerator, browsing the food choices. “He just called here, sounding kind of shaken up. He wants you to call him.”

  Sam hung up her coat, taking her time about it, then reached into her pocket for her phone. Sure enough, the missed call came from Beau’s number.

  Kelly stared at her.

  “Either choose something or close the door,” Sam said, nodding toward the fridge.

  Kelly closed it and watched her mother cross the room. “You okay?”

  Sam took a deep breath. “Probably.”

  “You obviously need a minute. I’ll be in my room.”

  Sam filled the kettle with water and looked for a packet of her favorite raspberry spiced tea. The good part about a call from Beau was that he probably wasn’t locked away in a hotel room with Felicia. She held that thought while she dialed him.

  “Hey, where were you? Ortiz said you stopped by.” His tone was a little hesitant.

  “Where were you? She said you were in your office but I didn’t find you anywhere.” She took a deep breath. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to be—”

  “I, uh, just had to step out for a minute. Why didn’t you wait?”

  The kettle whistled and Sam turned off the burner.

  “Darlin’, really. I wasn’t avoiding you.”

  “I found the chocolates on your desk. I brought them home with me, in case you were wondering.”

  “Oh, that.”

  “She was there, wasn’t she?”

  “Sam, I think we need to have this conversation in person. Can I come by?”

  This could degenerate into a fight at this point or she could cool it down. “I’m tired, Beau. It’s been a long day.”

  “Sam, nothing happened. I promise you.”

  She stared at the dark kitchen window. The wall phone rang. “I better get that,” she said. “I’ll talk to you in the morning.”

  What now? She clicked off Beau’s call and reached for the other phone.

  “Ms Sweet? This is Diane Milton. Marla Fresques wanted me to call you.”

  “Oh, dear, is she okay?” Sam’s mental gears switched from her own problems to the much more serious ones Marla faced.

  “She’s in the hospital. I wanted to let you know that Jolie is staying with us. She knows that her grandmother is sick but Marla has been really obstinate about any of us letting the girl know how bad it is.”

  That’s not good, Sam thought.

  “She’s pinning a lot of hope on your getting her son to come home. I guess she thinks that if Jolie has the positive news that her dad is back it’ll make losing her grandmother easier to handle.”

  “What does the doctor say, about how long . . .?”

  “They don’t tell us much, mainly because I’m not related. But I get the feeling we might be down to a matter of days or weeks. They’ve recommended hospice care.”

  Sam stared at the teabag in her cup, where the water had become darker than coffee.

  “Diane, I have to be frank with you. I’ve made almost no progress toward finding Tito, and the authorities aren’t pursuing the case at all.”

  “I was afraid of that.”

  “I don’t want to put it quite that bluntly to Marla,” Sam said, “but I can’t really give her any false hope, either.”

  “I know. Just do what you can.” Diane hung up after giving her Marla’s room number at the hospital.

  Sam carried her tea to the table and dropped into one of the chairs. Marla dying, Felicia coming after Beau, the crazy schedule at her shop. And she was supposed to be moving to Beau’s house today and getting married two days after that. Something had to give.

  She picked up her cell phone and speed-dialed.

  “Beau, you’re right, we better talk tonight.” As she clicked off she choked back a sob.

  Chapter 14

  Three minutes later, flashing red and blue lights bounced through her kitchen window. Well, one benefit of dating a law enforcement man was that when you said now, he came now. Sam bit back the smile that tickled at her mouth, dumping the scrap of ironic humor into the muddle of her other emotions.

  Heavy steps hit the service porch and a second later he was in the kitchen. When he spotted her at the table he crossed the room in three strides.

  “Darlin’, what’s—”

  She stood up and let him pull her to his chest. The outdoor chill on his coat felt good against her hot skin. Somewhere behind her she heard Kelly’s bedroom door open, a little exclamation, then the door closed again. Sam allowed herself to cave, sobbing until she became aware of Beau’s hands making wide circles on her back, his breathing steady in her ear.

  “Shall we sit down?” he finally asked.

  Her head shook against his chest. “I can’t move.”

  He took her shoulders and stepped back, trying to make her meet his gaze.

  “Have you eaten anything all day?” he asked. “You look plain tuckered out.”

  She sighed. “I can’t remember. I think I had something in Albuquerque.”

  “Well, that was too many hours and too many miles ago. Let me find you something.” He steered her back to her chair and pressed her into it.

  He sat patiently while she worked on a bowl of vegetable soup. When she’d finished, he cleared the dishes and sat facing her.

  “Better?”

  She nodded.

  “Okay, now that you can be a little bit coherent again, you want to tell me what this is all about?”

  She took a deep breath. Where to start? “Several things, I guess. I just learned that Marla Fresques is dying, probably soon. I feel so obligated to follow up to find her son. She begged me, Beau. She may only have a few days.”

  He nodded slowly. “I’ll do what I can to help. Somehow, I’ll make time for it.”

  “I’m also getting a little freaked about moving and the wedding. It’s coming up so fast.”

  He stared at her intently. “Are you changing your mind?” His voice came out barely above a whisper.

  “I don’t think so. But I need to know if you are.” Her blood felt as if it were racing through her veins. “Felicia Black. I need to know.”

  His gaze slid to the box of chocolates sitting across the table. Sam lifted the lid, revealing that two pieces were missing.

  “She gave you those, right?” Sam asked.

  “Darlin’, don’t worry. I got your message. I didn’t eat any.” He reached out to run his fingers down her arm. “I don’t understand why, but I didn’t touch ’em.”

  Sam flipped the lid back onto the box. As if the mere sight or smell of the candy might bewitch him.

  “There’s just something about this particular batch . . .” She wasn’t quite sure how to explain it. Was the love-inducing power specific to the giver and receiver of the gift? Or did it simply
work on anyone who got in its way?

  “Were you there when she brought them?” she asked, hating the whine of jealousy that crept into her voice.

  “I was.”

  “Did she . . .” Damn, it was hard to phrase the questions without sounding like a shrew.

  “Sam, she did come on to me.” He paused a fraction of a second too long. Realized it. “She kissed me. I stepped away, walked to the back door of the squad room and showed her out. Last I saw of her she was throwing me the finger along with a few choice words.”

  Sam found herself smiling at that image.

  “So? Are these things tainted or something? Why didn’t you want me to eat them? You would never let bad food out of your shop.”

  “No, they’re not tainted.” She chewed at her lip. “I don’t really know how to explain it. Everyone who eats them seems to become very attracted to someone . . . And, well, I knew Felicia was coming after you.”

  She told him about the remarks she’d overheard Felicia make to Jen at the shop.

  “So that’s it.” She shrugged. “I have to admit that I was afraid she might really win you back and with these things— You might actually fall for it.”

  He lifted the lid and peeked cautiously at the chocolates.

  Sam said. “Who took the two pieces?”

  Beau thought for a minute. “My bet would be on Rico. I’d said something about how you didn’t want me eating any chocolate and he asked if I didn’t want them anymore. I didn’t say anything, but I’ll bet he came back and took a couple.” His mouth twitched. “In fact, an hour or so after the box arrived I caught him in one of the back rooms, kind of off to himself, talking on the phone in a very suggestive voice. He like to have jumped a mile when I spoke to him. He blushed and covered the phone.”

  “You think—”

  “I think he was having phone sex. He’s got this cute little girlfriend. Maybe they—”

  “Oh my.” Her eyes went wide.

  “He came in a few minutes later, kind of jittery, said he had a bad headache coming on, wanted to go home for prescription medication.” He rolled his eyes. “I had to let him go.”

  Sam pictured the deputy dashing home for a quickie and they both erupted in laughter at the same moment.

  At least Rico’s antics proved that the chocolates worked on anyone who ate them, not specifically the person who received them as a gift. And she hoped Rico’s lust was solely directed at his girlfriend and not just any woman who crossed his path.

  “Unless you want your whole department going on some kind of love-binge, I think you need to keep this candy away from the office.”

  “This stuff, it’s just for you and me.” He closed the box. “So. Felicia problem solved. Marla’s problem, we will work on.” He stared at the center of the table. “Wedding. What do you want to do?”

  “I want to marry you.” She waited until he met her gaze and then she repeated it. “But I can’t cope with the push to do it in two days’ time. There’s too much going on right now. I feel like I was crazy to buy into the whole idea that it would be so romantic to do it on Valentine’s Day.”

  “Fine with me.” He reached out and took her hands. “Darlin’, I want our life together to be happy. The marriage can’t be a source of stress for us.”

  “Thank you.” She sent him a little smile. “You’re sure?”

  He nodded.

  “Kelly’s probably starving by now. I kind of banished her to her room, I’m not sure how long ago.”

  “We’ll fix it.” He walked to the closed bedroom door and tapped. “Safe to come out now.”

  Kelly emerged cautiously. “You guys okay? I was getting a little worried in there.”

  At Sam’s inquiry about dinner, Kelly admitted that she’d broken into her stash of late-night snack food, filling up on peanut butter crackers and trail mix.

  “We’ve decided to put the wedding off for a few days,” Sam said. “I’m sorry. I know you pictured how beautiful it would be at Valentine’s Day but I just can’t handle the bakery business and my own wedding at the same time.”

  She purposely didn’t mention Felicia, although there was no doubt Kelly had overheard a few juicy tidbits on the subject.

  “So, I could help out by calling the guests,” Kelly offered. “Gramma and Grampa will be kind of upset.”

  “Oh, why? They’re used to me by now aren’t they?” Sam half-joked. From the day she’d skipped out of west Texas at the age of eighteen she’d had the feeling her parents disapproved of most of her lifestyle choices. This could just be another checkmark on her mother’s I-told-you-so list.

  “Who else do I need to add to the call list?” Kelly was asking. “Florist? Judge?”

  “At least the baker got the word in time. I won’t have a cancellation charge there,” Sam said, feeling her old sense of humor returning. “If you’ll contact the others, I’ll call Zoë. She better hear this from me or she’ll freak.”

  Kelly headed toward the computer desk in the living room, the portable phone in her hand. For most of the guests an email would suffice. But the grandparents better get the word by phone. They were supposed to be in the car heading to New Mexico first thing in the morning.

  Zoë took the news well, Sam thought, considering that she’d probably rearranged her living room, stocked a bunch of extra food, and turned down bookings at the B&B to dedicate her home to Sam’s wedding.

  “Samantha, are you sure you’re all right?” she kept asking. “Never mind about the extra food. Most of it can go into the freezer. And if you don’t reschedule the wedding and use it soon—well, our skiers will just get some exotic breakfasts for the next few weeks.”

  Beau stayed with Sam at the table, holding her hand, until she decided she’d been a baby about it long enough.

  “Really, hon, I feel fine. Just giving myself a few extra breathing days makes my whole outlook a lot less strained. How about some dessert?” She started to head toward the cupboards but noticed that he was eyeing the box of chocolates.

  He wiggled his eyebrows. She craned her neck to be sure Kelly was tied up on the phone.

  “You staying over?” she whispered.

  At his nod, they both reached for the box at the same time. Four truffles later, they were ready to jump each other. Then Kelly showed up in the doorway.

  “I reached Grampa. You’ll have to call him tomorrow, Mom. He was a little freaked. Left messages for the florist and judge. They won’t get them until Monday morning, I’m sure, but at least it’s a little bit of notice. Friends are all notified. I’d recommend you don’t answer the phone tonight or you won’t ever get to bed.”

  She stopped, mouth open, ready to say something else, but she’d caught the electricity in the air. “Okay, I’m sensing that’s not going to be a problem and I’m leaving you two alone right this minute.”

  She backed out of the doorway, holding her hands over her ears, la-la-la-ing all the way to her own room. A minute later they could hear booming rock music from behind her door.

  “Oh god, now that’s just too embarrassing,” Sam said.

  “We’ll get over it,” he whispered in her ear, switching out the kitchen light.

  Chapter 15

  Kelly was gone when Sam and Beau emerged from the bedroom Sunday morning. A note on the kitchen table: I got into your candy last night. Sorry. Will be at Ryan’s until further notice. She’d signed it with a smiley face.

  “Oh, man, I’m learning too much here,” Sam said, picking up the note by a corner and dropping it into the trash. “Is it really a good idea for mothers and daughters to know details of each others’ sex lives?”

  Beau walked up behind her and snaked an arm around her waist. “You’re both adults. Plus, you aren’t exactly sharing details—yet.”

  “Yikes, Beau. It’s almost the same. She saw us fawning all over each other last night and now I know she’s gone off to do the same. And I haven’t even met this Ryan yet.”

  He peeked in
to the candy box. “Looks like a third of it is gone. She may not be home for a week.”

  Sam covered her eyes. “I don’t want to see this or hear about it.”

  “Then we’ll just set this out of harm’s way.” He set the lid in place and tucked the box into a lower cupboard, far toward the back. “You know, just because we’re putting off the wedding doesn’t mean you can’t go ahead and move out to my place. You and Kelly wouldn’t be quite so knowing of each other’s movements that way.”

  “You’re right,” Sam told him, “but I’ve barely started packing all those boxes in the bedroom.”

  “In that case, how about a breakfast burrito out somewhere?”

  Sunday mornings at their favorite little Mexican place were usually crazy and today was no exception. They got a table after about a fifteen minute wait, and with a cup of good, strong coffee Sam’s mind was beginning to focus on things other than Beau’s physique.

  “Help me think through this situation with Tito Fresques,” Sam said while they waited for their order. She filled him in on her interviews with Lisa Tombo and the co-workers.

  “Well, Lisa’s comment to you about his being nervous his final day at work might be the best clue we have,” Beau said, glancing around the room in hopes of getting a coffee refill. “But she didn’t know what it was that set him on edge?”

  “She says she didn’t.”

  “And she didn’t recognize the man who came looking for him later?”

  “Lisa didn’t but I think it was probably the auditor that Bill Champion told me about.”

  “An auditor’s presence could easily account for Tito’s nerves. I can make a few calls, maybe get hold of his security file. Everyone who works at a place like Bellworth, from the scientists to the typists gets a very thorough clearance investigation. Now that he’s been gone ten years, maybe even a small town sheriff like myself can find out what was in it, and that might lead us somewhere.”

  “Thanks, hon. It would really help me out. I feel obligated to Marla now. She’s so scared that she’ll die and there won’t be anyone to raise Jolie. It’s a sad situation.” Sam reached across the table and took his hand. “I have your case file in the truck.”