“Woodbury will reimburse us.”
“Yeah, still. I just wish we had more time is all. That we could have stayed here until we had the cash and then we could have moved.”
“We would have missed out on the rental spaces.”
“I know,” Edith said, almost irritated. “I know all that. I’m sorry. I just feel like there is still a big margin for error, and I can’t afford for this not to go exactly the way Zach promised it would.”
“Neither can I, babe,” I said, reaching over and putting a hand on her knee. “We have to have faith. This will all work out just as it should, and look on the bright side. In less than a month, we’ll be in brand-new stores with way more storage, big windows, and more floor space. It’s going to be totally worth it.”
“I hope so,” Edith mumbled.
We dropped the subject when Lily returned. I packed up our empty lunch containers, and the three of us got back to packing.
Well, Edith and I packed. Lily moved around the shop and played under tables while we worked.
Another good thing about the new location was that it was only an eight-minute walk from where Lily would be starting school come September. I’d be able to drop her off and go straight to work to open the shop. Michelle would be back to work by then, and she’d take Lily in the afternoons and then drop her off with me between four and five like we used to.
Everything would go back to normal. Well, normal-ish.
Zach was coming back. I knew he was. I didn’t know what that reality was going to look like for us, but I was curious, excited, and ready to see where it took us.
He was good for me, and he was excellent for Lily.
We spent another two hours packing. My back ached, and my neck was stiff as hell, so I stepped outside to take a break and call Zach.
Just like yesterday, he didn’t answer. He’d left me a message, so I decided to leave him one too.
“Hey, Suit,” I said, smiling as his nickname left my lips. “I just wanted to say hi. Thanks for keeping me posted about the paperwork. It was nice just to hear your voice. I hope all is well, and you’re not having too much fun without us. Anyway, that’s all I guess. Call me when you can. Bye.”
I slid my phone in the back pocket of my jeans and took a couple extra minutes alone outside. I stared at the mall. The villain.
It had stood there just as defiantly as I was over the last couple years. Soon, it would have its grand opening, and I was glad I wouldn’t be there to see it happen. I knew it would only make me upset, and there was no sense in it. Not anymore.
I’d let it ruin so much for me.
It had made me bitter and angry when I had the option to choose something else. I had the option to leave and start fresh and make the choice that was best for me and my daughter. Instead, I’d chosen to stay and fight like I was some sort of medieval warlord hellbent on keeping her territory.
It was just a retail space. I could make the next place even better, and change was almost always a good thing. There would be more opportunities, and I would be exposed to more people. Fresh faces, new ideas, new vibes, and a second chance.
Even though I was leaving, the mall hadn’t won. I had. I felt it in my bones.
I went back inside and joined Lily and Edith. Edith had Lily folding olive-green leggings and putting them at the bottom of a box while she took shirts off hangers to fold them up neatly. She glanced up at me. “Did you get a hold of him?”
I shook my head. “No, but I didn’t expect to. He’s got a lot on his plate. We’ll hear from him soon, I’m sure. Really soon.”
Lily finished packing the box. “Done!”
Edith smiled down at her. “Excellent job, Lily. Thank you. You’re such a good helper. Can you grab me the tape so we can close it up?”
Lily nodded and walked around the table in search of the tape. She couldn’t find it, so I joined in the search.
“How does this happen every single time?” I asked, scratching my head. “It’s like wrapping Christmas gifts. I swear it just wanders away.”
Lily giggled. “No, it doesn’t. Tape can’t walk, Momma.”
“All right, smarty pants. Just keep looking.” I laughed.
Chapter 35
Zach
I’d been the talk of the office for the whole two weeks since I’d come back from Austin with Senna and Edith’s signatures on the paperwork. I liked the attention—and loved how much it pissed Ryan off.
On Monday morning, I was the first to arrive. I had my coffee in hand as I sat at my desk, kicked up my heels, and called Senna.
Her voice filled the speaker like honey. “Well hello, stranger.”
“Hey,” I said, glad I was alone in the office so nobody could see me grinning like a school boy. “How are you?”
“I’m good. You?”
“Good,” I said.
There was a brief pause as both of us waited for the other to lead the conversation. We hadn’t spoken hardly at all since I returned to Orlando. Senna was busy packing up her shop and finalizing everything with her new landlord, and I was buried up to my head in paperwork and filing and meetings at the office. After successfully closing one of the most difficult files Woodbury Enterprises had handled in nearly seven years, I was asked to do training meetings once a week for my fellow employees and some members of management.
Ryan was included in the management group, and watching him squirm during the weekly Wednesday meetings amused me greatly.
“How are things at the store?” I asked.
Senna sighed. “It’s weird. The whole shop is basically empty, give or take a few basic things like my cash register and what not. Edith has cleared her shop out too, and everything is already in the new retail spaces. It’s been a trying couple of weeks, but I’m glad the end is in sight. It’s going to feel so good to be back open for business and not have to worry about whether or not my next customer is going to be my last. You know?”
“I get it. You’re going to do great, Senna. I know you are.”
I could hear the smile in her voice. “Thank you. I miss you. Do you think you’ll be able to come back soon?”
I frowned and drummed my fingers on my desk. “It’s not that simple. I’m at the mercy of Woodbury and when he processes your paperwork. I wish it didn’t have to be that way.”
“You can’t come for a few days just to visit?”
“If I did and they got to your contracts, I might miss my chance to oversee the processing. And I want to make sure everything goes smoothly.”
“I’m sure it will,” she said.
“Me too, but I have to say this case is more important to me than the others. You understand?”
“Of course I do.”
I missed holding her and kissing her. And God, did I miss lying in bed with her. She’d been on my mind for the last two weeks, and she appeared in almost all of my dreams. Sometimes, the dreams were short and sweet, and we’d do something mundane like get blended iced coffees together. Other times, she’d be nude, and we’d be tangled up in each other.
All of the dreams were good dreams.
“Hammel!”
I looked up from my desk. Ryan was standing at the front of the office. He lifted his hand and curled his fingers in a come-hither motion.
“Hey, Senna? I have to go. My boss is calling me.”
“Maybe this is it,” she said hopefully.
“Crazier things have happened. We’ll talk soon, okay?”
“Okay.”
I hung up the phone and stood up, fixing my suit jacket as I walked between the rows of desks and joined Ryan at the front of the office. “What’s up?”
“Woodbury wants to see you.”
It took a lot of mental concentration for me to keep my expression neutral. “Now?”
“No, next Thursday at three. Yes now.”
“All right,” I said, holding up both hands. “Cease fire, man. I’m going.”
I didn’t have to wait in the waiting ro
om outside Woodbury’s office this time. His receptionist showed me in as soon as the elevators spat me out on the top floor, and I found the man himself sitting at his desk, reading a car magazine.
He flipped it closed and turned it over when I walked in. He stood up and leaned across his desk to shake my hand. “Zach, good to see you. Please, have a seat.”
I sat. “How have you been, sir?”
“Very well. Excellent after reading of your success in Austin. You are a diamond in the rough, son. I could smell it on you the first time you set foot in this office. I knew you were going to do great things, and here we are.”
“Here we are,” I said, trying to sound as cool and calm as possible. Woodbury didn’t need to know that my stomach was a tight knot of nerves.
The billionaire clasped his hands together on his desk and leaned forward. “I’ve been thinking.”
“Yes?” I encouraged.
“Proper reward is important to keep guys like you happy in this line of work. Motivated. You know, to keep you on the right track so that you continue doing the right work for me and my company.” He paused again.
I didn’t like that I had to keep fishing and that he wouldn’t come out with it. So, I waited.
Woodbury looked me in the eyes. “I want to offer you a promotion, son.”
I remained perfectly still. “I’m not afraid to admit that this is the outcome I hoped for.”
Woodbury grinned. “Excellent! Then consider yourself a new member of my elite team of corporate developers. You have the rest of the week to get your affairs in order. Then you’ll be moving up here to this floor. I’ll do a little meet and greet for you next Monday morning so you get familiar with the other men in the inner circle, and then we’ll be on our way.” He leaned in close and dropped his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “You have no idea the money you’re going to be making working with me, son. No idea.”
My heart beat a mile a minute. My palms were sweaty. It took everything I had not to leap into the air for joy and throw my arms around him in a celebratory hug.
I pushed down my impulse as he got to his feet and shook my hand once more. I pushed my chair back. “Sir, can we discuss a couple details about the Woodbury project before I leave?”
Woodbury nodded graciously. “By all means. Ask away.”
I refrained from tugging at my collar which felt suddenly tighter than usual. “I’ve been in touch with Senna Camden recently, one of the owners of the two businesses we had to move for the parking lot construction, and she hasn’t received her payment to cover moving costs. Do you have an ETA on that so I can let her know what to expect?”
“An ETA?” Woodbury blinked at me.
“Yes, an estimated time of—”
“I know what it means, son,” Woodbury said. He wasn’t rude. He shrugged. “Listen. I don’t care what you tell her. You can phrase it however you want with that silver tongue of yours. But she won’t see a dime from us.”
My stomach fell right out of my gut. “I beg your pardon?”
Woodbury shrugged. “You know how it is, kid. We can’t pay out all the businesses. Especially not ones that weren’t making any money anyway. This is how we keep our margins small and our profits high. Tell her whatever you think will get her off your back and then cut ties.”
“Since when have we been doing business like this?”
“Well, since always,” Woodbury said, a note of laughter in his voice. “I know it’s a hard pill to swallow at first, but when you start seeing all those zeros at the end of your checks you’ll get the bigger picture.”
“I’m not sure I will.”
“Trust me kid, you will. Now, not to be rude, but I have to kick you out of here. I have another meeting in fifteen, and I’d like to finish this article before they show up. We’ll talk next week. Oh, and a tip for making a good impression on your new colleagues?”
I stared blankly at him, not really processing the words coming out of his mouth.
Woodbury winked at me. “Wear a more expensive suit.”
My mind reeled on the elevator ride back down to my current floor. When it opened, I was still in a fog of confusion.
Was this really how my company had been doing things? Had I singlehandedly destroyed dozens of businesses all to make myself a few bucks? How had I not known? How had I been so fucking blind?
Senna had been right all along.
Senna. Fuck.
“So, what did Woodbury want?” Ryan asked, falling into step beside me as I walked to my desk.
“Not now, Ryan.”
“I’m your boss. You don’t get to give me that ‘not now’ bullshit.” He grabbed my sleeve and jerked me to a stop.
Other employees had arrived to start their day. Greg was at his desk beside mine. Juliette sat at hers in front of mine, and she gave me her usual fuck-me eyes as we locked gazes for a brief moment. Then I tugged my arm out of Ryan’s grip.
“Woodbury promoted me.”
Ryan’s mouth tightened into a firm line.
Juliette popped up from her seat and started clapping. Greg and the others joined her. I walked around Ryan and dropped into my chair, taking off my glasses to massage the bridge of my nose. I rubbed at my eyes and put them back on as the confusion melted away and was replaced by anger. White-hot anger.
Fuck Woodbury and his expensive whiskey.
“Did you accept the job?” Juliette asked, spinning her chair to face me. Her eyes were bright with excitement. She was genuinely happy for me.
I rubbed the back of my neck. “Yeah.”
She frowned. “Why don’t you seem happy about it?”
I studied her. “Did you know Woodbury isn’t paying out the businesses we acquire for him?”
Her brow creased. “Sorry?”
“He’s not paying them,” I said again. “Hasn’t been for who the fuck knows how long. And yet here we are, making false promises to good people trying to make an honest living and—”
“Hammel,” Ryan snapped, shooting me a dark look. “This is not the time or place for such things.”
I laughed. “Shove it, Ryan. You’re not my boss anymore.”
The room buzzed with whispers. Ryan trembled like a bomb about to explode before turning on his heel and marching to his office, where he slammed the door so hard the blinds on his windows danced and swayed.
Juliette leaned on my desk. “Can you explain to me what you were saying? He’s not following through with his end of his deals?”
“Nope,” I said. “He’s swindling them. And us.”
“Jackass,” she breathed.
“Tell me about it. Now I have to call and explain to my contact that the money she was promised isn’t coming.” I pinched the bridge of my nose.
That would destroy everything.
Chapter 36
Senna
Lily plunged both hands into the polka-dot bowl filled with raw cookie dough. “It’s slimy!”
I laughed as she squished it between her fingers while I turned the bowl in slow circles. “It is when it’s not cooked, bunny. Because of the eggs.”
“Ew.”
“Keep squishing. They’re almost ready to be put on the pan.”
After the dough was all mixed together, Lily and I scooped one-inch balls onto a lined cookie sheet and spaced them apart. The cookies were chocolate chip, Lily’s favorite, and my mouth watered as I anticipated cuddling up on the couch later with a glass of milk and cookies while we watched a movie.
Ever since the Disney World trip, Lily had been begging me to re-watch Aladdin with her. It was one of her all-time favorites, and one of mine too, but we hadn’t had time to sit down and watch it with all the craziness of the move.
Now that we finally had a night to ourselves, I was eager to relax and unwind. We deserved it.
My entire shop was fully packed. We’d finished everything up late last night to avoid having to pull another twelve-hour day today. It was totally worth it. Now, all we had to
do was be there when the moving truck showed up, follow it to the new store on Wednesday, and unpack. The grand opening was still two weeks away, so I had plenty of time to set up the new location.
I already had a couple of ideas kicking around for my window display.
The fall items I had in stock were super cute, and I had a suspicion they would bring people into the shop if they saw that I was keeping up with current trends. I also had a couple outfits that I knew would pair well with some of Edith’s pieces and hoped she wouldn’t mind if I borrowed them.
Both of us would profit if they caught the eyes of people walking by on the sidewalk.
Lily hopped down from the chair I’d put against the counter so she could mix the dough and went to the bathroom to wash her hands. I washed mine in the kitchen sink and slid the two trays of cookies into the oven. After I set the timer, she came back into the kitchen.
“Is dinner ready soon, Momma?”
My favorite homemade curry recipe was simmering away on the stove. “Pretty close. Only about fifteen more minutes. When we take the cookies out of the oven, dinner will be ready too.”
“Okay. Can I play in my room?”
“Of course. Go ahead, bunny. I’ll come get you when it’s time to eat.”
Lily hurried down the hall to her bedroom where I heard her turn over one of her plastic bins full of Barbie dolls.
I did a quick cleanup of the kitchen while she played. I could hear her making different voices for different dolls, and I smiled to myself as I put the dishes away and wiped down the counters.
By the time the kitchen was clean, the timer went off. I took the cookies out and set them on cooling racks, then turned off the element under the curry and called Lily into the kitchen. I scooped us each a bowl and told her not to eat yet.
“It’s going to be very hot, bunny. See all that steam?”
Lily nodded. “But it smells so good.”
“It does, but it won’t taste as good if you burn your tongue. Leave it to cool, and we’ll get the movie started. Okay?”
Good Luck Charm: A Single Mother Romance Page 21
