Remind Me

by Samantha Chase

  As much as Mallory wanted to be pleased, it wasn’t quite so cut-and-dried.

  “Do you have a staff now or is it still just you? I thought I remember seeing some part-time helpers here…”

  “I have a wonderful staff and we were all so relieved that our showroom was spared during the storm. We have a small warehouse full of inventory that suffered some water damage, but it’s all covered by insurance so you’ll be starting with a clean slate where that’s concerned.”

  And that’s when it hit her that there was so much she was going to have to deal with – inventory, learning the entire business, meeting vendors…it was a lot to take in. But as she looked around the room, she felt…invigorated. Was she nervous? Sure! This was all new to her. The thing that had her most excited was that this was a place that would always make her feel close to Pops. He had done this for her.

  And maybe for Barb. Which reminded her…

  “So what are your plans for retirement? Are you going to travel?”

  “Not right away. I was figuring you might need me here for a while until you get settled. This all happened so suddenly and I’m sure you weren’t planning on moving here tomorrow,” she said with a sweet smile. Placing one hand over Mallory’s, she gave it a light squeeze. “I won’t walk away until you’re ready. I want you to know that you’re not alone. The girls and I are here to help.”

  Mallory let out a breath that she didn’t realized she was holding. “I’m so glad! I was so nervous! This is all so new and…”

  “It’s a lot, I know. But like I said, you’re not alone. There are three of us here – four or more during the summer months when we’re busier – but if you’re ever feeling overwhelmed, all you have to do is call.”

  For a minute, she was too overwhelmed to speak.

  “Carol Taylor is my go-to girl here,” Barb explained. “She’s been with me almost ten years, ever since I was able to re-open the shop. Then there’s Nicole Walters. She’s young – a senior in high school – but she is a fantastic salesgirl. Blonde hair, blue eyes…she is completely adorable! And then we have Bree. She’s a bit older than you and she’s married with two little ones, so this job is a bit of a necessity and escape for her.”

  Laughing softly, Mallory said, “I can only imagine!”

  “They are the best staff a girl could ask for. I believe I’ll be leaving you in very capable hands.”

  Mallory had to agree. “How about we get started?”

  Two days later, Jake still had no idea what went wrong.

  For the life of him, he thought they were going in the right direction but when it came right down to it, they weren’t on the same page on anything. And on top of that, Mallory was always going to blame him for her not coming home this summer.

  And that was the one thing he knew he could never make up for.

  Even if he spent every day of the rest of his life proving to her how much he loved her and wanted to be with her, he can’t give her back the time she missed with Zeke.

  “Jake!” Colton called out. They were working on Zeke’s place–well, now Susannah’s place–and he found some issues with the addition now that everything was down to the studs.

  “What’s going on?”

  “Well, we found something and...um…”

  He really didn’t have the time or patience for this right now. “Just get to the point, Colt. We’ve got a lot going on here and I’m sure Susannah would like to have a little peace and quiet back.”

  Looking a bit embarrassed, Colton raked a hand through his hair and sighed. “You know we had to go all the way back to the far side of the structure, right?”

  Jake nodded.

  “We replaced all the rotted wood and with the new roof going on, that solved the issue with where we believe the water damage came from.”

  “And?”

  Colton cursed under his breath. “There was a safe in the wall. Must have been a secret one because we didn’t see any access to it from the interior.”

  “A safe? You’re freaked out over a safe?”

  “Well...yeah,” Colton replied, still looking uncomfortable. “Fell on Danny’s foot and...I had Tom take him to the urgent care, but I know how accidents on the job are and I want you to know the guys were doing everything right! We had no idea there was anything in the wall, so…”

  Unable to help himself, Jake laughed–an honest-to-goodness hearty laugh. Hell, he’d been expecting some sort of bad report from the engineers or something that was going to add on to the cost of the job or delay it. He’d take a secret safe in the wall any day of the week.

  Well, except he hoped next time no one got hurt.

  “Where in the room was it?”

  “It was behind the bed. There was a picture over the spot, but you couldn’t access it from there–it had sheetrock completely over it–no secret panel or anything. It’s like someone put it in there and wanted to forget about it.” He paused. “If I were to put a safe in a wall, I know I’d want to get at it from time to time. Whatever’s in there, no one wanted to get to. Isn’t that odd?”

  Beyond odd. But then again, everything seemed like that lately especially where the Coleman family and its descendants were concerned.

  “Keep me updated on Danny and point me in the direction of the safe.”

  “I had a couple of the guys put it around back by the door to the basement. It’s real heavy and rusted. Not sure how you’ll get it open.”

  “Thanks, Colt.” With a wave, he walked around the back of the house and found the safe. Crouching down, he dusted it off with his hands and wondered if there was anything inside. The addition was done maybe thirty years ago so he knew it was Zeke’s doing, but...why had he never mentioned it? There were lots of little oddities with this house–secret room in the cellar, a moving bookcase in one of the upstairs bedrooms–but not once had he mentioned hiding a safe in the wall.

  He stared at it for a long time and realized he needed to let Susannah know about it and then find some sort of locksmith or something to figure out how to open the damn thing.

  So not what he needed right now.

  Or...he could tell Susannah about it and let her handle it. Technically this wasn’t part of the job and the safe was part of her house, so...it would be better to let her be the one to take care of it. Plus, it meant he could focus on other things like the other job sites in town.

  Like the roof on the building next to Barb’s Beach Buys…

  Okay, maybe he had been thinking about going into town and looking around at that site because he wanted to make sure things were going all right. If it happened to be next to the place where Mallory spent the last several days then...it was just a coincidence, right? And if he saw her, he’d be polite–neighborly–and ask how things were going. There was nothing wrong with that. No one could misconstrue his intentions because he was merely asking how she was handling her new business.

  Nothing untrustworthy about that.

  Making his decision, Jake walked back around to the front of the house and up the front steps where he found Susannah talking with Colton. She was laughing at something he said, her hand was on his arm, and if he wasn’t mistaken, Colton was blushing.

  Jake came up short and thought, “Oh my gosh...are they...flirting with each other?”

  Instantly, he shook his head to push that thought aside because...just no. They spotted him and seemed to move a little farther apart and that’s when he knew they were definitely flirting. Clearing his throat, he looked at his foreman. “Did you tell Susannah what you found?”

  “Uh...no,” Colton murmured, looking down at his feet. “I thought maybe you should be the one to tell her.”

  Suppressing the urge to roll his eyes, Jake smiled at Susannah and told her about the safe and where it was found. “It’s in the yard right now by the cellar door. You’re going to need to find a locksmith or someone to open it unless you’ve found something that Zeke might have kept his records in and maybe a combination. I
know you haven’t gone through all of his personal effects yet…”

  “Georgia and I are doing that next week,” Susannah said. She was smiling but Jake could tell it was forced. No doubt there was going to be a lot of snark, sarcasm, and out-and-out fighting on that day.

  He hoped he didn’t have to be around to witness any of it.

  Or at least that he’d be able to kick back with a bag of popcorn while he watched.

  “Well, if you need help finding someone to help…” he began but secretly hoped she wouldn’t take him up on the offer.

  “I know someone who could probably help,” Colton said and Jake wanted to hug him for the save. He smiled at Susannah. “If you want, I can make some calls and let you know tomorrow.”

  The shy smile Susannah gave Colton as she thanked him suddenly made Jake feel as if he were some kind of voyeur and he excused himself.

  And it didn’t seem as if either of them even noticed.

  For a few minutes, he walked around the property and pretended to be inspecting the work going on. It wasn’t necessary. His crew were top-notch and they had been keeping him updated every day on the progress. There wasn’t any need for him to be on site right now and that meant he was free to head into town and…

  Groaning, he cursed himself for his lack of confidence and stormed off toward his truck. He climbed in and peeled out of the driveway with more force than was actually necessary.

  The bad thing about living in a small town that was...well...small, was that he didn’t have any time to really clear his head before he parked in front of Barb’s shop. Spotting two of his workers up on the roof next door, Jake decided to go up and check on them first and see how progress was going with them.

  Twenty minutes later he was back on the sidewalk without much memory of what his guys had even said to him.

  “Jake?”

  Turning, he found himself staring at Mallory and feeling a little stupid about being here. “Um...hey, Mal. How’s it going?”

  She wasn’t smiling, but she wasn’t frowning either. If anything, she was looking at him cautiously. “What are you doing here?” Then she must have heard the hammering and looked up toward the roof. “Oh, are those your guys?”

  He nodded. “I’m making my rounds and checking on progress.” Pausing, he wondered what he was supposed to say next. It felt ridiculous to be this nervous around her, but the last thing he wanted was to make matters worse than they already were. “So...uh...how are things going here at the shop? Things going okay between you and Barb?”

  And then she seemed to relax a bit. “They’re going well. Their system is woefully outdated so I know that is the first thing I’m going to have to look into. Other than that, I’m pretty excited to start learning the business a bit.” With a small laugh, she went on, “But I have a feeling I’m going to be doing a lot of shopping for the house once I start looking at inventory and talking to buyers. It’s going to be a real test of my self-control.”

  And he knew she was right. He remembered how much fun she had working on the boathouse all those years ago–she was a shopper extraordinaire and between the fun she was going to have with stocking the shop, she also had the house project to think about. More than likely, she was going to eat up her first month’s profits in the blink of an eye.

  “I’m sure your mother will keep you in line.”

  Shrugging, she replied, “Maybe.”

  Okay, he was done with small talk. Taking a step closer, he figured he needed to try to make things right. “Would you like to go to dinner tonight? We could go to Captain Bill’s or if you’re in the mood for Italian, we can go to Michael’s. Totally up to you.”

  And then he held his breath nervously. He was completely expecting her to reject him and tell him it wasn’t a good idea, and he had no words to convince her otherwise. At least, none that were coming to him at the moment.

  “I’d like that,” she said quietly. “Seven work for you?”

  It was crazy, but he almost sagged to the ground in relief. “Yeah,” he said, hoping he sounded casual. “That’s good. I’ll pick you up…”

  Shaking her head, she said, “I’ll just walk over to your place.” Looking over her shoulder and then back to him, she told him she needed to get back inside and would see him later. It killed him not to kiss her goodbye, but he felt like things were still on shaky ground and didn’t want to push his luck. “See you later.”

  Back in his truck, Jake did his best to focus on where he was supposed to go now and what else he had to do because all he wanted to do was go home and get ready for their date.

  “Ugh…I’m pathetic,” he grumbled as he drove down Main Street.

  For the next several hours he did manage to focus on work–he checked on two additional job sites and then met with his lawyer and Richard McClellan to sign paperwork for the transfer of ownership of Coleman Construction. There were a lot of congratulations and handshakes, but when he stepped out onto the sidewalk after all was said and done, he felt oddly let down.

  The feeling stayed with him the whole way home and through his shower once he got there. After he was dressed and waiting for Mallory, he couldn’t shake it. This was something he’d worked for his entire life–to own a business like Coleman should have him feeling ecstatic.

  And that’s when it hit him.

  This wasn’t really his business. It was Zeke’s.

  He hadn’t started it from nothing and built it up–Zeke had.

  He was the owner of a successful business by default.

  Muttering a curse, he walked to the kitchen and grabbed himself a beer. The last thing he wanted was for his mood to put a damper on his night with Mallory. After all, he needed to put things back on track with them and if he was distracted and moody, chances were he wasn’t going to do much good.

  Pushing open the back door, Jake stepped out onto the deck and walked out, leaning on the railing to stare at the Sound. It was beautiful out here–peaceful and relaxing and he forced himself to let some of the tension go.

  Easier said than done.

  Looking out at the water, he sighed. This was the life he wanted–to live and work in Magnolia and have it easier than his parents had. And now, thanks to Zeke, he would. However, now it made him feel like a fraud.

  “Hey.”

  He turned at the sound of Mallory’s voice. She was walking up the steps to his deck and had on a pale pink sundress and sandals. Just the sight of her took his breath away. Part of him was a little hesitant to go and kiss her like he normally would and instead he waited to see what she would do.

  Stepping in close, she kissed him softly on the cheek and it made Jake feel like everything might just be all right.

  “You were looking pretty fierce there,” she said softly, leaning on the railing beside him. “Everything okay?”

  And because he needed someone to tell him whether or not he was crazy, he told her exactly what he’d been thinking about.

  Mallory looked at him thoughtfully for a long moment. “You know that Pops didn’t technically start Coleman Construction, right?”

  “What?” This was brand new information. How could Zeke not have mentioned it in all of their conversations?

  “His grandfather–my great-great-great-grandfather–was the one to do it way back at the turn of the century,” she explained. “And with each generation, it has grown stronger and more successful.” Then she smiled at him. “Just like it will for you.”

  “I don’t know, Mal…”

  “Maybe it’s not the way you always dreamed it would happen for you. Maybe you thought you’d either start a company or buy one and take it over, but just because it didn’t happen that way doesn’t make this any less of an incredible thing for you! You’re the new owner because you’re the only one Pops trusted to take his company and make even more successful than he ever thought it could be.”

  “You don’t know that,” he said shyly, but her words were definitely making him feel better.

/>   “Yes, I do,” she countered. “I may have only spent summers here, but I spent enough of them sitting and talking with Pops that I can say with great certainty that he was pretty emphatic about who worked for him and who he trusted.” She reached over and took one of his hands in hers. “He trusted you and believed in you more than he ever did with anyone else. So if you’re having issues with this whole situation, the only thing I would suggest is kicking some major ass, taking the company to the next level and making Pops proud.”

  And when it was put like that, Jake knew he was crazy to doubt himself. Most people would love to be in his position and to have what he had. He was foolish not to be thankful. Leaning over, he kissed Mallory on the cheek. “Thank you.”

  “For what?”

  Smiling, he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her in just a bit closer. “For always being willing to listen to me and talk to me.” He kissed her forehead. “And for being exactly what I need.”

  She looked up at him with her big eyes and for the first time in days, he had hope for the future.

  For them.

  10

  Why was she fighting this so much? Right now, she had the ability to have everything she ever said she wanted so why wasn’t she reaching out and grabbing it with both hands?

  Leaving New York and her job to live in Magnolia Sound should be a no-brainer. Sure, Mallory loved her job, but most of her friends were married or had moved away so it wasn’t like she had a raging social life to keep her there. Ever since she was a little girl she dreamed of moving to North Carolina and living here. Now that she had the best reason in the world to do it, though, she was hesitating.