“That’s just it,” Ella said, dropping her washcloth into the bucket of murky water. She needed to rinse the water out anyway. “I don’t know who it was, but I saw the feed. It looked like me. I got set up.”
“It was Stina, wasn’t it?” Chloe guessed. “No wonder you haven’t gone to work since.”
Ella sniffed, glad she’d apparently cried herself out. This was so refreshing, to be able to just discuss this without tears getting in the way. “I think so. I think it was Stina and Pris, but even my dad didn’t believe me.”
“Go to the police,” Chloe insisted, nudging Ella’s knee with the back of her hand.
“And say what? It’s my word against theirs.”
Chloe inhaled, thinking it over. “What about that billionaire of yours?”
Ella winced. She’d told Chloe about the kiss and about the kids’ hospital store with Hawk, but she hadn’t shared the ultimate disgust on his face when he’d left the breakroom after depositing her shoe on the bench.
“He thinks I’m guilty.”
“Seriously? I wouldn’t have pegged him to be that big of an idiot.”
In spite of herself, Ella chuckled and brought her gaze to Chloe’s. A mischievous, piteous smirk was on her face.
“I can’t say I blame him for thinking that,” Ella said. “What else is he supposed to think? He said he wouldn’t press charges, but he never wants to see me again.”
“Yep.” Chloe’s tone was decisive. “Idiot.”
Ella couldn’t laugh this time. “I’ve been trying to get over it. I know it could be so much worse. I could be in jail right now, you know? But I can’t seem to move on. Usually, I can perk right back up. Find the silver lining. This time, I’m seriously sinking, Chlo, and the only way to keep my head above water is to move.”
“Hence the cleaning.”
Ella didn’t deny it. The two roommates sat in silence.
“When was the last time you went outside?” Chloe asked after several moments.
“The day it happened.” Ella was embarrassed to admit.
Chloe pushed herself from the floor. She gently took the bucket of dirty water, dumped it into the sink, and then pulled Ella to her feet.
“Well then,” Chloe said. “Time to get moving. Go on, get some sunshine. Job hunt. Do something other than drive us both crazy here cleaning.”
Ella’s spirits lifted that much more. “My cleaning has been driving you crazy?”
“It’s too obsessive. A little here and there is okay, but sparkling clean? That’s going too far.”
That did the trick. Another laugh crept up from Ella’s chest, lightening her heart along with it. Chloe was right. Ella hadn’t just been cleaning. She’d been wallowing.
She couldn’t stay in here, hiding forever behind a bucket. She’d have to face the world again, sooner or later.
“You’re right,” Ella said. “What was I thinking?”
“You’re a good person, Elle. If he’s any sort of decent, he’ll come around, and so will everyone else.”
Chloe pulled Ella into a hug. Her friend’s embrace washed over her, pooling inside her ribs. She’d needed this. A friend, someone she could talk to, someone who would listen and not judge her.
“I’ve got to get to work,” Chloe said. “Never a dull moment at the paper factory. Otherwise, I’d go with you.”
“Go with me?” Ella said. Had she missed something? “Where?”
“Job hunting,” Chloe said with a wink, bopping Ella on the shoulder before weaving her way out of the kitchen and down the hall toward the door. “Somebody’s got to help me pay rent around here.”
Though she knew Chloe hadn’t meant to be insulting, remorse struck Ella all over again. It was almost January and rent would be due before she knew it. How could she be so selfish?
Ella needed to move on. She needed to compartmentalize Hawk’s accusation—along with the conversation with her dad—enough so she could function again. She’d give herself time to decide how she could deal with it, but that didn’t mean it had to be today.
Someday she would heal and move on, but for now, she would take the new direction. She needed a distraction. A positive twist to an awful situation. Job hunting it was.
There was always some good to be found in any circumstance. That had always been her motto, and thanks to Chloe, she’d been able to finally find the light at the end of this dismal tunnel of gloom and torment. There was still plenty of tunnel to get through. But at least something had begun to flicker again, bringing hope she hadn’t felt in days.
Ella cleaned herself up, showering, curling her hair, putting on makeup. Every step was like a fresh breath, like a final hinge closing the awful door she’d opened after Christmas. That door would still loom over her. She wasn’t sure how to avoid the awful memories, but at least she was trying to move on.
Coat buttoned, boots climbing up her jeans, the comfy, red scarf Hawk had given her secure around her neck, Ella stepped outside her apartment and paused, inhaling the frigid, cool, crisp air.
Sunshine sparkled on the snow, making it glitter. Ella wanted to imitate it, to be able to appreciate its beauty without a rock in her chest. Someday, she told herself with a prayer. Someday.
She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been out, dressed and ready, at a normal hour in the morning. She was awake when everyone else was and it was time she started making the most of it.
“Where to first?” she asked the chilly air. Craving the motion, she decided to hoof it, go along the streets and look for Help Wanted signs.
Ella scrounged around, searching place by place, forcing a smile at every turn. A cupcake shop appeared promising. They scheduled an interview right then. She had stopped by a scuba diving store, but the overwhelming smell of neoprene was bound to make her pass out before noon. She turned around and exited without an application.
Feet aching enough to rival her still-broken heart, Ella paused at the sight of the Ever After Sweet Shoppe on Seventeenth. Memories of Christmas morning hit so hard they made her gasp. The little shop he’d set up in Harmony Children’s had gone down as one of her all-time favorite experiences. Would it be too akin to pouring salt in a wound if she went in now?
Hawk was at his corporate office—the chances of bumping into him were minimal. She hadn’t stepped foot in one of these in so long, not since she’d first begun working for Stina.
Whether she liked it or not, any hopes Ella had had of a future with Hawk had been demolished. She missed him. The quirk of interest in his brow, the admiration in his gaze, the cutesy comments and the way he found small ways to touch her or be close to her.
Thanks to Stina and Pris, Ella would never have that again.
She wanted just one more reminder. One more glimpse of what she’d almost had.
Something trickled inside of her. Temptation, sweet and agonizing all at the same time. She’d never struggled with addiction before, but Ella suspected this was similar to the way an addict might feel after being deprived for a time and then coming face to face with their addiction once more.
With the way things had been going for her lately, this was probably as close to Hawk as she would ever get again. Ella gripped the handle, pressing her forehead to the glass while the prospect of pain, of a full-frontal reminder of what she’d almost had, was just a door away.
Two different scenarios played out in her mind. She could walk away. Leave the store behind. Go back to her apartment and keep things the way they were, always wondering what it would have hurt to just go inside.
Or she could go in. Smell the chocolate air, bask in the nostalgia of everything she’d lost.
“One last time,” she muttered to the glass, knowing she looked like a lunatic to whoever might see her paused here outside the entrance. “Just once.”
She would do it. She wanted the reminder of him, even if it hurt.
A rush of heat seeped through as she entered. Though it was almost New Years, Christmas music stil
l played overhead, and she found herself dazzled by shelves of candy in every assortment. A single, colorful wall held vertical columns of sweets, from colorful twists of licorice to cinnamon bears to candy blocks shaped like Legos. Bags were available, and a woman stood beside them, helping her children fill their bags with sugar-coated gummies and candy necklaces.
Ella browsed, bursting with a sense of wonder as though she’d gone back to being ten years old. A young woman in a pink apron was serving Italian sodas and ice cream cones at a bar where a pair of teenagers sat, looking at their phones and laughing as they drank from a bulb-shaped glass.
Shelves offered boxed chocolates with the Ever After Sweet Shoppe label, caramels, divinity, and toffee. There were apples dipped in caramel and tied with a bow, cake pops, and confections she couldn’t name. An entirely different section offered candy canes, licorice, and taffy, packaged in festive ways, perfect to pick for a last-minute gift. It was the shop in Harmony Children’s times a thousand.
Ella loved how charming everything was, how personal it all seemed to be. Hawk had talked about production and distribution, about keeping up the appearance while things were done on a large scale, but still, keep the homemade feel. She hoped he managed it because these amazing displays should be everywhere.
“Can I help you?” a short elderly woman asked.
“No thanks, I’m just—Grammy?” Ella blinked several times to make sure she was seeing who she thought she was. Grandma Larsen, with her wrinkly smile and short, curly gray hair, wore one of the pink aprons and gave Ella the biggest smile.
“Didn’t expect to see you here,” Grammy said.
“Nor did I you.” Ella pulled her into a hug. She hadn’t seen Grammy since her miracle Christmas Eve. So much had happened in the short days that had passed. How could Ella ever explain it all? “You work here?”
“I do,” Grandma Larsen said. “That godson of mine got me a job at his candy store.”
Ella froze. Grammy had talked plenty of times about her godson. He was the son of a pair of friends Grandma had met in Europe long ago, back in her glory days of traveling with her university choir. The couple had also been in the choir with her, and young as they were, Grammy had been friends with them. She’d even attended their wedding. When the woman had become pregnant, as their own parents were dead, they asked Grandma Larsen if she would be the boy’s godmother.
Apart from that, though, Ella had never known anything about him. Not even his name.
“Wait—you’ve never told me much about him. You’re saying he—he owns a candy store? This candy store?”
It couldn’t be. Grammy couldn’t be referring to who Ella thought she was.
Grammy offered her a gummy smile and several enthusiastic nods. “A whole string of stores. Isn’t it delightful? I’ve always loved coming in here. When I told him I needed extra funds for Christmas, he arranged for a part-time job for me through the holidays.”
The floor slanted. Ella gripped the nearby shelf for support. “Grammy. You never told me Hawk Danielson was your godson.”
She took Ella’s hand in hers. Her skin was baby-soft. “I didn’t know I needed to. But I can tell this bothers you. How come?”
Feeling as though she might lose her balance, Ella reached out a hand. Grammy guided her to the nearest empty table and Ella sat. “I-I know him. Grammy, it was his ball, Hawk’s ball. He was the one I danced with Christmas Eve. He was the reason I canceled with you on Christmas morning. I spent it with him helping him at the hospital giving out candy to the sick kids.”
Her lungs constricted so the words had to choke their way out.
“Ah. I see. Hang on.” She patted Ella’s hand again before shuffling toward the bar.
Ella’s mind was a tizzy of thought. Why should this strike her as so unusual? What did it matter if Grandma Larsen also happened to be Hawk Danielson’s godmother?
Moments later, Grammy returned with two mugs of hot chocolate. She took the seat across from Ella. “Tell me what’s bothering you. Did my boy mistreat you?”
The mug’s sides heated Ella’s hands. “No, nothing like that. We’ve had a…misunderstanding. I’m not quite sure what to do about it.” After a moment of pause, she glanced around. “Are you sure you should be sitting here with me? Aren’t you supposed to be working?”
“What are they going to do, fire me?” Grammy laughed.
Ella managed a smile.
“You tell me all about what happened.”
So Ella told her. About the dance, about Pris splashing wine in her face and ruining the dress Grammy had surprised her with, about blowing Stina off to help Hawk at the hospital instead, and finally, the theft. The video with her on it.
“He thinks I stole from his office, Grammy. He thinks I’m just some stupid, lowly criminal.” She cradled the warm mug and stared at the whipped cream melting on its surface.
“Did you steal anything?”
“No!” Ella said too loudly. She couldn’t believe Grammy would even ask.
Grandma inclined her head to one side. “Sorry, Ella girl, I had to ask. You know I believe you, but did you tell Hawk you didn’t?”
“I told him, but he said he never wanted to see me again. Things were good, Grammy. He kissed me. We were going to go ice skating. Now, this has completely come between us. Not that there was an us to come between.” Not anymore.
“If he kissed you on Christmas Eve, that sounds like an us situation,” Grammy stated, warming Ella with a smile.
“How can it ever be now?” Ella asked. “He thought I was stealing from his corporate office. Does a suspicion like that ever go away?” Could he ever trust her again? Once trust was lost, it was so hard to earn back again.
“You need to give that man the benefit of the doubt,” Grammy said. “Truth will come out. It always does. This might’ve shocked him, but he’ll get over it.”
“He completely ignored me in my custodial attire,” Ella said. She decided not to point out the fact that she’d hidden behind a large garbage can at the time. “He stopped talking to me after he thought I was nothing more than a common thief. It’s clear he has standards that I just don’t fit. He’s a billionaire, Grammy.”
“I’ve known him all his life,” Grammy argued, pointing a crooked finger at her. “While he’s not perfect, he may not be as judgmental as you think.”
“He hasn’t given me a reason to think otherwise.”
Grammy tossed up her hands in exasperation. She stared out at the empty store before shifting her attention to Ella once more. Her aged hand closed over Ella’s. “Drink your cocoa, Ella, and don’t worry so much. Things will work out, honey. As for that stepfamily of yours—”
“Don’t,” Ella said, squeezing her eyes closed. “Please don’t say anything.”
Grandma Larsen’s tone shifted to something more suited to a reprimand. “I haven’t talked much with your dad since your mom died. He would have kept me from you completely if he’d had his way. But sounds to me like that man needs a talking to. And so does his wife.”
The idea fisted with panic in Ella’s ribs. Look what Stina and Pris concocted to get back at Ella. She didn’t want to think what they might do to Grammy if they found she was meddling.
“Please. I’ll handle it.”
Grandma Larsen pinched her lips, bringing out wrinkles around her mouth. Clearly, she didn’t like the idea of backing down. Eventually, her expression relaxed.
“Okay, then. But it sounds like we have a lot to catch up on. Why don’t you meet me for lunch tomorrow?”
This came out of left field. First Grammy was talking about dealing with Ella’s stepfamily and then this? “Lunch?”
“Assuming you don’t have a job interview or something.” She gestured to the stack Ella placed on the table beside her cocoa.
Ella smoothed a hand over the applications and lowered her head. “Right. Yeah, I’m not going to work for Stina anymore. Not after how she helped Pris frame me.”
“Good girl. It’s about time you’re walking away from that viper’s nest. Who knows, maybe my Hawkie boy is hiring in one of his stores.”
Her Hawkie boy. The moniker brought a smile to Ella’s lips. Grammy always had a pet name for Ella and her cousins. Her smile soon faded, though.
Hawk would never even consider her after this whole thievery fiasco. Ella didn’t want to bring the conversation back there. She gestured to the shelves in an attempt to keep the mood light.
“I’m not sure I’d survive working here around all this temptation. I’d gain twenty pounds during my first week.”
“True enough.” Grandma laughed and patted her belly. “I’m tempted to eat the whole store. Ah well. I’d better get back on my feet. But lunch? Tomorrow?” She pushed her chair back.
“Sure,” Ella said, taking a sip of the cocoa. Hot chocolate heated all the way to her stomach.
It would be nice to have someone to talk to. She knew she needed to tell Hawk the truth, but she wasn’t sure how to convince him, not when there was video evidence. She had to make him believe her. Maybe Grammy had a way of doing just that.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Hawk flipped through the list that Clary had left on his desk. Several of the new custodial companies looked promising, but he wanted background checks and serious interview questions with each candidate. That whole situation with the burglary, with suspecting Ella had betrayed him, was something he never wanted to repeat.
And then to find out Ella had been set up? That her stepmom and stepsister had been the ones to stab her in the back, so to speak, was outrageous. Ella had mentioned bad feelings between her and her stepsister, but to stoop that low? They were people he wanted nowhere near his business, having access to offices or employees’ private areas and information. He needed a company with workers he could count on.
Clary remained near his desk, clipboard in hand. She wore a tan suit today, her red hair pulled back into a bun like always.
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