People who had little more than a tree branch down across their driveway would come to the relief stations demanding help and resources in front of people who had lost everything as the tornado went through. The less damage they had the more belligerent they were about the distribution of supplies. Those who had lost everything only craved a shoulder to cry on.
And which one was he being? He certainly hadn’t lost everything. He wished the rage boiling inside him was righteous indignation on behalf of injustice. His conscience, however, pointed an ugly, green finger at the idea that Sidney could soon be free of Colin. If she had the guts to hold him accountable for his actions.
What did he know of their relationship? This might be the only mistake Colin ever made, easily forgiven. He walked around his truck bed, getting a whiff of his shirt. If this was Colin’s first screw up, Sidney wouldn’t have been vomiting in his vehicle moments before.
All his anger and frustration would be moot, if he would take the initiative and ask her out himself. He could come up with a list longer than his arm on why a date wasn’t advisable. The first and most important being she was engaged, and he wasn’t the guy on the side.
Better not to contemplate it all, especially when he stood half-naked in her driveway. He made his way to the driver’s seat as a red convertible motored down the street. The driver wore gigantic sunglasses, but Joshua would swear it was Missy. She gawked at him as she passed, even craning her neck over her shoulder. Joshua waved, unsure of what else to do.
Missy jerked her head forward and jammed on the gas. He guessed he wasn’t supposed to notice her, but how could he miss a red sports car on an otherwise empty street?
He spared a glance up the steps at Sidney’s closed door. He wanted to be on the other side of it, comforting her. Embracing her, however, would add more complication than either of them needed. He shoved himself behind the wheel and headed for his dad’s. How had his day ended up so upside-down? A run to clear his head and unwind his nerves had thrown him into an entirely different circus.
He didn’t envy Sidney with the decisions she faced. If his fiancé emptied his bank account without telling him, there wouldn’t be a wedding in their future. He hadn’t invested the time and energy in building a relationship and planning the celebration. It was easy to say, chuck it all, without the personal investment. With it, the decision wasn’t for the spur of the moment.
The short drive didn’t allow him to sort out any conclusion, so he steeled himself for interacting with Aunt Penny instead.
When he got home, Aunt Penny met him at the door. She looked him up and down. “What happened to your shirt?”
He decided to spare Sidney from the story. Who knows what Missy had deduced from her drive by. “I was hot after my run and tossed it in the truck.” All true, if slightly vague.
Aunt Penny raised an eyebrow, but let the story slide. “So you had a good run? Your face doesn’t look any more relaxed than when you left. Don’t forget to bring your shirt in. The sun will bake the sweat into it, and you’ll never get the smell out.”
Given what actually made his shirt stink, laundry wasn’t something he’d worry about. He’d have to remember to toss it in the garbage later. “How’s Dad?”
“Sleeping. Put on some baseball, and he went right out. Call me any time.” Aunt Penny patted his arm, her cool hand calming on his heated skin. “There’s lasagna in the oven. It should be ready in about an hour.”
“Thanks, Aunt Penny.” He gave her a quick hug. She patted his cheek and headed down the steps and out to her car while Joshua sauntered into the comfort of the air conditioning. Aunt Penny had been a life saver today. Not for himself as much as for Sidney. If he hadn’t been in the park, how long would Sidney have been there alone? Colin hadn’t shown any signs of coming to her rescue. Joshua retrieved some water from the fridge to wash the distaste from his mouth.
A quick check on his dad as he passed the living room confirmed all was as Aunt Penny described. He rested comfortably, and his color was better than this morning. Joshua eased the door closed and returned to his truck for his befouled shirt. He found the wadded up cotton in the corner of the truck bed and deposited it in the garbage, slamming the can shut harder than necessary.
His brain was stuck on Sidney. His head told him, even if she did break up with Colin, it’d be a long time before she’d be ready for another relationship. Who knows if she’d be interested in him. Did he want to wait? Was he in the market to settle down? He’d never contemplated it before, so why was it on his mind now?
His heart told him she had a hard decision to make. She’d need time and space, and no matter what her decision was, she’d be ripped apart, and he didn’t want that to happen to her.
His gut wanted her to yank Colin’s heart out and throw it in the middle of the lake.
His gut also told him to stop acting like a jerk.
Chapter Thirteen
Colin didn’t call Saturday night. Colin didn’t show up Sunday morning at church or at her mom’s for coffee after. He didn’t call Sunday afternoon, or evening, or Monday morning. Every moment he delayed was like another rhinestone popping off a dress leaving a tattered and distressed fabric exposed.
Her concentration today was schizophrenic at best. Despite looming deadlines, she chose simple projects from her to-do rack: loose buttons, torn spaghetti straps, and scout badges. All required hand sewing. She didn’t have the patience for temperamental machines.
The more Colin avoided her the more her anger grew. She hardly knew what to say to him. She’d played the inevitable conversation over in her head in fifty different iterations, but none of them left her satisfied.
The perfect phrase he would understand did not exist. She tied off the thread on one of the badges and chose another embroidered diamond. Why hadn’t he reacted like Joshua, listening to her and comforting her?
Ugh. She didn’t need to throw him into her chaotic mix.
That led her to the weightier decision. If she and Colin couldn’t communicate about money, could their relationship survive? Was this the signal to call everything off?
Her fingers trembled when she considered it. How had it come to this? She jammed the needle through the stiff badge. But since Colin joined Rough Diamond, his priorities changed. She hardly saw him anymore. Sidney snorted, she didn’t understand him anymore. This wasn’t how a marriage should begin.
The needle slipped and stabbed her finger. A drop of blood oozed out onto the first aid badge. How appropriate.
After blotting the drop before it soaked in, she wrapped a bandage around her fingertip, wishing a broken heart could be fixed so easily. She hadn’t seriously considered ending their relationship and calling off the wedding until now. Calling off the wedding? She shook her head. Was that the end of this conundrum? She’d finally found her wedding dress. Except she couldn’t buy it because Colin stole her savings. She chucked the badge on the table as her needle bent. And so she restarted on the circles plaguing her thoughts.
By closing time Monday, she was ready to give herself a lobotomy with a seam ripper. Only brain surgery would stop the useless regurgitation.
Sidney pushed herself out of the chair and stretched her arms backward. Her back cricked and popped. Anxious thoughts made her muscles tighten up more than usual after hunching over the badges.
Ready to lock up and go home, she stumbled over to the door, stretching her arms across her body to ease the stiffness between her shoulder blades. Her fingers gripped the lock when she saw Colin racing across the parking lot. Her heart jumped, and her anxiety bubbled over. Was she ready for this conversation? Was it safe to have it in a room full of pins, rotary cutters, and pinking shears? Should she back away and let him think he missed her or throw open the door and let the hound in? Pinking shears or not, they needed to get on the same page… whatever that was.
Colin puffed through the entry as she held the door open. He leaned against the wall, trying to catch his breath as he he
ld out an envelope. “I’m glad I caught you,” he managed between wheezes. “Here’s the return of our investment.”
Sidney bristled at the word ‘our’ but took the envelope anyway. He owed her this much. She slid her finger under the sealed edge, popping it free. Inside was a check addressed to her for every penny missing from her account. The paper crinkled between her fingers. “What? How did you get it back?”
“I told you it was an investment. I needed the seed money for this weekend, so you can have it back now.” Colin stood up straighter once his breathing returned to normal.
Sidney studied the check. Had her doubts been misplaced? “Thank you.”
“I’m glad I caught you.” He patted her on the arm. “I figured you’d want to get it in the bank today.”
“Yes. Wouldn’t want to bounce any checks.” She felt almost giddy and definitely wobbly. Something still seemed off. Like the roller coaster cars had wobbled, but were running now. Everything was hunky-dory as long as one could ignore the ominous creaks from the wooden structure. Had she escaped an ugly confrontation? Her stomach had the floaty feeling that signaled another plunge on the ride.
She found her phone next to the cash register and snapped a picture of the check. Online banking was a wonderful convenience in situations like this. All she had to do was take a picture of the check and upload it to her account to deposit the money.
“So at the park…” she started while she made the necessary taps on the screen.
“We had a fantastic day.” Colin’s phone buzzed. He pulled it out of his pocket.
“No, about—”
He focused on the screen. “My mentor says we set a recruitment record.”
“That’s great, but—” She wanted to snap her fingers in front of his face to get his attention.
“I’ll be moving up to the next level soon.” He continued speaking as if she were trapped in his phone.
Their relationship was on shaky ground, and he played with his phone. Hers beeped when the transaction was complete. Two could play at this game. She tapped her email icon. The circle rotated, then announced fifty-three new messages.
Fifty-three? She rarely had more than ten for a whole day. “What in the world?”
“Hmm?” Colin grunted, but didn’t tear his attention away from the message he furiously typed.
She tapped the envelope icon, and the messages loaded. Several from mailer-daemon and a few she recognized as people on her mailing list. Why were there so many returned messages though? Her newsletter hadn’t gone out since the spring prom season. Usually after a newsletter, a dozen messages bounced. “Did my account get hacked?”
“I heard some virus was going around,” Colin said.
She skipped down to some of the other messages and opened one. It was a curt request to be taken off her mailing list. She almost never had anyone unsubscribe, but things happen. People move, whatever. Colin bounced from foot to foot like he was late for a Rough Diamond event. She tapped another message. Another request for removal. This one from one of her best customers.
“Oh no, Mrs. Daniels!” The lady included a polite, but terse note explaining that while she appreciated the newsletters from the shop, but did not appreciate solicitations about other promotions.
“What promotions?” she asked the phone.
Colin jerked his head up. “Be sure to change your password. Happens all the time at the call center.” Colin murmured as his phone beeped again.
“My best customer unsubscribed from my mailing list. She doesn’t want to receive other solicitations.” She changed folders to the sent items. “It’s not something I do. My list isn’t for anything else. I don’t offer it to anyone else to use.”
Colin cleared his throat. “Did you have a waiver for them to sign?”
“Yes. When they sign up, the website states their contact information will only be used for information about In a Stitch promotions.”
“Oh.”
When the folder refreshed, the evidence was unmistakable. Sidney tore her horrified gaze from the screen. “You didn’t?”
Colin wrapped his hand around his phone. His mouth quivered, but he couldn’t master the shape of the words he needed. He bounced the device in his palm on the counter. His face blanched, but he didn’t say anything.
Any sense of stability vanished as the roller coaster crumbled into a pile of rusty bolts and shattered wood, and she tumbled out of the cart in a free fall.
“How could you?” She chucked her phone on the counter. It skated across the surface and crashed to the floor with a sickening crack. She squeezed her eyes shut, blocking out Colin’s horrified face.
The monsters she’d wrestled all day squawked and screeched. They roared at her. He stole her mailing list. He sent Rough Diamond promotional crud to all her clients. Judging by the number of emails she received, he had sabotaged a good portion of her repeat customers and their business.
She grabbed the edge of the counter to keep herself standing or from flying across it, she wasn’t sure which. What would happen with her business? Her repeat customers were her life blood. Without them she didn’t have a steady income. The people who came in sporadically could support a hobby, but not her livelihood.
She opened her eyes. Colin’s horrified face was directed at her phone. She peered over the counter. The screen on her phone had cracked. Great.
His phone was still clutched in his hand. “Your phone is broken.” Colin bent and picked it up. The plastic case crumbled.
“I don’t care about my phone. I care about In a Stitch. Those customers may not come back.” She pounded her fist into the counter. A dish of pins bounced.
Colin shrugged. “Send them an apology. Say there was a mix-up in the mailing lists.” He set the mangled phone in front of her. “We’ll get you a new one through Rough Diamond.”
Sidney shoved the phone off the counter again. Parts skittered across the floor. Colin gasped.
“It won’t be that simple. I’ve broken their trust. They may accept my apology, but will they continue to give me their business? You, of all people, should know customers aren’t manipulated so easily.”
“Why not? Your customers aren’t the same class of people as Rough Diamond clients.”
He could have slapped her, and she would have been less shocked.
“They were obviously good enough for you to recruit.” It was like the park all over again, but this time she wasn’t staggered by disbelief. She was fueled by indignation. “You’ve ruined my business. Just when I’d secured some influential customers.”
“I helped you set up that list and your website. It’s as much mine as it is yours,” he insisted.
He finished typing a message, then tucked his phone into his pocket. Finally she had his full attention. “I didn’t realize you expected payment for the website. I thought we were friends helping each other out. The newsletter is the property of the shop.”
“Look, Missy said to use all the contacts available to us.”
There was the gut shot. Air whooshed out of her lungs. “Why were you talking with Missy about this?”
Colin cleared his throat and checked his phone again. “Missy is my mentor in the Rough Diamond franchise.” The words spilled out faster than Sidney could catch them. Even their drive by nature was enough to slice her heart.
It made sense now. Colin’s reluctance to explain anything about Rough Diamond. It was Missy’s baby. Missy had purposely planned the orientation meeting during the canoe race to sabotage Sidney’s chances. She must have assigned a lackey to run the meeting, so she could secure a race win. At least one part of the scheme had sunk.
“Let’s not worry about it now. It doesn’t make a difference,” Colin said.
If he thought working with Missy didn’t affect anything in their relationship, then he’d definitely been body-snatched at the orientation meeting.
Colin reached across the counter to touch her hand, but Sidney flinched. She crossed her arm
s, tucking her hands between her biceps and her ribs. Her heart pounded against her fingertips.
That didn’t stop him from throwing his shovel in the hole and jumping in after it. “See, that’s the beauty of Rough Diamond. You won’t have to slog away here. We will be set.”
Sidney tasted the bile that had visited Saturday. She had hoped her stomach upheaval was an overreaction to a simply-solved problem. Now it was clear. Whatever bit of hope that was left burst like a bubble in the wind. No point in continuing this conversation. Colin had insulted her customers and her work. Colin wasn’t even trying to see her side of things. No point in planning a wedding with a man who had so little respect for her.
She had tried to be understanding. She had tried to forgive, but it was time to reconcile herself to the situation, stand up, cut her losses, and move on.
“Sometimes, especially these last couple weeks, I’ve wondered if you know me at all.” Sidney clenched her fists and wished she could probe his brain to see his image of her.
“Of course, I know you, Sidney. We’ve spent so much time together.”
“I’ve worked hard to build my customers and retain their business. I love what I do. I love making people look good in their clothes.”
“Nothing says you can’t keep doing this. You’ll be able to do whatever you want. Make more of those weird clothes. You won’t have the pressure to make money. Send the apology email and go from there. You shouldn’t be upset about this. It’s not a big deal.”
Sidney stumbled backward. He stole her money. He destroyed her business. Now he told her how she should feel about it? This wasn’t the Colin she’d been engaged to. After the last few weeks, she wondered if the trustworthy, level-headed man truly existed or if he’d been a charming figment of her imagination. “You can’t tell me how I should feel. My feelings are my own. You’ve hurt me, Colin.” Her throat closed up, and she mouthed the next words. “I can’t do this.”
Colin’s phone vibrated in his pocket, rattling against his keys. He extracted it and checked the display. Still looking at the phone, he said, “I’m sorry, I didn’t catch that.”
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