by Kelsie Fann
“Your favorite and your favorite shape.” Her mom stood in front of the stove, flipping pancakes. Mickey Mouse pancakes. Liz smiled; she was thirty-two, eating breakfast shaped like a cartoon character in a town where only three of the residents had ever been to Disney World.
“I would have taken you for a Minnie fan,” a deep voice said behind her.
Liz jumped straight into the air and landed painfully on her ankle. Her bun wobbled back and forth on her head as she spun around to see whose voice coming from the corner of the kitchen.
Coney’s lips separated as the corners turned upward. He was sitting, slouched over, next to a stack of at least five pancakes at her mom’s kitchen table. “You’re pretty jumpy for a city girl.”
“It’s pretty early for you to be at my house.” Liz glared at her mom, who was busy pouring batter into the pan. “Why is he here?” she hissed.
Margaret didn’t look up. “He needs to eat, too.” She flipped the latest pancake in her pan. Liz looked between the pair for a few seconds, trying to decide what to do. Finally, after a wink from Coney, Liz completely lost her appetite, and she stomped back up to her bedroom.
If Margaret didn’t see that her matchmaking skills were not needed after last night, Liz didn’t know how else to get the message through to her. Liz put all her belongings back in her bag and laced up her shoes. She was going back where she belonged, where Coney wouldn’t follow: Savannah.
Liz walked back down the stairs with her bag over her shoulder. She heard her mom call from the kitchen: “I heard Mr. Chambers is coming back to town.”
Liz’s hand was on the doorknob, but instead of turning it, she turned to look at Margaret. “Chambers is here?”
Coney stood up and leaned against the opening between the kitchen and living room. “Selling the old mansion. Rita at Dollar General told me this morning.”
Liz let Coney’s news sink in. Chambers had time to sell his last possession, the old mansion he still owned because he couldn’t find a buyer, but he didn’t have time to pick up the phone and warn her she was going to be out of a job?
It was time to confront her old boss. Liz clenched her teeth together. She flung open the door and slammed it behind her. She threw her bag on the backseat of her car, put the key in the ignition, and picked up her phone. She wanted to call Mr. Chambers, but she was afraid she wouldn’t be able to keep her emotions in check, so she called his daughter instead.
Dee answered on the first ring.
“Is your dad in Sugar Hill?” Liz demanded.
There was a pause as she could hear Dee saying something to Andy, but she couldn’t make it out. “Yes, we’re coming down, too. I just wanted to see the house for the last time.”
Liz dug her fingernails into her car’s steering wheel, still mad at her friend, even though Dee’s voice sounded like she’d been up all night. “Is it true? He’s selling?”
“It’s under contract. He got a cash offer last night. He’s using the money to buy a place near us in Denver.”
Liz took a deep breath, steadying her voice. She didn’t care if her friend was dealing with a lot at home; it was time Dee was held accountable for years of accounting errors that cost Liz her job.
Before she could start yelling, Dee apologized. “I’m so sorry about everything. It was all my fault.”
“It is.” Liz’s voice shook. “I worked for your dad for over a decade. I can’t believe you did this.”
Dee didn’t say anything back for a few seconds. “I wish I could turn back time and make another choice. But I can’t. I’m just so sorry. I don’t expect you to forgive me.”
Liz knew Dee was right; there was nothing that could change the situation now. Liz pressed her forehead into the steering wheel.
“I’m sorry.” Dee’s hushed voice said even more than her words. It was so quiet. Liz knew her friend had to be completely worn out.
Liz looked up at her mom’s house. The bright pink color reminded her of all the hours she spent playing on the porch with Dee. Even though Liz felt betrayed, she knew Dee would never want to hurt her. “You okay? You sound tired.”
“I can’t believe you’re worried about me after what you lost,” Dee said.
Liz lifted her head off the steering wheel an inch, then set it back down. “Neither can I. But are you?”
“Andy didn’t sleep well last night. He has been in constant pain for the last week,” Dee said.
Liz couldn’t stay mad at her friend, not when she was going through so much with her son. “When will you be in Savannah?”
“We’re going straight to Sugar Hill once the plane lands. It’s so hard traveling alone with Andy.”
“I’m in Sugar Hill myself.” Liz pointed her car toward the mansion.
“Really?”
“I left Savannah after your dad closed the company. Needed a break,” Liz said.
“Are you sure you want to see us?” Dee asked.
The sad reality hung before them. The facts were that Dee and Mr. Chambers’s mistakes were the reason Liz didn’t have a job. Liz waited for a few beats before she responded. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to see Dee or not, and she definitely wasn’t sure if she wanted to see Mr. Chambers, but she’d given the last twelve years to Chambers’s Media, and she knew she needed some closure.
“I do. When do you get in?” Liz asked.
“I should be there with dad around ten tomorrow.”
“See you then.” Liz hung up and drove around town. She visited her high school, an old playground, and even drove under the dangling stoplight a couple times. When her tour was done, she pulled back up to her mom’s house. She groaned. Coney’s truck was still there. She was going to have to spend another day with the redneck and her mother.
21.
Coney insisted on coming with Liz to the Chambers’s House the next day. It was the biggest house in town, and it had been vacant for years, so whenever anyone could get a peek inside, they wanted it.
“Go help Dee.” Liz shoved Coney toward Dee’s van. He lifted Andy’s wheelchair out of the back of the van and put it on the ground.
“I got him,” Coney told Dee. Coney lifted Andy from his seat and sat him down carefully in the wheelchair. If Coney wasn’t so disgusting, Liz would have been impressed at his strength.
Dee tied her thin hair back in a low ponytail. “Thanks a lot.”
She smiled at Coney, and he flexed his muscles, causing the bottom of his T-shirt to expose his stomach. “It’s no problem. I like to move rocks around my backyard a couple times a week, you know, to keep up my fitness. Your son’s like ten rocks . . . ”
Dee smiled at Coney. “Thank you for your help.”
“Thanks. You’ve got better manners than your friend over there.” He nodded in Liz’s direction.
Liz rolled her eyes. Dee hadn’t spent the last day listening to him describe in explicit detail the precise way to rotate tires.
“I can push if you want.” Liz heard Coney’s voice behind her.
“That would be great,” Dee said. Finally, Coney was good for something.
They walked up the gravel path to the house, and Coney took the opportunity to talk about cars to Dee. “I should probably look at the oil level in your van. Had a lady come in with a lease last week. Twenty thousand miles, and she never changed the oil. Most important thing you can do for your car, you know.”
Liz charged ahead of Dee and Coney. She couldn’t listen to his voice for one more second.
As Liz looked toward house, she forgot about her companion. The Chambers’s House was three stories, but the high ceilings made it look at least five floors high. It had tall white columns and big shutters. Even though the siding was cracking and the paint was peeling, Liz smiled, thinking of all the time she’d spent there growing up before the Chambers family moved to Savannah after Dee graduated from high school.
After the Chambers family moved to Savannah, they couldn’t find a buyer who wanted to live in Sugar Hill and
wanted to keep up a large house. Over the years, they’d rented it to several families. Now it looked like it needed a ton of maintenance, something no one wanted to do for a big house in the middle of nowhere. Liz wondered why, after fifteen years of renters, had someone decided to buy this house now?
She stepped up the brick stairs to the porch and glanced at the swing. She remembered the night after her parents told her they were separating. Mr. Chambers had found her sleeping under the swing.
A few seconds later, Mr. Chambers opened the enormous front doors and welcomed them, his hands spread wide.
Dee and Andy hugged him first. Then Liz stepped forward, and Mr. Chambers embraced her. “I’m sorry,” he whispered in her ear.
Her eyes started to tear up. “You should have warned me.” She pulled away from him.
He grabbed Liz’s hands. “You’re right, but I couldn’t bear it. I’m a coward. You just gave me so much hard work, and I failed you,” he said. He let go of her hands and tugged at his beard as his eyes became watery. “Can you ever forgive this old man?”
Liz couldn’t hold back her tears. She nodded, and she hugged him again. As she relaxed into his fatherly embrace, a tiny fraction of the hurt she felt melted away.
As she pulled away, Mr. Chambers ushered the group into the house. Liz looked around and wondered again why anyone would buy the place.
The interior hadn’t been touched since the ’90s. It was decorated in floor-to-ceiling hunter green wallpaper and honey oak trim.
After she poked through all the rooms, she walked back downstairs to leave, hoping to escape before Coney followed her home.
Mr. Chambers stood near the door, looking outside at the oak-tree-filled lawn. “I don’t have the right to ask you this, but I need one more thing.”
She followed him outside onto the big wraparound porch, and they sat on the swing together. “I need someone to tell all our clients and cancel any outstanding work. Could you help? I’ll pay you. Maybe give you a little time to find something else.”
Slowly she nodded. Part of her didn’t want to help him; he’d crushed her dreams. But he’d taught her so much too. Also, she needed the money.
“Sure,” she said. “I’ll help.”
22.
Darcy’s phone rang on a Sunday afternoon. At first, he didn’t look at it. If it were business, nothing good happened on a Sunday afternoon.
But after the third ring, he stopped his treadmill, looked at the caller, and answered the phone.
“Hello, it’s Darcy,” he said.
There was a pause from Mr. Chambers, lasting long enough for Darcy to pull the phone away from his ear to see if they were connected.
The old man’s voice came through the other end of the phone. “Hi, son.”
Darcy sat down on his weight bench and wiped the sweat off of his forehead with a towel. “Everything okay?”
“I’m calling because . . . ” Chambers paused again. “I’m calling because of Liz.”
Darcy’s cringed, remembering that she’d overheard his conversation with James. He hadn’t meant to be so severe about Savannah, but he knew James wouldn’t stop trying to buy Chambers’s Media unless he was stern.
“I think you should hire her,” Chambers said.
Darcy agreed. From their first conversation, she’d shown that she was hardworking, intelligent, and persistent, all qualities he looked for.
“I’ll take it into consideration.” He set his towel down on the end of on the bench and stood up.
Chambers coughed. “Listen, you need to know what she can do. She can do everything from strategic vision to party planning. She’s the one who launched our New Media Division. She’s the one who organized the office party you attended, and she’s the one who orchestrated our last meeting at the office.”
Darcy was confused. Why was Chambers pushing so hard for one of his employees? “Are you making calls for all of your staff?”
“Just for Liz. She is the most loyal person you could have on your team.” He grunted. “Heck, she was more like a partner than an employee.”
Partner. The word rang through Darcy’s head. It was the description his father had told him to look for. Was it fate or just a coincidence that Chambers used the same word?
Chambers continued, “If you want to expand in the South, you’re going to need an insider. The South is a place built on relationships and history. You need someone who understands that. She will be the person who can get it done for you.”
Darcy nodded. Coincidence or not, in all his years as an employer, he’d never seen another boss, who was officially retired, make such an effort to recommend one of his old employees. Darcy knew Liz was smart, but now he knew she was special. And he always needed good employees. “I’ll try. I’ll talk to her,” he said.
Chambers laughed a little. “Good luck. You might need it.”
Darcy hung up the phone. If Chambers only knew about the conversation Liz overheard between him and James. Darcy could still see her walking past him, practically marching away after James suggested Darcy liked her. Yes, he would need luck, and a lot of it.
23.
Liz heard the front office door open with a slow creak. She had been back in Savannah for two days, and it was almost time for Mr. Chambers to arrive. She glanced at her stack.
She only had three more contracts to terminate and a couple follow-up emails to write, and then she would be done for the day. After spending the day hunched over her computer, her body craved stretchy pants and Netflix.
After a few seconds, she looked up when she realized she didn’t hear Mr. Chambers’s voice. She expected to see an old man with a white beard, but she saw the opposite.
It was like déjà vu from their first meeting. Instead of Chambers, a tall man in a black suit was walking into the building. It was Darcy.
“Liz.” He nodded at her as he walked into the Executive Office.
Liz stacked her papers on her desk. She could still hear the last sentence he uttered when she eavesdropped on his conversation. “Nothing about the South or the women appeals to me,” he had said that day. If he was so much better than Savannah, why was he walking back into her office now?
“Darcy.” She said his name and her mouth went dry. His dark suit and strong jaw seemed to symbolize everything that had gone wrong in her life over the past few weeks.
She leaned back in her chair, looking at the precisely knotted tie against his throat. He walked slowly toward her before he stopped by the chair in front of her desk. Then he unbuttoned his suit jacket and sat down.
“Can I help you?” she asked him. Liz wasn’t sure what he wanted, but she knew she wanted him out of her office.
Darcy scanned her desk, landing on the stack of papers she’d just created. It was a pile of ad work she was turning into a portfolio for her resume. She could feel his eyes surveying the top piece of artwork. “Just waiting on a meeting with Mr. Chambers,” he said.
The awkward silence hung between them. It made her want to fill it with something other than the hum of the air conditioner. “Chambers needed some help canceling a few contracts and cleaning. Things like that.”
“Well, I’m going to go.” She stared at his stark expression, and realized she needed to be back in her apartment in her stretchy pants more than ever.
Darcy stood up when she did, and they looked at each other for a few beats, neither flinching, neither breaking eye contact.
The pressure she felt from his gaze made a lump form in her throat. She broke eye contact, and she quickly grabbed her purse and walked toward the door, covering the ground in swift steps. As she walked out of her office, she realized it was one of the last times she would ever leave the building, and Darcy was the reason why. If he wouldn’t have messed with Hamilton’s financing, she might still have a job.
She tried to hold back her sadness, but tears welled up in her eyes. She pushed open the door, and then she was hit in the face with Georgia heat.
L
iz continued her quick pace down the sidewalk, wiping away the tears and willing herself to stop crying. She was focused so hard calming herself down that she jumped when she heard a voice behind her.
“Liz.” She didn’t need to turn around. She knew the voice belonged to Darcy.
“Liz!” His voice was louder. She could hear his steps behind her getting closer. Thud. Thud. Thud.
She didn’t want to turn around. If she did, he would see the tears roll down her face. She wasn’t going to let him see her cry.
Thud. Thud. Thud. His footsteps were closer. She tried to walk faster, but it was too late. He reached out and grabbed her arm. “Liz, stop.”
She turned and looked at him. His face was still solemn, but his eyebrows furrowed together when he saw her tear-stained face.
“What do you want, Darcy?” She planted her feet into the concrete sidewalk and placed her hands on her hips. She wiped her face with her hand and stared at the moss hanging from a tree overhead for a few seconds. She blinked quickly to remove any trace of moisture from her eyes.
He cleared his throat. “It’s not rational. I’ve tried to talk myself out of it a hundred times. I’ve done the numbers, back and forth, and it doesn’t make any sense.”
Liz stared at him and let him continue. “The profits are probably fraudulent. We both know the expenses are.”
She didn’t have time to interject because he continued. “I hate the South, the heat, and all the ridiculous accents. Plus, the team you selected and led is clearly immature at best and moronic at worst.”
Moronic? Liz’s tears turned to anger. This was a battle, one she intended on winning. She tightened her fingers around the handle of her purse. He had exposed her company as a fraud, and she’d lost her job. Was he trying to rub salt in her wounds by picking apart everything and everyone she loved?
Darcy ran his hand through his hair. “And Chambers must be an idiot not to realize the accounting problems had been going on for a decade under his nose. He actually thought he was making a profit?”