“Shameful. Just shameful and ungodly!”
“I’m a God-fearing Christian woman but I’ll tell you something for certain, you fruitcake! I have kids at home and this blogsite is supposed to be safe for me to open with them around. I’m un-following your blog and not admitting to anybody I ever followed it in the first place. You’ve gone over the line.”
“Wow. And how long has it been up?” she asked as she scrolled back up to the article. “Ten minutes.” She scrolled back to the picture, got a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach, and then looked at the two of them. “It’s going to be all over.” Anybody could save that photograph before it was taken down. It would be all over the Internet.
They looked horrified, and then it dawned on her. “Don’t go there, guys. I know we were indiscreet, but I don’t regret last night for anything and I never will. It was a wonderful experience I wouldn’t trade for anything. I’d just rather it wasn’t shared with the whole world.”
Kemp’s phone rang again.
“Yeah. Okay. Call Jake and ask him to hang out at the shop today. We’ll be right there.”
Summer chuckled, trying to find the humor in the situation. “Margot will love that.”
Ace smiled, “Actually, they seem to have hit it off after their rather bumpy start.”
“Really? I wondered what was up with them,” she replied.
“Opposites attracting, I think,” Kemp said. “Okay, darlin’. What are you going to do now?”
“What I always do when I have stress.”
“What’s that?” Ace asked as he helped her down from the seat of the Hummer.
“Go shoe shopping.”
* * * *
Summer browsed the shoe displays, elbowing Grace as she pointed to a wicked-looking pair of black stilettos that had a row of silver chains for ankle straps. “Who’s doing the buying for Stigall’s these days? Pretty racy for a traditional family-run operation.
Grace giggled and replied, “Leah is trying to get the buyers to select more trendy fashions. She cuts the fat, so he gives in a little,” she said indicating the shoe department. “It used to be that there were chairs here and they brought the shoes out to you, for you to try on. That was someone’s job, to help you. They’ve taken out the seating area and expect you to try shoes on standing up or perched on a little bench if one is available,” she said, holding on to Summer’s shoulder as she balanced her very pregnant body on one foot, trying to slip the stiletto on. She sighed and put it back.
“No luck?”
“Nope. I should be looking for something more comfortable anyway. The guys said they love seeing me in heels, but if it’s affecting my balance and making my feet hurt, I should get some comfy shoes.”
“They’re so sweet to you.”
“I know. I love those men so much. Speaking of men, did Rachel tell you that Chance and Clayton Carlisle stopped in this morning?”
Summer shook her head. She’d called around looking for Grace to see if she wanted to go shoe shopping since it was her day off. “Nope. I took care of Chance yesterday though. Was everything all right with the turquoise jewelry I sold him?”
“Oh, there was no problem with that. He came in with a slip of paper, saying he needed another copy of a certain book. A Caressa MacFarland book that you sold him.” Grace made big eyes at her and then started laughing. “I will be so mortified if they ever figure out they are the inspiration for that book. No, they will be mortified. I will just die!”
Summer chuckled and said, “Pregnancy sure has brought out the drama in you, Grace. Why did they need another copy? Or do I want to know?”
“According to Rachel, she quizzed him a bit and since they’ve known each other a while he fessed up and told her they’d both been reading sections of the book and didn’t realize until it was too late that they’d creased the spine on the book. Chance didn’t want her to think he’d give her a used erotic romance as a gift. He said he and Clayton actually enjoyed it.”
Summer burst into giggles and noticed a woman frowning at them with disapproval on her face. She tried to smile at her and looked away, vowing to be quieter. The stress of the morning must’ve been getting to her. Summer found a pair of sunflower-yellow patent wedge-heeled sandals with jeweled flowers on the uppers that she couldn’t live without.
Grace pulled her over to the baby department, and they were looking at little one-piece fuzzy sleepers when Summer noticed the angry-looking woman from earlier in the shoe department chasing after a merrily giggling toddler. “Patrick! Patrick Jr.! You cut that out. Be a good boy,” she fussed. She looked beyond frustrated.
“Nope,” the blond-headed boy said and clapped his hands.
“Hey, girls! What’s shakin’!”
Summer looked up in surprise at the familiar voice. “Hi, Rosemary! How’re you?” she asked as Rosemary hugged her.
Looking as gorgeous as ever, the petite, raven-haired beauty replied, “I’m just peachy. Staying busy at the store. I had to get away so I could enjoy shopping for a change.” She cast a glance around and added more softly, “Although I will say I wish that one would stop giving us the death stare. I swear she is everywhere I go these days.”
Summer looked in the direction Rosemary pointed and caught the same woman glaring at them again, only now she seemed positively incensed.
Leah Woodworth, the store manager, pushed through the stockroom doors, pulling a rack of women’s clothing, and said, “Hi, ladies! How is everybody? Everything going okay out at Discretion?” Leah dusted her hands off and then gave each of them a hug.
“Discretion is great. How are things here?”
Leah chuckled and said, “The same. Dad says ‘trim the fat!’ I keep telling him there isn’t any left.” She shrugged. “He’s my dad. What can I do?” Leah seemed to take running the store and dealing with her dad well in stride. “What about that other mess? Juliana said y’all were having a heck of a time with that nasty blog business. I’m sorry you keep getting harassed like that.”
Grace filled her in on some of the details, and they shot the breeze for a few minutes. To Summer, Leah said, “I sent some customers out your way. They wanted something we didn’t carry.” In an aside whisper, Leah added, “And you and I know there ain’t no way Daddy is gonna let me carry crotchless thong panties in this store. There’s only so far I can push the man, for now anyway.”
Summer smiled recalling the customers mentioning the referral a couple of weeks back and thanked Leah for the mention. Leah reached for the rack and said, “Well these dresses aren’t going to hang themselves. I’d better get…” Summer turned to her when Leah’s words drifted off. Leah was focused on the front of the store, and she looked a little concerned. “Excuse me, ladies. I’ll talk to y’all later.”
Leah threaded her way through the racks in the baby department and cut diagonally across the store toward the front.
“She must have a shoplifter,” Rosemary said casually. She looked up and spoke over Summer’s shoulder. “That’s right, stare all you want. We’re here and we’re not going anywhere.”
Summer turned and caught the evil look directed at Rosemary, Grace, and her and turned back to the girls and said, “Who is that woman? I’ve been getting ugly looks from her since we got here.”
“Her name is Elizabeth Owen. She has a very high opinion of herself and a very low opinion of us. Evidently we’re leading all the eligible bachelors of this fine community astray.”
Something about Rosemary’s words jogged Summer’s memory, and she asked, “What does she do?”
“Far as I know she’s a stay-at-home mom, judging others on high. Supposedly she also leads a Bible study group.” More memories came to mind.
“See you in Bible study…”
Ann Sheridan had told them at O’Reilley’s that the woman who wrote the blog also taught a Bible study class.
Turning to Grace, Summer said, “That’s the one writing the blog, isn’t it? That sounds just like her
—”
Boom!
All three of them practically jumped out of their skin.
Chapter Twenty-Two
“Holy shit!” Ace looked away from the monitor and at Duke. “Turn up the sound. What just happened?” Ace and Duke were currently sitting in the work van, watching a live feed from Stigall’s security cameras.
The girls had just responded bodily to something that had occurred elsewhere in the store. They were now crouched down in the back corner of the store.
Duke pointed to another monitor and said, “There.”
Ace was out of his seat in a heartbeat. Cool as ever, Duke handed him the wireless earpiece before he even had to ask. He placed it in his ear and grabbed his weapon from its holster. His hearted pounded with worry for Summer, and he found it incredibly difficult to focus on the guy with the sawed-off shotgun holding the store manager at gunpoint.
“Ace, he’s got her backed up against one of the shoe racks at the back of the store. She’s trying to calm him down. This dude looks like he’s a little past the ‘calming’ stage.”
Ace slipped in through the side door that opened into the bed-and-bath department at the rear of the store. Softly he asked, “Have the girls moved?”
Duke replied, “No. they’re staying put for the moment.”
Ace maneuvered around a display and could see the shooter. Several customers ran for the front of the store, and one woman screamed in fright as the man with the gun looked at her and waved the gun in her direction.
To no one in particular he yelled, “I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for this bitch and her cheap, fucking father. I did the best work I could, and she fired me. They’ve fired half the people who used to work here or made it near impossible for them to survive.”
Leah held out her hands, trying to calm him. “George, we can talk about this. Please be reasonable. You’re scaring all these people. They haven’t done anything to you—”
“I don’t give a shit about them! All I care about is making you pay. Making this store pay. Maybe after I shoot a few people up no one will come back and they’ll have to close the doors. People don’t like that.”
It was obvious this guy was drunk and half-crazy, spouting off his plans for revenge.
“George, let’s just go in my office and talk about this. You’ve got my attention. Please don’t hurt any of these people.”
Ace moved from rack to rack, trying to maneuver in behind George, but it was difficult to get close with the open aisle behind him. If he jumped him he took a chance on him accidentally shooting someone. George kept yelling at Leah, sounding more and more unstable.
“You can’t just fire people for no good reason! I can’t support my family, and my wife left me and moved in with her mother.”
Duke said, “Ace, he’s maneuvering Leah away from the back of the store. He’s getting nervous.”
George yelled, “I see you there! Get over here. You stand with her.” A woman cried incoherently and struggled when he grabbed her, and Ace took the opportunity to move a little closer.
George fired another terrifying blast which showered bits of ceiling tiles down on the girls. “I don’t care who you are! Get over there with her.” The shooter pointed the gun at them, which put the area the girls were in within firing range.
Duke said, “Ace, the girls are moving. One of them has got a piece of a—Oh, shit.”
* * * *
Summer, Grace, and Rosemary maneuvered away from George, trying to keep as many racks as possible between them and him, hoping that he might not see them. She looked down at the shoe box she still clutched in her hands and tried to relax them because the box was now a mangled mess. She heard a strident, desperate-sounding whisper, a giggle, and the patter of tiny sandals on the carpet. The little boy, Patrick Jr.
Summer got on her knees and looked beneath the racks at floor level. She could see his chubby legs as he made his way through the racks. His mother was several feet away, gesturing for him to come to her, but he evidently was having none of it as he moved farther away.
Patrick was headed straight for Summer when he suddenly veered onto the main aisle. Miraculously, he was silent and didn’t draw the attention of the huge man with the deadly weapon. Summer saw movement beyond Patrick and looked into Ace’s dark, determined eyes. She’d never been so happy to see him. Relief struck her in a sharp, almost bittersweet wave because there was no guarantee this wasn’t the last time she’d ever see him.
Looking at the box in her hands, she did the only thing she could think of to save the little boy from George’s notice. Summer opened the box and removed one of the shoes. She jerked the bejeweled flower from the shoe and waved it at the boy so the jewels would twinkle under the overhead lights.
His eyes got big when he noticed her, and she crooked her finger at him to come to her. Smiling, he reached for the sparkling flower, and she carefully reeled him in until she could wrap her arms around him and put her finger to her lips in a shushing gesture. He took the flower she handed to him, patted her cheek, and crowed at the top of his lungs, “Pretty lady!”
A flurry of movement was heard from the direction George had been standing, and Summer looked into Ace’s eyes as she backed away. She saw movement to her left and couldn’t believe her eyes when she watched Rosemary stand as George passed her. With a determined grimace, her petite friend bashed him over the head with the metal arm from a display rack. The blow didn’t knock him out but clearly disoriented him and gave Ace enough of a chance to jump him. Display racks fell in a jumble around them as they fought for the weapon, and Summer struggled to get away so none of them fell on her or Patrick.
By now Patrick was crying and carrying on, people were screaming, and George and Ace were tussling on the floor. The police rushed in and took over custody of George, whom Ace had disarmed and pinned to the floor. Summer heard Kemp calling out to her. Ace came to her and helped her from the floor where she’d fallen in her attempt to get away.
She clung to the little boy reflexively and allowed Ace to help her to her feet. Patrick wasn’t getting away from her until she knew for certain she could place him in his parent’s arms. His little face was red from crying, and tears rolled down his cheeks.
“Shh, baby. Mama’s coming. Shh.” She hugged him and patted his back as he trembled in her arms.
“You okay, kitten?”
“No, but I will be. I’m so glad you were here, Ace. How did you get here so fast?”
“The woman we are watching is here in the store somewhere. I think this is her child,” he said, indicating the boy in Summer’s arms. She sighed, remembering that she’d just come to the same conclusion before the first shotgun blast. Kemp joined them and closed her in the circle of his strong arms.
“Darlin’, I’m so glad you’re all right.”
She looked up into his sincere, green eyes and said, “It was really scary, but I’m okay.”
Kemp turned to Grace and Rosemary, and asked, “Are you both all right? Grace? Feeling okay?”
Grace was still pale from her fright but patted her abdomen and nodded. “Yes, Kemp. We’re okay. I’m grateful to be able to say so, too.”
“Elizabeth! Elizabeth?” A tall blond man in a suit ran toward them from the front of the store shouting, “Elizabeth! Patrick!” He caught sight of Summer holding the little boy in question, and relief flooded his face as he ran to them. “My wife, Elizabeth, has she been hurt? A friend called me and told me she was here.” His question had a fearful note, and worry filled his eyes.
Summer said, “She’s around here somewhere, sir. Your son got loose and wandered in my direction. I think she’s okay, though.”
“Patrick?”
Both the man and the little boy looked in the direction of the person who spoke.
Patrick seemed surprised, but then a flush of color stained his cheeks as he replied, “Rosemary?”
Summer turned to Rosemary and said, “That was a very foolish thing you did,
Rosemary, but thank you. I think you saved our lives by sneaking up on him like that.”
Rosemary smirked and replied, “You can thank me by defending me when Evan and Wes get wind of the stunt I just pulled. You can bet my ass is grass when they find out.” Summer smiled, noting Rosemary’s apparent lack of concern. If her ass was grass that implied that Evan and Wes were the lawnmowers. Rosemary smiled at Patrick and continued, “Patrick, how are you? It’s been a long time.”
Patrick Owen replied, “I’ve seen better days, Rosemary. What happened here? And what did you do?”
As Rosemary and Summer quickly explained what happened, Ace excused himself from their little group. Patrick was obviously shocked by the news and very grateful to them both. He hugged Summer and allowed Patrick Jr. to kiss her cheek and thanked her for corralling his wayward son. Then he turned to Rosemary, and some unspoken communication seemed to pass between them. Rosemary smiled reassuringly and reached to give the tall man a hug.
She patted his back as tears finally surfaced for both of them and said, “You’re welcome, Patrick. Your son is just precious,” she added, patting the boy’s leg. He still clung to Summer’s neck.
“Get your hands off of my husband and son!”
Elizabeth Owen charged forward across the menswear department, breaking up their tearful moment, but Ace cut her off before she could reach their group. “Elizabeth Owen?”
“Yes. What do you want?” she asked with venom in her tone. Summer noted that she didn’t ask who he was because she already knew.
“I’d like a word in private with you,” Ace said quietly. So far they had not drawn anyone else’s attention in all the noisy chaos surrounding them.
“I don’t have anything to say to you,” she replied condescendingly.
“But I have plenty I’d like to say to you. Why don’t we include your husband in this conversation,” he said as he looked at the man in question.
The Divine Creek Ranch Collection Volume 3 Page 54