Betwixt Two Hearts (Crossroads Collection)

by Amanda Tru

  “Of course.” Mark picked up the crate before she could. “I have a few minutes to help if you’d like. I have that phone meeting, but then I can go to the store. I’ll bring back whatever you need.”

  Casey glanced up as they walked into the main room of the convention center. “You’d do that for me?”

  Mark smiled at her again. “Turns out my boss thought I’d been working too hard, so she made arrangements to have my workload lightened for a couple weeks. I’m not completely off work - I rarely am - but I shouldn’t be quite as busy for a while.”

  Never completely off work? Casey wasn’t sure how she felt about that if Mark was a potential relationship candidate.

  “Well, thank you. I appreciate it.”

  His phone buzzed as they reached her booth. The one she was manning without Rachel for the first time.

  Mark pulled it out. “Jonathan asked if we could move our meeting up to right now. Do you mind if I take this call then we get the rest figured out? I should be off the rest of the day.”

  Casey nodded. “Go ahead. Thank you.” Like she’d tell him no, that he couldn’t do his job because he needed to be helping her instead.

  After setting the crate down inside her booth area, Mark smiled and headed back for the door, already typing away on his phone.

  With a sigh, she began moving display shelves into place. Once they were situated, she opened tubs of completed crafts and filled the squares. The cloth buckets that had come with the shelves would be filled with craft kits and placed on the tables. Samples needed to be hung up.

  And Bruce meowed the whole time. Every so often, she gave him some more water. He lapped it up quickly but showed no ill effects.

  When she’d first found him huddled in the only empty square out of the three display shelves, Casey knew he’d been there since she loaded up two nights earlier. He couldn’t have moved into the square since then.

  Why he hadn’t thrown a fit, she’d never know, but she hadn’t heard a single cat-like peep the whole time she drove.

  Fortunately, the organizers were very understanding. They didn’t have any immediate solutions but said they’d do their best to help however they could. Mrs. Bateman had been helping her daughter set up in the next booth when she’d overheard the conversation and offered to cat sit while Casey finished unloading her van.

  And Betwixt had sent her a local match.

  She doubted anything would come of this potential relationship with Mark, but at least he’d been able to help her this morning, so there was that. She’d take whatever small favors she could get.

  Mark didn’t want to discuss his potential love life with Jonathan, but it seemed he had little choice. “I just met her. She found her cat had stowed away in her van. She asked if I knew a local vet. I’m asking you.”

  “But how did you meet her if she just drove in from out of town?” Jonathan’s natural curiosity wouldn’t let it go.

  With a sigh, Mark told him the truth. “The queen signed me up for a dating app. This woman was matched with me this morning. As soon as I accepted the ability to message, she sent me one asking for help with this dumb cat.”

  “Better not let her hear you say that.” Jonathan’s grin could be heard in his tone.

  “I don’t know her well enough to know if I care if she hears me or not.”

  “Don’t shoot yourself in the foot is all I’m saying. I’ll send you the number of our vet. Tell them I sent you, and they’ll make sure you’re taken care of.”

  Knowing people with money had its perks. Places like veterinarian’s offices tended to give them a little better treatment since they knew money was no object. That wasn’t to say they treated the rest of their patients poorly, but Mark suspected Jonathan would be able to get in on a moment’s notice easier than some others.

  “Thanks. Do you have any idea what a cat would need?”

  “Nope. I had to ask them for a list when I found Mr. Benny.”

  The small Shorkie had been scared to death after being dumped in the woods. Or so the story went. Mark had heard it from Jonathan’s adopted step-daughter many times.

  “Maybe they can help me out, too. Casey said she’d send me a list, but there’s a chance she could miss something for a cat that’s been hiding out in her van for several hundred miles.”

  “Are you going to ask her out?”

  Why must everyone want to know so much about his life? “I haven’t decided yet.”

  “Understood.” The hidden chuckle in Jonathan’s voice meant Mark was more transparent than he wanted to be.

  Of course, he was going to ask her out. Otherwise, the queen would wonder why. At least if they went out once, he could tell his boss they just hadn’t clicked.

  After ending his call with Jonathan, Mark went back inside. As expected, the call just confirmed what Mark already knew. Security was tight. Jonathan’s men would supplement his for the next few weeks to give his men a much-needed break after the royal family had spent two weeks in Serenity Landing.

  Back inside, Mark reoriented himself. Casey’s booth was in the back middle-ish. It didn’t take him long to find it.

  “How’d your phone meeting go?” she asked as she hung an Easter cross stitch up then moved back to look at it critically. The only reason Mark knew it was a cross stitch was the note attached to it.

  “Fine. Easy. Just like expected.” He looked at his phone. “And I have the number for a vet in town. My friend said to give them his name, and they’d make sure Mr. Cat is taken care of.”

  “His name is Bruce.”

  “Okay. They’ll make sure Bruce the Cat is taken care of.”

  “His name is Bruce the Bat, actually.” Casey moved the cross stitch to the other side of the booth. “Two guesses who he’s named after. He’s not mine. I don’t know how much money my best friend would be willing to spend if he’s not quite okay.”

  “Don’t worry about that just yet. Why don’t I call them, and if they can work him in, I’ll take him over? See what they say and go from there?”

  She nodded. “Thank you for taking care of it.” Her attention was more on the display than their conversation. Judging from the preparedness of the booths around them, she was running behind.

  “What can I do to help you get ready?” That was when he realized the shelves on the tables hadn’t been there before. She’d lifted them by herself. She likely didn’t need his help at all.

  “If you could start putting the lids back on the tubs and organizing them under the tables, that would be great.”

  Okay. He could handle that.

  By the time he was finished, Casey had completed whatever task she had set for herself. “Thanks.” She glanced at her watch. “I have fifteen minutes before we open. Would you mind watching the booth while I go to the bathroom? I won’t have a chance for hours once people come in.”

  “Sure.” Not for hours? Was she working this booth by herself? What about Mrs. Bateman? He’d thought they were together. Or did they require two people to be there at all times?

  While she was gone, Mark called the vet. Unfortunately, even name-dropping Jonathan Langley-Cranston didn’t help much. They had a doctor and tech call in sick and were already overloaded, but they’d see the cat about six that evening. Mark suspected they wouldn’t have offered that much if it weren’t for Jonathan’s name.

  When Casey returned, there were five minutes to go. Mark explained the situation with the vet.

  With her hands on her hips, Casey surveyed the booth. “Okay. We finish at five today. I can go to the vet after that. Can you message me the address?”

  Mark pulled out his phone. “I can text it to you.” Except he didn’t have her number. “If you don’t mind giving me your phone number.”

  Casey shook her head and rattled off the digits faster than he could keep up. After repeating it twice, Mark sent the information.

  When Casey smiled at him, he felt his heart skip a beat. She was attractive, sure, but there hadn�
��t been the sparks he’d heard others talk about. Just a warmth, a comfortable feeling, he wasn’t certain how to define.

  He glanced at his watch as the doors on the other end of the convention center opened. Noon. He didn’t have anywhere he needed to be.

  “So, Casey, why don’t I stick around for a while and help you out?” He couldn’t believe he was offering to stay, but he found himself unable to leave.

  It seemed he’d do almost anything to spend some time with the pretty craft shop owner and her stowaway cat.

  Whatever Casey had expected from Mark, staying to help her with the booth wasn’t part of it. She’d gladly take his assistance though.

  “Do you want to give me a crash course on all of this?” he asked. “Tell me what I need to know.”

  “You’ll never remember all of it,” she warned.

  “No, but I’m usually pretty good at absorbing information quickly when I need to. It’s part of my job.”

  “What do you do?”

  “I can tell you, but then I’d have to kill you.” He actually winked at her as he said it.

  Casey laughed. “Seriously?”

  He seemed to hesitate before answering. “I’m in security. I manage properties for several families who have homes in the area but want to keep them safe and remain under the radar as much as possible when they’re here.”

  She blinked. That wasn’t the answer she expected. “Are you even allowed to tell people that?”

  “I can’t tell you who, not at this point, but I can tell you that much. If you follow the news in the area at all, you could make some educated guesses. You might be right, but you might not.”

  Casey’s eyes narrowed. She’d figure it out. “If I guess, will you tell me?”

  Mark looked toward the ceiling as he thought it over. “If you just start guessing, no. If you have a rational basis for why you think so, then yes, I’ll tell you if you’re right or not.”

  “First question then. Where’s your accent from?”

  That made him chuckle. “Nope. Not telling you that part.”

  “Fine.”

  Customers had begun streaming into the convention center. Most started at the front booths and worked their way back, but a few decided to start at the back and work their way forward. Casey’s booth was far enough back that the ones who did that were starting to get to them.

  The first woman walked into the booth and began to look around. Casey smiled at her. “Good morning. How are you today?”

  “I’m good.”

  Mark moved toward the back of the booth, out of the way, while Casey talked with the woman and several others who came after her. They each bought something. Mark surprised her by working the tablet and card reader, smiling and talking with each of them.

  As soon as the small rush cleared, she checked on Bruce and gave him some more water.

  “Thank you for your help, but you don’t have to stay,” she told Mark as the next potential customer walked up.

  “I don’t mind.” He smiled that real smile at her, the one she decided she liked.

  “Thank you. I promise I’ll buy you lunch to help make up for it.”

  “That’s not necessary but thank you.”

  Before she could insist, the customer asked her a question. That was followed by another customer, and though not everyone bought something, it was after noon before she really had a chance to talk to Mark again.

  She had noticed him keeping an eye on Bruce in between ringing up customers for her. After a while, he also did some upselling and was quite good at it. He smiled at the older women and charmed them. The younger women, those who might possibly be interested in him, he treated with more reserve, but still made them feel special.

  Whatever he did in his regular life, he was a born salesman as well.

  Casey had found her bag when she set everything up. As classes started and the crowd cleared out some, she pulled twenty bucks out of it. She held it out toward Mark. “I can’t offer you some five-course meal, but there’s a food court on the other end of the room if you want to grab yourself something.”

  He crossed his arms over his chest. “I know this isn’t really a first date, but it’s on me. I can either get something for you and bring it back, or you can go when I’m done. Your choice.”

  “Cheeseburger if they have it. Pretzel with cheese if they don’t.”

  “And to drink.”

  “Pepsi if they have it. Dr Pepper if they don’t. Coke only if they have neither.”

  “Got it.”

  With that, Mark walked off. She watched him go and wondered what made the man tick. Who would spend their day helping a woman matched to him by a dating app? Why didn’t he have more pressing things to do, like watching over those properties?

  Mrs. Bateman had been helping her daughter with her booth, but with the crowds dissipating she stopped by to check on Bruce.

  “That young man of yours is causing quite the stir,” she told Casey.

  “He’s not my young man,” she told Mrs. Bateman for the eighteenth time. At least. “He’s a friend. That’s all.” At least for now. They needed a date or two, at a bare minimum, to see if there would be more.

  “If you say so.” She pulled Bruce out of the crate. “Did you talk to a veterinarian yet?”

  “Mark did. We’re doing the right things until we can get to the store or someone can bring some food.”

  Mrs. Bateman shoved Bruce at Casey. “Let me make a phone call. I know a lovely young woman who runs a cat rescue not too far from here. She may be able to help. Eden Animal Haven is a wonderful organization.”

  Before Casey could thank her, a customer wandered into the booth.

  “Is that the cat?” she asked, her eyes lighting up. “In four of the last six booths I was at, I heard about a cat who stowed away.”

  When she turned a little more, Casey could see a cat on her shirt and a shoulder bag with cats all over the fabric.

  “That’s him,” Casey told her with a laugh. “I didn’t know he’d become famous.”

  “Oh, yes. He’s the talk of the convention, I think.” The woman ran her hand over Bruce’s head a few times then turned to the booth. “Let’s see what you’ve got.”

  By the time Mark returned with their food, she’d sold items to three more women, all of whom had heard about the Craft Convention Cat as Bruce was coming to be called.

  But when the local news station wanted to do a story about him, she was pretty sure this was going to be the biggest weekend she and Rachel ever had.

  When Mark returned with their lunches, Casey and Bruce were being interviewed by the local news station. He stayed far enough back that there wasn’t a chance he’d be caught on camera. It wasn’t part of his job to be in front of them anymore. It never was, but when the queen was a princess, and he was on her primary team, sometimes he’d be caught escorting her in or out of a location or while working a crowd.

  He wanted to stay out of the limelight. At an out of the way table, he set her food down then ate his own.

  When they finished and packed up their gear, Mark took her food to the booth. Casey put Bruce back in the crate.

  “Oh, my goodness!” She reached for the burger. “Thank you! I didn’t get a chance to eat breakfast this morning. I’m starving.”

  While she scarfed down her food, Mark tried to reorganize some of the cubbies to look fuller than they really were.

  “There’s more stock in the buckets,” she told him. “Rachel’s been working to get ready for this show for months. We’ve got plenty.”

  “What will you do with the rest?” he asked as he pulled one of the buckets out.

  “She has an CHUVsy store that most of it will go into.”

  A note of sadness entered her voice, making Mark turn. “Why isn’t Rachel here? Was she unable to come at the last minute?”

  Casey wiped her mouth on her napkin. “She and her husband moved to Alaska last week. I’m her continental US marketer now.” S
he explained to him how they’d met in college and become roommates. When Rachel’s CHUVsy business took off, Casey began helping her while she finished her Masters’ degree in Business Administration, though her first love was marketing.

  “Is there a reason why you two didn’t become partners in the business?” He looked up from his crouched position as he put one of the tubs back under the table.

  “What do you mean? Rachel’s the crafty one. I just do the photography and shipping.”

  He stood and leaned against the back table, stretching his legs out in front of him. “It sounds like you do a lot of her marketing already. She pays you by the hour or piece or whatever, but to me, it sounds almost like you do half the work, just not the creative side of things.”

  “Not the crafty side anyway. I do the social media posts and banners, things like that. Graphic design type stuff, mostly.” He watched the thoughts turn over in her head. “I guess I always thought of it as Rachel’s company, and I help her out. The company isn’t mine. It never was. Becoming official business partners never crossed my mind.”

  Mark decided it wasn’t the time or place to press the issue. It worked for the two of them, though from the little Casey told him, it sounded like she did far more than a normal employee would in a two-person business.

  In the last few hours, he’d learned more about needlepoint and other crafts than he’d ever expected to know. He hadn’t been wrong in what he told Casey though. He was able to pick up what he needed to know and retain it pretty well.

  The afternoon rush began to pick up, so Mark went back to his job of running the tablet register. It surprised him that Casey so quickly trusted him with the money side of things. He knew he was trustworthy, but did she? If she was too trusting, that could be an issue if they were to try a relationship. He’d have to tell her who he worked for before too long, but if she trusted that information to anyone and everyone, that would really be a problem.

  If she was just relieved, she didn’t have to do this alone and made a choice to trust him based on some algorithm or person in a cubicle somewhere deciding they should be matched up and her own gut feeling, that might be a little different.