by Jill Sanders
“No, I’m fine,” Joe said as he shut the cash register while pushing a wad of bills into his pocket.
“I’m calling the police.” Kayla marched towards the phone.
Joe’s laughter stopped her. “There’s no need for that. I’m Crystal’s…”
“Boyfriend,” Rowan supplied. “Which doesn’t give you the right to empty the register.” He moved closer and handed CJ over to Kayla. “Better put it back.” He stopped beside the man.
Crystal had been dating the creep on and off for the past year or so. He knew that Joe was in charge of the yoga classes, but in the past two months, he hadn’t seen a lot of the younger man around. Actually, he’d believed that his aunt had finally given the guy the boot.
“What exactly are you accusing me of?” Joe turned towards him. The man was easily as tall as Rowan, but almost twenty pounds lighter. Rowan had a garage full of weights he’d been lifting for years and he had bulked his arms and chest out. Joe was rail thin. His aunt had called the man’s body a dancer’s form. Rowan called it plain skinny.
Rowan’s eyebrows shot up. “Not accusing. Just stating the facts.” He crossed his arms over his chest.
“Crystal knows I come in and get my share of the cut from the yoga classes every Friday,” Joe replied. “Call her.” The man’s eyes narrowed at him.
“I’ll call her.” Kayla set Connor on the counter as she picked up the phone.
The men stood back while Kayla chatted with his aunt.
“What’s the pay rate?” Kayla asked, writing something down on a piece of paper. “You don’t?” She glanced over at them. “Then, how do you—?” She stopped talking and listened as she bit her bottom lip. “I don’t think that’s…” She sighed then nodded. “Yes, okay. Maybe we can talk later?” she added, then smiled slightly. “Yes, thanks.”
“Well?” he asked. Neither man had moved since she’d picked up the phone.
Kayla reached over and picked up Connor again. “She says he comes in and gets his cut from the yoga classes every Friday night.”
“How much?” Rowan asked.
Kayla shrugged. “She didn’t know. Usually, it’s fifty percent of what the yoga classes bring in. She said she trusts Joe to take what he needs.”
Rowan and Kayla’s eyes turned towards the man who was smiling back at them. “Now, if you’ll excuse me.” Joe walked around him quickly. “I’ve got a date.”
They watched the man leave before saying anything.
“I don’t like it,” both of them said at the same time.
Kayla chuckled and nodded. “Agreed. I was going over your aunt’s books last night and found a lot of discrepancies.”
“Oh? Do you know a lot about accounting?”
She nodded. “It’s what I was going to school for in New York.”
“Right.” He reached over to take Connor from her. The kid was half-asleep, still holding onto the purple dinosaur. “And?”
“I have some printouts at the house. I was going to go over them with Crystal, but… I got sidetracked last night.”
“My fault,” he said, moving a little closer to her.
She returned the smile. “Yes, it was.”
He shifted the kid and felt his heart flutter when CJ laid his head down on his shoulder.
“I should probably get this kid back and in bed.” He sighed as he looked down at Kayla.
She reached up and ran a hand through her son’s hair. “Yeah, thanks for the visit.” She leaned over and placed a kiss on Connor’s cheek.
“Do I get one of those?” he joked.
Her smile faltered as she reached up on her toes and placed a chaste kiss on his cheek.
“Hmmm.” He tilted his head. “Maybe when you get home, you can improve on that.”
She pushed him towards the door. “We’ll see. It depends on how good you are.”
He glanced over his shoulder at her as he walked out. “Very good,” he purred as he walked out.
Chapter 8
By the time Kayla crawled into bed that night, she was pretty sure she was falling for Rowan. How had he gotten past her defenses so quickly?
He’d been curled up with Connor on the sofa when she’d let herself into the house. There were cartoons playing, but they were both fast asleep.
When he’d heard her, his eyes had slid open and he’d smiled up at her while holding a finger over his lips to keep her quiet.
He’d carried Connor up the stairs and placed the freshly bathed, pajama-clad boy into the bed. Then he’d taken her hand and walked with her to the end of the hallway and stepped outside onto a back deck she hadn’t known existed.
There was a small landing with a bench, and they sat down and talked for a few minutes about her workday and his.
Then he’d wrapped his arm around her and pulled her closer. When his lips touched hers, she felt her entire body heat and melt against his.
His hands had moved to her hair, holding her closer, tilting her head as he took what he wanted from her.
She’d moaned and wrapped her arms tighter around him.
“Isn’t it funny that I can’t wait for the weekend to be over already?”
She smiled. “It’s only Friday.”
“I know, but Monday is our day off.”
She leaned back and looked up at him. “You took Monday off too?”
He nodded. “I thought maybe instead of just dinner, we could spend the day together. Since Crystal is taking Connor to the resort for the day and night, I figured we could both play hooky.”
“Sounds good.” She’d have to tell her mother she needed a day off too.
“Great.” He pulled her until she rested her head against his chest as his fingers played with her hair. “I’ll set everything up. All you’ll need is a pair of hiking boots.”
“Hiking?” She glanced up at him.
“Oh no, it’s a surprise.” He nudged until she leaned back again. “Look.” He pointed towards the sky. “Shooting star.”
She glanced up in time to see the falling light.
“Make a wish,” he whispered into her hair.
“What would you wish for?” she asked.
He was silent for a while. “Too much.” He shifted beneath her. “You?”
“Health and happiness for Connor,” she answered easily.
Now, she lay in the darkness and tried to drift off, but her mind kept playing over the earlier scene. How his hands had felt in her hair and how his lips had felt on hers. It had been too long since she’d felt tenderness like that.
When she heard her phone chime, she rolled over and glanced at the screen. A huge smile escaped her when she saw Rowan’s name on the screen.
-Hey, you still awake?
-Yes
-Good, because I can’t sleep
-Try warm milk
She chuckled at the Moji he sent back
-You know when you asked me what I wished for?
-Yes
She bit her lip as she waited for his response.
-I was wishing that the night wouldn’t end
What could she say to that?
-You still there?
-Yes, I thought you couldn’t wait til Monday?
She chose to keep things light.
-I can’t. But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to spend as much time with you as I can get.
-You’re making it hard for me to focus.
-Good, now you know how you make me feel.
-Rowan, I don’t know if I can do this…
-Kayla
She waited and when he didn’t say anything more she typed.
-yes?
-Don’t think too much. Just… enjoy. Goodnight.
-Goodnight.
-Dream of me, because I know I’ll be dreaming of you.
By morning, she wondered if she would be able to stop thinking about him. Her sleep had been filled with lighthearted dreams and she’d woken more refreshed than she had in a long time.
After dress
ing Connor and herself, she made her way down to the kitchen where Crystal was packing a large cooler full of food.
“Oh, there you two are. I thought today Connor and I would go to the beach.”
“That sounds wonderful,” Kayla said, setting her son down in the chair. “I can pack his swimsuit and toys.”
Crystal smiled and walked over to her. “Sounds good. It’s too nice of a day to be locked inside.” She rested a hand on Connor’s.
Kayla set a freshly baked banana nut muffin in front of her son, who instantly started gobbling it up. She made herself a cup of coffee and grabbed her own muffin.
“I wanted to talk to you about your books,” Kayla said when she was settled. She pushed the folder of papers towards Crystal who was sipping her tea.
“My books?” Crystal set her mug down and frowned at the papers.
“Yes, I…” She took a deep breath. “I was going to school, before.” She glanced over at Connor. “Anyway, I was on my way to a business degree and accounting was something I was good at. I logged into your QuickBooks and looked through your numbers. There are a lot of discrepancies.”
“Joe takes care of all that part of the business.”
“Joe?” Kayla’s eyebrows shot up and Crystal didn’t miss the look.
“Yes, why?”
“What…” She shook her head. “Never mind.”
“No.” Crystal leaned forward, “Go ahead. From the look on your face, you have more to say.”
“It’s not my place.”
Crystal surprised her by laughing. “Honey, you’re living in my house, working in my business, you can talk to me about anything because you are right where you need to be. This is your place.” She gave her an encouraging smile. “Go on.”
“It’s just, over the past two years, there appears to be a little over twenty thousand dollars missing.”
Crystal was silent for a while. “It’s probably the yoga…”
Kayla shook her head.
“No, that’s beside the money taken out for the yoga. Well, that was before I knew Joe just came in and took cash from the cash register every Friday night.”
“He said it was easier than cutting a check to him.” Crystal tilted her head.
“Of course, I’ll need some time to really look at things.” Kayla pulled the file towards her. “But at a quick glance, not only is there money missing, but it appears that some taxes have not been paid.”
“What?” Crystal sat forward and for the first time since she’d known the woman, a worried look flashed behind her eyes.
“I can look further into this, if…”
“Yes, please do. Let me know what you need.” Crystal took her full cup to the sink and dumped it out. She remained facing the sink, looking out the large window towards the backyard. After a moment of silence, she turned towards Kayla. “I’ll see if Olivia can fill in a couple nights a week so you can have time in the evenings. Is there anything else you need from me?”
She thought about it. “I might need some passwords and your taxes for the past few years. Since Joe took over.”
Crystal grabbed a key ring from the hook by the back door. “These are to my office in the back. Everything is there on my desk.” She took a set of keys off the ring and handed it to her. “Keep me posted.”
“Crystal.” She stopped the woman from walking away. “Until I’m done, I think it would be best if Joe didn’t take cash from the register anymore.”
“I’ll take care of it.” She took several deep breaths and then turned to Connor. “Are you ready to go to the beach with me?” She picked him up.
“I’ll go get his swimsuit and things.” She set her dishes in the sink and turned to go.
“Kayla,” Crystal said, causing her to pause in the doorway. “Thank you, for… everything.”
Kayla smiled. “Thank you. Without you doing all this”—she glanced around— “I don’t know what we would have done.”
“It was a happy accident that you came to us.”
Kayla’s eyebrows shot up in question.
“You know Bob Ross?”
Kayla thought about it. “The painter guy on PBS?”
Crystal chuckled. “There are no mistakes in life, just happy accidents. Such wonderful wisdom to live by, don’t you think?” Crystal turned away and started singing and bouncing Connor on her hip.
Kayla watched the pair and smiled when her son started clapping his hand against his cast as Crystal sang, “If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands.”
When she parked at her mother’s place, she decided she would work on the outside of the house for the day.
The yard needed some serious work. The grass was so tall that in spots, it was laying down and brown. She knew there was a mower in the garage, since she’d stepped around it all week.
She’d worn a pair of shorts and tennis shoes and figured she could probably find a pair of work gloves somewhere in the garage, along with anything else she might need.
Her mother continued to work inside as she pulled off her button-up shirt and pulled out the old electric lawn mower. She found a new extension cord in the pile of garage things and plugged it in on the front porch.
After the first swipe of grass, she knew she was in trouble. The mower, though it was in decent shape, was not powerful enough to cut through grass that was over a foot tall. Which meant that, instead of walking in rows, she had to push the mower around like a vacuum cleaner instead.
When she started to cut the grass, a million mosquitos flew around her. She rushed into the garage and looked for a can of bug spray. Her mother had hoarded everything from yarn to power tools, but after digging through the mess of the garage, she came up empty when it came to bug spray.
An hour later, her shoulders, back, and arms burned as she worked her way across the front yard. The backyard was twice the size as the front, and she dreaded starting back there.
She had just finished half of the front yard when she heard a car park in the drive.
“What on earth are you doing?” Rowan asked as he moved towards her. He was wearing worn jeans and a T-shirt and looked ready to work.
Rowan had a few appointments first thing that morning, but when he was done, he cleared his schedule and went home to change. He’d planned on helping Kayla out as much as he could. He knew her mother’s yard needed a lot of work and decided to put his new mower in the back of the old truck he still kept around.
When he pulled in the drive, he saw Kayla pushing an old electric mower through the grass. She was wearing worn shorts and a silver tank top that hugged her perfectly. The fact that there was a line of sweat down her back told him that she’d been out there working for some time.
“What on earth are you doing?” he asked when he got out. He quickly unplugged the mower. “Trying to kill yourself with heat stroke or electrocute yourself?”
“I’m mowing the yard.” She flipped a strand of hair out of her eyes. At least she was wearing a pair of gloves and sunglasses to protect her hands and eyes.
“With that?” He chuckled and shook his head. “It’ll take you all day to get this done.”
“Tell me about it.” She frowned down at the machine.
He smiled. “That’s why I brought the beast over.” He nodded towards his truck. “Why don’t you take that thing away and grab yourself a glass of water.” He moved to the truck and hoisted down his new mower.
“Wow, that’s a nice mower.” She stood beside him.
“Yup, just got it a few weeks back.” He pushed it to the side of the yard she’d already mowed. “I brought my edger and Weedwacker, too.”
The grass was a mess. There were many tall blades she’d missed, and she hadn’t mowed in straight lines like he liked to.
He glanced over before turning the mower on. “I could use some water.”
Her eyes narrowed. “If I get you water, will you let me try your mower?”
“Maybe. You’ll have to mow in straighter lines
than that.” He nodded to the mess she’d already done.
She rolled her eyes as she disappeared into the house.
He started the beast and by the time she stepped out on the front patio again, he’d completed mulching the mess she’d already cut. He got the half of the yard she’d cut looking much better and then pushed the mower to the other side of the yard and started making his way through the thick mess.
Half an hour later, he took a break and drank a glass of lemonade while sitting on her front porch.
“Wow, it looks so much better,” Kayla said from her spot on an old chair. She glanced around the front porch and frowned. “Do you think you could work on the backyard while I tackle this mess?” She motioned to the cluttered patio.
“How about I finish the backyard and we tackle this mess together?” he said, reaching for her hand.
“I owe you big time,” she said after a moment. “I didn’t think I was going to get through this all.” He noticed she was scratching a bug bite and frowned.
“I have a can of bug spray in the truck.” He nodded to the bites on her arms.
She glanced down and frowned. “It’s funny, my mother has spent the last few years buying everything under the sun and hoarding it, but she doesn’t own a can of bug spray.” She chuckled and he could tell there was more than humor behind her statement.
“Hey.” He squeezed her hand. “We’ll get this all done.”
Her eyes moved up to his. “It’s not…” She shook her head. “What am I doing here?” She closed her eyes and he heard the weariness in her tone.
“You’re helping your mother out while getting a fresh start for you and your son.” He took her hand up to his lips. “And doing an amazing job at it.”
Her eyes moved to his. “I just don’t… can’t see a future here.” She looked around the house. “Sure, I can see myself hiding here until one day, Connor graduates school and goes off on his own. She dropped his hand and walked over to the railing. “But I wouldn’t be any better than my mother. Hiding in her house, collecting stuff.”
He moved over next to her. “What does Kayla want?” He placed his hands on her shoulders and turned her until they were eye to eye.
“That’s just it. I don’t know. I thought I did for a while.”