“Hey sis, these are awesome.” He held up a box of snacks that shouted 100-calorie packs on the front. At least they were better than the three packs of little cake snacks he’d thrown in a few minutes before.
“Kyle, we need to cool it with the junk food. I haven’t even gotten half the things on my list.”
“A boy’s gotta eat when a boy’s gotta eat, Sis.” His eyes lit up. “Oh! Oreos! Buy one get one free. Sold.”
Maddie groaned. “Let’s just get this finished, okay? And no more junk food.”
They made it to the checkout with only a few arguments over purchases. The cashier rang everything up and told her the total.
Maddie gulped. “How much again?”
She repeated the three-digit number.
The balance in her bank account ran through her brain. It’d be cutting it close, like within pennies.
She glanced at the bagger packing the bags, and Kyle standing behind her. Usually she’d just put a few things back, but it’d be too humiliating with everyone staring.
“Is there a problem, ma’am?”
“No, sorry.” She bit her lip and swiped her card. Please, Jesus, don’t let it reject. I have no clue how these things work, but please make it go through. The machine prompted for her PIN, which she entered.
The cheerful cashier handed her a slip of paper. “Here’s your receipt, ma’am. You have a wonderful day.”
God, thank you.
Kyle helped her load the groceries into the Tracker, but instead of heading to get a movie, she ran by the bank instead. “Just need to check something.”
If her balance was in the negative, she could transfer some from the tiny amount she had hoarded in a savings account. Oh, why hadn’t she done the overdraft protection like the bank lady had recommended when she opened the local account?
She pulled through to the ATM and slipped her card into the reader to request a balance inquiry. The machine spit out a receipt.
Maddie looked at the number printed, then blinked and reread it. Was there some kind of banking error?
“What’s wrong, sis?”
“I think there’s something wrong with my account. Hold on a minute. I’m gonna check the transactions on my phone.”
Since she didn’t have online access to her account at home due to no computer, she had the toll-free number on speed dial to get transactions voiced to her.
The prerecorded information droned in her ear, and after entering her information, she finally was able to press one for the five most recent deposits.
After hearing the first one, she almost dropped the phone.
The deposit on Friday for her paycheck was a good two-thousand dollars more than it should have been.
35
What’s wrong?”
Maddie clicked the end button on the phone with her shaking thumb. “Nothing. I, uh, just calculated wrong. There’s plenty of money, no worries.” Liar. She didn’t want to explain to Kyle yet. Not until she’d decided what to do about it.
What was Reuben doing? She didn’t need his handouts. She wanted to strangle him. Couldn’t he just leave well enough alone?
“Cool. Let’s go get a movie. I’m starving, and the chicken’s gettin’ cold.”
No longer worried about her meager bank account balance, she drove to the Walgreen’s Redbox. After picking up a chick flick for herself and some strange teen dragon movie she’d never heard of, she drove home, drooling as she did every time she entered the Lake Holiday subdivision. What she wouldn’t give to have one of the lakeside homes that cost an arm and a leg.
Kyle pointed out a particularly cool one that sported a For Sale sign in the yard. “You should buy that one, sis.”
“You have about six-hundred grand to loan me?”
“Wow, are they really that much?”
She nodded but didn’t divulge that the only reason she knew was because she’d sneaked onto their lawn last week when driving home late and took one of the “Take one” flyers by the sign. She’d almost fainted upon seeing the over half-million-dollar price.
“You should see Reuben’s house. His isn’t quite as big, but it’s still quite nice.”
“See, you should just hook up with him, sis, and you’d have it made.”
She gripped the steering wheel. She’d have done just that not even a year earlier. “I’m not ‘hooking up’ with Reuben, by way of marriage or any other method. Besides, I’m done with men.”
“Oh, yeah, Reuben told me about that. Why? I thought you always had to have a man at your side?”
“I found Jesus, remember? He’s the only man I need now.” She loved how “good” she sounded when she said that.
Immediately she chided herself. Surely such a thought was prideful or some other sinful attribute that would cancel out any benefit of her no-man-but-Jesus attitude.
“So Jesus says you can’t have sex anymore?”
God, please please stop this conversation. I do not want to talk to my little brother about sex. I know, I want him to live with me, the subject will come up. Can’t I, like, take him to a pastor or something? Seriously? Please?
Reuben flashed through her mind, but oh no. Asking her boss to sit down and have a birds-and-the-bees talk with her little brother was beyond humiliating.
She’d have to brave it by her lonesome.
“The Bible says that the physical side of a relationship should wait until you’re married. I’m not, so I will stay in my own bed.” There. That sounded … motherly.
“That’s new. Last I heard you were warming the bed of every guy in high school.”
Maddie slammed on her brakes, screeching to a stop in the middle of the street. “Excuse me? Where did you hear that?”
He shrugged. “Sarge.”
Air refused to fill her lungs. “She told you that?”
“No, I heard her telling Sid.”
Cold-blooded fury coursed through her veins as she tried to control her breathing. How dare that … that … that female-dog woman. She hadn’t wanted to swear so bad since moving to Sandwich, a habit she’d determined to leave behind in the projects of Chicago.
A horn honked behind her, so she pressed the gas again, gently because if she let her emotions take over, they’d be going ninety in the twenty-mile-an-hour zone. She remained silent until pulling into the driveway, then turned to face Kyle, who was picking at his fingernails. Obviously this was an issue that didn’t sit well with him either.
“I didn’t sleep with every guy in high school.” Although it was closer than she wanted to admit. She took a deep breath. “And what I did do is behind me now. Jesus takes all of the crud in our life, throws it out the window, and lets us start over fresh. I’m not saying I’m perfect now, but I’m trying, Kyle. So when it comes to guys, they’re off-limits. I know my weaknesses.”
“Yeah, that you’re easy?”
She clenched her fist on the steering wheel. Lord, help me. “No. That big, strong guys can steer me wrong oh so easily. Girls are different than guys, Kyle. There’s some weird, rooted desire in us to have someone protect us. Dad was never there for me, you and I both know that. So I let guys do that for me.”
“So, now what, you don’t need protection anymore?”
“I didn’t say that. I’m just letting God do the protection and relying on him.”
“Whatever. I still don’t understand why you can’t get married. That’s dumb.”
There was no way to explain it to him. He wouldn’t understand.
A knock sounded on Reuben’s office door, and he glanced up from the papers that littered his desk. “Come in.”
Livy peeked her head in. “You busy?”
“A little, but I can make time. What’s up?”
She closed the door behind her and took a seat in the office chair across from his desk, the picture of professionalism. “I’ve been meaning to talk to you.”
“About?”
“Maddie.”
He didn’t want to discuss
Maddie with Livy. Maddie was on her way to Chicago with Allie driving, returning Kyle to the Blakelys. “What about her?”
“I see that she’s not in today. Everything okay?”
He shrugged. “I gave her the day off.”
She rolled her eyes, her face smug. “Must be nice.”
He didn’t have to explain it to her, but she’d pry until she found out anyway. “Her little brother was in town for the weekend, and she’s taking him home. She worked all last week despite being in a lot of pain. She deserves the day off.”
Livy held up her hands in mock surrender. “I wasn’t saying you shouldn’t have given it to her. I’m kind of glad she’s not here anyway so we have a chance to talk.” She leaned over and dropped a manila folder onto the desk. “Take a look.”
He eyed the folder. The file tab had “Madison Buckner” typed in bold all-capped letters. “What’s this?”
“Something sat wrong about her with me. So I took the liberty of getting the normal check done that we do on all employees. As you know, you hired her, not me, so nothing was ever run.”
“And what gave you the right to do it now, behind my back?”
“Just open it.”
He didn’t want to. After talking to Kyle, part of him was scared of what he’d find.
The other half of him was dying to get a peak. No need to let Livy know that though and validate her devious handling of the matter. “Thanks for the information, but next time, ask my permission before you spend company funds on something like this, okay? Is there anything else?”
Her cheeks burned red and her eyes squinted. “That’s it. Let me know if you need anything else.”
She stomped out of the office in typical, Livy-like fashion.
The moment the door closed Reuben opened the folder, then clutched it closed again. No. He wouldn’t do this now. He had a billion other things on his plate today, and even if there was something to see, he couldn’t do a thing about it now.
Chicken. You just don’t want to think about it. You’re afraid of what you’ll find. He brushed the thought aside. Her past was just that. Her past. Before she came to know Jesus.
Didn’t everyone do things they came to regret later?
It was none of his business.
He shoved the file in his desk drawer, then settled into his chair and wiggled his mouse.
The envelope icon at the bottom of the screen alerted him of new e-mail.
He clicked on his e-mail software and saw three unread messages. The first was a joke forward from Allie.
Delete.
The second he flagged with a reminder to look at later.
The last one he actually opened. It was an e-mail from the company that processed his payroll, which was odd, because they usually dealt 100 percent with Maddie now.
Mr. Callahan, attached is a copy of the special payroll journal as requested. We apologize that this was missed last week. If there’s anything else I can do for you, please let me know and I’ll be happy to assist.
Sincerely,
K. Barnes
Payroll Specialist
PayPeople America Inc.
Reuben frowned. He hadn’t requested a copy of the journal, and every other week, it always went to Maddie. Before her, he’d just moved the e-mail to a folder without reviewing them. Someone would let him know if there was a problem.
What concerned him most was the “special payroll” note. Since when did they process those? Maybe there’d been a mistake.
He clicked on the PDF file.
Blinking, he leaned closer. Was that Maddie’s name? Yes, and….
His heart froze. A bonus … for how much?
A mistake. It had to be.
He picked up his phone and dialed the phone number at the bottom of Ms. Barnes’s e-mail signature.
“Good afternoon, PayPeople America, this is Karla speaking, how may I assist you today?”
“This is Reuben at The Sandwich Emporium. I got your e-mail about the pay register?”
There was a pause, then she cleared her throat. “Yes, I, uh, was there a problem, sir?”
“Yes. I have no idea what it’s for. I never requested a special payroll.”
“I, um, can you hold on one moment, sir?”
He wanted to shout no, to tell him what was going on right now, but instead he muttered yes. Maybe she had to look something up. It had to be a mistake.
The woman came back on the line. “Sir, I’m going to transfer you to my manager. Hold one moment.”
The music and advertisements broadcasting their other services came on the line again, grating on his nerves even more. He didn’t care about Section 125 plans or 401k services.
A moment later the irritating tirade stopped. “Mr. Callahan, this is Melanie Bristol. How are you doing this morning?”
“I’d be doing better if I knew why a special payroll was being cut without my permission.”
“Actually, sir, you gave permission for your assistant, Madison Buckner, to submit all your payroll information with no restrictions.”
“You’re telling me Maddie called in a bonus to herself?”
“Yes, one of our other specialists took the call last week. There was a note that she’d requested no register be sent, that you’d given her a raise and a bonus but that she didn’t need the paperwork.”
He blinked. “Her rate of pay increased too?”
“Not on this last check, but she changed it going forward. Quite a generous increase too.” The figure she quoted was almost double the rate Maddie currently made.
“If she requested no register be sent, why did Karla send me one today?”
The woman cleared her throat. “Karla is your normal specialist and speaks to Maddie quite often, and when the other specialist mentioned taking the call for her last week, she got suspicious. Maddie is usually very insistent on getting all her paperwork timely, so it just seemed out of place, especially with the bonus being for herself. We felt it prudent to send you a copy just to be on the safe side.”
Nothing about this made sense. “Are you sure it was Maddie?”
“We asked her to confirm her social security number to verify her identity, sir.”
Hurt pinched his heart. “Thanks for sending the register to me. Can you please put a note that all raises or additional pays out of the norm should be cleared by me?”
“Certainly, sir. Is there anything else we can do to assist?”
“Not right now.”
He slammed down the phone, not sure what he should do.
What could she need the money for? He would have given it to her if she’d asked. There had to be some mistake.
He tapped his foot for a moment, then pulled out the file he’d shoved in the drawer.
Scanning the report, his mouth dropped open.
Anger slammed through his veins.
He slammed the folder shut and looked at his watch. She should be home or close to it by now.
Maddie had some explaining to do.
36
Maddie rested her head on the arm of the couch and settled in for a quiet evening of watching TV and eating popcorn for dinner. She’d survived her first Kyle visit, and while a little bumpy, it had gone well.
She couldn’t wait until Labor Day weekend. She planned to have the house much more ready by then, and Kyle’s room decked out with stuff to make him feel comfortable, as much as her budget would allow. No more sleeping on the couch.
One thing was sure, though. She would be returning every penny of the bonus Reuben had given her the moment she arrived at the restaurant in the morning. She’d even gone to the bank after they’d gotten back in town and withdrew every penny in cash.
She’d provide for her brother, and as sweet as it was, she didn’t need Reuben’s help.
A knock on the door startled her.
Dragging her weary body off the couch, she padded to the front door and opened it to find Reuben standing there, the old familiar frown on his face, e
xcept this time, she almost saw steam coming out of his ears.
What had she done now?
“I wasn’t expecting you.”
He walked around her and into the room, but didn’t say a word.
“Reub, is something wrong?”
He thrust a piece of paper into her free hand. “Explain this.” The words shot right through her heart like a bullet shattering it.
She looked at the sheet. It was a payroll journal.
With her bonus on it.
Her hand shook as she handed it back. “I was going to ask you the same thing.”
He paced the floor. “Don’t act innocent, Maddie. I’m a lot of things, but I’m not stupid.” He stopped in front of her, his eyes boring into her like a drill. “If you needed money, why didn’t you just ask? Why did you have to go behind my back?”
Maddie blinked. “Excuse me? You think this was me?”
“No one else is going to call in a bonus for you.”
If she had two good arms, she’d punch him right now. Her voice rose a decibel. “And how stupid would I have to be to call in one for myself?”
“You know, I don’t pay attention to payroll that much. You had the perfect gig, giving yourself a raise too.”
His words were like someone kicking her in the gut. She wasn’t even mad anymore. Her heart just plain hurt. “I can’t believe you’d think I would do that.”
“I got your background check back. There’s a lot of things in there I didn’t believe you’d do.”
Maddie put her hand to her chest. Her heart lay limp inside, bloody from the massacre his words created. She choked out her words through tears. “How dare you.”
He stepped toward her, his eyes hard and black. “You know, I think it’s better that Kyle stays with the Blakelys. He needs a good influence on him.”
She slapped him on the cheek as hard as she could. The pain of the impact on her hand shot up her arm, but she ignored it. He deserved it and a thousand more.
Reuben stood silent, a red mark streaked across his cheek.
Maddie walked over to her purse and took out the bank envelope with the bonus money in it and walked back to him, slamming it into his hand. “There. Every penny of the bonus. I thought you were just being typical Reuben, trying to take care of me, and had determined to give it back to you in the morning. Instead, you’re a bigger jerk than I expected.”
Sandwich, With a Side of Romance Page 23