Complicated on 5th Avenue: 5th Avenue Romance Series, Book Two

by Abbie St. Claire

  When the contractors finally came in and said the desk was assembled and the electronics had been configured for Sabrina’s office on the other side, my anxiety subsided.

  “How did you leave things with Jason?” Isabella asked when Sabrina left for her office.

  “You don’t waste any time, do you?”

  She winked. “Inquiring minds…”

  “We’re friends. He’s an amazing guy.”

  “You’re attraction seemed so real. He’s good. I have to give him that…well, you both were for that matter. You have my vote for the leading lady and gentleman.” She giggled.

  I picked up the sample napkins and thumbed through them, trying to decide on the final version. “It wasn’t an act. We did connect, but it’s not fair to lead him down a road of misery. When I’m over Ian, perhaps it will be the right time for the right guy.”

  She picked up a lingerie catalog. “I don’t think you’re trying to get over him, but what do I know.” She held out the brochure for me to see. “I’m taking this with me and picking out things for my honeymoon.”

  “Honeymoon? We don’t even have a wedding date.”

  “Yes, um, we do. It’s October seventh.” She let out a big giggle and moved quickly to the other side of the room.

  “A month? You have a month to plan the biggest day of your life? Why so fast?”

  She snorted. “I knew you’d be so thrilled. Mick has vacation he will lose if he doesn’t use it by year-end. Besides, I know you want me back before the holiday shopping starts in November, so October it is. It’s going to be small, and next door is perfect.”

  Joining her in a laugh, I said, “A month. Next door. Only for you,” brushing hair away from my suddenly flushed cheeks. “Thank God we have Sabrina, and I’m sure Jorge will help. Geez, this is gonna be one wild week.”

  She almost knocked me down when she ran to hug me.

  Between opening day and wedding events, I didn’t have time to think about much, especially Ian. I tried to get stolen moments in the mornings with baby Samantha after taking Ty to school.

  Her eyes were dark, and her skin was olive like Shawna’s. Her silky black hair was hard not to play with. It was both a happy time and a sad one because I’d find myself longing for the baby Carson and I had lost, every time I had to hand Sammie back to her mother. That empty feeling never really seemed to go away. Well, maybe never.

  When Shawna told me the baby was feeding for about ten minutes every hour and refused to get on a schedule, I knew the exhaustion she was going through and the future parenting issues she was going to have with an independent child. In those moments, it was easy to think about my nights of sleep and dreams of other things, including Ian.

  “Where’s your tea?” Isabella asked when I tossed my purse on my desk at work.

  “I didn’t feel like any today. I keep having headaches, and I think it might be too much caffeine. Do we still have some decaf K-cups or do I need to run to the store?”

  “You have a bistro that’s opening tomorrow. I think by now you’d be able to get your fix in your own playground.” We both laughed, but I quickly rushed out the door and ran to the other side.

  Sabrina had been busy the night before, and the 5th Avenue Alley looked amazing. When I saw all the red drapes hung and the wooden bar stools and tables in place, along with all the table sets and menus in their right holders, it looked…surreal.

  “What’ll it be, ladies?” Sabrina asked from behind the bar. Her monogrammed black apron with the new logo looked fabulous. She was so excited about her position and the opening. Her smile was wide and bright.

  “Something without many calories. I’ve got to fit into my wedding dress.” Isabella coughed.

  “What dress?” I asked.

  “You have a dress?” Sabrina asked as she handed me a cup of passion fruit hot tea.

  Izzy started doing the happy dance. “Paleeeeeese don’t give me a hard time, but I sent my measurements to a woman I found online. It’s very similar to the Simone gown by Monique Lhuillier. I thought I’d show it to you rather than tell you about it.”

  While Sabrina and I sat at the bar and waited in anticipation, Izzy ran out to the car to get her dress. When she descended the back stairs in her gown, I gasped.

  It was divine. “Oh, my God. You’re stunning, Isabella.”

  Sabrina and I exchanged glances. We both had tears in our eyes. The gown had a white spaghetti strap slip underneath a covering of sheer organza embroidered with white flowers. It hung flawlessly to the floor with a small train. Every cut enhanced the sexiness of her body.

  “Holy crap, you’re beautiful,” Sabrina uttered. “Mick is one lucky dude, just sayin’. Has he seen it yet?”

  “No, of course not. I can’t wait to see the reaction on his face.”

  “Well, you better hurry, because he just pulled up out front.”

  Isabella ran upstairs, while we stalled Mick and Brent at the bar with their orders. Between hands reaching for biscotti and cookies from the standing display, they didn’t even notice she was missing.

  Mick wrapped his strong arms around my shoulders. “Thank you for allowing us to have the wedding here. Izzy is so excited she can’t stand herself.”

  “I couldn’t imagine disappointing her and that goes for you, lover boy. You better be good to her.”

  He nodded, but I could sense his emotion about the big day. I never doubted his love for her. Funny, at times, I’d doubted Ian’s, which should’ve been my biggest clue.

  “With everything that’s been occurring lately, we haven’t discussed that occupation license.” He had his back to everyone as he raised his brow at me.

  “Well, it’s in my office somewhere. Care to join me while I look for it?”

  He took Izzy’s seat at my desk. The look on his face turned serious. “We uncovered records that Carson made payments to your contractor. When the detectives questioned the contractor, he said he was paid to stall your inspections. Seems Carson made a bid to buy this building.”

  “That makes no sense. Why would he do that?”

  “If he were your landlord, he could keep tabs on you, make it hard for you to stay in business. He could hide cameras and film you if you lived upstairs. There are so many possibilities.”

  “Film me?” I flew outta my chair and ran to the bathroom. Just the thought of him taking videos of me made me vomit and dry heave until nothing remained in my stomach.

  Unable to face the group, I grabbed my purse from my desk. “Would you tell them I’m not feeling well and I need to lie down until my headache goes away?”

  “Sure, Chelsie. I’m really sorry. I don’t know the reason Carson did what he did. I was just pointing out the—”

  “I don’t think you’re too far off base. We’ll talk about this later.”

  On the way home, I called Denise to make arrangements to have her pick Ty up from school and stay with us for a few days.

  Tossing and turning in my bed, the memories of the dreams were so vivid, as if a movie camera were rolling tape—Ian’s voice, Carson’s voice, and little bits of information here and there—they brought on a full anxiety attack.

  I didn’t know who the bigger villain in my life was anymore. Perhaps I was my own worst nightmare.

  Denise sat down on the edge of the bed. “Here are the pills you asked for. Can I make you something for dinner?”

  “No. Thank you, though. My head hurts so bad I’m not sure I can keep anything down. After tomorrow’s opening of the bistro, I’ll go to the doctor, I promise. I’ve never had migraines before, but this is awful.”

  “I think you should go now, but that’s just my opinion.” She patted my leg before retiring for the evening herself.

  I couldn’t imagine not having her in our lives. She’d become like a second mother to me. Missing the bistro’s opening wasn’t an option for me. It was as much about building the dream that my mom had, as it was moving forward. But a cleansing was in order, and I
had to rid myself of everything Ian and Carson.

  Fighting through the pain, both physical and mental, I performed research on my tablet and found the name of Snyder Investigations, a private detective. I was surprised when he answered the phone. We spoke briefly, I mentioned my concerns, and he was free the next night to come for a thorough screening. The only way to feel comfortable in my own home was to have someone check and make sure there weren’t any cameras hidden anywhere. Perhaps a moment of overreacting, I wasn’t certain, but I’d decided to end the madness in my mind once and for all.

  With a large trash bag, I went to my closet and emptied everything that reminded me of Ian, including the shoes he’d bought me to replace Yolo’s expensive appetite for puppy chewing. When I came to his sweatshirt, I hugged it to my body and for a moment had second thoughts.

  Get rid of it.

  In the bag, the sweatshirt went. Throwing away his toiletries and favorite fragrance was challenging, but it had to be done. The hold he had over me was making me doubt my mental state. At that moment, I felt like it was life or death for me.

  Pictures beside my bed…gone. Pictures of us on Facebook…deleted. Twitter…closed. Pictures on the fridge…relocated to the side if they had Ty in them, to avoid upsetting him, but the rest were gone.

  Two hours later, I felt better. The trashcan was full, and the bag of clothes was loaded in my car ready for delivery to Goodwill. When I finally fell asleep, I slept hard and barely remembered the alarm waking me.

  During breakfast, I played it cool with Ty and Denise. I got him ready for school and got myself ready for the opening, while she drove him to school.

  I sat on the sofa and waited for her to return. “There’s been some peculiar happenings lately here and the boutique that may be Carson’s doing. I’m going to have the locks changed tonight when I get home and have a good security check.” My breath was deep for calmness. “I need to get Ty away from here for a bit. I don’t want him asking questions or saying anything to his dad.”

  She extended her arm and gripped my hand with hers. “Sweetie, I’m so sorry you’ve been going through all of this. I can take Ty to see a movie if that would work?”

  “Movie, yes, that would be great. Good thinking.”

  The soft opening wasn’t without issues, but we managed to work through them, and for the most part, it was an excellent day and the start of something new and exciting. Surprisingly, it was Jason’s chocolate chip pie that was the hit of the day followed by Sabrina’s chicken salad sandwich and Shawna’s mother’s recipe for enchilada soup. With the extra push of marketing from the chamber, we kept every table full, and sometimes even had a wait time to be seated.

  The day passed so quickly I didn’t have a moment to think about anything, except customers, and that was a good thing, but I almost forgot my meeting with the investigator.

  Stupid didn’t even begin to explain how I felt when he told me they didn’t find anything. They went through my house with a fine tooth comb and took about two hours checking every vent, lamp, outlet, cubby hole, and the like, trying to find any type of monitoring device. The locks were changed and so was the code to the keypad for the garage.

  Our next stop was the boutique, bistro, and apartment. Those findings were a completely different story.

  “Who has keys to this building?” Mr. Snyder asked.

  “My employees, my ex-husband, my ex-boyfriend, the contractors that did the renovation. Perhaps someone my mother might have given a key. I haven’t ever changed the locks.”

  “Todd’s doing that now and—” He motioned for me to be quiet and follow him. He led me outside to the back parking lot. “We found video and audio surveillance devices. Someone’s been watching you, little lady. Do you have any idea who it would be?”

  I froze.

  The memory of Ian and I making love on the stairs then the bedroom flashed through my mind. Bile bubbled in my stomach like a volcano waiting to erupt.

  I leaned against my car and trembled. Even in the warm late summer evening, I felt a wild chill. “What do I do now?”

  “We cleared all of them and will take them back to the office. The next step is to monitor who has access, while we try to figure out who had an interest in watching you, Ms. Peterson. I know this is a lot to take in, but whenever you have deep convictions like you did this week, it’s best to check them out.”

  “Were these added before or after renovations?”

  He crossed his arms and shrugged his shoulders. For an older man, he was still fit, and being in his presence, I felt secure. “Hard to say really. Some were dusty, which would indicate they were there before the remodel, but others would’ve had to be placed afterward because of their locations. The majority were in your office and the apartment upstairs. We’re going to see to it that we find the person responsible.”

  Driving home, it was difficult for me to wrap my arms around the emotions that were flooding through my mind. Most of my thoughts put Carson up front, but it was possible that he hired his grunge man to do his dirty work. The biggest question was why?

  The next morning, I explained to Denise that everything was okay and gave her a new key. I simply told her I overreacted, but it was better to be safe than sorry. I kept the details of the boutique to myself.

  Because the locks were changed, I had to rush to the store to let the girls in and explain to them what was going on. Worried that Sabrina would move out, she surprised me when she shrugged her shoulders and said, “I’m not afraid of the wolf. We’ll find him, and when we do, I get the first punch.”

  Isabella was more upset than I imagined she’d be. After Sabrina had gone to her office, she asked me to step outside.

  She sat on the bench beside the back door. “I’m embarrassed I have to tell you this, but Mick and I have enjoyed ourselves here. You know I love the apartment upstairs, and well, we spent the night here several times.”

  “Join the club,” I uttered, taking the seat beside her. I didn’t smoke, but if I did, I believe it would’ve been the moment I took my best draw.

  “What do we do now?”

  “We let the investigators do their job, and I’ve hired them for security as well. You won’t necessarily see them, but they are around. This weekend, I’m taking a handgun course. I want my life back. I can’t handle the stress and these fucking headaches.”

  “Still? I was hoping some rest would’ve helped them go away.”

  “Nope. I’ve had them now for too long. I’m going to the doctor this afternoon if you and Sabrina are okay to stay here. If you want to quit, I wouldn’t blame you.”

  “Sabrina has to get in line for the first punch.” Her laugh didn’t surprise me. She had guts, and I was thrilled she wasn’t leaving me.

  “You’re both gonna be behind me, so the first one is going straight to the dick.”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  “Ms. Peterson, can you complete these forms for us since you’ve not been in for some time?” Dr. Clay’s receptionist requested.

  “Sure.” I took the clipboard from her and started filling in the ten pages of history questions.

  By the time I finished with the paperwork, the nurse was practically running me to a room since I was the last patient of the day.

  Dr. Clay took the rolling stool beside my chair. “It’s been a while, Chelsie. I’ve got the notes from your surgeon regarding your injury and your surgery. Did you speak to him about these headaches?”

  I shook my head. “I’ve been under so much stress in my personal life I thought it was probably related. I hope there’s a pill for whatever it is, and we can move on.”

  “Okay, I see,” she said, clasping her hands in her lap and waiting me out.

  “I’m not myself these days. I was dating a guy who was critically injured in a skiing accident. He’d planned this big proposal, but after the accident, he moved back to California and broke off our relationship without warning or explanation. Just this week I discovered surveilla
nce devices in my boutique and the apartment upstairs. I’ve been having crazy dreams for weeks, and I can’t clear my head. Now you can see why I’m having headaches.”

  She reached into the cabinet and grabbed a gown. “Let’s get you undressed. I want to do a full examination and some blood work.”

  I stepped behind the dressing curtain and removed my clothes, while she continued to talk to me.

  “I remember hearing that about Ian Briggs. Since he was on staff here and performed a lot of procedures in the day surgery downstairs, all the female staff took notice when he joined us, being such a handsome charmer that he was. We were all saddened to see his career end the way it did.”

  “Yeah, me too. I miss him like crazy, but missing him has made me crazy. I had this dream about him about a month ago that was so real, and when I woke up, he was gone. The truth is, he was never there to begin with.” Pulling back the curtain, I took my place on the table.

  As she examined me, she continued to speak softly. “I’m gonna give you the name of a counselor. If it makes you feel any better, I see her from time to time when I feel stressed about patients who are going through difficult diseases I can’t cure or just everyday meltdowns. We’re human, Chelsie. You’ve dealt with a lot—the loss of your mom, a baby, your marriage, and now Ian. Life’s not fair, but having an outsider to talk to is very helpful.”

  “You—you use a shrink?” My eyes rolled before I could stop them.

  “She’s not a shrink, but a licensed counselor, and she’s older, somebody’s who’s experienced more of life. She helped me when I started through menopause and kept me calm.”

  Dr. Clay finished with everything but the Pap smear. “For your last period, you indicated the first of August. That was two months ago. I must ask if you are you sexually active.”