by Drea Stein
“A public encounter with a slap fight?”
Darby smiled, almost chuckled, and said, “Not quite. But I’ve thought about it, more since Sean and I had that discussion, and I do seem to recall that I was the one who ditched Jake to find Aaron Miller.”
Darby sighed. “None of us is blameless for that night. So, fine, apology accepted. I am sorry for making you think you had to quit.”
Darby shook her head. “That Amy … she just kept filling my head with things.”
“Like what?” Colleen asked.
Darby turned away, pretended to be busy with a rack of cupcakes.
“What did you say?” Colleen said more clearly.
“That your sugar daddy Parisian count’s new wife kicked you out and told you to never come back.”
Colleen took a deep breath. “She’s not entirely wrong,” Colleen admitted. “Olivier was older, and wealthier, and my boss. But he didn’t get married until after he dumped me, and I have never had the pleasure of meeting his new wife. And I doubt I will.”
Darby was silent as her eyes took in Colleen.
“What else?”
Darby sighed, put down the tray. “That this wasn’t your first relationship of this type.”
“So she thinks I am a gold digger?”
Darby scrunched her shoulders noncommittally.
“I’m not a gold digger,” Colleen said, and struggled for what else to say. “I never expected to get married to Olivier. I’ve always worked, and I had a few relationships before Olivier, but they weren’t like that. I didn’t date anyone just for the money.”
“But it was nice that they had it?”
It was Colleen’s turn to shrug noncommittally. “I wouldn’t have cared if Olivier hadn’t been successful and rich, but somehow I don’t think he would have been the person he was if he wasn’t, if that makes sense.”
Darby nodded. “It does, in a weird sort of way.”
“There’s still more,” Colleen said, prompting her.
“People know you inherited the store from Phil.”
“They don’t think that there was anything going on between us, Phil and me, do they?” Colleen was horrified at the thought.
Darby put cookies into a plastic container and sealed the lid. “Phil made a big deal about going to visit you in Paris a few years back.”
It took a moment for Colleen to figure out what Darby was driving at.
“They’re not saying that my daughter is …” Colleen giggled, then laughed outright. “So he left me the store as a secret inheritance for his love child?”
Darby looked uncomfortable. “I’m just the messenger.”
Colleen looked around and pulled a chair out from one of the little café tables and sat down. She might as well get comfortable since this seemed like it was going to take a while.
“That’s some message.”
“I know it’s not true,” Darby said after a moment.
“Of course it’s not. Adele is not Phil’s love child. Phil and I were friends.”
“I know,” Darby said, picked out two chocolate croissants, put them on plates and came out from behind the counter. She put a plate in front of Colleen and the other across the table and took a seat.
“Phil used to come in here, every day, pretty much. He was always talking about you.”
“Did you know how sick he was?” Colleen asked. It hurt a bit that Phil hadn’t told her, that he’d kept that from her.
Darby shook her head. “He kept that quiet. It was fast, so fast.”
“Did you know he wanted to leave the shop to me?” Colleen asked.
“Yeah, he told me. Just in case anyone decided to make an issue of it. He told me that he was of sound mind and body and all of that. He told me a little about you and your relationship. I’ll be honest, I thought he didn’t sound like he was a fan of Adele’s father.”
Colleen nodded. “Phil knew the score even before I did. Probably knew I needed to get away before I did.”
Darby paused. “Honestly, I thought you’d sell it. Didn’t expect to see you here, and when I did and found out that you were ‘the Colleen’ Sean was singing the praises of, guess I went a little crazy.”
“Hormones?” Colleen asked.
Darby flushed, then smiled as her hands drifted down to settle protectively over her still-flat belly. “How did you know? Only Sean knows.”
“Like I said, he looked like a man who would do anything for his wife. And you have that combination of exhausted and glowiness about you. Don’t worry, I won’t say anything.”
Darby smiled, and Colleen thought about just how lucky she was. Darby had had everything Colleen had ever wanted. Loving parents, a stable home life. Her father, Big Reg, had been over-protective, and Darby had complained about him, but Colleen had been envious. Her own father had been gone all the time, never cared how well his daughter had done on her algebra test or whether or not she’d get into trouble on prom night. Her father hadn’t even bothered to show up for graduation, instead getting married in a quickie wedding in Vegas to his third wife.
“You messed him up when you left,” Darby said, and Colleen knew that they had moved on, that she was speaking about Jake. “Badly. He was a wreck. He was in love, and after a couple of weeks, you just up and disappeared, without a word.”
“I went off to college early. He was going back to school. It was never going to be more than a summer fling,” Colleen said, knowing that while the reasons sounded logical, rational, it had been one of the hardest decisions of her life.
They had been intense and had scared her because for once she had second thoughts about getting out of Queensbay, thoughts of maybe what it would be like to be with Jake. He was the favorite son of Queensbay, too handsome for his own good with a business that was going to be handed to him. He was steady and faithful, caring and sweet. He paid attention to her.
All the things she had never experienced from a man. But if she stayed with him, envisioned a future with him, she’d never go to college in the big city, never travel, never meet tall dark strangers who would whisk her off to foreign cities. She would have never found herself.
“I figured he’d get over me.”
“He did, sort of. Pined for a bit, then took up dating with a vengeance. None of them stuck around though. None of them were you.”
Colleen laughed. “That’s ridiculous,” she said. “It was over ten years ago. We knew each other for a couple of weeks, not counting the semester we took art together. I mean, seriously.”
“Trust me, I think he’s tried to get over you,” Darby said. “He hasn’t been a monk, not at all. But no one, except for Amy Anderson, has managed to keep him for long. Everyone thinks they can change him, make him settle down, but I think he’s been waiting for just the right person.”
Colleen shook her head. “It was Phil who made it easy for me to get away. He found me a job at an antiques store near college and a place to rent. But, I had to leave right away.”
Phil had found her one day, crying over it all. It was after she had gotten another letter from her father, a “hey honey, sorry about missing graduation, here’s a fifty go buy yourself something nice” type of message. Her mother had been crawling back from another episode with the bottle, her last, if Colleen remembered correctly, and was no help.
Phil had listened, given her some tissues, and told her that dreams weren’t to be taken lightly. That she needed to fly, fly far and fast. Within a few days, he’d told her he had a friend who needed some summer help in an antiques shop, near her new college. He’d even found a room to rent, but told her that the she had to take it now, or risk losing the job and the room. It meant leaving Jake. Picking up and going had been easier than trying to explain it, so that’s what she’d done. Run far and fast.
She figured that Jake would get over her. After all, he had everything going for him. There were lots of girls who would let Jake Owen cry on their shoulders.
“Sounds like Phil wa
nted to make sure you didn’t stick around back then,” Darby said.
“And now it seems like he wanted me back,” Colleen said, thinking about it.
Darby shook her head. “I never thought you’d come back and make a go of it.”
Colleen shrugged. “It was time for a change and this seemed like the perfect opportunity, to start over.”
“Funny how coming back to Queensbay seems like a way to start over for a lot of us.”
“Sometimes you don’t know how much home means until you’ve been away,” Colleen said quietly.
It was community, a network of people you could trust and count on, whether it was because you served them a drink at a bar, met them at the playground, or did business with them, turning over money in exchange for something they’d put blood, sweat, and tears in. Colleen took a bite of the croissant. Darby always did have a way with dough.
“Good?”
“Oh yeah,” Colleen said. “It’s good.”
“Good,” Darby echoed.
Chapter 19
Colleen spent the next couple of days in a frenzy of activity. Darby had agreed that the sidewalk sale was a good idea and had come on as the official co-organizer. Colleen had printed up flyers and postcards, and Darby had posted them in the Golden Pear Café, town hall, the library, and the Osprey Arms. Colleen had spent the rest of the time up and down the shops on the street, building up buzz, answering questions, and providing encouragement.
She’d also written a press release and sent it out to all the local papers and community sites. A blog post had drawn lots of comments, and she heard that the Osprey Arms was just starting to book up for that weekend. A reporter from the local lifestyle magazine was even going to do a story on the event. All in all, Colleen was feeling pretty good about things as she looked at her new sign.
It was here, the design she had hemmed and hawed over, debated, and seconded-guessed everything from the font to the background color, and was ready to go up. She felt a small pang of sadness as the letters spelling out “Treasure Emporium” came down, but her excitement grew as she finally saw the sign with “La Belle Vie” go up above the window of the storefront.
“Thank you,” she whispered up to Phil as she swelled just a little bit with pride.
There was still a lot to do, including the set-up of the shop itself, but now, the sign meant that there was no turning back. Even her mother had stopped mentioning nursing school or systems administrator school and quietly accepted the fact that Colleen was not selling the building. Colleen was inside now, looking through catalogs and working on her spreadsheet. All afternoon there’d been visitors, eager to congratulate her on the sign and check on the transformation of the space. She thought nothing of it when the door opened once again, even though she was packing her things up, getting ready to go pick Adele up, get her settled before she went in for her shift at Quent’s.
“Well, well, look who’s here. My day just picked up,” a voice said.
Colleen’s heart sank, but she tried to keep her face neutral, as she saw who it was. Chino Charlie, the drunk from the bar. Colleen took a deep breath. She could handle this. It wasn’t the first time a guy hadn’t taken the hint. Charlie was a little more persistent than most of them, but he was just a guy.
He wandered around, poking a finger here and there, and making approving comments. Colleen began to gather her things, hoping that he’d get her not-so-subtle hint.
“What’s your hurry? I’ve been out of town on business. I missed you. Thought maybe I could take you out. You never did take me up on my offer of breakfast.”
In broad daylight, he looked like a successful businessman, without any of the air of menace that drinking gave him. Darker hair swept back from a high forehead. Just a little bit of gray, she noticed, so subtle, it made him distinguished. He had a full face though, which showed the combination of too much drinking and eating out and not quite enough exercise. He looked like a man who had worked hard and now was enjoying the fruits of his labor. He’d once been muscular, now was just big.
In a small way he reminded of her of Olivier. Not in looks, though they shared dark hair, but in the general air of self-satisfaction that came from being rich, a certain smugness, as if they were certain of their charm. Olivier, though, had the slight benefit of French charm. In Chino Charlie’s case, it came off as arrogance.
“I’m meeting a friend,” Colleen said, hoping the generically bland excuse would suffice. Her hopes were disappointed.
“Invite her along. The more the merrier. My boat’s down at the marina. Why don’t we take it out for a spin, a sunset cruise in the harbor?”
“I don’t think so,” Colleen said, wondering if she should admit that her friend was a five year old, but she didn’t want Chino Charlie to know anything more about her than he already did.
“We can swing by your house and pick up anything you need,” he said grandly. “The Jag is just outside.”
She wondered if he knew where she lived, and she felt just a little bit creeped out. He had moved closer to her. She was glad that there was a counter between them, but still it wasn’t enough to hide the overpowering smell of his aftershave. He had on a watch, a big fancy timepiece. He glanced at it conspicuously. She saw too that he wore a wedding band. Her eyes deliberately lingered there for a moment before she looked up at him.
He smiled, as if he didn’t care, and said, “My wife and I have an understanding.”
“Good for you,” she said, gathering all of her things into her bag and moving just a little around the counter, giving him the clear signal that she was ready to go, and that it was time for him to leave.
He reached out a hand, fast, and his grip was surprisingly strong. She tried to stay calm, knowing that even though it was broad daylight, the shop’s windows were still papered over, and the door, though unlocked, was closed. She didn’t know if anyone could see them, and she fought down the rising tide of panic. The relative privacy seemed to give Charlie Chino the incentive he needed to make a play for it.
“I’ll make it worth your while. Spend a little time with me, and it’ll beat your best night of tips. Bring your friend, and I’ll make it really worth your while; we’ll have a real party. I know your type: once a party girl, always a party girl. Girls like you need a sugar daddy, and I might just be your type.”
Colleen had to swallow the bile that rose in her throat. She wasn’t scared but didn’t know if she were truly strong enough to fight him off. She was reviewing her options, trying to think of how to talk her way out of this, wondering what she could say that would get him to leave her alone.
The bell above the door tinkled and Lydia burst in, her usual energy rolling into the store ahead of her. Charlie took stock of the interruption and released Colleen. She backed away quickly, absurdly glad she was free and tried not to rub her arm where he had grabbed it.
“Hi, I thought we could get the kids and go to the park,” Lydia said, looking at the two of them, a confused expression on her face.
Charlie beamed at Lydia, as if he had done nothing wrong and then looked directly at Colleen.
“Guess we’ll be catching up later?” he said, then turned and left. The store was absurdly silent then, and Colleen felt her hands start to shake.
Lydia came over to her, concern in her eyes. “Are you okay?”
Colleen nodded and sucked in a deep breath. She had been too lulled by the small town to think properly about security. She needed to think about a camera system and an alarm button underneath the counter. Simple measures but that would do a lot to make her feel safer.
“Do you want to tell me what that was all about?” Lydia put her hand on Colleen’s arm.
Colleen smiled at her, warmly comforted. It was nice to have a friend. “Just a typical jerk move. It’s someone from the bar. I don’t know how he found me here. I’m sure someone talked. He wanted me to take a boat ride. I told him I had to meet a friend, and he said to bring her along.”
&
nbsp; Lydia snorted and rolled her eyes. “Bet he doesn’t know your friend is a five year old. All four of us could go. Josh would ask him about a million questions. It would make sure he didn’t want to have anything to do with us.”
Colleen smiled, her heartbeat returning to normal as Lydia’s joking calmed her down.
“We better get going, or we’re going to be late for pickup. And, I don’t know if I can live with the guilt Miss Carol throws my way if I’m not there on time.”
Colleen nodded, and she and Lydia walked out. Colleen carefully locked the door. Yes, she would call the alarm company tomorrow and talk about her options. Just the thought made her feel better, and she was happy as she and Lydia made their way down the street toward Happy Faces.
Chapter 20
Jake threw down the pencil. He was having trouble concentrating, and he knew why. He looked at what he’d doodled in the paper’s margin. He’d been working on some drawings for the Showhouse, trying to get a sense of what the space could look like. He’d reviewed the research on other apartment complexes built out of warehouses, piano factories, and even old movie theaters. Plenty of inspiration was out there, and judging by what the developers were charging once projects were finished, these types of renovated spaces were very desirable and lucrative. Empty nesters loved the idea of being close to town but without the upkeep of a house. Amenities were what they wanted, and that’s what he was grappling with.
He was trying to figure out how to use the main amphitheater space. Maybe a performance center or a community center or a library, game room, or café would be appropriate. Unfortunately, little sketches of Colleen’s face had appeared along the margins, along with some ideas for her store. If he had more time, he would have liked to expose the beams, distress them and add more built-ins. The guys had done a great job so far, he’d made sure of that, and he’d even had them throw in some extras.
Jax walked in, suit jacket off for once, shirt sleeves rolled up. “I heard the Tanner site is behind.”
“Managed to catch up,” Jake replied. “The vet building is behind, for sure, though. The solar panels you wanted are on back order. Think you can call your guy and get us something sooner?”