by Hunt, Diann
“Why, Ellie, that’s wonderful, honey.”
Ellie was astounded. “Really?” Ellie stared at her a minute. “Why aren’t you surprised?”
“I’ve been expecting it.”
“You have?”
Her mother nodded. “Cole Preston, right?”
Ellie frowned. “How did you know?”
“I knew it from the first day you complained about him going to the carpet place to talk to your clients.”
Ellie’s mouth gaped. “How do you know these things?” She shook her head. “I’ll never be a good mom. I don’t catch on to things like you do.”
Her mother smiled. “You will, when the time comes.” Debbie Williams stood and walked over to the sofa to sit down at the opposite end to Ellie. “Now, tell me all about it.”
Cole pulled up to the drive-through and ordered a drink. He needed something cold to wake him up, bring him to his senses. He gave his order, dug the money from his pocket, and edged his car to the take-out window. After getting his pop, he stuffed the straw into his cup and drove away. He took a couple of swigs of his drink and decided to drive awhile, heading toward the country roads. He needed to sort through things.
Suddenly, he wanted to push aside his emotions and get practical. The fact that Ellie had mentioned the partnership unnerved him a little. It still weighed on her mind, or she wouldn’t have brought it up, teasing or not.
As he drove down one country road, then another, his mind worked through the problems at the office, his feelings for Ellie, everything. By the time he had returned home, he was no closer to settling anything, but one thing was certain. His feelings for Ellie Williams were definitely changing.
The next day, Ellie walked past Cole’s office just as he slammed the phone down. She glanced in. “Everything all right?”
With frustration, his hand brushed through the side of his hair. “That man makes me crazy,” he said, staring at the top of his desk, as if something important lay there.
“Who?” Ellie slipped into a chair.
“Bob Emerson.”
She groaned, knowing full well how the man liked to complain. “What is it this time?”
His head jerked upright. “Oh, this time he has a list. Wants to go over all the problems with the house, at the house, at three o’clock this afternoon. He’s bringing his attorney.”
“Oh, Cole, I’m sorry. Does Jax know?”
He shook his head. “Emerson just told me on that phone call. Jax won’t even be in today, he’s at the Persons’ job site.”
“Anything I can do to help?”
“Yeah. Pray.”
Ellie glanced at the clock. With her house closing scheduled in half an hour, she decided she’d better scoot. She grabbed her files, stuffed them into her briefcase, and headed for the door. “Alex, I’m going to my closing, then off to lunch. After that, I’m going over to one of the job sites. Be back around, say, three-thirty.”
“Okay,” Alex said sweetly.
Though things were still a little strained with Alex, Ellie felt they were getting better around the office. Alex seemed to have finally accepted Jax’s rejection and moved on.
By the time Ellie got back to the office, it was close to four o’clock. As tired as she felt, she probably should have just gone home.
“Hi, Alex,” she said, walking past Alex’s desk and heading for the kitchen. Alex looked odd, as if something was wrong. Great. Just what Ellie needed, one more thing to deal with today. Things probably hadn’t gone well in Cole’s meeting with Bob Emerson. Wait, it was just now four o’clock. He wouldn’t be finished already.
Ellie grabbed a diet drink from the fridge and headed toward her desk. When she rounded the corner, she saw Cole standing at her desk, a frown on his face. He held a slip of paper in his hand. Worry lined the faces of her coworkers or was it fear? Ellie couldn’t imagine what was going on.
“Ellie, will you come to my office, please,” Cole asked.
“Sure.” She dropped her briefcase, grabbed a pen and paper and her drink, then followed him.
He closed the door and motioned for her to sit down. She did. He held up a telephone message and handed it to her. The message was to him from Bob Emerson, saying simply, “Change appointment. One o’clock. Ellie.” It was typewritten on the only electric typewriter in the office that everyone used.
“You want to tell me why I didn’t get this?” He was breathing heavily, as if trying to stay calm, though he could blow any moment.
Ellie was confused. Though the message had her name on it, she couldn’t remember taking it down. She looked at it once more. It was puzzling, but she’d just tell Cole the truth. “I didn’t take the message.”
“Just like you didn’t order the carpet, right?”
“What?” Had she heard him right? Okay, she could feel anger rising.
“Just what do you mean by that, Cole?” she asked in measured tones, trying to calm the shaking in her voice.
“Well, come on, Ellie, what am I supposed to think? Do you have any clue how mad this guy is? I missed his appointment. He still has to pay his attorney for his time in going there. Of course, he’s billing me for it. He said you told him it would be no problem for me to get there.”
“Let me see that again,” Ellie said, practically yanking the paper from him. “Oh, of course there’s no time on here. How convenient. I’ve been gone since before my closing. When did he call?”
“I don’t know.”
“Why do you automatically assume I’m behind this?”
“Look, I know this isn’t like you. Are you feeling okay?”
She stared at him.
“I mean, look at this, Ellie, it does have your name on it.”
Well, duh. What was she thinking? “I don’t know what to say. I didn’t do it. Period. Why would I type a phone message? When have I ever typed a phone message? If you don’t believe me, you don’t believe me.” She stood and started for his door.
“We’ll have to talk to Jax about this when he comes back tomorrow.”
She whirled around. “Are you threatening me?”
“Come on, Ellie, all I know is strange things are happening around here, and your name is stamped all over them.”
She glared at him. “Seems I remember you telling me to trust you once. That’s an interesting word. Trust. Not easy to do, though, is it, Cole?” She yanked open the door and stomped out, trying hard to keep her tears in check.
Chapter Eighteen
Cole and Ellie pretty much stayed away from each other over the next few days. Cole couldn’t make sense of things. It seemed Ellie was forgetting calls, incoming and outgoing. She was ordering supplies from the wrong places. He even wondered if she could be sick.
One glance at his watch confirmed what his stomach had been telling him. It was lunchtime. No wonder the office was so quiet. He decided he might as well grab a sandwich. He locked the office door behind him and got into his car. Barely making it around the block, Cole remembered he had wanted to drop off some house plans while he was out, but he had left them at the office. He swung the SUV around and pulled back into the parking lot. Oh, good, Alex’s car was there. He wouldn’t need to get out his office key.
He walked up to the office and pushed on the doors. They were still locked. He hated to disturb her, so he pulled out his office key and unlocked the door. When he pushed through, Alex wasn’t at her desk. Probably eating her lunch in the kitchen, he figured. He decided to leave Ellie a note that he would be dropping off the house plans. He walked down the hall and found Alex sitting at Ellie’s desk, rummaging through her bottom drawer. Her back was to him.
“Hi,” he said.
Alex jumped and whirled around with a start. Her face looked flushed.
“Are you okay?”
“Uh, yes. You startled me, that’s all. I—I—was just, um, looking for something. No big deal.” She got up from the chair.
Cole nodded. “I was going to leave Ellie a note so I wou
ldn’t have to disturb you, but since I already have disturbed you, I guess I’ll tell you.”
Alex offered a weak smile, her hand next to her throat. “What do you need?”
“I’m going to drop off some house plans with the framers so I won’t be back till around two o’clock.”
“Oh, no problem. I’ll let Ellie know.”
“Great.” He started to turn. “You sure you’re all right?”
“Oh, I’m fine,” she said with a wave of her hand. She’d already started back toward her desk.
Cole shrugged. “Okay, well, I’ll see you later.” He disappeared into his office, grabbed the blueprints, and headed outside to his car. Once he had pulled out into traffic, he started thinking. What was Alex doing at Ellie’s desk? Whatever it was, she looked like the cat who had swallowed the canary. He thought a moment longer. Maybe she was caught off guard, just nervous because she was in the office alone. Still, why was she rummaging through Ellie’s desk?
Something didn’t set right with him on this. Maybe he’d better check things out. It’s not that he thought she would purposely cause problems in the office. Besides, Jax was the source of her anger, why would she take it out on Ellie?
He wasn’t sure exactly what he would do, but he definitely needed to look into the matter. Alex had been after him, trying to get him to go out. Maybe he’d spend a little time with her to see if she would reveal anything. He’d talk to Jax about it and get his take on the matter.
Ellie grabbed a glass in the kitchen cupboard, took some aspirin for her headache and went back to her desk.
“You okay?” Alex asked.
Ellie turned to her. “Oh, yeah, thanks. I’m fine. Just have a headache.”
Alex nodded. “Um, Cole wanted me to tell you he’ll be back around two o’clock. He had to drop off house plans with the framers.”
“Okay, thanks,” Ellie said, turning back to her computer screen.
Alex didn’t move. “He sure is a nice guy, isn’t he?”
Ellie turned to her. “Who?”
“Cole.”
“Oh, yeah, he’s nice,” Ellie said, wondering where this was leading.
Alex inspected her nails. “You know, I never understood why you two never dated. Guess you just weren’t his type.”
Alex put her hand down and looked at Ellie. Why, Ellie was positively speechless. But even if she had found her voice, Alex didn’t give her time to say anything. “Did you ever meet Cole’s brother, Caed?”
Ellie wasn’t sure how to answer that, since she hadn’t met him as Caed. She said simply, “No.”
“I’ve never mentioned this to anyone. Caed told me that Cole was planning to take over the business soon.”
“Well, I know Jax would like that.”
Alex raised her brows. “I don’t think Jax is ready for that just yet. He needs the money to finish school.”
“What are you saying, Alex, that Cole wants to force Jax out?”
She shrugged as if to say that’s exactly what she meant.
“I don’t think Cole would ever do that.”
“I’m only telling you what Caed told me.”
“Well, I don’t know why Caed would say that, but I don’t believe it.”
Just then, Morgan and Chad walked into the room. “Well, I’d better get back to work,” Alex said.
Ellie thought about what Alex had said. It couldn’t be true. Cole wasn’t a permanent kind of guy. She couldn’t see him planning to take the business from Jax. He wouldn’t want to be saddled with it. At least, she didn’t think he would. But what if Caed did say that? And what if it was true? Maybe Cole was behind the mysterious happenings in the office. That would mean Jax was in trouble.
To make matters worse, Jax trusted him completely.
“Cole, come on in,” Jax said, as he opened the door wide for Cole to enter the house.
“Sorry to bother you so late, but I thought I’d better talk to you here rather than at the office.”
“No bother. I just finished studying, and I’m ready to relax. You want something to drink?” Jax headed for the kitchen and Cole followed.
“You have any pop?”
“Sure do.” He plopped some ice into glasses and poured them each a full glass. “Let’s go in the living room,” he said, leading the way.
After they had settled into their seats, Jax took another sip of his drink and set his glass on a coaster on the coffee table. “Now, to what do I owe the pleasure?”
“Um, I don’t know that I have any basis for this, but I just wanted to share my concerns with you,” Cole began. Then he proceeded to tell Jax his feelings about the recent problems in the office and how he wondered if Alex was behind them.
Jax ran his hand through his hair. “Boy, I don’t know, Cole. Alex might be spoiled and a little self-centered, but I wouldn’t have imagined her capable of stirring up that kind of trouble. Are you sure it’s not just a fluke? I mean, the carpet, the missed appointment. Those things happen. Maybe it’s nobody’s fault really. We all make mistakes.”
“Maybe. But I have a feeling it’s more than that.”
They talked awhile longer and by the time Cole got ready to leave, they had decided to keep an eye on things, but not to do anything rash. Cole let Jax know he was going to spend some time with Alex just to see if he could find out anything, but he didn’t want Jax to think there was anything going on between the two of them.
“Look, Cole, it wouldn’t matter if you did want to date her. She’s free. Alex is a nice woman, she’s just not for me.”
“Well, she’s not right for me, either. I already have my sights on someone.”
“Ellie?”
Cole smiled.
“I thought so. I knew it was just a matter of time. If she hadn’t seen me like a brother from the get-go, though, you wouldn’t have stood a chance.”
Cole laughed. “Thanks, bro. I appreciate it.”
Jax laughed with him while they walked to the door. He put his hand on Cole’s shoulder. “Just be careful. If Alex is doing these things, it’s rather serious. Who knows what she might do next?”
“You be careful, too. You’re the one she’s trying to hurt, you know.”
Jax winced. “I guess you’re right.”
Cole stepped through the door. “I’ll be praying for you.”
“You, too.”
When Ellie walked into work the next morning, there was a definite chill to the air inside the office. Everyone sat at their desks working, which wasn’t unusual, but no one looked up when she walked in or uttered a greeting of any kind. The room was eerily quiet.
Once she had settled into her chair, she reached over to start her computer. Cole’s voice stopped her.
“Don’t bother turning that on.”
She swiveled around in her chair and looked at him. “Why not?”
“Come to my office.”
She picked up her paper and pen and followed him. He closed the door behind them once they were inside his office.
When he sat down, she got a good look at him. Dark circles framed his eyes, whiskers shadowed his face. “Cole, what’s going on?”
He took a drink of what looked like cold coffee and made a face. “Our computer crashed. Lost all the house plans. Everything. We’re done. I don’t see any possible way of fixing this.”
“What about the backups we do each night?”
“Destroyed. Whoever did this saw to it that we were ruined.”
“This was deliberate?”
“No question. Jax will have to bring in the authorities.”
Ellie thought about what Alex had told her. Could this be an act? Did Cole bring about this disaster to get Jax to fold early so Cole could take over? He hung his head, staring at the desk in front of him. She studied him. She couldn’t imagine him capable of such things. Still, doubt nagged at her.
She could have the answer to the computer problem, but wasn’t sure she should tell Cole just yet. Not until she knew w
hom she could trust.
“Well, I just wanted you to know. Work on your phone calls, do what paperwork you can until the computer people come in here and tell us what they can do.”
“Okay.” She stood. “I’m sorry,” she said before exiting the room, leaving Cole in his misery.
Cole wanted to throw up. This was the worst mess he’d ever seen. What bothered him was Ellie didn’t seem all that surprised or upset. Didn’t she understand the enormity of the problem? Perhaps she didn’t care.
He took another drink from his coffee cup. One sip and he pushed it aside. It was cold and horrible. This problem was beyond him. They needed God’s intervention. It irritated Cole to no end that he didn’t know who was behind this sabotage in the company. He needed to spend some time with Alex, see what he could find out. He refused to believe Ellie could do such things. Surely his heart wasn’t in the way of his good judgment, was it?
Ellie’s heart weighed heavy in her chest. A cloud of gloom seemed to hang over the office. She’d better get home and see if she could find the CDs. First, she’d get some coffee, finish up the things on which she had been working, then she’d make an excuse to leave. Maybe even wait until lunch to go so no one would get suspicious. She didn’t want to get their hopes up for nothing. After all, she hadn’t checked the backup to make sure it was working. She felt stupid about that. It only made sense to do so, but for some reason, she hadn’t given it a thought.
She stopped short of the kitchen when she overheard Jax and Cole talking. Not wanting to eavesdrop, she turned to go back to her desk and give them their privacy, but Jax’s words stopped her cold.
“I’m telling you, Cole, I want out. I can’t take it anymore. I wanted out before the problems, but this just confirms the matter for me. If you don’t want the business, I’ll sell it to someone else. Someone who has an eye for business and can see the potential.”