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James smiled at the mention of his daughter. “She’s okay. I worry about her though. Lilah died when she was so young. I don’t want her to forget her mother.”
Hallie couldn’t imagine experiencing that kind of loss. “She won’t. I mean you’ll show her pictures and talk about her. Besides, I don’t think anyone forgets the love of their mother.”
James nodded. “I like the way you think. Anyway, my assistant is watching Lucy for me tonight, so I should get back before she wears Noelle out.”
Hallie smiled. “That woman has worked for you since I was in high school.”
“And I hope she never leaves. I’d be lost without her.”
Hallie started to get out of his car when he said, “Hallie?”
She stopped and turned to face him.
“I mean it. Call me anytime. Day or night. Just call and I’ll be there.”
“Thank you.” Even though she had his number programmed into her cell phone, Hallie made sure his business card was tucked safely into her purse before stepping out of the car. He waited for her to go inside before pulling away from the curb. She was almost afraid to turn on the lights and see the disaster the agents had probably left in their wake, but the store was set to open tomorrow morning at ten, and she couldn’t leave it all for Katelyn to deal with. With a dreaded sigh, Hallie used her phone for light to make her way around a pile of something on the floor until she could get to the nearest light switch. At least they had turned out the lights and locked the door when they left.
As soon as the lights came on, Hallie saw the chaos that was now her store. It seemed the agents had moved nearly everything out of place, and left it all in random spots. Tears burned her eyes as her gaze traveled from one corner of the store to another, overwhelmed by the mess and the cleanup that lay ahead.
A knock on her door startled her out of her daze. Alicia and Meg stood outside, waving fervently. She carefully made her way back to the door and unlocked it. “What are you guys doing here?” She asked as they pushed their way inside. “The place is a mess and I have to -”
“We know,” Alicia said.
“I don’t know what’s going on,” Meg said, “but we’re here to help you clean up.”
That was it. Hallie burst into tears and was immediately wrapped up in their arms. A series of sobs, giggles, and curse words filled the air for the next few minutes, and then as promised, the only two people she could even come close to calling her friends pitched in and helped her clean up.
Almost three hours later, the store was finally starting to look like itself again. The women were exhausted, but they’d listened to their favorite songs, sang along out of tune, and laughed at as many jokes as they could come up with. “I don’t even know how to thank you for this,” Hallie said, starting to get choked up again.
“Aw, Honey, don’t cry,” Meg said. “We’ve all been in messes. Just look at me and my ex. Lord knows, that man has put me through the ringer, and you both have been there for me.”
“And I don’t have a crummy ex or the FBI on my case, but I’m sure I’ll run into some trouble eventually,” Alicia said.
All three of them laughed at that. “Let’s hope not,” Hallie said. “But seriously, thank you so much for helping me. This would’ve taken all night without you.”
They hugged again, then started to get ready to leave for the night.
By the time Hallie returned to her apartment, she was exhausted, and the drive home had given her more than enough time to get her anxiety going.
James had done his best to put her at ease about the whole situation, but it was how he’d told her that the FBI could bring her back for more questioning if they found something suspicious on her computer that kept making Hallie’s stomach drop. Because while she hadn’t looked up how to commit murder or poison a neighbor, she had used that computer to research Agent Blake O’Connell and the FBI would see her search history. It would probably make her look even more guilty and she had no idea what to do about that.
To say she was in over her head was an understatement. The worst part was that she couldn’t trust anyone. She’d considered telling James, but then she would’ve had to explain, and she couldn’t do that. Not without telling him everything, and - her breath caught as more tears threatened to escape. She couldn’t tell him. Not unless she absolutely had to. And now that she was sitting alone in the quiet of her small apartment, it actually scared her how much she wanted to pick up the phone and call Caden, beg him to help her, even tell him the whole truth, but she couldn’t do that either.
She hadn’t seen or heard from him since he left her sitting in that room, and it hurt her heart to think she might never see him again. Caden was a good man. There was no way he’d want anything to do with her after she’d been hauled into questioning, not once, but twice now.
Sitting on her couch, she pulled the fluffy cream throw over herself and noticed the soft music playing through her open window. It reminded her of a scene from one of her favorite movies. She hadn’t eaten dinner yet, but somehow nothing seemed appealing. She stood and made herself a hot cup of her favorite tea, then returned to her spot on the couch.
Her thoughts turned to Caden again and the photo albums he never got to see, and then inevitably to the search warrant he’d presented her with. She hadn’t been there to watch the agents take apart her beautiful store, but it honestly hadn’t been as bad as she thought it would be. Nothing had been broken, and only her two computers that the FBI had taken were missing.
She’d need to bring her laptop to the store and set it up as a makeshift register. Thankfully, she always backed up her work computers on two external hard drives, keeping one at the store that the FBI probably found and took, and one here that was sitting in the bottom drawer of her nightstand, exactly where she’d left it after last week’s backup.
As hard as it was going to be, she had to forget about Caden. Her priorities needed to be running her store and coming up with a solid defense for when the FBI came back after going through her computer. But all she could think about was the man with steel gray eyes, smooth mocha skin, and a smile that gave her tingles all the way down to her toes. The soft music continued to flow in through her open window, but instead of soothing, it felt more like a slow vice tightening around her neck.
Her breaths started to come in slow labored pants as tears stung her eyes and her shoulders began to shake. It had been a long time since she’d cried before today, but tonight, there was just no stopping those pesky tears. One, two, three, they came down her cheeks. She swiped at them angrily, desperate not to lose control, but her head and heart were at war, and both seemed to be losing.
A knock at the door made her jump, and she sat up straight, eyes wide as she stared at it. That had to be a mistake. Maybe someone had just knocked too loudly on the neighbor’s door. But then the knock came again. She stood warily and crept toward the door as if there was some big bug on it, she worried would attack her. Meg and Alicia had said goodnight to her at the store. Surely, they wouldn’t come by her apartment too. The knock came again. “Hallie? It’s Caden. Are you there?”
Hallie’s breath hitched. What in the world was he doing here? She reached for James’ business card that she’d left in her purse, before approaching the door again.
