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“That had to have been tough, Mom.” I could only imagine that kind of betrayal. I’d felt something like that when I thought Zach was abandoning me and our son, but my mother’s experience had been far worse.
Tears shimmered in her eyes. “It was. I lost my husband, my best friend, and my business all at once. But I had you and Charlotte, and I still wanted to open my own store.”
“I’m surprised you didn’t do it on your own to start with.”
“Opening a business is scary. I guess I was too frightened to follow my dreams on my own. The chance of failure was too great. After the mess was over, though, I needed to do something for myself and you and your sister. I had to be successful.”
“I remember how hard you worked, doing everything yourself and still being there for us,” I said—remembering, too, how rarely I’d seen my father throughout middle and high school, until he completely disappeared from our lives.
“Those were challenging years.” Mom managed a smile. “But I wouldn’t trade them. Although I’m enjoying semi-retirement and my grandson very much.”
An idea occurred to me. What if Marta was bitter enough to be causing the trouble at All That Sparkles? The woman might be harboring some seriously sour grapes over how things had gone, especially since in the end, she’d lost her business and the man she thought loved her. She might blame both those things on my mother and be jealous of her success.
“Whatever happened to Marta? Do you know?”
“I had no interest in her once it was over,” she said. “Other than hearing that she and your father split, I haven’t a clue where she ended up, and I want to keep it that way.”
“Mom, could she be behind the sabotage?” I asked.
My mother was silent for a minute. “I wouldn’t think so. It was a long time ago. If she’d wanted revenge, I think she would have taken it long before now. Besides, she wasn’t all that smart, as I quickly learned. She could smile and show off merchandise, but when it came to transactions and orders, she couldn’t handle it. I think she liked the idea of being in charge but knew nothing about running a business or the work it required. I can’t imagine her masterminding a plot like the one you believe is happening.”
You believe? Did my mom not see the recent problems at the store were connected and intentional? I let it go, not wanting to argue with her after she’d revealed this emotionally draining story. At least Zach seemed to believe me. I focused my eyes on him again. It was so good to have him in my corner, my house, my bed. But I could enjoy all that goodness a whole bunch more if I knew for sure what was happening with my business and who was responsible.
14
CAROLYN
“I’m glad you took today off,” Zach said to me the following Saturday morning.
“I wanted to spend time with my two guys.” I had Austin on my hip as I walked around the kitchen, putting items in a day pack we’d take with us on a hike later. “And Charlotte can handle the store, even if it is busy.”
“How do you know it’s busy?” He narrowed his eyes at me.
“I may have called her to check,” I admitted. He laughed and shook his head. “I have to be involved. It’s my business.” I’d promised to take the entire day off, but it was hard to unplug completely when I was worried about All That Sparkles and making my bottom line. Saturdays were usually high-profit days, what with the weekend shoppers. I reminded myself that customers would make purchases even if I wasn’t in the store, and that Charlotte knew nearly as much about the business as I did.
“I might as well tell you that I heard from Steve earlier.” Zach leaned against the counter.
I’d seen him take a phone call as he checked the backyard after breakfast. “I’m not going to like it, am I?”
“Afraid not, sweetheart.” He walked toward me, took Austin, and pulled out a chair at the kitchen table for me to sit.
“I’m really not going to like this,” I concluded.
He sat across from me, bouncing Austin on his knee. “Steve has serious concerns about your current tech company. He spared me the geek details, but he says their security systems are outdated, meaning that malware and other evil stuff can get through. Some elementary—in his opinion—steps to secure your account were just not taken. And, worst of all, alerts triggered on your email and other systems were suppressed or ignored.”
I gasped. “I pay them a small fortune every year, and they seem so efficient when I talk with them on the phone,” I said, sitting back in my chair.
“They may seem that way, but it’s all smoke and mirrors. Steve recommends you dump them,” Zach said. “He gave me the names of places he’d recommend.”
I blew out a breath as I processed the information. Zach was right; I hadn’t wanted to hear any of it. The question was, what was I going to do about it? “I can’t just fire them. I have a contract until the end of the year, unless my lawyer can get me out of it. Can Steve give me proof of their negligence?”
“He can. I’m sorry about this, sweetheart.” He reached across the table, taking my hand.
“Not your fault.” I sighed. “And I guess it’s good to know. Is it connected to my problems, though?”
“Steve couldn’t say for sure yet. He’s still digging.”
“He thinks it is, though, doesn’t he?” At my question, Zach nodded.
