Page 118 of The Challenge

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The following afternoon, while Effie was at school, I came home for lunch to find Chloe pacing in the kitchen. Her eyes lit up when she saw me enter.

“I did it,” she announced.

“Did what?”

“I took Effie’s advice—my advice. Our advice.” She laughed and paused to catch her breath. “I spoke to my boss and told him that while I love my job, my life is in Dry River now. I let him know that I plan to move here. I pointed out that I had been able to meet all of my deadlines without disruption while my mom was sick, and I proposed that he let me keep the job and work remotely.”

“What did he say?”

She spoke so fast I could hardly keep up. “He said he needed to speak to HR just to confirm, but he didn’t see why that wouldn’t work, provided I’d be willing to fly to Chicago on occasion when needed.”

Adrenaline rushed through me. “That’s doable, right?”

“Totally doable.” Chloe exhaled.

“Oh, baby.” I took her in my arms. “This is such great news.”

“I still have a few months on my lease. But I’ll eat that if I have to.”

“You do what you need to do as long as you end up here.”

She smacked me playfully. “See, you big dummy?”

“What?” I laughed.

“You let me go, and I ended up with you anyway.”

“There’s that boomerang thing again.” I took her mouth in mine.

A knock at the door interrupted our kiss.

I opened to find a man standing there with a package.

I glanced down at the small box. “Can I help you?”

“I have a delivery for Chloe Cavanaugh? It requires a signature and ID.”

“Okay.” I called over my shoulder, “Package for you that needs a signature and ID?”

Chloe drew in her brows and grabbed her purse. She showed the guy her license and signed a slip he handed to her. When she shut the door, she looked down at the box and said, “It’s from JR Murray Jewelers.”

That was the one fine jewelry place in all of Dry River.

She raised her forehead. “You didn’t order me something, did you?”

Unfortunately, I had nothing to do with this. “Wish I could say I did, but it’s not from me.”

Chloe opened the box and lifted a chunky gold men’s watch with broad links. “What the heck?”

She unfolded a note and read it out loud.

Dear Ms. Cavanaugh,

Your mother, Judy, came in a couple of years ago and purchased this gold watch. She said it was a gift for her husband. She ordered it to be engraved but never picked it up, nor did she answer the phone number she’d left on file with us after numerous attempts to contact her. It’s our policy not to release items until the customer signs off on the final product and pays the balance for engraving, but in this case, we couldn’t locate her. We’ve just been holding the item until further notice. We recently learned, however, that your mother passed away. Our manager recognized her name in the obituary posted in the paper. We are very sorry for your loss. We reached out to the care facility that was listed in the acknowledgments, and they provided us with a local mailing address they had on file for you. While the watch was paid for in full, there was still a balance for the engraving, which we will gladly waive under the circumstances. We hope you receive the watch safely and get it to her husband. Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.

Kind regards,