Tattered, p.28
Tattered, page 28
“I’ve got them covered. With you weeding through proposals, it will take less time for me to review them. Mike does a great job, but I still spend a lot of time going through everything, mostly so I can get you up to speed. I won’t have to do that anymore. We can either ask other board members to become more active, or we can cut down on some of the events. Worst-case scenario, I go to them all.”
I sighed. “That’s going to cut into your time with your family. I can’t ask you to do that.”
“Not necessarily. If I’m hitting more events at night, then I’m going to cut back at the office. Spend more time at home in the mornings. I can take Tyler to school, hang with Kayla until lunch, then come in for the afternoons and attend the functions when they happen in the evenings. All of that’s possible if you take over Mike’s job.”
“Kayla would be okay with that?”
He nodded. “She’s one hundred percent on board.”
God, this would be amazing. More than quitting my career, one that I’d poured thousands of hours into building, I hated losing my place at the foundation.
It was my passion. It was my connection to my family. And more so, I could do this job and be home every night for dinner. I’d never miss a soccer practice or game. I’d have the chance to make up for the time I’d already lost with Charlie.
The last two weeks had taught me a lot. My eighty-hour workweeks were over. I was trading up for Thea and Charlie.
But if I could keep this tie to the foundation, to my family’s legacy, then maybe I could have my cake and eat it too.
“I love it,” I told Nolan and Piper. “But I just don’t see the board approving the change.”
The chairman of the board had always been a Kendrick, picked purposefully to be the face of the family. Before me, it was my uncle. When he’d been ready to retire, I’d taken over. I didn’t see how the board would want it any other way.
“It’s worth asking,” Piper said. “If they say no, then you can step down like you’d planned.”
“True.” My original plan had been to move and settle in to Lark Cove. When I got bored, I’d find a low-stress job. If this didn’t work out, I could always fall back on Plan A.
But damn, I wanted Plan B.
“The meeting with the board doesn’t start until ten.” Nolan checked the clock on the wall. “We’ve got thirty minutes. Let’s prep to pitch this, instead of the list of recommended chair candidates we came up with last week.”
I grinned at them both. “It’s worth a shot.”
Two hours later, the three of us were back in Nolan’s office, celebrating.
The board had agreed to try this new structure temporarily and see if it worked. They weren’t crazy about the CEO not being in the office from nine to five, or the chairman living in Montana, but we’d somehow managed to convince them that there were more benefits than costs on this one.
“I knew they’d go for it!” Piper hadn’t stopped smiling since the board meeting had adjourned. “And I bet it will be less than two months and they’ll vote to make this permanent.”
I chuckled. “You realize this means you’re going to have to deal with me a lot more frequently now.”
“I’ll adjust.” She winked. “Besides, this means I get to take regular ‘work trips’ to Montana. Didn’t you say you bought a boat?”
Nolan laughed. “We’re just pawns, Logan. Little pieces on her chessboard.”
Piper gave us both a diabolical smile.
“What’s Thea going to think about all this?” Nolan asked.
I ran a hand through my hair and sighed. “I haven’t told her anything yet.”
“What!” Piper shrieked as she punched me in the arm. “You haven’t told her what you’re doing? Oh my god, why not? What is wrong with you?”
“Ouch.” I rubbed my bicep. “I didn’t want to get her hopes up if something came up. There was no guarantee the firm would let me out of my partnership. And I wasn’t going to make her a promise that I wasn’t one hundred percent sure I could keep. She’s had enough people let her down. I won’t be one of them.”
“Oh.” Piper relaxed. “Well, everything is all set here. What are you waiting for?”
I grinned and checked my watch. “My flight.”
“Hi,” I answered Sean’s call as I beeped the locks on the rental car waiting for me outside the airport.
“Did you make it?”
“Yeah. I just got in.” The six-hour flight from New York to Kalispell had put me back in Montana right before dark, thanks to the favorable time change and tailwind. I’d landed with just enough time to call Charlie and say goodnight, then talk to Thea while the plane had taxied off the runway.
“Good.” Except he didn’t sound good. “I’ve got some news.”
The hairs on the back of my neck stood up as I opened the door and slid into the driver’s seat, tossing my bag in the back. “Did you find him?”
Sean had been trying to track down Thea’s email harasser for two weeks without luck. And since the emails to Thea had stopped, it had made his hunt that much harder. But I’d told him to keep digging, no matter the cost. So after hitting one dead end after another, Sean had called in one of his underground hacker friends to help.
“We found him. Does the name Ronny Berkowitz ring any bells?”
Ronny Berkowitz. I replayed it a few times as I turned on the ignition. “No.”
“He’s a local, but from what we can tell, he lies low. He works from his house, building cyber security systems.”
Which explained why Sean had such a hard time tracing his identity. “What else?”
“He’s originally from Dallas but moved to Lark Cove about five years ago. Ronny’s not someone you want around Thea, Logan.”
“Fuck.” I shoved the SUV into drive and floored it out of the parking lot. “Why?”
“He was arrested about seven years ago for stalking a bartender in Texas. Things got fairly intense. He ended up breaking into her house and scaring her pretty bad. Luckily, her boyfriend got home early before Ronny could hurt her.”
My jaw clenched as I swerved around a semi-trailer to get on the highway. Its horn blared as I zoomed past, gunning the engine faster.
“I’ve got a picture of that bartender. Her name is Angela Peters. And she looks a lot like Thea.”
“Call the cops. Now. Send them everything you’ve found, plus the emails you pulled from Thea’s account.”
“I already did. The sheriff is fully briefed.”
“Call them back. I’ll be at Thea’s in thirty minutes, maybe less if I hurry. Until I get there, I want someone outside her house.”
“Will do. What else?”
“Ruin him,” I growled.
“Same drill as last time?”
The last time being when I’d discovered Emmeline had a stalker. Sean had arranged for someone to scare him off. This time around, a few punches to the face weren’t good enough. I wanted Ronny Berkowitz destroyed.
“No. I want him broke. Zero out his bank account. Max his credit cards. Have his car impounded. Get him fired from his job. Expose him as a stalker to the local media. Whatever you can think of. I want Lark Cove to be the last place on earth this guy wants to stay. Can you do that?”
Sean chuckled. “And then some. Now that I’m into his network, I can bring it all down.”
“Do it.” I hung up the phone and immediately dialed Thea.
When she didn’t answer, I tried her again. And again.
“Answer the phone, Thea.”
She didn’t. By my fourth attempt, I was doing twice the speed limit down the highway.
Because my gut was screaming that we’d found Ronny too late.
With my phone resting on my lap, I stared across the yard toward the lake. The water was glassy tonight, much like my eyes.
Logan had called, but I’d ignored it. After the ringing stopped, I put it on mute.
We’d already spoken once tonight, and as of now, I was going to start cutting down on phone calls. I lived to hear his voice, but after each one, I felt miserable. It hurt too much.
He’d been busy these last two weeks, per his usual schedule. Maybe he was using work to hide from the pain of our split. Maybe he just wanted to return to his regular routine. Either way, he always seemed to be in the middle of something when we talked. But, to his credit, once he answered, we had his full attention. In the two weeks since we’d left, he hadn’t missed a single call to wish Charlie sweet dreams.
Tonight, though, he’d sounded different. Still just as busy, but almost in a hurry to end our call. A quick hello. A faster good-bye.
Would this become the new normal?
I’d worked hard the last two weeks, catching up at the bar. Charlie had gone right back to days with Hazel at the camp, and for the most part, I was glad for the routine. Except for nights like this, when I wasn’t working. Free time was my new enemy.
I was an emotional wreck when left alone with my thoughts, which was probably why I hadn’t set foot in my workshop. I knew once I got in there and pictured Logan in his spot by the cabinet, I’d completely lose it, something I had yet to do.
One of these nights I’d go in there and have an ugly cry. Until then, I was toughing out the blurry tears and stinging nose.
Footsteps sounded behind me in the kitchen and I blinked fast to clear my vision. I didn’t want Hazel to know I’d been on the verge of crying. So as the screen door creaked, I forced a smile when she stepped onto the porch.
“Figured I’d find you here.”
I nodded. “I thought I’d better enjoy the evening before it gets too cold.”
As soon as the snow fell, Hazel and I traded our porch visits for living room campouts. Each winter, we’d pick a new show to binge after Charlie was asleep. Though Hazel would still brave the cold to smoke.
She slid a cigarette from its box and pulled out a lighter from her jeans pocket. After a heavy drag, she took her spot on the railing, blowing the smoke as far away from me as she could. “I think Charlie’s more nervous about first grade than she was kindergarten.”
I sighed. “I think you’re right.” Charlie was struggling because one of her friends from kindergarten had moved away and because Logan wasn’t here.
As expected, Charlie had been withdrawn these past two weeks. She was definitely happy to be home, but she missed her dad.
Just like me, she was torn.
“How are you doing?” Hazel asked.
“I’m good,” I lied. “Glad we’re going to be getting into the fall routine.”
She laughed. “Try again.”
“I knew you wouldn’t buy that,” I muttered. “I guess I just wish things could be different.”
“But they aren’t.”
My gaze went back to the lake. “No. They aren’t.”
On the plane, I’d wondered if I’d feel the same sense of home—of peace—when I got back to Lark Cove. There’d been a niggling feeling that I’d built up Lark Cove as a sanctuary when it really wasn’t and that without Logan in our lives, it would feel different. By the time the captain had announced we were landing, I’d all but convinced myself that Montana wasn’t everything it had been before.
But the moment I’d stepped off the plane, breathing in the clean mountain air, the worries of the last week had vanished. A deep contentment had settled the anxieties from the city.
It just felt like . . . home.
Charlie’s smile the moment we’d pulled up to the cottage had been impossible to ignore. She’d been so happy to be back in her safe place that I knew we’d made the right decision.
So now I was holding out hope that with time, the ache in my heart would lessen.
“I know I’ve told you this already, but it’s worth repeating,” Hazel said. “I’m proud of you for going. It couldn’t have been easy to go back, but I think it’s good you faced the past.”
“Thanks.” It hadn’t been easy, but it had been a chance for me to confront those old demons. The wounds from my childhood cut deep, but they’d healed more in the past two weeks than they had in years.
“Why don’t you go to your workshop and paint or something? It’s better than you sitting out here, dwelling on the things that cannot be.”
I shrugged. “I’m just not feeling it. But you’re right. I shouldn’t just sit here. Maybe I’ll go for a quick walk.”
Hazel frowned. “It’s almost dark.”
“I’ve still got thirty minutes or so. I’ll be back soon but call if you need me.”
I stood from my seat and turned my phone off mute. Logan had called again, but I cleared the notification, willing myself to stay strong and not call him back until tomorrow. Then I tucked my phone into my jeans pocket.
“Okay.” She didn’t press too hard for me to stay, likely knowing that some movement would clear my head. “See you in a bit.”
I hurried down the stairs and around the side of the house, setting a fast pace on the sidewalk. I didn’t follow my normal route past the bar and through town. Instead, I turned down a small dirt road that wound along the lake.
It took a while for my mind to quiet, but by the time I reached a small bend in the road, I’d found the calm I’d been seeking all evening. From there, I let my flip-flops lead the way as I watched the sun lower on the horizon. Its lingering rays cast an amber glow over the lake’s surface.
As the light began to disappear behind a mountain range, I turned around to go home but stopped as I recognized my surroundings.
I’d walked right to the house that Logan had bought in Lark Cove.
The gleaming windows reflected pastel pink and sherbet orange from the sunset. The lawn was a deeper green under the fading sky. And the cedar shakes were so warm and inviting, I found myself crossing the grass to take a closer look.
I was jealous that Charlie had gotten a full tour. When he’d been here, Logan had driven us by it again, showing us the lot. But since the purchase hadn’t gone through yet, he hadn’t had a key to take me inside. As I peeked inside the windows, I wished I’d taken him up on his offer to call the realtor.
There wasn’t much I could see from outside, so I gave up my snooping and walked over to the driveway, testing the side entrance of the garage, just in case. I smiled when the door opened.
I didn’t hesitate to go inside and flick on the lights. The two empty garage bays were the cleanest I’d ever seen. The concrete floors weren’t marred with a drop of oil. Fresh paint hit my nostrils and I pulled in a deep breath. Since this property had been built about six years ago, Logan must have arranged for a crew to come in and paint. One of them had probably forgotten to lock the door.
I crossed the room, walking toward a row of cabinets at the back. The sound of my footsteps echoed in the bright space, bouncing off one white wall to the other, while the fluorescent lights hummed over my head.
I knew I was invading Logan’s space, but I couldn’t resist opening up a couple drawers and cabinets. As I opened the last drawer, a man’s voice echoed in the garage.
“Hello, Thea.”
I screamed, spinning around so fast that I slammed my hip into the corner of the counter. My heart was in my throat as I tried to regain my breath. “Oh my god,” I heaved. “Ronny? You scared me to death.”
“Sorry about that.” He reached behind him and pulled the door closed. When he turned the deadbolt, every muscle in my body tensed.
Nothing about this situation was right. Nothing about Ronny was right. Whoever this was, it wasn’t the sweetheart who came into the bar almost every weeknight and occasionally on Sundays to keep me company. This wasn’t the quiet, polite and shy Ronny I knew.
His movements were aggressive, stiff and hard. His normally slouched shoulders were pulled back like he was preparing for a fight. And his jaw was clenched and angry.
Every hair on my body stood on end, affirming with their prickles what my gut was screaming. This is not right.
Ronny’s gaze ran up and down my body, hovering too long on my chest. His eyes were narrowed with a predatory stare. He was the cat. I was the stupid mouse who’d gone for a walk in her safe, small, trust-everyone town.
“I, um . . .” I swallowed the fear clogging my throat. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m here for you.” He said it like I should have known it already. Like the next word out of his mouth was going to be duh.
I needed to get the hell out of here, but Ronny held his position by the door.
Stay calm, Thea. Don’t panic.
“Well, I’d better get going.” I plastered on a wide smile as I shuffled down the cabinets. “Hazel’s probably wondering where I went.”
“You’re not going anywhere.” Ronny shook his head. “Not until we talk.”
With Ronny standing by the door, I didn’t have any choice but to go past him to get out. The buttons for the garage doors were right next to the light switches too, so I couldn’t escape through one of the bays.
Relying on years of dealing with creeps and jerks at the bar, I dropped my shoulders away from my ears, hoping he’d take it as a sign I was relaxing. “Sure. I’d love to talk. But would you mind if we went outside? The paint fumes are getting to me.”
He frowned. “Do you think I’m stupid?”
“Of course not! You’re the best, Ronny. My favorite customer.” I was laying it on thick, but I didn’t care. I had no idea what Ronny’s intentions were, but I was sure they were nothing wholesome or friendly. And I had a little girl waiting for me at home. She needed her mother to stay in one piece.
“You have—”
My phone rang in my pocket. I reached for it but stopped when Ronny took three fast steps my way.
“Don’t,” he barked. He held me captive with his angry glare until the phone finally stopped ringing. “You aren’t going to ignore me this time. Now that you’re back, we’re going to have a long overdue discussion.”
Ignore him? When had I ignored him? “Ronny, I don’t understand. What’s going on?”
My phone rang again, stopping him before he could explain. His nostrils flared as his face turned red.
