Brenda Novak - The Other Woman

“Ghirardelli?”

“No, Guittard. For some of my truffles, I also incorporate European chocolate to produce my own unique flavor.”

“So they ship it to you from California?”

“Exactly. It comes in boxes of five ten-pound bars, which I temper and then use to create various decadent candies.”

“Temper?”

“Melt in a particular way, to keep it shiny and smooth.”

“What kind of candies?”

“Candies made with pretzels, Oreos, marshmallows…Strawberries, bananas and raisins dipped in chocolate. I also make fudge and truffles, even cakes and frosted brownies. But like Vianne, my signature is going to be rich hot chocolate.”

The passion and excitement in her voice again summoned memories of Laurel. Turning away, Carter pretended to examine the walls, making note of the nicks and gouges that remained. “We should really patch a few more spots.”

“Probably,” she said. “Old LeRoy wasn’t much for maintenance or housekeeping. The dirt and grime in this place was unbelievable when I got here.”

No longer interested in conversation, Carter let her comment go. “Do you have the supplies we’ll need?”

Her eyebrows inched up a notch at his brisk tone, but she responded at once to the question. “I should. Keith brought over a lot of stuff last night. It’s all in the back room. If we need anything else, there’s always the hardware store down the street. And the good news is that we finally have a sink that works, which should help with rinsing out trays and so forth. I just had the plumber install it yesterday.”

Carter glanced in the direction Liz had pointed. The bathroom door was only partially open. He couldn’t see the sink well—but it didn’t look right. Walking over to the doorway, he poked his head inside. “Did you say he already installed it or he’s going to?”

Liz came up behind him. She didn’t answer; she didn’t need to. The shock on her face, when she saw that the sink had been torn from the wall, said everything.

LIZ STOOD AT THE BACK of the hardware store, trying to keep her voice low enough that Keith’s boss, Ollie Weston, wouldn’t hear them arguing.

“It had to be you,” she said vehemently.

Keith stepped closer, looming over her. His anger and indignation etched a deep V between his eyebrows and almost made Liz retract the accusation. He didn’t look guilty. But he’d been the last one to leave her shop the night before. Who else would have had the time or opportunity to cause the damage she’d found?

“Why would I do that?” he demanded, his voice rising. “I spent three hours there last night trying to help you!”

Ollie glanced at them from the cash register in front, and Liz felt her cheeks grow warm. When she’d first come to Dundee, she’d caused a huge scandal simply by virtue of being the Other Woman. Because Reenie had grown up here and was a popular figure, folks had felt protective of her, and they’d whispered about Liz, even stared at her, as though she’d purposely destroyed Reenie’s marriage.

A private person to begin with, Liz didn’t want to draw attention to herself now that she was feeling comfortable in this place. “Be quiet, will you?” she said.

“You’re accusing me of something I didn’t do,” Keith snapped.

“Who else could it have been?”

“Anyone!” He threw up his hands. “Christopher was playing with the key you gave me and lost it. I couldn’t lock up last night.”

“What? Why didn’t you call me?”

“Because I didn’t want to wake you. I didn’t think it was a big deal. The place isn’t even fixed up yet.”

Again, Ollie angled his head to see if he could hear what was going on, but Liz turned her back to him. “I paid a small fortune for all the supplies that are lying on that floor,” she said in a half whisper.

“So? This is Dundee. Who’s going to steal them?”

“I grew up in L.A., where people lock their businesses.”

He straightened a sack of fertilizer that had fallen from the shelf. “You’ve been here for a year and a half, Liz. You know what it’s like. The worst crime we ever see is drunk-and-disorderly. Why would I worry about not being able to lock the door? Especially the back one?”

Liz tucked the hair that was falling from her ponytail behind her ears. If Keith hadn’t caused the damage at her shop, was it some sort of hate crime? Vengeance from someone who blamed her for wrecking Reenie’s first marriage?

She couldn’t imagine anyone holding a grudge over that. Especially since she hadn’t done it intentionally and Reenie was so obviously in love with Isaac. Watching him and Reenie for two seconds revealed how happy they were together. The only people who weren’t pleased about their relationship were Keith and his family….

Narrowing her eyes, Liz stabbed a finger into Keith’s chest. “Your brothers would never do this, would they?”

“My brothers? Cal lives in Boise, for crying out loud. Do you think he’d drive up here just to wreck your sink? And Luke’s still in Texas. He’s staying at Baylor for summer term.”

“What about your father?”

Keith gave the fertilizer a kick because it had tipped again. “Come off it, Liz.”

“Your folks have never liked me, Keith. Even now that they help out with the kids, they barely speak to me.”

“They’re still struggling with what’s happened. You can’t blame them for that.”

No, she couldn’t. What had happened was entirely Keith’s fault. Which was one of the reasons she could never reconcile with him. As hard as she tried, she couldn’t completely forgive him for the devastation he’d wrought in her life. And she couldn’t imagine trying to belong to a family that resented her as much as Frank, Georgia, Cal and Luke did. She was the physical embodiment of the disappointment and embarrassment they’d all suffered over Keith’s deception.

“Are they struggling so much that they’d try and make me fail?” she asked.

His jaw dropped as if he couldn’t believe she’d even suggest it. “Of course not. They’re better people than that.”

Liz wanted to think so. But she wasn’t entirely convinced. Someone had torn the sink from the wall.

“Maybe it was Mary Thornton,” he said.

Liz bit her lip. She and Mary had exchanged words, but…“She wouldn’t go that far.”

“Why not? You know she’s upset that you’re opening a chocolate shop right next to her candy store.”

“When I leased the space, she wasn’t selling candy. She had a card-and-gift shop!”

“That’s my point. She’s green with envy. Grant Nibley did that big write-up on you in the paper and how you’re basing your shop on the movie and all that, so she copied you, and still her shop didn’t make the paper.”

“At least her store is open.”

“But not doing particularly well, from all indications.”

Pressing her fingers to her forehead in an attempt to ease the headache pounding behind her eyes, Liz sighed. “She’s just disappointed that she didn’t think of a chocolate shop.”

“I agree. She feels you’ve outdone her, and yet she has as much riding on her business as you do on yours. She quit her job at Slinkerhoff’s law office to make this big career change. She’s a single mother. Her ex-husband has been a total flake—”

Liz didn’t want to hear it. She didn’t feel sorry for Mary. Maybe Mary’s ex-husband paid his child support in fits and starts and rarely came around, but Mary had it better than she liked to portray. “Are you kidding me? How stressed can she be when she’s still living with her parents? When they’re helping her raise her son and filling in with anything else she needs? It’s their money behind that shop, not hers.”