door opened. Carolyn stood in the glow, looking straight toward him. He jumped from the car and jogged to her.
“Something wrong? Is Austin sick?” His imagination conjured up twenty possible problems.
“All’s well,” she assured him, “except you’ve been sleeping in your car for how many nights now?”
“This is six,” he admitted with a shrug. When had she become aware of his nighttime presence on her street?
“When you left earlier, I thought you were headed home for the night. Zach, you can’t keep this up.” She rubbed her hands down her arms in the cool air.
“I want to make sure you and Austin are all right.” It was the simple truth, but it was only part of the reason he wanted to be close to them.
She smiled at him then. “I told myself if you came back tonight, I’d invite you in since I know I can’t talk you out of watching over us. But you can do it more comfortably. I’ve got the spare room made up.”
“If you’re sure you don’t mind, I’d appreciate that.” At her nod, he clicked the button to lock his car before entering her house and dead bolting the door.
“You’re in the room next to Austin,” she said as he followed her up the stairs. They paused outside her room, across from Austin’s, and she surprised him by kissing his cheek. “Thanks for looking out for us. Good night.”
After she left him alone in the hall, Zach peeked in his son’s room, watching the boy’s little chest rise and fall, before going to the guest room. Sleeping in a bed during the night was going to feel good, and being close to his son felt right. The only way his situation could improve was if he were holding Carolyn in her bed. Soon, he decided.
8
“Like nothing happened,” Charlotte said as Carolyn turned in a slow circle, taking in every detail of All That Sparkles.
“Amazing,” Carolyn agreed. After a week of cleanup and repair, the store was set to reopen. Every sign of the incident was gone, and all the surfaces sparkled in keeping with the store’s name. But the closure had taken its toll on her bottom line and her employees. Jenna and Michelle seemed better now, after an initially shaky return to work. She smiled at Jenna, who was preparing a display case. “I wish people could recover so quickly.”
Carolyn had made sure they got counseling right away. Jenna had responded quickly, but Michelle was slower to recover. However long it took, the store would provide the counseling. It wasn’t cheap, and it stretched her finances even thinner than they already were, but it was the right thing to do.
“No ill effects for Austin?” Charlotte asked.
“Nothing. Not even a bad dream.” She’d been amazed at his resiliency, but then he’d had his daddy come into his life at the same time. Maybe the positive event offset the negative one.
“We were lucky,” Charlotte said, giving her sister a half smile. They didn’t need to say that it all could have been a lot worse, although Carolyn knew they weren’t out of the woods yet. A late evening call from her IT company had confirmed that.
“I hope our luck holds. Did you see the ads I placed?” Carolyn had made sure to advertise their reopening, offering some good deals with the hope that customers would come in. She wanted to get back to business as usual despite her worry about the possible saboteur.
“Good choices. My marketing professor would give you an A-plus.” Charlotte had one semester left in her MBA program.
Carolyn laughed. “Thank goodness for that.”
A knock on the front window drew her attention away. Zach waved to her through the glass, his smile disarming her as it always did. She hadn’t minded seeing him across her breakfast table that morning one bit, and Austin had been ecstatic about having his daddy with them.
“You’ve got company,” Charlotte commented. “The good kind.”
“The best,” she said before thinking how much her answer revealed.
Charlotte grinned at her but didn’t ask questions. “I’m going to prep inventory in the safe. Tell Zach I said hi.”
After her sister walked away, Carolyn disabled the alarm and let Zach in. He waited until she rearmed the system before drawing her into a hug. She half waited for his kiss, but with her employees only steps away, she didn’t think he’d repeat anything like the kiss they’d shared the evening before. It had been all she could do not to repeat it herself when