The SEAL's Surprise Son (The Admiral's Seals, #1) - Leslie North Page 0,41

to close her eyes but knowing that sleep wouldn’t come.

Bleary eyed, she answered the door to Zach’s knock early the following morning.

“You have a key,” she said after greeting him.

“It’s your house.” His tone was, at best, matter of fact.

She sighed. “It is my house, which is why I gave you a key.”

“Is Austin up?”

So that’s the way it was going to be. “Not yet, but he’s stirring. You get him while I make breakfast.”

Over the monitor in the kitchen, she could hear the interaction between father and son. Austin happily babbled away. She should be pleased that they had such a good relationship. Instead, she felt excluded since Zach was blocking her out. She poured pancake batter onto the griddle in perfect circles, controlling her motions as she tried to control her feelings.

“Mama,” Austin greeted her when Zach carried him into the kitchen.

“Hi, baby.” She went to her son, taking him in her arms and ignoring the tingle that raced through her when she brushed against Zach. “Ready for pancakes?”

While Zach cut Austin’s food into kid-sized bites, she noticed that Zach had changed his clothes while upstairs and tried to decide what that meant. It was probably just an indication that he needed to get to work soon.

“Coffee?” she asked as she put Austin in his high chair.

“I’ll get it,” he responded without looking at her.

Since she wanted breakfast to seem as normal as possible for Austin, she talked about how Austin was going to his grandma’s house today while she had a meeting at the store with the insurance adjusters. Zach contributed almost nothing to the conversation. The few things he said were directed at Austin.

They’d barely finished eating when Zach declared he had to go. She carried Austin to the door to wave bye-bye to Daddy and saw Zach’s duffel bag sitting in the foyer. He was moving out the few items he’d moved in, sending her a clear message. Whatever was between them was over without any discussion. She met his eyes over the top of Austin’s head and knew she couldn’t keep the hurt out of hers.

“I’ll be back later to see Austin,” Zach said, as if that made it all better.

She only nodded and held perfectly still when Zach kissed Austin goodbye and left. Fortunately, their son was too young to pick up on the tension between his parents—because it had been extreme. Not what she needed when she was facing a business in ruins and a saboteur.

“Mama needs to get ready for the day,” she said to Austin. Upstairs, she applied makeup to cover up the sleepless night and put on her favorite dress, a magenta one with a tucked waist and full skirt. She opted for practical flats because of the fire scene, but she needed clothing to be her armor today.

In All That Sparkles’ office, remarkably untouched by the fire, she made phone calls to suppliers and customers explaining about the fire and assuring them that it would be business as usual again as soon as possible. In the afternoon, the insurance adjuster arrived, an experience she dreaded since he had been at her store just weeks ago following the robbery.

Her worry grew when the adjuster walked through the rubble, taking notes and saying nothing. She tried to ask a few questions, but his answers were brief or unhelpful, so she waited.

“Ms. Evert,” he finally said, “I have serious concerns about paying on this incident.”

“The fire inspector said—”

He cut her off. “My company received his preliminary report, and we agree that it was arson.”

“So what’s the problem?” Why were they acting as if she were guilty of something?

The inspector shuffled through a stack of papers and pulled out a sheet. “We’re aware of the amount of debt the business is currently carrying.”

The paper was a balance sheet from the previous month, showing just how little was left after she met expenses. Full disclosure required her to report that to her insurer, but she didn’t see what her debt had to do with paying on her claim. “Remodeling the store was costly, and rotating debt is typical of the jewelry business as we buy and sell merchandise.”

“I’m aware of the nature of your business, but your debt is enough to trigger an internal audit and raise suspicions.”

She suddenly saw where this was going. “Are you suggesting that I caused this?” She waved her hand at the burnt-out remains of her showroom.

“It’s been known to happen. A business gets in financial trouble and—”

“I