Page 27 of Beguiled and Broken

Cat took the kids to some trampoline park for a few hours so the house was quiet, which was good, giving me time to think through how we were going to fix Bianca’s situation. Cole was on his way over to help. He had text me earlier saying he needed advice. I figured we could brainstorm and help each other out.

I don’t typically leave my door unlocked, but I knew Cole was coming, so when I heard his signature rat-a-tat-tat knock, I yelled, “Come in, man!” Cole stepped in from the snow, wiped his feet on the mat, and raised an eyebrow at the pile of shit I had sprawled out on the dining room table. Finances, billing statements from the boutique, and a list of employees were scattered and fanned out. I was looking for a paper trail that hopefully led to a moment when things started to change at the boutique.

Cole cocked his head to the side and sat down in the chair across from me, still staring at all the papers. “Hey, uh...what’s going on here?”

“Man, there’s some weird shit happening with Bianca and the boutique. Purchases and shit that she can’t explain, and her staff are swearing they didn’t make them. She’s got a lengthy tab running and now we’re trying to figure out what the fuck to do about it.”

“Identity theft? She needs to file a dispute. That’s crazy, man.”

“That was my thought too, but it’s just the store and nothing else. It’s wild.”

“Well, hereIam, coming to tell you aboutmyproblems and well…you have much bigger ones.” He laughed, but now I wanted to know what was up with him.

“Eh, it’ll be fine. We’ll sort it out. What’s up with you?”

“Darla and I broke up. Well...more likeIbroke up with Darla.”

I was shocked. “Bro, you two seemed fine together? What the hell happened?”

He let out a sigh, stood up and started pacing the kitchen. “I don’t know man. I didn’t want anything serious. We were having a good time, ya know? Then when we all got together for Thanksgiving dinner, she was telling everyone she loved them, and it was cute and fun. But then she recently started talking about moving in together and I…I’m not with it, man. I just wanted to have a good time.” He took a deep breath. “So, I panicked and told her I didn’t think we were working out.”

I blinked and didn’t say anything. I just looked at him waiting for him to continue.

“She freaked the fuck out, asked me why I took her to Thanksgiving dinner if I wasn’t serious and wondered what we’ve been doing this whole time.” He opened my fridge, clearly parched from rattling off a mile a minute, and grabbed a bottle of water. Then he went right back to it. “What have we been doing? We’ve been having a good time. That’s what we’ve been doing. Can’t we just have a good time for a while before getting all serious about life changes? Doesn’t anyone just fuck around anymore and have fun. I’m not thinking about long term shit. I’m just not.”

He was spinning. “Ok, bro, take it easy. Take a drink of water and come sit down.” I gestured back to the chair that he was originally sitting in across from me. “I’ll be honest, yous haven’t been togetherthatlong. I agree with you. You either know or you don’t, and if you know that she isn’t the one, it’s better this way. I say no point in letting it go on if you aren’t serious. Right? But also, of course she’s going to be hurt and upset. Youdidbring her around “the family” and what’s not to love about us.”

Cole laughed, and his tension broke. “Yeah, I know. I thought maybe therecould besomething, but it was when I saw Hudson and Amelia and realized that what I’m feeling for Darla is not anywhere close to what Hudson is feeling for Amelia. I mean, if he brought her to Thanksgiving dinner even though he was still inthatmuch pain so long after losing Devina, he must be crazy about her. Does that make sense?”

I lowered my head, thinking about them, and nodded. “Yeah, bro, that makes perfect sense. I think you did the right thing. She’ll move on and find the right person. And if finding the right person is something you’re looking for, then you will too, eventually.”

Cole laughed and said, “A good time. I’m just tryin’ to work and have a good time. We’re on holiday break right now at the university so I’m tryin’ to just live it up.”

“Well, do your thing, bro. Enjoy it! Meanwhile, I’ll just be here trying to hold my marriage together and figure out what the fuck is going on with Bianca’s store.” I shook my head and just stared down at the statements on the table.

“Yeah, I’m sorry you guys are going through a hard time. Y’all are solid though. It’ll work out.”

“Thanks, man. You wanna help me figure this shit out? Youarea math professor, after all.”

“As fucking amazing asthatsounds, I’m out.” He laughed and hopped up from his chair. “No, but, for real. If you need help, let me know. You know I’ll be here any time.”

“Yeah, I gotcha. I’m gonna keep going at this and I’ll give you a holler if I see anythingodd.”

“Was that a math joke?”

“Yes?”

“Corny, bro.”

“But you like it?”

“I really do.”

*

I’d spent hours poring through the statements before hanging my head in frustration. Nothing jumped out and I couldn’t figure out when it all started. There were months of these inconsistencies, but I realized whoever made all those ridiculous orders, made them from the boutique. Anybody could have made them. Bianca had security cameras, but they were old cameras, left over from the previous storefront owner and didn’t have a recording capability. We planned to upgrade them but kept forgetting and kicked ourselves for not replacing them right away. Other than the recent large order, they were all small enough to not draw attention because they blended in with other purchases for the store. If we had security footage, we could at least match up the times of purchase and watch to find out who was on the phone or computer. Without that, all we knew was that it started a little while after Bianca opened shop.

I was making notes when Bianca pulled into the driveway. I gave her a kiss and said, “Welcome home, beautiful.”

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