Page 39 of Second Chances in Cedarwood

Anna was already there and behind the counter, prepping the toppings. “Hi.”

“Hey.” He unlocked the front door. “You’re early.”

“I got out of my house on time,” She laughed. “My mom came over and offered to babysit. She brought doughnuts. So, right now she’s the favorite.”

“Food is a good motivator.” He’d made the comment flippantly but regretted it. “I mean…”

“I knew what you meant.” Anna stood in the office doorway. “Henry will be back today, right?”

“I’ll head up to the airport and pick him up at five. I should be able to close maybe half an hour early.” He wrote up the sign. “Unless the plane is late, we’ll have enough time to go back to my place, shower, change and get ready for the dinner.”

“Nice.” She left him and went into the dining room.

He stayed in the office and checked his numbers for the day. He’d be fine for wax papers and foil, but he’d need to place orders for onions and paper boxes. Jack filled out his paperwork for the following week, buying extra of a few things just in case.

“Jack?”

“In here.” Where else would he be? He grabbed the sign and tape, then headed out to the dining room. “What?”

Anna plunked the mail on the counter. “You’ve got a huge envelope here.”

“So? I get all kinds of shit in the mail.”

“It looks like a business letter or something, but it’s not.” She turned the envelope over. “I thought it might be from the Chamber of Commerce, but no.”

“You opened it?” His address had been typed on the front and the piece of mail did look important. He opened it. “Who sent this?”

“I don’t know,” Anna said. “There’s no return address or postage, which is why I thought maybe the Chamber dropped it off.” She peeked around his shoulder as he dumped the contents onto the counter. “That looks like Henry.”

The man in the photos sure did look like Henry…in Chicago. Jack didn’t know much about the Windy City, but he knew the big mirrored sculpture. Who was Henry posing with?

“Did he say he’d send photos in the mail?” Anna asked. “We’ve been so busy, I forgot to ask.”

“He’s texted me a bunch of photos.” Jack withdrew his phone and scrolled through the images. None of them looked a thing like the ones printed on the counter. “See?” He offered up the phone. “It’s not right.”

“What’s he holding?” She laughed. “Is that a picture of you? Dorks.”

“He’d said he’d put me in the picture so it was like I was there with him.” He and Henry might be dorks, but he didn’t care.

“It looks like him here, but not really.” Anna left Jack at the register. “Do you think he sent these?”

“No.” Jack shook his head. He was wasting precious prep time by worrying about photos, but he couldn’t look away. Something was wrong with the images. “His hair is longer here.”

Anna placed the chili in the warmer and turned it on. “It is. He can’t grow hair that long that fast.”

“No and he almost looks pudgy.” Jack scrubbed his hand across his mouth. His Henry wasn’t fat now or then, but he seemed a little more filled out. Henry looked younger in the images, too. Who would be so underhanded as to send these? “Think Charlie would do this?”

“What? Why?” Anna filled the cheese bin. “Charlie seems like a jerk, but why would he do this? There’s no payoff. It’s just mean. He’s not mean.”

“No.” He shoved the photos into the envelope. “I don’t know who sent these, but if I stand here worrying about them, I’ll just give myself an ulcer. I can’t do anything about these, but I can say something when Henry comes back.”

“True.” Anna hugged him. “I’ll bet it’s nothing.”

“Right.” He wished he believed her. Still, he had to get work done. He threw himself into prepping for the day and tamped down his irritation. He needed to focus. The hot dogs wouldn’t cook themselves. Once the first customer arrived, business boomed.

“Gonna be a good day,” Anna said. “Real good.”

“That’s what I want to hear.” Jack filled orders at a furious pace. Whenever he thought he’d get a break, a new group of customers filtered in. At three, he placed the sign in the window. Good thing he’d planned on closing early. He’d run out of chili again. He was low on buns and slaw, too and now running late. Besides, he couldn’t wait until he saw Henry.

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