Page 16 of Saltwater Sweets
Sam focused on the chocolate making while she contemplated the best way to get her mother to see what was clearly obvious about Chuck’s intentions.
The work was soothingly repetitive, almost like a meditation, and she let her gaze wander around the shop, her eyes falling on the old picture she’d noticed earlier. “Is that a new picture there?” Sam jutted her chin toward it.
“Yes. That’s Etta Harper, your great-great-grandmother. I told you about her, right?”
“Of course. I recognized that it was taken here in the shop. Looks funny without much in it.”
“I know. And that one next to it is her in Starfish Cottage. You know that old cottage down on the beach that was falling apart?”
“Yeah, I think I remember it. Didn’t it used to be a rental?” Sam vaguely remembered going to a party there when she was a teenager.
Deena nodded. “Yep. Then it fell into disrepair. Anyway, one of the girls that bought the Beachcomber Motel bought it and was renovating it. Turns out she discovered Etta Harper had ties to that cottage. She found an old recipe for whiskey fudge in the drawer. Isn’t that a hoot?”
“It sure is. I don’t remember anyone talking about the cottage being in the family.”
Her mother looked up from her task of making the swirls, a mischievous gleam in her eye. “That’s because no one wanted anyone to know. It has a shady past. Seems that it was associated with the bootlegger.”
Sam glanced at the photo. “So our relative was in cahoots with the bootlegger?”
Her mother laughed. “Seems so.”
That was actually kind of interesting. Maybe her family business wasn’t as boring as she’d always thought. Sam felt an unusual nostalgia for her family and the business bubbling up.
She’d always looked at the business as something shehadto do, something that was expected of her, not something that she wanted to do.
Running a small business in a small town had seemed so unambitious. But now that she was older, she was starting to see things differently, especially since the shine had worn off her lawyer job in the city. For the first time ever, she could actually envision herself working in Saltwater Sweets alongside her mother, satisfied to make the best chocolates on the East Coast.
She was afraid there wouldn’t be any store for her to work in if she couldn’t figure out what Chuck was up to. Her mom was deeply infatuated with the man, and Sam knew she would need solid proof in order for her mother to see the truth. Since he’d been working on changing things on the computer, perhaps she would find that proof there.
“Potty break.” Sam stripped off her gloves and headed to the back.
The little office was across from the bathroom, and Sam looked back over her shoulder to make sure her mother was out of sight before slipping into the office instead of the bathroom.
She rushed over to the computer, surprised to discover that the password was still the same. It was weird that Chuck hadn’t changed it. A quick search didn’t yield any sinister results. The software looked legit, and a glance at the company bank accounts seemed fine. Whatever Chuck was up to would take some more digging.
She pulled the keyboard closer and noticed a wallet behind the monitor. Chuck’s?
Ellie had said she used a database that keyed off Social Security numbers, so maybe Sam could get access to that database too. Her dad always carried his Social Security card in his wallet… did Chuck?
Before she even realized what she was doing, she’d grabbed the wallet and rushed over to the table by the back door, where she’d thrown her purse. She could quickly dig out her phone and take a picture of the Social Security number, and no one would be the wiser.
She reached into her purse, her fingers brushing the hard plastic of the phone case, and then—
“I forgot to tell you the toilet is acting weird!”
Oh no, her mother was coming down the hallway.
It was too late to put the wallet back on the desk. Deena was almost at the door and might see her. Sam did the only thing she could think of and shoved the wallet into her purse.
Her mom appeared in the doorway, looking confused to see Sam standing there. “Oh, you were taking so long in the bathroom I was wondering if the toilet was acting up again. Sometimes you have to jiggle the handle.”
“Oh no. It was fine. I just was getting a lipstick out of my purse.” Sam reached in, pulled out a lipstick, and smeared it on her lips as if to prove her point.
“Oh. Okay. That’s a pretty color, dear.” Deena glanced at the computer, and Sam’s heart lurched as she wondered if her mother knew somehow she’d been on it. Maybe she’d notice the keyboard was in a different place. But then her mother gave her her usual loving smile and said, “Are you ready to make more chocolates? I’m doing some white peppermint bark to bring to the celebration as well.”
Sam followed her out to the front of the shop. The idea of making more chocolates was a welcome one, except now it was marred with guilt and worry. How in the world was she going to return Chuck’s wallet before he noticed it was missing?
CHAPTER13
