Page 13 of Sundancer's Star

Madison blushed. “Not really, and I don’t care. I prefer brains over looks any day.”

“Are you fishing for a compliment?” Caleb asked, his grin firmly back in place.

“Hardly.” Madison moved away to rinse the dishes in the sink, preferring to avoid more conversation that centered on her.

Caleb moved off, and the conversation halted. Not that she didn’t keep repeating it over and over in her head. He thought she was pretty.

The day passed, and Madison found lots to do to keep her busy, including playtime with Joelle. The little girl was a delight in every way.

Several times throughout the afternoon, she would spot Caleb watching them. He seemed more than a little stressed as he tapped the pen on the table, as though willing the numbers to fall into place. By the time she put Joelle down for a nap, she was determined to help him. It would beat sitting around and doing nothing since she had everything else under control.

Caleb looked up as she approached. “Joelle’s sleeping and judging by the looks of the stack of statements in front of you, you haven’t got very far.”

He tossed the pen on the stack of papers and ran a hand across the back of his neck, massaging the corded muscles. “It’s not like I kept track of expenses. I let everything go after Lauren died, letting things take care of themselves so I could take care of Joelle. In hindsight, I should have had more oversight. Something I’ll fix, but first, I’ve got to get caught up.”

“I couldn’t agree with you more.” Madison moved to stand behind him and peered over his shoulder. “Instead of starting with the oldest statements, why don’t you start with the newest? It might be the easiest to remember and piece together the ins and outs of what you remember.” This close, his cologne played with her senses, the woody musk as down to earth as the man.

Caleb sat back in his chair. “Sounds like a good idea. Thanks.”

Sitting next to him, she pointed at the stack farthest from her, having noted the order he’d put them in. “Hand me the first one, and let’s talk about the entries and make notes. There are few debits and credits to speak of,” she said, reviewing the statement. “Let’s start with the obvious…the deposits. I see five, and I’m assuming they’re from the store.”

“Yes. My uncle deposits them weekly. And I checked those first and none of them have gone astray in the past year. Fifty-two weeks and fifty-two deposits, some not exactly a week apart, but those correspond with holidays.” Smart thinking on his part.

“That was a great idea to check those. This gives me another idea…since you’re more focused on the store rather than your accounts, why don’t we dig into those first? I can spot-check your debits along the way to make sure nothing is out of the ordinary.” His financial problems had to have a reason. The trick was figuring out the trail the data could reveal. Numbers didn’t lie. Not if they added up.

“Have at it,” Caleb said, shoving the stack toward her. “And thanks. I’m not normally this irresponsible with finances. I promise.”

“Good to know. That means when we get you straightened away, you’ll be able to keep up without hiring someone to do it for you,” she teased.

“Ifwe get it straightened out.”

“Ye of little faith.” Madison laughed, pushing her hair off her face to see better.

She spent the next twenty minutes deep in thought, barely noticing when Caleb left the room and returned with a cup of coffee until he sat it in front of her, the chicory aroma wafting her way. “Thank you,” she said, sitting back in her seat and savoring a sip.

“You’re welcome. It’s the least I could do seeing as you’ve taken over. Not that I’m complaining. When I hired you as a nanny, I didn’t know I was getting a financial wiz as a bonus.”

Another compliment. On the surface, Caleb had changed, his heart hardened by fate. But now and then, glimpses of the man she once knew showed up. A truly nice man with a big heart who once saw life with rose-colored glasses. “Hardly that, but I noticed a trend that bears digging a little deeper to find out why it’s happening.”

“And what’s that?” he asked, standing behind her and leaning over to see what she was working on.

“It’s not so much anything you would see on each statement, or pay attention to, but I set you up an Excel spreadsheet, and then played with it a bit. Look at this,” she said, tilting the screen for him to see.

“What am I looking for?”

She pointed to one column. “There’s a sort function that allows me to look at data in a multitude of ways. Week to week, some variations make it hard to see when you sort by date, but when you sort by monthly totals, the pattern is obvious. For the past year, the monthly deposits have been less and less. Which is why eventually, they stopped covering your expenses and you ended up with a negative cash flow.” It wasn’t much, but it was a start.

Caleb frowned. “But why? I mean, my uncle told me business is off since a new drugstore opened in Norwich, but this decrease in revenue is more than what I would expect from a little healthy competition.”

“So, it’s a trend, not the answer. A starting point, so to speak, but a good one because your debits have stayed consistent. The trick now is to figure out why your revenue is decreasing at a steady monthly rate.” At least the afternoon wasn’t a total loss, and they would have something to work on tomorrow.

“When my uncle delivers the ledgers, hopefully, we will find some answers. Fast. I can’t continue to have less income at the rate of decrease you see. The emergency funds I’m using to get back up and running won’t last long. I’m glad you offered to help. This might have taken days for me to see.”

“Or weeks,” she teased, turning away to hide her blush. The man had her heart doing flip-flops with his compliments.

“Maybe you have a bright future in accounting,” Caleb said, never taking his eyes off her.

Madison shook her head. “No. My passion is fashion.” Unfortunately, her passion for design wasn’t paying the bills.

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