Chapter 7
Hope was sitting at a large round table at the center of the Gypsy Fortune Café and Bakery with her sisters, her grandmother, and Ruby and Rosa. There was so much she needed to hear from them, and yet the question at the forefront of her mind was, “Is this a new table?”
Ruby beamed. “Yes. We bought it for my crystal-gazing trances. It fits eight.”
“Why do you need room for eight?” Hope wished she didn’t want to know.
“In case it turns into a séance,” Ruby explained excitedly, her eyes bright. “I’ve heard it can happen. Some people tap into the spirit world when they tap into their subconscious. And six to eight people with a mix of male and female energy seems to be the best formula to trigger a connection in someone with powers. I just haven’t been able to get any males in town to sit here with me.”
Hope turned to Rosa. “You’re on board with this?”
Rosa shrugged. “How many times do I have to say it? It’s a marketing ploy. People love all that fandango.”
Hope eyed Ruby again, expecting a heated comeback. But Ruby merely pressed her lips together. Grandma Sherry must’ve seen Hope’s confusion over Ruby’s restraint because she grinned and said, “Part of the agreement to allow Ruby to hold sessions here is that Rosa gets to call them whatever she wants.”
Ruby smiled a tight smile. “Yes. And it appears she’s bought a synonym-a-day calendar for the word nonsense. It’s funny, really, how many words she’s come up with to describe this new enterprise.” Ruby laughed the fakest laugh Hope had ever heard, and it took a lot not to look over at her sisters. They were undoubtedly as entertained as Hope was by Ruby and Rosa’s latest fandango, but she still hadn’t made peace with them.
“I think you all know why I asked you to meet me here,” she began.
Paige nodded earnestly. “You miss us as much as we miss you, and you need us to explain why we kept Matt Williams’s presence at the house on Nome Court from you so we can go back to trusting each other.”
Hope wanted to say that it had only been two days and she hardly missed them, but she’d already lied once that day. “I have missed you,” she admitted. “And I need your help with something, but I can’t move forward until we talk this out.”
“You need our help?” Both Ruby and Rosa perked up and leaned forward.
“Down.” Grandma Sherry put her hands out to hold them back. “She needs to talk things out first.” She then nodded at Gracie.
Gracie licked her lips and took a deep breath before launching into a clearly rehearsed, yet clearly truthful explanation. “Not telling you was one of the hardest decisions we’ve ever made, and we went back and forth on it many times, although Ruby and Rosa always said we should tell you. But in our heart of hearts we knew you didn’t want to leave, but that you very well would have left if you found out someone had been at the house on Nome Court to witness your three sleepwalking episodes. They also happened at stressful times for all of us, and I don’t think we were thinking clearly. I know it sounds like an excuse, but we truly weren’t at our best. I think you know that.”
Gracie looked at Paige, who nodded and continued. “We kept taking precautions, but life kept getting in the way of our precautions, as you know. Each episode followed a crazy day. And then Matt did right by you each time, and he was gentle with you.” Gentle. Hope felt her stomach twist inside out at the word, and she shifted in her seat. “Plus, Grandma ran a background check on him, Sheriff Walker threatened to shoot him, and Gracie and I…cautioned him, too. We were meaning to tell you, but the moment never seemed right. We’re sorry, though, we truly are. We have been for quite some time,” Paige finished.
Hope looked down at the table and thought for a long while. To their credit, they all remained silent. She braced herself before lifting her head to look at them. “The moment I found out you were keeping something so monumental from me was one of the worst moments of my life. It made me feel like I couldn’t trust you, when my trust in all of you has been the one and only constant in my life.” The next words were hard to say, but she had to say them, had to make them understand. Even though tears were beginning to pool, her voice was growing thick, and she could no longer look at them. “Worse than when I came home from the hospital to find Derek was gone.” Leaving only the business card of the lawyer he’d chosen to handle the divorce, she didn’t add. The one thing he’d ever preplanned in his life. Old wounds throbbed, and she took a moment to breathe and calm them before continuing. “But it only lasted a moment. I forgave you almost instantly, because in my heart I know you’d never do anything to purposefully hurt me or humiliate me. But I do need your promise—your guarantee—that you will never keep anything that involves me from me ever again. No matter what. Let the chips fall where they may. I never ever want to feel the way I did in that moment again. Ever.” She looked up to find them all weeping, and it hurt to see them hurting, but she knew she had to speak her truth.
Promises and guarantees were made around the table and Hope believed them all. It made her feel able to breathe fully again.
After a while, Grandma Sherry’s lips began twisting every which way, and Hope could tell she was biting the insides of her cheeks to keep herself from talking. “What?” Hope sent an amused look her way.
She cleared her throat. “You said you needed help?” she prodded, her eyes hopeful.
Hope bit back a smile. “I do. I need your help with Matt Williams.” A few, not-so-furtive, excited glances were exchanged between Ruby, Rosa, and Grandma Sherry, and the interest in Paige’s and Gracie’s eyes grew. Hope began toying with a napkin, unable to look any of them in the eye without feeling the urge to yell at them to stop thinking whatever it was they were thinking.
Instead, she launched into an explanation of her predicament and Matt’s plan. She finished with, “Our first PR collaboration will be this Wednesday at four. We’re going to tour new office space.”
“It sounds like a great idea!” Grandma Sherry exclaimed.
Hope agreed.
“So what’s the problem?” Paige asked. “Why do you need our help?”
“I don’t want to be alone with Matt. He’s already spent time with me, time I can’t even remember, and it makes him treat me like he knows me. The trouble is I know he means well, but I feel like the only reason I know that is because my subconscious knows it, even though my conscious mind doesn’t. It’s dangerous to feel as though you know someone when you don’t, and I need one of you to always be with me.”
“Dangerous how?” Paige asked.
The question caught Hope uncharacteristically off guard. So she uncharacteristically stalled. “What do you mean, dangerous how?”
Paige folded her hands in front of her. “I mean, define the danger.”
Hope folded her hands in front of her, too. “The danger is that I don’t really know him. For all I know, he could be a serial killer. But because I feel I can trust him, I might not be as alert to the dangers of being alone with a stranger as I usually am, and I could become his next victim.”
Grandma Sherry considered her before shaking her head. “Except, he’s not really a stranger anymore, is he? He and Sheriff Walker have become friends, and it turns out Johnny Amador and Marty have known him for a long time.”
Rosa thumped the table. “And I trust Marty’s instincts on people. He inherited them from me.”
“Well, speaking as someone who was almost killed by a sociopath, I do think Hope has a point,” Gracie said next. Finally, someone was on her side. “We should all make sure he knows that we know when you’re with him.”
That was the solution of someone who had almost been killed by a sociopath? Hope rolled her eyes. “Or, one of you could always be with us.”
“I’ve got work and then the kids and Alex…” Paige enumerated before trailing off.
“And I’ve been traveling so much, and Josh just got elected and has so much on his plate. We’ve barely had time to spend with one another,” said Gracie, who was practically living with Josh.
Ruby, Rosa, and Grandma Sherry were suddenly volunteering for organizations that sounded made up on the spot. Multicultural Bakers of Dayton and Grandmother Entrepreneurs of Miami Valley, her butt.
Hope narrowed her eyes at them. They never refused to help the people they loved. Unless they had an ulterior motive. And she’d seen enough of their fandango with Paige and Alex, and then Gracie and Josh, to suspect matchmaking might be it. They didn’t have an ice cube’s chance in hell there, but she knew better than to try to convince them otherwise. It would only make them triple their efforts. Her only choice was to guilt-trip them. “I can’t believe that after what you kept from me and the deep shame and humiliation I suffered in Matt Williams’s presence because of it, you don’t want to help me.”
“You can always take Tyler and Riley to your outings. They love spending time with you,” Paige said, offering up her two kids without a trace of guilt.
Ruby clapped her hands. “That’s an excellent idea. It’ll give you a chance to observe Matt with children.” She and Paige exchanged conspiratorial looks. They were matchmaking!
“And why would I want to observe him with children?” she challenged Ruby.
Ruby shrugged. “You say he could be a sociopath. Observing the way he behaves with exuberant children should clear that up.”
“And you’d send your children to test someone’s sociopathic tendencies?” Hope demanded of Paige.
Paige waved her concerns away. “Not to be unfeeling, Hope, but I’m pretty sure you would have roused his madness, if he had any.”
“Plus Josh and I saw him leave your apartment on Saturday night,” Gracie interjected. “And when Josh pulled a gun on him and demanded to know what he was doing there, he told us he thought you deserved to know everything that had happened between you two while you were asleep. So we know that you know everything you put him through while you were asleep.”
Hope’s eyes widened. “Josh pulled a gun on him?”
“Matt didn’t tell you?”
“Uh, no.”
Grandma Sherry smiled triumphantly. “See? He’s a decent man. He didn’t want you getting mad at Josh. But we agree he’s more unreadable than we’d like. So we will help. Just not how you want us to.”
Hope raised an eyebrow at her and Grandma Sherry patted her hand. “Just bring him by here after your meeting on Wednesday. If he resists, remind him he promised he’d come. We’ll take care of the rest.”
Hope looked around the table that seated eight. “You’re not all going to be here waiting for him, are you?”
“Not all of us,” Rosa said, as if that would be silly. “Just me, Ruby, and Sherry, a crystal ball, desserts, tea, tarot cards, and a couple of Russians.”
A couple of Russians. As in Alex Hooke’s grandmother Hilda and great-aunt Helga. “Who will be reading the tarot cards?” Hope asked with a dawning smile. For the first time, she was looking forward to Wednesday afternoon.
“Helga. Fortune-telling is a time-honored tradition in Russia, and I’ve come to accept that she is one talented zhenshchina,” Ruby said.
* * *
On Wednesday Hope texted Matt and told him to meet her in front of her apartment, with the excuse that it would be easier to take just one car to the property they’d be touring. She wasn’t sure he’d agree after the way their last meeting had ended, but she suspected he’d welcome the chance to get back on track. He was passionate about his job. That much was clear. How long he’d keep things strictly business was another story and brought her to her real reason for wanting to take one car. She didn’t want to give him a chance to back out of going with her to the Gypsy Fortune Café and Bakery afterward. She had no idea what Ruby, Hilda, Helga and the rest had planned, but she had no doubt Matt wouldn’t know what hit him. Hopefully, it would lead him to quit teasing and grinning and to treat their relationship with more professionalism.
When he agreed to meet her and take one car, it was her turn to grin.
That evening, as she waited for him, the sound of tin cans clanking against each other made her look up. She watched, wide-eyed, as Matt drove down her dead-end street, turned at the end, came back up, and parked his noisy, beat-up, gold Chevy Vega a little too close to her own pristine silver Mercedes-AMG GT S.
When he got down, she couldn’t help saying, “You know Spinning Hills has a noise ordinance, right?”
He shot her a harassed look. “I know. I’ve been told. And fined. Over and over again. But three mechanics haven’t been able to figure out what’s wrong with her.”
“Um, maybe she’s just showing her age?”
He frowned, and she could tell he’d taken offense. The man was serious about his car. “I don’t mean to drive everyone on the streets crazy, but I’m not giving up on her.” He nodded toward Hope’s car. “She may not be snazzy, but at least she’s got character.”
That hit a nerve. “Oprah’s got character, too. The character of a woman who knows her worth.”
“You named your car Oprah?” he asked, and she nodded. He looked over at her car again. “It has presence, and it looks powerful. I’ll admit yours has character, too. But mine turns heads.”
“It sure does.”
Matt laughed, and his eyes lit up. “Although I guess yours does, too,” he offered.
Hope smiled, despite her intentions to keep things staid and serious. “Honestly, she nearly gave me whiplash the first time I saw her. I just fell for her sleek lines and the promise of power and performance.”
Matt stared at her a long moment. “I think I know what you mean,” he said, and cleared his throat. “So. Which car should we take?”
Her answer was to unlock her car. He shrugged, went around to the passenger side, and climbed in. As soon as she pulled out, he said, “I’m sorry for questioning you about your ex-husband’s aunt on Monday. Twice.”
Hope was surprised by how contrite he sounded, and she felt bad, because in apologizing, he’d reminded her of her lie. “What was it about the woman that bothered you so much?” she couldn’t help asking.
“You’ll get mad if I tell you. Let’s just leave it at me being sorry.”
“Remember when you said I couldn’t let things go when I was sleepwalking?” He nodded. “Well, I can’t let them go when I’m awake, either.” Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him shift uncomfortably. “What if I promise not to get mad?”
He sighed. “The thought occurred to me that you were looking for your ex, and that he might not want to be found. That’s all.”
She frowned at that. “I know he might not want to be found, by me, at least, but why would that make you angry?”
He shrugged and shifted again. “If the woman had been a good aunt to him, she’d know his whereabouts, wouldn’t she? She wouldn’t need a picture to remember what he looked like. I mean, maybe it’s not you he doesn’t want to find him, maybe it’s her and the rest of his family he’s staying away from.” They stopped at a light, and she turned to search his face, wondering if he wasn’t revealing something about himself. It was true that Derek had family members he had never wanted to see again, and rightly so. Did Matt have family he wished to stay away from, too?
Matt must’ve caught what was in her look because his expression changed. He instantly turned on the charm with a smile and a shrug. “Or maybe he’s in the witness protection program and he doesn’t want to be found by anyone.”
She raised an eyebrow at him. That was the most ridiculous thing she’d ever heard. And at any other time, hearing someone casually joke about Derek’s whereabouts would have bothered her, but she could see she’d brought it on. She’d hit on something uncomfortable for him (and family, in truth, was uncomfortable for many) and he had looked for a way out.
The light turned green, and she drove on. They didn’t talk much after that. Not only did Hope wish to convey that they weren’t a pair of chatty friends, but she was suddenly too aware of him. His wide shoulders took up too much of the seat and his cologne enveloped her. And, man, did he smell…good. The man had sex appeal, and she could no longer deny it. Not when they were in such close quarters and her heart was thumping the way it hadn’t since she was seventeen.
Her heart stopped thumping at the thought, and it became heavy instead, as she remembered how she’d dealt with intense attraction back then. Derek had been her best friend for years, and when the feelings between them changed, when they permeated the air around them until she could no longer take it, she had demanded that he kiss her one day, so they could get on with it, while she’d been helping him with math. It had been wonderful.
Even when things had ended so awfully, she could still admit their kisses and innocent exploring had been magical. But magic wasn’t real. The other person was real. And reality was that one never knew what another person was truly made of. Derek, the restless rebel with a heart of gold all the girls were thrilled by, was likely nothing more than a coward with a heart of stone. Hopefully, with Mrs. Caputo’s help, she’d soon find out what he’d been about, to leave her the way he did, when he did.
“Turn right at the next light,” Matt said, and she was glad he’d interrupted her musings. They made her vulnerable and that was the last thing she needed to be at the moment.
“But my navigation system says to wait till the next light.”
“You trust your navigational system more than a person’s experience?” He shook his head. “It’s people like you who are laying the groundwork for machines to take over, you know. While people like me will survive it all and take them down because we never lost our instincts.”
She turned right where’d told her to and said, “There. I listened to you. And if the machines are watching and listening, I hope they’ll now know to take you down first, rabble-rouser.”
He laughed and his eyes sparkled with fun, and it all made her heart begin to thump again, so she focused on driving. “Where to now?” she asked.
He leaned forward and pointed and within seconds they were parked in front of a new steel-and-glass, state-of-the art building that was part of a larger, urban riverfront campus.
Matt watched Hope as she studied the building and the technology campus the city and the DBDA had worked hard to bring to fruition. She was a pro at hiding her thoughts, but Matt had learned early on to look for alternative clues to gauge how a person was really feeling, and he could tell she was holding back cautious enthusiasm. Both her facial expression and body language remained too neutral, as if she thought that giving away what she felt could compromise her getting what she really wanted. He wished she knew he’d never use another person’s feelings against them. If a deal or relationship wasn’t mutually beneficial, then he had no interest in it.
He turned to look at the building and tried to see it through the eyes of the future CEO of Friendly Clicks, because in his mind, there was no doubt Hope would buy Justin out. It wasn’t his decision to make, but he thought it was perfect for Friendly Clicks. Already he could imagine her in a corner office overlooking the river. “Seven years in the making,” he said. “And I think the top floor of building seven, which is right in front of us, could be perfect for Friendly Clicks. The campus was designed for technology companies only, to encourage collaboration and commercialization support among them. Shall we?” he asked, opening the door.
“Lease terms first,” she said, and Matt named them. He too would want to know the terms before touring the desirable location, but Hope was clearly surprised, and suspicious, of the better-than-expected terms. “What’s the catch? Would we have to sign our souls away again?”
Sign their souls away… again? He shook his head. “No catch. And in case you’re wondering, there’s nothing in it for me except the satisfaction of doing my job. The goal is to create a technology renaissance in the region, and our partners understand that steep rent would be an obstacle to that,” he explained, before shooting her a look. “And you hardly had to sign your soul away the first time you worked with us, Hope. You and Justin got more than you bargained for, and you know it.”
“True. I definitely hadn’t bargained on you,” she said. Her tone was not flattering, but at least she was feeling comfortable enough with him to be herself.
“What can I say? You got lucky,” he replied as he led the way inside and promptly began rattling off features. Unfortunately, she left her sass at the door and was soon all business.
After showing her the office space he had in mind for Friendly Clicks and answering all her questions about it, they toured the building’s shared conference rooms, kitchen, and rooftop garden before heading to a sunroom. It was chilly there, but not too bad, and they sat on a bench overlooking the river and talked for a long time.
It became clear to Matt that Hope cared deeply for all her employees. She was already thinking about what office space would be best for each, even going so far as to guess where they’d put the photographs of loved ones they kept near. One subject led to another, and they began to discuss how hard it was to let go of employees when they weren’t working out, with each sharing their most painful experiences. It was cathartic, in a way, and they shared other memorable experiences, like their biggest failures and most triumphant moments. She was open about her lessons learned, and a good listener to boot. No unsolicited advice from her, which he appreciated. He saw she had the type of kindness that made her a truly good leader, because she focused on the greater good. Not everybody could do that, but someone had to.
Neither seemed to want to leave, but the sun wasn’t out, and it was getting colder. When he saw her shiver, he said, “Imagine the sun shining down on a warm summer day, making the river sparkle as you enjoy lunch outside with fellow tech- and business-savvy companions who can help you reach whatever goal it is you need to reach.”
“You don’t have to sell me on the promise of sunny days,” she said with a smile. “I’m good with the gray ones, too. They’re a time for reflection.” She looked out onto the river again.
“Freeze,” he commanded. “This is the perfect picture to share over our social media accounts.”
She complied, he clicked, and she pointed to a place across the river. “Somewhere over there, Wilbur and Orville Wright unlocked the secrets of flight by working on the problem over long, gray winters. Who knows what would have happened if too many sunny days had beckoned them outside.”
Matt smiled, too. “We might have never made it to the moon.”
She turned to him then, a sparkle in her eye. “Speaking of the moon, Ruby said you promised her you’d visit the bakery sometime this week. Would you like to stop by the café now?”
“Sure,” he said nonchalantly, as if he wasn’t ready to jump in the air and knock his heels together over the possibility that she was looking for ways to spend more time with him. “But what does stopping by the café have to do with going to the moon?”
“Going to the moon reminded me of the Cold War,” she explained, and her eyes acquired a childlike, mischievous twinkle that had him transfixed. That she had something in store for him at the café was clear. And though he couldn’t begin to guess what it was, he knew at least to prepare himself for anything where her grandmother and cohorts were involved. But that didn’t make him want to back away if it meant spending more time with Hope.
“And the Cold War reminded you of me because you keep freezing me out and you’re ready to stop?”
“No. The Cold War reminded me of the Russians.” Before he could ask what she meant by that, the mischievous twinkle in her eye turned into an evil gleam. “But I’m curious, Mr. Williams. What exactly would you do if I stopped freezing you out?”
What would he do? Matt stared at her. What would he do? He hadn’t thought far beyond the fact that he was filled with anticipation whenever he was around her, and thought about her and looked forward to seeing her whenever he wasn’t. It wasn’t an entirely new feeling…
And yet the warmth and hope he felt over the devotion she displayed whenever she spoke about her family, her friends, and her employees and company was new. Hope showed the nature of her heart in ways that proved her to be stronger than people who worked to hide it. What he liked best about her was that she was aware of it, and knew it made her stronger. It sent a message. While the way she’d talked about her car’s sleek lines, power, and performance showed her passionate nature in ways she’d definitely not been aware of. And it had definitely gotten his attention, uncomfortably so.
It seemed to him that she was almost hyperaware of men’s intentions in that arena, and so he’d looked away before she could read his mind and lump him into a category of single-minded men who were only to be toyed with and never to be taken seriously. Was that what her question was about? To see if he revealed himself to be nothing but a cad?
Matt refocused his gaze on her. “I’m sure you’ll agree that your question isn’t related to business, Ms. Piper, and so you shouldn’t be offended if the answer has nothing to do with business, either.” She raised an eyebrow and merely stood there, her eyes locked onto his, daring him to state the truth she expected. “First, I’d keep doing what I’m doing,” he said, his eyes never leaving hers. “Showing you I can be your friend, if you let me.”
“First?” she repeated, her tone and expression unreadable.
“First.” He nodded, still serious, still holding her gaze. “Then, if we do become friends, I might try to kiss you. But only if you want the kiss as badly as I do, and only if it wouldn’t ruin our friendship. I like you that much.” He then turned and walked away.
She didn’t say a word, but he heard her walking behind him, the clickety-clack of her heels a good deal steadier than the fast-pounding beat of his heart.