nineteen
The sudden trip to New York baffled him. Candace had texted late last night.
—I know we need to talk. Give me a couple days. I didn’t mean to tell you that way. Family emergency. I need to get to Zoe. Mandy and Abbie are going to work on the premiere. 1 2 3
The numbers baffled him.
According to Daniel, the emergency included Mandy, Abbie, and Harmon’s jet. Daniel said he didn’t know why, other than there had been an urgent call from Zoe. Since the women had already discussed going out because of the Hearthfire premiere of the movie Sean and Tessa had been extras for, everything quickly fell into place.
Colin hoped the emergency wasn’t just Candace trying to get away.
His phone rang.
It was Nick. “Do you have a minute? I need help with a problem.”
“You got them too?”
“Not exactly me. Zoe. I need you to legally erase everything you can find on the web, especially social media, for the last two or three years.”
Colin opened his laptop. “That is a tall and vague order.”
“But you are the only person I know who can do it.” Nick’s voice was desperate.
“Do I get to know why?” He typed Zoe’s name in the search.
“I think you will figure it out soon enough. Can I help you with your problems?”
“Unless you understand women, probably not. I goofed, and Candace isn’t talking to me. I think she left town with Mandy. I took the wrong door out of the friend zone.” Colin couldn’t really describe what had happened last night, so he used vague phrases from some of the articles he’d read over the summer.
“Hey, I finally found my way into the friend zone. Might I suggest you let her give you a black eye?”
“There is a story there. Maybe we can get things to change by the premiere.”
“Premiere?” asked Nick,
Rats. As one of Sean’s friends, Nick should have been invited. Colin hoped he hadn’t said the wrong thing. “The Hearthfire Christmas movie Sean and Tessa were scenery for. Mandy and Candace have been working on plans for weeks now in the old theater in Blue Pines.”
“I don’t think I got an invite.”
“Oh, you will. They haven’t sent them yet. I’ll just––” Colin paused. A social media post came up, calling Zoe a liar for claiming she’d been assaulted by a fellow student. Comments raged on both sides. Newspaper articles were linked to the post. Zoe wasn’t named, but it all fit together. “Oy. That is why Zoe transferred schools her senior year. This guy smeared her in everything from the university paper to the most unpopular social media websites. Why do people have to be such jerks?”
“I wish I knew.”
“Give me a couple hours. I can’t do much about the newspapers other than trying to boost other things in the rankings in front of them. The papers don’t say her name, but with the social media posts, I managed to quickly connect them. If there are court records, I can’t touch those, but she still shouldn’t be named. Did you know Zoe won a few awards for her design, including one for Wolf Trapp, the National Park, and at the county fair for 4-H things? I’ll push those stories to the top in the searches. Anyone specific I need to hide this from?”
“Sleazy lawyers . . .”
Yikes. Colin didn’t ask. Candace’s urgent run to New York was more than a cover story. Terrible timing, but probably necessary. “I’ll do my best. With any luck, they will only find her detasseling-corn speed record and her prize heifer during a preliminary search and won’t look further. A bullying complaint to a couple of the networks should delete some of this permanently. They are too afraid of lawsuits. See you at the premiere.”
The call disconnected. Colin waded through the sludge, doing whatever he legally could. He reported some of the posts to the social media companies with a bullying complaint using words like slander and #metoo. Some of the posts were removed within the hour. Without the posts, the nameless newspaper articles were harder to connect.
He ran a program that would help redirect the popular search engines to innocuous articles and to other women named Zoe Wilson. Short of breaking the law, he couldn’t do much else other than set up watches like he had on Mandy’s accounts. Zoe hadn’t posted much in the past year and a half. Wise woman.
He texted Candace.
I hope all goes well this weekend. Can’t wait for you to get back.
He didn’t expect an answer anytime soon.
Candace spent the short plane ride sleeping, mostly to avoid talking about her own situation. Everyone was concerned about Zoe and trying to figure out the best way to go see her.
As they landed, Candace got a text from Tessa.
—Zoe is heading to our place.
Thanks. I’ll come straight there.
The driver dropped her off at Tessa’s first and took Mandy and Abbie to meet with the theater owner.
Zoe ran across the room and hugged Candace. “Why are you here?”
“I heard Sean and Tessa were having a party and thought I would drop by.”
Nick stood up from the couch. Candace tried to cover her shock. Her cousin had been sitting next to a man after last night. A man with a black eye.
Before she could ask any questions, Tessa spoke. “Nick’s driver is still in the driveway. We need girl time. Since there is chocolate in the house and none at the new one, we claim this as our temporary girls’ clubhouse.”
Sean kissed his wife before leaving. “I’ll take Nick over to see the new carpet. We’ll have Sebastian drive us.”
Nick stopped in front of Zoe. “Enjoy today and stop worrying about my eye.”
As soon as the door closed, Zoe turned to Candace. “What are you really doing here?”
“Last night when I got your 911 text, I was on the phone with Mandy, hence the reason I didn’t pick up but called you back when I got the text. After you hung up, I called her back and told her I thought we should all get together now. Abbie got involved, and around six this morning, we headed for the airport. Mandy and Abbie are down at the theater with baby Joy. Your being here saved us coming into town to surprise you. Now, what happened to Nick’s eye?”
“He startled me, and after last night, I acted before I thought. I know his eye has got to hurt, but he is too nice to say anything about it. I am not sure what to do.” Zoe rung her hands. “He says he believes me about everything that happened two years ago.”
Nick was ten times better for her cousin than she could have ever guessed. The jerk who was Zoe’s boyfriend two years ago had dumped her shortly after the rape, siding with those who claimed she was only crying wolf. Candace grabbed Zoe’s hand. “Tell me everything.” Surprisingly, Zoe focused more on Nick’s kindness than on the assault by her manager the night before. Thanks to nearly two years of self-defense training, the outcome was much different than the one Zoe had endured on campus.
“Then this morning I blurted out my deepest darkest secret to Nick, and he didn’t react like I expected. I’ve been waiting for him to run away from me all morning. At least he didn’t react like some of the guys did back––” Zoe didn’t finish the sentence. Every vile post, every letter to the editor, and the joke of a trial ran through Candace’s mind. She had been helpless to help Zoe other than to stand by her side. Having witnessed Zoe’s near breakdown and subsequent avoidance of men, she never thought there would come a day when her cousin would confide in one.
Candace continued to question Zoe, satisfied that this time her cousin was going to stand strong.
Tessa drew Zoe into a hug. “When you know you can discuss your greatest fears with a man, he is the one you keep forever.”
Zoe turned to Candace. “You never said why you were on the phone with Mandy in the first place. What is going on?”
“I told Colin all about my cancer in a moment of temper, and now I can’t face him.”
“Now it’s time for ‘Questions with Zoe.’ What happened?”
Candace took a deep breath. “For weeks I’ve been thinking about how to tell him about my falsies, but I kept chickening out, putting it off.”
“Being the queen of procrastination?” Zoe shook her head.
“Yes. I didn’t want to tell him, because I was his first kiss and he deserves to have a real woman.”
Mandy put her arm around Candace’s shoulders. “You are a real woman. One with the scars to prove it.”
Candace wiped away an annoying tear. “We were kissing, he’d been in Hong Kong, and, well, things got more intense than I usually let them. You know what I mean.” Candace waved her hands helplessly. Knowing she was blushing only added to her embarrassment. It didn’t help that Mandy, Abbie, and Tessa all smiled knowingly. “Anyway, he was about to discover my prosthetics on his own. I was mad at myself for not telling him and for letting things get that passionate, so I took out my falsies and handed them to him.”
“What did he say?” asked Zoe.
“I don’t think he said anything. I ran out. People who realize I have had cancer, which is almost everyone who sees my hair two days in a row, always tell me I am so brave, but I’m not. I couldn’t face his reaction.” Candace buried her head in her hands. Tessa and Abbie hadn’t reacted to the news. She wasn’t sure if that was good or bad, and she wasn’t sure if either had known before.
Zoe wrapped her arms around her and let her cry. “One of the things that got me through the last two years is you telling me life was mostly the choices we make when bad things happen.”
Candace looked up. “I don’t see where I still have any choices left.”
Mandy rocked Joy in the carrier with her foot. “You have a choice to talk to him. I called you yesterday because you were not answering him and he was worried. Colin isn’t like Daniel. He doesn’t have much experience when it comes to dating. He wouldn’t tell me what happened, but he begged me to check on you.”
Abbie spoke for the first time. “Maybe it isn’t your choice that matters. It could be Colin’s. The question for you is can you handle it if he wants a relationship? I don’t think you are as afraid of him leaving as you are of him holding on to you until you come to your senses and hold on to him too.”
Afraid of him holding on or being held? Ridiculous. Everyone wanted to be held. Even her.
No one spoke for a long time. Across town, the church bells chimed the hour. Tessa stood. “How about we have some of that chocolate?”