Midnight Promises (15 page)

“You do know Maddie would cut your heart out if she heard you refer to yourself like that,” Cal said. “Keep in mind she put in sweat equity, not cash, at The Corner Spa. Every penny of the start-up money came from Helen and Dana Sue.”

“It’s not the same,” Elliott said stubbornly.

“Because he’s male and a Latino,” Ronnie said wryly. “No disrespect, but do you intend to let pride keep you from building a business you’re more qualified than anyone in this room to run? We’re counting on you to make this place a success. Without you, we have an idea, but no gym, no expertise. I’d say that deserves a break on the financial contribution.”

“I agree,” Travis said.

The others echoed their agreement.

Elliott wanted to seize the opportunity they were willing to give him, but it just didn’t sit right. “Give me a few days, maybe a week. Let me see if I can’t put something together. I’ll feel better if I’ve paid for my share. Otherwise I won’t feel right about participating in the profits. I’ll feel like an employee.”

Tom, who’d been mostly silent up until now, finally spoke, his expression thoughtful. “What if we make it a loan?” he suggested. “You can pay us back that extra investment out of your share of the profits. It would be strictly a business arrangement with a generous deadline to allow for any hitches in getting into the black. You wouldn’t have to put up any collateral the way you would at the bank. Would Karen go for that?”

Elliott was tempted. It was a more than fair solution. He wouldn’t even have to tell Karen about it since nothing they owned would be at risk. “Let me think about it,” he said eventually.

“And talk it over with your wife,” Ronnie advised, apparently guessing that he was considering keeping the arrangement quiet.

Elliott smiled. “And here I was just thinking I could avoid that.”

“Not if you’re smart,” Cal said. “She’s going to wonder how you pulled it off to move forward, and whatever she imagines will probably be a thousand times worse than the truth.”

Elliott sighed. “You have a point. I’ll get back to you all at our next meeting.”

“And in the meantime, I’m going to sign that lease that Mary Vaughn keeps waving under my nose,” Ronnie said. “That’s how much confidence I have that we’re moving forward.”

“Hold off on that,” Elliott pleaded. Because if word of that signed lease got around town before he had another heart-to-heart with Karen, the likely explosion would pretty much kill whatever good will he’d managed to reclaim between them.

8

“M
om?”

Adelia turned to her twelve-year-old daughter, already anticipating another tantrum. Selena had been throwing them regularly from the moment she’d been grounded. They’d gotten worse since Ernesto hadn’t come back home. Though she understood why her daughter was so angry, dealing with the outbursts calmly was another matter.

She studied Selena’s face, but for once what she saw there was fear, rather than defiance.

“What is it,
niña?
”

Selena frowned. “I’m not your little one. I’m almost a teenager.”

“You’ll be my baby until I’m a hundred and you’re almost eighty,” Adelia told her.

Selena looked horrified. “That’s awful.”

“But true. It’s the way moms are wired. Now, tell me what’s on your mind.”

Selena looked everywhere but directly at her. “Are you and dad getting a divorce?” she asked eventually.

Adelia had known it was only a matter of time before one of the kids asked the question. She’d also known it was likely to be precocious, outspoken Selena. The younger children seemed to accept Adelia’s increasingly feeble explanations that their dad was tied up with business. Not a one had questioned why that meant he wasn’t home at night.

“You know how this family feels about divorce,” she said carefully to Selena. “We’re Catholic. We don’t believe in it.”

Selena didn’t look convinced. “Deanna Rogers is Catholic, but her parents are divorced.”

“Some people take the teachings of the church more seriously than others. Divorce is a very personal decision.”

“You mean Grandma takes them seriously,” Selena said. “We hardly even go to church on Sundays. She goes to Mass practically every day.”

“With a family like ours, she has a lot to pray about,” Adelia said, smiling. “She’s hoping to save us all.”

Selena grinned. “Do you think she prayed about what I did to Daisy?”

“Oh, I’m sure of it,” Adelia told her. “Even I prayed for guidance over that.”

For the first time since the incident, what appeared to be genuine guilt spread across her daughter’s face. “I’m sorry,” she said in a small voice. “I’m really, really sorry. I don’t know why I was so mean.”

“Want to hear my theory?” Adelia asked, relieved to have the door finally opened by her daughter in a way that suggested she might actually listen.

Selena nodded and pulled out a chair at the kitchen table, where they’d had so many after-school talks through the years.

“I think maybe you were jealous,” Adelia told her.

“Of Daisy?” Selena said incredulously. “She’s practically still a baby.”

Adelia smiled. “But that night she had something you desperately wanted. She had someone at the dance with her who really wanted to be there, your
Tio
Elliott. I think your father’s attitude, his reluctance to go with you, hurt your feelings, and you lashed out at Daisy because of it.”

Selena sighed heavily as Adelia’s words lingered in the air.

“You could be right,” Selena admitted. “I guess I was too scared to yell at Dad when I figured out he didn’t want to be there with me, so I took it out on Daisy.”

“Then maybe the next time you apologize to her, you could sound as if you really mean it,” Adelia suggested gently. “What you said that night was deliberately cruel. You know how much your cousin idolizes you.” She gave Selena a pointed look. “And she
is
your cousin. Understood?”

Selena’s cheeks flushed with embarrassment at the unvarnished assessment and the stark reminder of her most cutting comment. “She probably hates me now. Uncle Elliott, too.”

“She might,” Adelia said candidly. “But you’re family, and she adored you not that long ago. I think if she believes you’re really sorry, she’ll give you another chance. As for your uncle, he’s disappointed in you, but he could never hate you.”

“Could I call her now? She’s probably still at Grandma’s. I know the phone’s off-limits, but maybe this could be an exception,” she said hopefully.

“I think it could be,” Adelia agreed. “But ten minutes. No more. I’m not lifting the grounding.”

“Yeah, I figured,” Selena said, sounding resigned.

She was about to walk out of the kitchen, when Adelia shook her head. “Use the phone in here,” she commanded.

“You don’t trust me to make the call and say what I promised?”

“Sorry,
niña.
You’re going to have to earn back my trust.”

“I guess it’s kinda the same thing with Dad,” Selena said, suddenly sounding way too grown-up. “He’d be grounded, too, if that worked with grown-ups.”

If only it did, Adelia thought. But she wasn’t sure there was a fit punishment for the humiliating way her husband had been treating her. Selena didn’t need to know that, though.

“Make that call. Then you can get back to your room and finish your homework,” she said.

“Will Dad be home for dinner tonight?”

“I doubt it.”

Selena frowned. “Is he ever coming home?”

“He’ll be back,” Adelia said with a confidence she was far from feeling. The real kicker, though, was she was increasingly unsure if she wanted him here.

* * *

Karen had taken on extra shifts at Sullivan’s for the past week. She was doing it partly for the overtime pay, but also because on some level she was hoping to avoid another battle with Elliott over the money for the gym. It had been days since they’d had a chance to have a private conversation at home. This morning at breakfast, she’d heard the impatience in his voice after she’d told him she’d be working late again tonight.

“You don’t need to worry about the kids, though,” she’d told him, as if caring for them was the issue. “It’s Saturday night. They have sleepovers planned with their friends.”

“Wouldn’t that make it the perfect night for us to spend an evening to ourselves, then?” he’d asked, his tone reasonable.

She couldn’t even meet his gaze as she’d responded. “We need the extra money, Elliott, especially if you’re still planning to dip into our savings.”

“That’s one of the things we need to talk about. I’ve worked things out. I’ll still need a chunk of our savings to invest, but there’s no need to take out a loan on the house.”

He’d said it as if that had ever been a viable option.

“Good to know,” she’d replied, unable to keep a hint of irony out of her voice.

Elliott had looked as if he’d wanted to get into another argument right then and there, but she fled, claiming she was already late for work.

She knew, though, that they couldn’t avoid the topic forever.

Now that she was at Sullivan’s, she could finally relax. She even managed to push the whole gym controversy and the tension at home out of her head as she worked on lunch prep.

Dana Sue had encouraged all of them to experiment with recipes, and Karen loved doing that. After working at a country-style diner outside of town where the menu had been limited mostly to burgers, shakes and fried foods, she enjoyed trying out different herbs and unusual combinations of ingredients.

Though the Sullivan’s menu promised a new Southern cuisine, Karen had discovered all sorts of ways to update the traditional recipes. Dana Sue actually thought she had a real knack for it. It was the first time anyone had ever encouraged her culinary skills, and she basked in the warm and frequent praise.

She’d just finished a new variation of mac and cheese, a comfort food they often used as a side dish, when Dana Sue stepped into the kitchen.

Ignoring Erik, who was focused on icing a red velvet cake for today’s dessert list, she called out to Karen, “Can you take a break? I’d like to see you in my office.”

Karen’s stomach sank as she followed her boss to the tiny room that served as her office. It also served as storage for paper products and anything else they didn’t know where to hide. She managed to squeeze through and moved a stack of files from the one extra chair, then sat.

“Is something wrong?” she asked Dana Sue nervously. They’d had way too many discussions in the past about absences or mistakes for Karen to assume Dana Sue was about to utter anything other than a reprimand, especially since she’d insisted on privacy. If it were anything else, she would have talked in front of Erik.

“Not with your work,” Dana Sue reassured her at once. “You’re doing great. I love some of the innovations you’ve tried for the menu. It’s you I’m worried about.”

“Why?”

“You’ve worked an extra shift almost every day this week.”

“Tina needed some time off,” Karen said at once.

Dana Sue held her gaze. “Is that it? Erik and I have picked up the slack for Tina before, especially on the slow week nights.”

Karen couldn’t help wondering if this was about the overtime pay. “I didn’t think you’d mind, and I could use the extra money.”

“It’s not about the money, and we’re always grateful for another pair of hands. You’ll be a godsend tonight. I’m just wondering if you’re hiding out here to avoid going home.” She held up a hand. “I know that’s a personal question, and you don’t have to answer, but frankly, I feel a little responsible for the tension between you and Elliott. I don’t think any of us realized how much friction the whole gym plan might cause.”

Karen released her pent-up breath. “To be honest, in some ways I know I’m overreacting, that it’s pushed one of my hot buttons, and I can’t begin to look at it rationally. I know how badly Elliott wants to do it and how hurt he’s been that I don’t seem to have enough faith that it will be successful.” She gave Dana Sue a plaintive look. “I have no idea how to get past that. I’m making him miserable. We’re barely speaking, mostly because…you’re right, I have been hiding out here.”

“I thought so,” Dana Sue said. “That won’t solve anything. You know that.”

“Of course I do. I just don’t know what else there is we could possibly say that would change anything.”

“You won’t know unless you try. As I understand it, the guys came up with what they think is a win-win solution the other night. Has Elliott told you about that? I don’t know the details, but Ronnie seemed to think it would allay your concerns.”

Suddenly Karen regretted not allowing Elliott to tell her about it. She’d shut him down every time he’d tried. This time she couldn’t blame him for leaving her out of the loop. It was probably time for that to stop. She met Dana Sue’s concerned gaze.

“I was going to work for Tina tomorrow, but she said she could handle the shift if I wanted it off after all,” she told Dana Sue. “Would that be okay? I think I need to spend some time with my husband.”