Perfect Together (18 page)

She and Aunt Lulu had taken a booth at the art festival, and Sam headed home to change so he could attend the big event downtown. Normally he wouldn’t go near an art
festival, but like everything else when it came to Nicole, he was drawn there and he planned to be one of her first customers.

Things moved fast in a small town because people
were willing to work on faith and trust. The bakery itself was in pristine condition, the equipment fairly new. Having a partner to share the workload helped. Aunt Lulu had all the information about inspectors and licenses and had agreed to handle the business end of things. Meanwhile, Nicole called Kelly Barron, a paralegal in town, to discuss having partnership papers drawn up, while the bank manager assured them their loan would be approved sometime next week, and the landlord had allowed them into the shop in advance of papers being signed.

With a few phone calls, they had the electricity and water turned on and Nicole spent the day Friday baking for Saturday’s art festival. She hoped to give the good people of Serendipity a taste of what was to come when their bakery opened. Aunt Lulu would bring pies and cakes to their booth, and she posted signs around town.

As she readied for what she considered her debut, Nicole was finally starting to feel like she belonged somewhere. Other than Tyler still hanging around, calling and stopping by, all of which she blatantly ignored, praying he’d get the message, life was looking up.

Tyler met Macy at her family’s restaurant, and
together they planned to go to the art festival. He had to admit she was a good sport about being his sidekick,
considering she believed his main goal was to win back Nicole. What Macy didn’t know was that Tyler knew a losing battle when he fought one. He understood Nicole was serious about living her own life. He even got that she was involved with another man. Hell, she didn’t return his calls and he’d be a fool to think otherwise.

“Earth to Tyler.” Macy waved a hand in front of his face. “You alive?”

“Just thinking,” he told her.

She hopped onto the stool next to him. “About what?”

He glanced over and met her gaze. Honestly interested blue eyes stared back at him. She was so different looking from Nicole, less exotic, her pale face making her large eyes stand out. But it was her genuine concern for him that made him feel something different than ever before.

“Have you ever been torn between doing what’s right and family loyalty or expectations?” he asked.

She propped her chin on her hand. “Not the way you probably mean. Family comes first, but we’re all so strong-willed, we always clash when it comes to what we want. Like Aunt Lulu got all upset last year and quit here to go work for a supermarket. Then she got hurt and my family circled the wagons and took her back immediately.” She shrugged. “But I’m thinking whatever’s bothering you is bigger than that.”

“What makes you think something’s bothering me?”

She raised her eyebrows. “Do you really think I’m buying this whole Nicole-and-I-are-meant-for-each-other thing? One look at you and I get the sense that it’s killing you to chase after a woman who isn’t interested.”

With her insight, the anxiety that had been riding him
since he’d arrived in town eased somewhat. “You got that, huh?” He leaned in closer.

She didn’t pull away.

“Yeah, I did. So why are you doing it? What kind of family would have you sacrificing yourself and your dignity?”

She was so close, he wanted to lean in and kiss her. More than that, he wanted to explain his motives, but doing so would put her in danger and he already had one woman to look out for. He couldn’t drag another into his problems.

“Let’s just say that the rich are different, and I don’t mean that in any insulting way.” With regret, he forced himself to straighten up and pull away.

Disappointment flickered in her eyes. “Sucks for you,” she said in her blunt way, looking at him with pity.

And making him feel uncomfortable in his own skin.

She sighed. “I’d rather just make ends meet than suffer with that kind of obligation.”

“Me too,” he said, surprising himself.

He must have shocked her too, because she smiled at that.

“But I can’t,” he said.

“Why not?” she asked, still interested, but the light in her eyes had dimmed.

He hated disappointing her, but he knew that he had. “That obligation runs pretty deep.”

So deep that he’d sacrifice himself for his father? He asked himself outright for the first time. Before now, he’d gone about blindly doing as his father asked, but Tyler wanted more for himself than a family business built on corruption and lies. More than a woman who didn’t love him—and whom he couldn’t love, if he was responding to
Macy this way. So no, he thought, he wasn’t willing to sacrifice himself for his father.

But before he could extricate himself, he needed a plan. He even wondered if talking to Nicole’s cop was an option.

“Ready to go?” Macy asked, when he didn’t elaborate on the situation.

“Sure.” He pushed the idea of talking to Sam aside, to mull over before doing anything rash.

Macy headed to the back of the restaurant to get her bag. He was coming to know her routine as well as he knew his own, he mused.

As she returned, he couldn’t tear his gaze away. Her tanned legs were long beneath the cutoff shorts, and on her feet was electric blue toenail polish. Her white sandals had a heavy fringe. She was dynamite in a petite package, and he enjoyed every minute he spent with her.

They arrived downtown, parking and walking from far away. Obviously the festival was a huge draw. Macy liked art and so did he, which gave him a rush, thinking finally they had something in common. As they passed the various artists set out with their canvases and work, Macy’s eyes lit up and she paused at every landscape they saw.

And when she homed in on an artist and piece she wanted, she headed straight past Nicole’s food booth, barely waving at her friend.

Although Tyler knew he should stop and talk to Nicole, gauge her mood, and hope maybe she was having trouble with Sam, he focused on Macy. She was talking to the young man who’d painted the beautiful panorama of a small town at the base of a mountain range; he was caught up in Macy’s enthusiasm and excitement.

She’d
asked about price when he caught sight of two men he recognized. Both blond, dressed casually so they would blend in with the casual tourists, but Tyler knew better. He’d met both men when they came to his Manhattan office to meet with his father. Tyler had sat in on the discussion, as they were new clients and he always tried to be aware of their investors.

On the surface, both men, L.A. art dealers, weren’t out of place at an art show, where they routinely discovered new talent. If he were to dig deeper, he knew that there were thousands of similar shows across the country and even in the northeast each weekend, and it was no coincidence they’d chosen the innocuous town of Serendipity at the same time both he and Nicole were here. If Tyler had to guess, his father had gotten tired of waiting and made a preemptive move by alerting them to possible trouble with Nicole.

Tyler tried not to panic, but he knew he had to alert Nicole to potential danger.

“Tyler, what do you think of the price?” Macy asked him. “It’s too steep for me, but do you think we can get him down?” she asked in a hushed voice.

Shit. He hadn’t been paying attention to the conversation. “How much did he say?”

She frowned at him and pulled him aside. “He started at two hundred. I can splurge at one fifty. I want to hang it in the hall when you walk into my place. What do you think?”

He wasn’t focusing, that was for sure. “Not too bad,” he said, thinking off the top of his head.

He turned back toward Nicole’s booth only to find she was gone. A look at where the men were standing told him they’d disappeared as well.

With
a muttered curse, he grasped Macy’s shoulders in both hands. “I have an emergency. Don’t do anything until I get back.”

Her gaze shot from him to where Nicole had been, and the light in her eyes dimmed. “Sure. Go on.”

Heart in his throat, he left Macy and went in search of Nicole.

Sam scanned the booths at the art fair, looking for
Nicole. Of course, this being Serendipity, he didn’t get far before someone in his family stopped him.

“I didn’t think you liked art!” Erin nudged him with her hip.

He glanced over to find her holding his niece, dressed in a pink frilly tank top dress and a floppy hat to protect her fair skin from the sun.

He smiled and held out his hands. “Come to your uncle, baby girl.”

Erin handed him her bundle and Sam settled his niece in his arms. “Did you miss your uncle Sam?” he asked, kissing her soft cheek.

He was rewarded with a baby gurgle and blowing bubbles.

“I’ll take that as a yes.” He shifted Angel in his arms. “So where’s your other half?” he asked his sister.

She frowned. “Cole’s away for the weekend. An important
job,” she said. “He tries to assign the out-of-town security installations, but sometimes they request him.”

He caught the hint of wistfulness in her tone. “Can I take you for dinner?” he asked. “Help pass the time?”

She squeezed his arm. “You’re a good brother. But Sunday will be here soon enough. I don’t want to put a crimp into your social life.”

He rolled his eyes. “I always have time for you. And if I didn’t, I’d make time.”

Erin smiled. “I’m fine. Go find Nicole.”

“How do you know that’s who I’m here for?”

Erin merely stared at him, holding out her arms. “Who else would bring you to an art show?”

With his cheeks burning at being so obvious, Sam placed his niece back in her mother’s arms. “Have you seen her?” he asked.

Erin nodded. “Her booth is at the far end of the street.” She pointed farther down than he’d gotten so far.

“Thanks. I’ll see you later.”

He turned and started to work his way through the crowds once more, when a hand grabbed his shoulder and spun him around.

“Hey!” Instinct had Sam reaching for his holster as he came face-to-face with Tyler Stanton. “Jesus Christ. Didn’t anyone ever tell you not to sneak up on a cop?”

“We need to talk,” Tyler said.

Sam was not in the mood to deal with the other man. “Not now.”

“It’s about Nicole.”

Sam stiffened. “When is it not, Stanton?” It was time he got rid of this asshole once and for all.

“This
time is different.” Stanton stood way too close, his posture straight, his attitude determined. “Look, I’m not here to win her back. I know better. She’s interested in you, not me. But I need her to come back home for her own good.”

Sam shook his head, knowing he’d never understand this guy without a detailed road map. “Explain.”

“Nicole’s in danger.”

With those words, he caught Sam’s attention. Sam eyed the other man warily. “Talk to me.”

Tyler drew a deep breath. “Before I came here I found out my father has been taking money from the Russian mob and running it through our investment business,” he said, his voice low. “He thinks Nicole overheard him talking to his accountant and knows enough to put him in jail and give the feds a good lead on his so-called investors.”

Sam closed his eyes and swore. He’d never imagined her secrets were this big.

“And I just saw the owner of the biggest art gallery in L.A. and one of his associates standing near Nicole’s booth. He’s one of my father’s Russian investors, and I can guarantee you he’s not here to find the newest artist in your small town.”

Sam stared at the man standing in front of him, disbelief and rage filling him as he put together everything Stanton wasn’t saying. “Your fucking father sent him after Nicole?”

“I don’t know for sure. But by the time I extricated myself from Macy so I could find out, he was gone. And so was Nicole.”

Extricated himself. This son of a bitch with his expensive clothes and fancy words was going to be the death of him, Sam thought, shoving Stanton away.

“You’d
better hope I find her, and when I do? She’d better be in one piece.”

Main Street in town had been shut down to traffic,
and along the route, artists had set up stands and easels showcasing their work. Trisha from Cuppa Café was sharing the long booth at the end of the street with Nicole and Aunt Lulu, where she sold iced coffee, sodas, and bottled water. The day was hot and they almost always had a line for the drinks as well as the pastries by Nicole and mini cakes by Aunt Lulu.

Nicole had made sure to have a wide variety for people to sample in order to entice many palates. And she’d kept her audience in mind, including parents who’d brought their kids for a day outdoors. As a result, some of her more popular items included the fried apple fritters and chocolate caramel doughnut holes. Of course, the churros and cream puffs were big hits too.

The morning passed quickly and Nicole was riding a high from the response to her baked goods. When she added the general welcome she’d received from just about everyone who stopped by her booth, she was feeling not only like she belonged in Serendipity, but optimistic about the success of their soon-to-be-opened bake shop.

The only thing that could make the day better would be seeing Sam. He’d promised to stop by but had texted her to say he’d been delayed by a call from the station and said he’d find her later.

After the long morning on her feet, she took advantage of a lull in the crowd and turned things over to Aunt Lulu while she treated herself to a much-needed break. It was the
first time she’d had a chance to check out the art fair, and she found herself impressed with the talent on display. The general look of the fair was similar to the street fairs in Manhattan, with a warmer feel because the people were so friendly.

She didn’t want to leave Aunt Lulu alone for much longer, but before returning to work, she decided to take a quick bathroom trip. Joe’s wife, Annie, had stopped by the booth earlier and told her to feel free to come around back and use the bar’s office restroom.