Part 14 (1/2)

I shrugged, shutting the door behind them.

”Don't know if you remember me, but I'm Shawn. Nice seeing you again.” The new guy shoved his beefy hand in front of me. I shook it and peeked at Jericho, already across the room and seated at my computer.

”Same here.” I extended my hand.

Roch.e.l.le gave us both a little shove. ”Later for all that. Listen. Since you were too rude to hang out with us, I took Shawn over to the health food store so he could see some of your stuff.” She paused for effect.

It worked. ”And? What?”

”It wasn't there, that's what!”

”That's impossible. I just gave them a new display last month.”

My nephew dropped onto my leather sectional. ”The display is still there, but it's full of Adrian's candles. And that's not all...”

What else could there be? ”Spill it.” I wasn't in the mood for a tease.

”I figured I'd have to go way to the mall then and show him your stuff at Smelly Chick. Your stuff was gone there, too.”

”Don't tell me. Candles again.” My chin hit my chest.

”Yep. I checked all your accounts in town and I couldn't find a thing. Not one bar of soap. Not one bottle of lotion, shampoo, nothing. Even the Vanilla Smella display at High Life was gone.”

I dropped to the couch, wondering how I could have missed the signs-the unreturned phone calls, the lack of interest in my new lines, no requests to restock the displays-it'd been so long since I'd been dumped by a guy, I'd forgotten the signals. A few new stores had sprouted up since I'd opened, but I'd managed to have a presence in all of them. Until now.

Now I remembered the signs of being jilted, and even though it wasn't Trevor or some other man this time, it hurt the same. And it was all Adrian's fault.

He was sleeping, but I didn't care. When Adrian came to the door wearing his pajamas, I stormed right in, with Roch.e.l.le and her boyfriend behind me.

”What are you trying to do, wreck me? First you steal my idea and now you take my wholesale accounts? I thought you were my friend.” Or something.

He woke up real quick. Slammed the door. ”Hold up. First off, how are you just going to bust in here talking to me like I'm a child? And stealing? I haven't stolen anything from you. The stores came to me. I tried to ask you who you had accounts with months ago to keep this from happening, but as always, you wouldn't respond.”

”And stealing ideas?” He turned to Roch.e.l.le. ”Is she talking about Kick!?”

Roch.e.l.le nodded.

Adrian paused and offered Shawn a seat. ”Hey, man, sorry they put you in the middle of this.”

”No problem. Anything to eat?”

Still playing it cool, Adrian nodded toward the kitchen. He wasn't fooling me. Any second now, his entire face would squish into a ball of anger. And then...fireworks. This time I didn't care.

”So you think that Kick! was your idea, Dane? The actual store itself?”

What did he think I was talking about? I crossed my arms. ”If the candle fits.”

He raked a palm over his sweaty dome. ”It was my idea. Mine. Don't you remember?” His voice climbed in volume.

Shawn returned from the kitchen with a sandwich worthy of Dagwood, but quickly sensed the mounting tension. ”Maybe we should go.”

Adrian didn't even turn around. ”Sit.”

I squared my shoulders. I remembered all right.

He shook his head. ”That last night on the stoop...after they took-” his voice faltered ”-my mother to the inst.i.tution. It was raining and your feet hurt because we'd walked up the hill to get ice cream for the apple pie.”

I hadn't recalled the specifics until now. It made no difference though. I remembered the big stuff.

”I was rubbing your feet and you asked me if I thought anything could help her-Mama, I mean. All I could think of was the way she smiled when we lit candles. And how one time Daddy had lit them all over the house and she'd laughed and laughed. For a few minutes it was like before she got so bad.” He turned away. ”I wanted to make a place that captured that laughter forever. A place where she would know I was always burning a candle for her, waiting for her to come home.”

I scratched my chin, trying to grab at a response. That wasn't how it went, was it? It couldn't be. I was so sure, but he seemed so sure, too. And my mind is bad sometimes. What if I was wrong? How would I talk myself out of this one? ”That's not how I remember it, Adrian. I told you about my dream place.”

He sighed and strode away from me, sinking into his sectional. ”No, Dane. You told me you like to swim your toes in carpet and that too many smells at once gave you a headache. So I only burn one scent an hour and the s.h.a.g is as long as they could make it. So there, that's what I stole from you-barefeet and a headache. Anything else you want to scream at me about?”

Why did you marry Sandy in the first place? Let's start with that? I cleared my throat. ”Not that I can think of.”

”Good. Now sit down and listen to me for a second.”

”I'll stand.”

”Whatever, Dane.” He stretched up to the ceiling, working the anger out of his muscles.

Goodness.

I needed to get out of here. My confidence and my ability to keep from either slapping or kissing Adrian was waning. ”I guess we should let you get back to your nap. We can talk about this later.”

Adrian shook his head. ”I'm up now. Maybe you'll think twice next time you go banging on people's doors like the police, accusing them of things.”

He dropped to the couch, still simmering. ”Did you get that business plan revised for the bridal line?”

I groaned. ”I don't have time, okay?”

”See? You have time to berate me for doing my job, but don't have time to do yours. I see you over there all times of the day and night. Working yourself to death. Streamline it, Dane. You'll kill yourself.”

He'd been talking to Roch.e.l.le, no doubt. ”You do it like you do it and I do it like I do it, okay? All that organizational stuff just doesn't work for me.”

”How do you know? You don't even try.”

For a reason I'll never understand, I walked to the couch and plopped. I guess everything just caught up to me. Tears streamed down my face. ”I'm tired of trying. I'm just plain tired.”

Adrian leaned close. His arms circled me. His lips brushed my head. ”I know. Me, too.”

”And I feel like a fool. I really believed-”