Caramel Canvas Read online

  “Do you think I might be able to tag along next time?” Phillip asked eagerly.

  I didn’t have to even glance Momma’s way to see that she wasn’t in favor of the idea at all, but it wasn’t my place to kill the man’s dreams. “You’ll have to talk to Jake about it,” I said.

  “Then that’s what I’ll do,” he said. I swear he seemed to brighten up a bit just at the mere thought of doing serious work again. “Thanks, Suzanne.”

  “Don’t thank me. I literally didn’t do anything.”

  “Maybe not, but you didn’t kill it out of hand, either.” He turned to his wife and kissed her cheek. “I’ll go wait out in the car while you tell Suzanne what a terrible idea this is.”

  He was laughing as he left. When I turned to Momma, I expected to find her scowling, but to my surprise, she looked pensive. “He has a point, doesn’t he? People need to feel useful.”

  “Momma, I don’t think there’s one chance in a hundred that Jake will let Phillip join him. He’s working with some pretty heavy hitters.”

  “Are you implying that my husband isn’t good enough?” Momma asked me frostily.

  “Nothing of the sort,” I said. “If I ask him nicely, Jake might be able to work something out.”

  “Well, let’s not go that far,” Momma said, her frown turning into a smile. “Don’t worry about Phillip. We’ll figure something out. Now, you two ladies enjoy your meal and the rest of your evening. Any plans in particular?”

  “I’m not sure. Maybe another movie?” I asked as I looked at Grace hopefully.

  “I’m all up for a triple-header if you are,” she said with a grin.

  “Then it’s settled,” I said. I hugged my mother, and Grace joined in on the other side. The sandwich of bodies we made nearly made Momma disappear. Only her laughter gave her away. “Will you two kindly unhand me?” she asked happily.

  “We just want you to know how much we appreciate you feeding us dinner,” I said.

  “And the pie, too. Don’t forget the pie,” Grace added.

  “For as long as you’ve known me, have you ever known of a time where I forgot there was pie?” I asked as we freed Momma from our joint embrace.

  “No, that’s a fair point,” Grace said. “Just in case though, maybe we should start our meal with a slice each.”

  Momma started to say something and then just as quickly bit it back.

  “Something you wanted to add, Momma?” I asked her.

  “No, not at all. Enjoy your meal and the rest of your evening. I love both of you scamps very much.”

  “And we love you just as much, if not more,” I said.

  “That, my dear sweet child, is impossible,” Momma answered with a nod.

  After they were gone, Grace looked at me. “I was dead serious about eating pie first.”

  “Do I look as though I have a problem with that?” I asked her with a grin.

  The meal was spectacular, especially since we bookended the main course with pie as an appetizer and more pie for dessert. Grace pushed back from the table when we finished. “I don’t think I could eat another bite.”

  “Me, either. After we put the leftovers away, I want to change my vote from a movie to a nap.”

  “I’m game if you are, but don’t you have to go to bed soon anyway?”

  “Not for hours and hours,” I said as I glanced at the clock on the wall. “Well, at least one hour.”

  “That means there’s no time for a movie, but I have another idea.”

  “As long as I don’t have to leave the house, I’m willing to consider it,” I said.

  “Let’s see what Annabeth painted you,” she said as she stretched. “Can you bring yourself to do it yet?”

  “I suppose so,” I said. “Before we do though, can we have coffee and sit on the couch for a few minutes?”

  “Sure. Are you really that stuffed?”

  “I’m full, if that’s what you’re asking, but I’d like to spend a little time remembering Annabeth before we peek at the painting she did for me. I didn’t get to go to the funeral, so I’d kind of like to say good-bye in my own way. Is that silly of me?”

  “Not at all,” Grace replied. “I think Annabeth would have appreciated the gesture.”

  We both grabbed mugs of coffee and headed into the living room. The fire was starting to die down, so I poked it a bit and added another log. Grace had been right. I needed to get to bed soon, but if we were going to open Annabeth’s painting, I wanted a chance to say good-bye to her properly first, and the only way I knew to do that was to remember the good times we’d shared together. It was the only service I wanted for her, so it was fitting that we were doing it for my lost friend.

  Chapter 4

  “Do you want to start with the first story, or should I?” Grace asked me once we were settled in in front of the fire.

  “I will,” I said. “Remember the time in art class we all got thrown out?”

  “You’ll have to be more specific than that,” Grace answered with a smile. “As I recall, it happened on more than one occasion.”

  “I’m talking about when we drew caricatures of Mr. Brimbsy.”

  “Oh, yes. I still say we would have gotten away with it if Annabeth hadn’t been so good at it. You couldn’t tell from our sketches who it was, but she nailed his hooked nose perfectly. I wonder what ever happened to that drawing?”

  “Hang on a second,” I said as I headed toward the new closet that Jake had built under the stairs during his period of boredom after retirement the year before. He hadn’t wanted to build an ordinary closet. No, my husband had seen something online about disguising its presence completely, and even I had to admit that if I hadn’t known it was there, I never would have been able to find it. Using the magnetic catch in the drawer of the table beside it, I slid it in place, and voilà, the door opened as if by magic.

  “What are you doing?” she asked me curiously.

  “Just give me a minute.” I went digging through one of the boxes of my memories and soon found what I was looking for. “Is that what you were talking about?” I asked her with a grin as I presented her with the exact same drawing Annabeth had done a lifetime ago.

  “How did you get your hands on this?” she asked as she pulled out her phone and took a photo of it. “I thought old Brimsby destroyed the evidence.”

  “It was in Annabeth’s permanent file, at least for a few days. I worked in the office as a volunteer that year, remember?”

  “Are you telling me that you actually stole it from her file?” Grace asked me incredulously.

  “You don’t think less of me, do you?”

  “You’re kidding, right? I have literally never been more proud to call you my friend than I am at this very moment,” she said. “I bet old man Brimsby was livid when he found out who did it.”

  “I’m not sure that he ever did,” I admitted. “We both thought of him as old back then, didn’t we?”

  “He had to be at least sixty,” Grace admitted.

  “I was doing a little surfing online, and I looked up some of our old teachers. He was a year younger than we are now when we had him in class.”

  “That is impossible,” Grace said.

  “I can show you the proof if you don’t believe me.”

  “No, I trust you. I’m just having a hard time wrapping my head around it.”

  “I checked three different sources, and they all agreed. It’s amazing how your definition of ‘young’ changes as you get older, isn’t it?”

  “No doubt.” She studied the image again. “She even included a few symbols we used in our secret code. What does it say? Can you still read it?”

  I studied it for a few moments, but I couldn’t recall what the code said off the top of my head. “I have a key code somewhere in my things. It was clever of us making up
a written language that only the three of us could read.”

  Grace pointed to one corner of the drawing. “Hang on a second. This is signed by the artist. I don’t remember us signing our work back then.”

  “We didn’t. I offered it to Annabeth as soon as I stole it, but she refused. She said that since I took the risk, I deserved the reward. When she signed it with a flourish, she said, ‘Keep it. You have my permission to sell it when I’m dead, but don’t wait too long.’ It was a little too prescient for my taste, though we both laughed it off back then.”

  “You’re not really going to sell anything she did for you, are you?” Grace asked.

  “I wouldn’t part with a single thing, no matter how much it might be worth. To me, it’s all priceless.”

  “So let’s open the painting already,” Grace said. “I’m dying to see it.”

  I stifled a massive yawn, not realizing how much coming home would take out of me. “Sure thing. Let me get my scissors.”

  Grace put a hand on mine. “You know what? It can wait. You need to get to bed, young lady.”

  I glanced at the clock. “But it’s still early, even for me.”

  “Most days, I would agree, but your system has had quite a few shocks today. Tell me the truth, Suzanne. If I left right now, how long would it take you to fall asleep? And don’t even think about lying to me, woman.”

  “I suppose I might last another ten minutes,” I admitted.

  “That’s all I needed to know.” Grace stood, and when I followed suit, she hugged me again. “Let’s open it tomorrow after you’re finished working, if you’re up for it then.”

  “Okay. It’s a deal,” I said, suddenly feeling a wave of weariness wash over me. Coming back home was just part of it. Jake leaving so soon was another part. But the biggest reason I was exhausted was learning that I’d lost a friend.

  “I’ll come by at eleven tomorrow. That is, if you’re sure you don’t want me to go in with you in the morning,” she offered again.

  “It’s sweet of you to offer, but I’ll be fine.”

  “Then I won’t push you about it.” Grace put on her heavy jacket and a lovely scarf I hadn’t seen before. “Is that new?”

  “It is. It’s straight from Ireland. I decided I needed a little treat.”

  I couldn’t imagine how much it must have cost, more than I made in a week at the donut shop no doubt, but I wasn’t envious of my friend. I’d chosen the exact life I needed, and I knew that I wouldn’t be any happier if I had more money. Well, maybe a little happier, I thought with a smile.

  “What’s so funny?” Grace asked.

  “I’m just glad to be home,” I said, deflecting the real question.

  “I’m just as pleased about that myself,” she said.

  After Grace was gone, I went straight to bed, but sleep wouldn’t come, despite what I’d told her. Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore, so I got up and moved back into the living room. As I did, I passed the painting Annabeth had so graciously created for me. I was pleased to have something so recently from her, but at the moment, it just made me sad. Jake’s secret closet was still open, so I slid it inside and closed the door. Maybe if it were out of sight, it would be out of mind, as the old adage went.

  Before curling up on the couch with a quilt, I put a few more logs on the fire. There was something mesmerizing about it that knocked me out faster than a sleeping pill could have.

  When I woke up to the sound of the alarm on my phone, I roused myself and started getting ready for work.

  I was about to start over again in many ways, and I was ready for a fresh set of challenges.

  It was time to stop focusing on myself, and my recovery, and bring sweet treats to the world again.

  As I made the short drive to the donut shop in the frigid darkness, I wondered how it would feel being back in a place I loved so much but had endured such a bad thing in so recently. I’d come close to dying there, and only a fluke of luck had saved me from my attacker. It had happened months ago, but I still felt my anxiety grow more and more as I approached the shop. I wasn’t sure exactly what I was expecting when I pulled up in front of Donut Hearts, but it certainly wasn’t discovering the lights already blazing inside and two people sitting at the counter in the front of the shop waiting for me.

  “I wasn’t expecting to find you two here this morning,” I said as I pulled off my gloves, hat, scarf, and jacket. The temperature had dropped since the night before, but that’s what happened in January in our part of North Carolina. It wouldn’t have surprised me if I’d seen snow coming down on the way in, but that hadn’t happened. I looked from my assistant, Emma, to her mother, Sharon. “What’s going on?”

  “Suzanne, we need to talk,” Emma said, looking a bit grim.

  “Okay. I’m listening,” I said. What was going on here? Was this some kind of intervention?

  “First things first,” Emma said as she hugged me with great vigor. “I’m so glad you’re back.”

  I hugged her a few moments longer, then broke free from her embrace. “I was beginning to worry about that. You two looked so serious, I wasn’t at all sure that you were all that happy to see me.”

  “Nonsense,” Sharon said as she stepped forward. “Give me my turn, Emma.”

  Her daughter did as she suggested, and Sharon gave me a briefer, though no less sincere, hug of her own. “How are you, dear?”

  “I’m okay,” I said, looking around. “Did you paint in here?” I asked, noticing that the color of the walls was a few shades darker than it had been before.

  “I hope you don’t mind,” Emma said. “We thought it could use a little freshening up. If you hate it, we’ll be happy to repaint it ourselves.”

  “No, I like it,” I said. It was close to my original color yet somehow different enough to give the place a new vibe.

  “I’m so glad,” Emma said, clearly relieved.

  “That’s not why you two were here waiting to ambush me, was it?” I asked them.

  “Oh, dear. We didn’t mean to do that. It’s just that there’s something we need to discuss, and we need to do it before you get started with your work today.”

  “Let me just turn the fryer on, make some coffee, and then we can chat,” I said.

  “The fryer’s already on, and the coffee’s ready,” Emma said, pouring me a mug.

  “Okay,” I said as I took a sip. It was a bit stronger than I normally liked, but coffee had always been part of Emma’s domain. “Shoot.”

  “We’ve been discussing our earlier arrangement with you, and we’re not satisfied with it,” Emma said.

  Her announcement shocked me, and if I were being honest about it, it hurt a little, too. “I’m not sure how much more I can give you than all of the profits you’ve made since I’ve been gone. What did you have in mind?”

  “That’s just it,” Sharon said. “You were too generous, and we took advantage of you.”

  “Nonsense. It was only fair,” I protested. “You two put in all of the work over the past two months. I wasn’t even around to help out.”

  “But you put up the original capital investment that bought this business,” Sharon countered. “The way we see it, the profits should be split into thirds.” She pushed a stack of deposit slips toward me, neatly banded together. As I riffled through them, I saw that they’d been making regular deposits the entire time Jake and I had been gone. “This isn’t fair, as much as I appreciate the sentiment.”

  “We could give you half, if that would suit you better,” Emma said with a grin.

  “That’s not it, and you know it. It’s too much as it is,” I protested.

  “Suzanne, Mom and I have discussed this, and it’s not up for debate. Either you take your share of the profits while you were gone, or we’re going to have a real problem,” Emma said.

  “Well, I
don’t want any problems,” I said as I glanced at the total amount, thoughtfully provided on a sticky note included with the slips. “This is awfully generous of you both.”

  Sharon smiled. “We wouldn’t have it any other way. Besides, you’ve already financed my next four trips, so I should be the one thanking you.”

  “And I made quite a bit more than I would have as a wage slave,” Emma added with a wicked little grin of her own. “We all come out ahead.”

  “Thank you. Both of you,” I said as I hugged them each in turn again. “Did anything exciting happen while I was away?”

  Emma and Sharon shared a quick glance, and I knew that something was up.

  “Not really,” Emma said a little haltingly.

  “Emma,” I scolded her, much in the tone that a mother would use with her misbehaving child.

  “Tell her,” Sharon said. “If you don’t, I will.”

  “Someone tried to break into the donut shop a few days ago,” Emma confessed. “It was most likely just some kids.”

  I looked around my shop, horrified that it had been violated yet again. “Did they do much damage?”

  “That’s the thing. As far as we could tell, nothing was taken,” Emma said. “George paid a locksmith from Union Square to come fix the lock, and we were even able to get him to reset it using your old key. You know how these things are, Suzanne. We didn’t want to worry you.”

  “Well, if you’re sure nothing was taken,” I said.

  “Unless you had a thousand dollars tucked into a dark corner that I didn’t know about, we’re good,” Emma said with a shrug.

  “Okay then,” I said, knowing that things happened, whether I was in town or not. “Is that all that happened?”

  “That’s it. I promise,” Emma said.

  “Good enough. Thanks again for splitting the profits with me. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it,” I said as I tapped the stack of deposit slips. I certainly didn’t want them to think that I held the break-in against them, especially since nothing had been taken. What was important to me was that they knew that their generosity meant more to me than the money, though it would certainly come in handy. “You know, you both didn’t have to get up quite so early for this conversation,” I said. “I figured you would want to sleep in.”