Secrets (3 page)

“Really? Did you go all Sarah Langston on their ass?”

Sarah stuck her tongue out and made a face. Kelly was often amused by how serious she was about everything. “It was a confused teenage girl.”

Kelly mimicked her face. “Teenage girls are the worst. I suppose it was a call for help.”

“Yes. I think so. One I answered, of course.”

“No cops?”

“No cops. I called her mother’s boyfriend. He was the only one I could reach.”

“That sounds unpromising.”

“No, surprisingly, he was wonderful with her. Which was weird considering he’s around my age. It was her own mother who told her she was fat and too expensive to clothe. So she stole my clothing. I don’t know. She was really sad.”

“As in she might be back?”

“No. Probably not. I don’t think she was your typical snot-nosed girl believing she deserves more than she has. This girl seemed so confused. And sad. And like she wanted somebody to notice her. Really notice her. I’m not sure how to describe it.”

“It sounds like you did her a favor.”

“Maybe. It’s just—”

Kelly tilted her head. “What?”

“Holy shit! I can’t believe I didn’t think of it. I was so startled by the whole situation I didn’t consider it.”

“What?”

“The blouse Angie was stealing is a maternity blouse. I’m sure of it. I didn’t think of it then because it was a new line we’d just gotten in. The poor child isn’t getting fat, she’s pregnant.”

“Holy shit,” Kelly echoed, her eyes wide.

“Yeah.”

“How old is she?”

“Maybe sixteen.”

Kelly unzipped her dress and slipped out of it. “You said her mom’s boyfriend came in? Do you still have his number?”

“Yeah, his cell phone.”

“Maybe you should call him.”

Sarah took Kelly’s dress and deftly hung it back in its garment bag. “Should I? I mean, how is it my business? Some kid shoplifts in my store, and now I should what? Tell her family she’s pregnant?”

“Shoplifting maternity clothes in an empty store seems kind of like a cry for help. A big cry. I think you should hear her.”

“It’s just—”

“What?”

“I apparently went to high school with the boyfriend and didn’t remember him, which pissed him off.”

Kelly stopped while slipping her tank top on. She raised an eyebrow at Sarah. “Wasn’t your high school all of like ten people? How could you not know someone?”

Sarah rolled her eyes. Just like Scott had implied. “The high school is bigger than ten people. And I don’t know. I guess I just didn’t notice him. Which seeing him now, I don’t get.”

“Why? Is he hot?”

“He’s hot-tempered. And yeah, maybe kind of hot.”

“Still. You should probably call him and let them know they have a teenage bomb about to go off.”

“Maybe,” Sarah hedged. She didn’t want to face Scott Delano again.

Kelly stared at her, eyebrows raised.

“What?” Sarah frowned. “You mean right now?”

“Why not?”

Sarah grumbled as she sat down at her desk and dug around until she found the scrap paper she’d written the cell phone number on. With a huff, she picked up the phone and dialed.

“Yeah?”

God, did he ever say hello? Scott’s greeting made her feel like she should hurry along with what she had to say. It wasn’t like he was performing delicate brain surgery or something, what was his hurry?

“Uh, yes, hi. This is Sarah Langston calling.”

“I have caller I.D. Angie is not there again, is she?”

“No, nothing like that.”

“Okay—”

How come ten seconds into the conversation she was already flustered? “Can I speak with you?”

“Sure, go ahead.”

“I mean in person. With Angie’s mom too.”

A long pause, then, “What the hell is this? We’re taking care of what she did. We really don’t need your advice. Why…are you pressing charges?”

Sarah nearly groaned at the sudden suspicion in Scott’s voice. How did he have such a knack of twisting the conversation around in only two sentences?

“No, I’m not pressing charges.” She took a breath and crumpled the scrap paper into a tight ball. She kept her tone calm and polite. “Look, it’s just important I meet with you both.”

“Really?” he said his exasperation clear. “You’re serious?”

“I’m serious.”

“Fine. We’ll be there when your store closes.”

Sarah took the phone off her ear. Scott had hung up on her! She didn’t have a chance to confirm or deny the plans. She groaned in frustration. Is this what she got for helping them out? There went her plans for the evening. Now she had to close the store and wait for them.

Kelly raised her eyebrows in question.

“Not your best idea. I get to meet with them at closing. And probably get my ass chewed out for interfering.”

Kelly threw her head back in a laugh. Sarah folded her arms over her chest and glared. What was so amusing about being mistreated by some guy she didn’t even know?

****

Sarah flipped the closed sign on the store door at precisely six o’clock. She looked out the storefront toward the sparsely populated sidewalk. Her store sat dead center on Main Street in Seaclusion, Washington. The Pacific Ocean roared into the beach not a half mile from downtown. The scattering of hotels and condos up and down the beach for miles around Seaclusion provided tourists for her shop. She made most of her living off beach-seeking shoppers browsing for a souvenir. It was a Tuesday night, so there were few people out and about.

She tried soothing her jumping nerves. This was a weird thing to be doing. How did she tell two people their teenage, shop-lifting daughter was most likely pregnant? And especially when it wasn’t any of Sarah’s business? But Angie’s mother was too mean and stupid to see what was really wrong with her own daughter. So, it was now on Sarah.

She already disliked Angie’s mom. Who wouldn’t? She’d called her sixteen-year-old daughter fat. A daughter who was merely asking for clothes to fit her. The statement said everything about Angie’s mother.

The phone rang, interrupting Sarah’s casual tidying of the shop. Why was she bothering making fresh coffee, and fussing over her place as if she had royal company coming? She grabbed the receiver glad for the distraction. The phone call was a heavy breather. Sarah sighed as she hung up. How many prank calls did she receive each month? Just as she hung up, ignoring the creepy feeling the calls left, there was the chime of the front door opening. She hurried toward the sales floor, ready for a strange confrontation with the couple. They didn't match as a pair, perhaps because Scott had been so kind to Angie and the mother so not.

Scott looked much as he had the day before. Angie’s mother was a startling contrast to Scott. She expected Angie’s mother to be some kind of drunken, rode-hard-put-away-wet kind of woman. Not who she found. She was a tiny thing, no more than a hundred pounds and five feet tall. She wore a decent enough outfit of casual jeans and a sweater. She had dark hair, dark eyes, a nice face, and from a distance it seemed impossible this woman would have a sixteen-year-old daughter. And plausible Scott, at twenty-six, was dating her. Only the few lines around her eyes betrayed she was somewhere in her mid-thirties.

Scott towered over her. Which was most likely half of Angie’s problem, her mother was everything she wasn’t. Angie was big boned, and tall. Even if thinner, she never would have this fragile, bird-like appearance of her mother.

Sarah smiled politely covering how anxious Scott Delano’s presence made her.

“Hello.”

Scott glanced at her, his mouth tightened at her banal greeting. He nodded toward Angie’s mother. “This is Vanessa Peters, Angie’s mom.”

“Hey,” Vanessa said, looking Sarah up and down. “Sarah, is it?”

“Yes. Thank you for coming.” Why did she have the distinct feeling Vanessa had checked her out and found something distasteful about her? Vanessa visibly sniffed at her.

“Well…anything concerning my daughter.”

Sarah raised an eyebrow at Vanessa’s insipid tone. Something rang way too false for her to believe Vanessa.

“Why don’t we sit down in my office? Would either of you like some coffee?”

“No.” Vanessa frowned while Scott shook his head in vehement decline. Sarah made a face at the back of his head as she followed them into her office, noticing too, Scott’s hand guiding Vanessa’s doll-like arm. Sarah sat at her desk across from them. This was as awkward a situation as she could imagine, and she needed the protection of her desk.

“What’s this about?”

Sarah took in a deep breath. “I apologize in advance for this. I don’t know if what I’m saying is true, or my place to tell you, but I feel I have a responsibility to inform you of this.”

“I can’t imagine what it is you’d have to say.” Vanessa’s voice had a soft feathery quality. She glared with disdain on Sarah. What was this woman’s problem?

“What is it?” Scott prompted, not glancing at Vanessa.

“After you left I noticed exactly what Angie tried to steal.”

“An overpriced blouse, we know,” Vanessa said, her tone impatient. “Where do you get off charging so much? No wonder she stole it, who could afford it?”

Sarah’s mouth popped open. “It’s none of your business what I charge. I didn’t invite your daughter to try and steal from me.”

“What was it you wanted to say?” Scott interrupted. He didn’t respond to any of the innuendoes or outright insults from Vanessa. Weird. How could he find her behavior so okay?

“Angie stole a maternity blouse.”

“A maternity blouse?” Scott’s entire body jerked upright in his chair.

“Yes. My guess is Angie’s pregnant.”

Vanessa shot to her feet. She put a hand on Sarah’s desk and leaned in toward her. “How dare you say such a thing?”

Sarah physically scooted her chair back from Vanessa. “I thought you should know what she tried stealing.”

“Well, you’re wrong, and besides, it’s none of your business.”

“She was in my shop stealing from me, because
her mother
wouldn’t buy her clothes for her expanding body. Your daughter came in here and made me involved.”

“Oh, so you know what kind of mother I am now? Listen, you don’t know shit about us, lady.”

She blinked and sat back in stunned shock. Vanessa was vile. Scott put a hand on Vanessa’s arm. Sarah sat up straight, steeling herself for Scott’s input.

His eyes stayed on her, as he said, “Maybe Sarah’s right.”

Sarah’s eyes widened. Really? He was siding with her?

Vanessa jerked her arm from Scott’s grasp. “You would side with her—”

“It’s not a matter of sides. It sounds like a matter of facts. Angie knows fashion. If she stole a maternity shirt, it was for a reason. A reason which makes sense.”

The phone rang. Sarah grabbed it, glad of the interruption. Maybe it was Kelly and she could fake an excuse, making them leave and get out of her life.

Again went the heavy breathing. Oh yeah, just what she needed added to the fun exchange she was already embattled with. She slammed the phone down.

Both Scott and Vanessa stilled and turned toward her, their eyes wide with question. She cleared her throat.

“What was that?” Scott finally asked, waving toward the phone. Vanessa’s gaze sharpened on her face.

“A prank call. I get way too many of them. That’s the third one today.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. Maybe it’s too small a town, and nothing for teenagers to do but prank the local businesses.” Sarah waved her hand around as she spoke. She wasn’t worried about pointless prank calls. She was worried about the pregnant teen that had gotten her attention with far more than a prank call. “Anyway, as I was trying to explain, I’m not trying to step on your toes with this. I felt you should know this information. Now you know it. That’s all I wanted.”

“All you had to say? Oh, sure. Do you always overstep your bounds or just with situations involving a guy you’d like to screw?”

“A guy I’d like—” Sarah’s mouth snapped shut as she almost repeated what Vanessa had said. Vanessa had taken her concern for Angie in
that
direction of all places? As if she was using this to come on to Vanessa’s boyfriend, right in front of her? What was wrong with this woman? First, she calls her daughter fat, and now she is paranoid enough to accuse Sarah of coming on to Scott by saying Angie is pregnant?

“You think I called you down here about Angie in order—”

“I know your type.”

Sarah shook her head. “You’re crazy. I mean you should go home and look up a mental facility and enter it. You think I made up this story in order to steal your boyfriend?”

“My daughter is not pregnant.” Vanessa turned and left the office, slamming the storefront door in the matter of a few seconds, and leaving her alone staring at Scott Delano in stunned silence.
What could she do now?

“I’m sorry,” Sarah said finally after a prolonged silence. Why exactly she was apologizing she wasn’t sure. Something should be said to cut through the tension in the office. Scott had watched the exchange between her and Vanessa with no comment, and no change in his facial expression. So there wasn’t much hope he was apologizing to
her.
Though he should.

“Look, I had no ulterior motives as
she
implied for inviting you here. I just thought someone should notice Angie.”

Scott twitched in his chair. He nodded finally. Had he forgotten she was there? He seemed deep in thought.

“Someone should have. And it shouldn’t have taken a woman who’s known the girl for an hour to see it.”

“The weight gain she talked about, how unhappy she seemed, how blatantly she stole a maternity shirt, it all screamed of her being in trouble.”

Scott leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “Shit. I hope you’re wrong.”

Sarah stayed silent. What to say? And didn’t he have the decency to apologize for what his girlfriend had just said?

“Angie’s a good kid, contrary to what you’ve seen. She gets good grades, does what she’s supposed to. I noticed her gaining weight, but what could I do? Say something? She was always on the thin side until this year, and I thought it was just, you know, puberty, or whatever girls go through. I knew she was unhappy about it, I just never dreamed this.”