Deena smiled. “Oh, I’m fine. Just my stomach is a little upset.”
“You did eat a lot at the picnic yesterday,” Chuck joked, and Deena laughed.
Her laugh sounded normal, so things must be okay.
They worked together arranging the fudge in the window. Chuck saw Sam and Cole coming out of the coffee house.
“I saw Sam and Cole having coffee together in Ocean Brew this morning,” he said.
“Really?” Deena looked surprised. “Seems like they must be getting along, then.”
“Yes, in fact, they looked quite chummy.” Chuck waved to them from the window as they approached the door.
“Morning!” Sam breezed into the room with Cole following her.
“Smells great in here,” Cole said.
“Always does.” Sam grabbed one of her favorite chocolate turtles and bit in then turned to Chuck. “I was thinking maybe you could show me around the new website.”
“I’d be delighted.” Chuck was pleasantly surprised.
Sam seemed eager to have him show her what he had done. Her previous air of suspicion had vanished. Things really were looking up.
Sam picked another turtle out of the case, and they went into the back room. Chuck logged in and swiveled the monitor slightly so everyone could see. He showed them the site navigation and some of the back-end administrative screens.
“That’s really great. So much better than what we had before.” Sam went to take a bite of her chocolate but fumbled it, and it fell on the floor.
“Oh darn!” Sam looked down regretfully.
“I’ll get it.” Cole started to bend down, but Sam waved him off. “No. No, I’ll get it. It rolled way under.”
Sam dropped onto all fours, and Chuck pushed his chair back as she rooted around under the desk.
“Got it! Oh wait, what’s this?” Sam backed out, holding a dusty chocolate and something else, Chuck’s wallet.
“That’s my wallet. But what was it doing under there? We looked under there pretty good.” Chuck glanced at Deena, who shrugged.
“I think it got wedged between the desk and the wall. I saw part of it hanging down.” Sam handed it to him.
Chuck dusted it off and peered inside. Everything seemed to be there. “That’s weird. We looked down in there.”
“There’s a little lip on the side. See over here.” Sam pointed at the little lip on the other side of the desk. “I guess it must have gotten stuck on that.”
Chuck frowned. He supposed it was possible, but… suddenly, he was getting an uneasy feeling, and judging by the look on Cole’s face, he was getting one too.
* * *
It was a struggle for Sam to keep the guilt she felt from showing up on her face. She felt like a jerk, lying to everyone about the wallet. But it was too late to tell the truth now.
Was it her imagination, or was Cole looking at the wallet suspiciously? Chuck seemed a bit odd now too. Even her mother seemed out of sorts.
Her guilty conscience must be getting to her. Maybe yoga would help. Either way, she needed to get out of Saltwater Sweets.
“Thanks for showing me the website. I gotta run.” Sam tried to keep her voice light and her movements casual as she grabbed her purse from the table beside the back door.
“I’ll walk out with you.” Deena patted her hair and glanced at Chuck. “I have a hair appointment, so I’ll be gone for a while.”
Chuck kissed her on the cheek. Did her mother not seem as receptive to that as usual? Probably just her imagination.
