had been born and raised in Crimson. Olivia’s husband, Logan—also a Crimson native—had come back to town, and Millie was married to Logan’s oldest brother, Jake. The middle brother, Josh, also lived in Crimson, and his wife, Sara, who was currently away shooting a movie, rounded out Natalie’s group of girlfriends. She’d never had close friends when she was younger and as much as she enjoyed it now, opening up to people about her private life was still difficult.
“I don’t need any help from Liam.” She took a drink of the sweet margarita. “He accused me of stealing from his Ruth.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Katie said. “You work harder than anyone in town. How many jobs are you balancing right now?”
“Four if you count the jewelry business.”
“It counts,” Olivia answered. “Your earrings and bracelets sell better than any others in the community center gift shop.”
“When are you going to branch out into other stores?” Millie asked.
“When I figure out how to function on two hours of sleep each night,” Natalie answered. She loved making the jewelry she fashioned out of beads, metal and precious stones. The work both relaxed and invigorated her. The plan had always been to save enough from her nursing jobs to invest in her business so that she could expand. One more thing in her life her ex-husband had ruined.
“The point is,” Katie continued, “you live simply, you work hard. I’m assuming it’s to save money for Austin’s college fund.”
“Because it isn’t your addiction to fashion,” Millie interjected.
Olivia nudged her sister.
“Sorry,” Millie mumbled. “Was that rude?”
“It’s fine,” Natalie said with a wry smile.
“Katie’s right.” Olivia dipped a chip into the salsa. “You’re just not a big spender. Anyone who knows you would never think you’d take advantage of someone in your care.”
Natalie folded and refolded her napkin. The truth was she hadn’t taken Ruth’s money, but she had a pretty good idea what had happened to it. She knew she needed to ask Ruth outright but was afraid of knowing the truth.
She took a deep breath and blurted, “I think Ruth might have used the money to pay off my ex-husband.”
All three women stared at her. Their waitress approached the table, but Olivia shooed her away again.
“Why would Ruth need to pay off Brad Holt?” Katie asked after a moment.
“She doesn’t.” Natalie sighed. “She shouldn’t. But I told her that he was kind of...sort of...blackmailing me, and I’m afraid she took matters into her own hands.”
“Blackmailing you?” Olivia asked.
“Kind of, sort of?” Millie added.
“It’s a long story.”
Millie waved to the waitress. “Another round for all of us,” she called. “A big plate of nachos and an order of chicken quesadillas.” Luckily, the place was crowded and loud so Millie didn’t draw much attention. Not that she cared. When the waitress nodded from across the restaurant, Millie gestured to Natalie. “We’ve got time. Go on.”
“This is difficult to talk about.”
Millie tapped on her own drink. “Try another sip of liquid courage.”
Katie shook her head. “I don’t understand why you would share something like that with one of your patients and not your friends.”
Guilt flared in Natalie as she saw the hurt in her friend’s gaze. “I’m sorry. I spent a lot of time with Ruth over the past several months. She needed help with some of the most basic functions. It was embarrassing for her and seemed to help when I shared details about myself. I’m normally pretty private, so it became somewhat cathartic for me. I didn’t think she’d act on what I told her.”
Olivia reached out a hand to pat Natalie’s arm. “Tell us how it started.”
“Brad and I were only married a year when he got a job doing regional sales for a company based out of Grand Junction. We’d scrimped and saved to buy a house, and I’d stopped working when Austin was born.” She traced her finger along the cool condensation gathered on the side of her glass. “I was worried about money, and Brad assured me things were good. Honestly, I should have paid closer attention, but Austin was colicky. I was on my own so much. I just wanted to believe him.”
Olivia nodded. “I know how that goes.” Natalie remembered that Olivia’s ex-husband had cheated on her before leaving her for his mistress.
“We’ve all made bad choices in men,” Millie echoed.
Natalie glanced at Katie, who gave a slight smile. “Or no choices in men because we’re too scared of making a mistake. It’s no better, Nat. Trust me.”
“I’m not sure you’ll think that once you’ve heard the whole story.” She sipped her margarita, surprised to find there was nothing but ice left in the glass. The waitress slipped another one in front of her. “You’re driving me home, right?” she asked Katie.
“Always,” her friend answered.
Suddenly, Natalie wanted to share her embarrassing past with her friends, hoping it would help her feel not so alone. “Things were okay with us for almost a year, or so I thought. Brad traveled a lot, which made it tough for us to reconnect when he was back. I figured things would even out once Austin was a little older. I was picking up a package at the post office one day and Myrna, the old postmistress, asked me if I wanted the mail from Brad’s PO box, as well. She said he hadn’t collected it in months and it was taking up too much space.”
She stirred the straw around in her drink. “She gave me a whole box of stuff, mainly delinquent notices and demands for payment. I can still see the pity in her eyes as she registered my shock. She must have thought I was the most gullible fool on the planet.”
“I doubt that,” Olivia said, her tone reassuring.
“I was pretty darn close. I took the box home, put Austin down for a nap and opened every envelope. We were months behind on the house and car payments, utilities, credit card bills, the works. At first I thought it must have been a mistake.” She thumped the palm of her hand against her forehead. “Still such an idiot. We’d gotten a late notice call here or there, but Brad always explained it away. That box opened the floodgates. He’d been using his cell phone as a contact number, but I discovered things were worse than I could have imagined.”
“And was he able to explain it away?” Millie asked, her tone dripping with sarcasm.
“Actually, I think he was relieved to finally be caught,” Natalie admitted. “As soon as I knew, all the debts became my responsibility. He was off the hook once more.”
“Was it drugs?” Katie asked.
“Not really.” Natalie shook her head. “Maybe some dabbling but nothing hard-core. I lost count of his vices. Gambling was his main addiction. Most of the work he did was in Arizona
