Page 41 of All Dressed Up

“Emma, we should go. Can you walk?” Abby asked.

Emma nodded, her balance still wobbly. “I need some air.”

Abby turned to Rachel. “Is it okay if we go out the back?”

“Yes, of course. We’ll help you.”

Will sprang into action, taking Abby’s place to help Emma down the stairs until she could walk on her own. He reassured Rachel that he’d be back in five minutes.

She didn’t doubt it. She had his car keys.

Rachel closed her eyes for a second. What on earth had happened? Tonight was supposed to be a joyous night for Emma and for Will.

She took a deep breath, opened her eyes, and stepped into her shop, not sure what she’d walk into. Sheila was screaming at some old man, her face inches from him.

Where have I seen him before?He seemed familiar, and Rachel prided herself on never forgetting a face. Still, she came up short.

“You listen here, Jesse Taylor.” Sheila waved a finger at him. “You do not get to waltz back into town after all these years and start your games. It’s the reason you were banished in the first place.”

Rachel hung back in the doorway, not sure if she should interrupt. Who was this man, and what was Sheila talking about?

“Sheila, let’s go to the Star Lite and discuss this like adults. I knew you were behind my banishment, but now, I’m back and I want to see my daughter.”

Rachel’s eyes went wide.Holy Mother!This man was Emma’s long-lost dad. She stepped away from the doorway, backing up against the wall.

“We, as in you and me, have nothing to catch up on.” There was silence for a few beats before Sheila continued, “You better hightail it out of this town, or I’ll come out of retirement and put a hex on you that is so bad you’ll wish you’d never stepped back into Buttermilk Falls!”

The back door swung open, and Will stepped through. “Hey. Everything okay?”

Rachel placed a finger up to his lips to silence him. “Sheila’s in there with Emma’s dad,” she whispered.

“Seriously?”

Everyone in town knew that Emma had grown up without a father. Rachel wasn’t sure of the exact story but had been told that he’d left a pregnant Sheila before Emma was born.

They listened without a sound. Was that the case? Sheila had eluded that he’d been run out of town, not left on his own accord. “What should we do?” she whispered. Mad at him or not, she was glad Will was here to step in if the situation escalated. At least until Ernie got here.

Will tilted his head to get a look for himself. “You’ve got to be freakin’ kidding.”

“What?”

“I owe that ass clown a whipping. Hold this.” He handed her his phone and brushed past her, entering the shop.

“What are you doing?” Rachel followed him in. How did Will know Emma’s dad?

“Step aside, Mrs. Stevens.” Will grabbed onto the old man’s collar, shoving him against the workbench. “You ruined my business.”

The man let out a laugh. “I warned you about Mary, but I suspected you wouldn’t listen.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“The apple doesn’t fall far from the Jenkins’ cart. Your old man didn’t listen to me, and that’s why he hit the bottle. Looks like you inherited his taste.”

“You son of a...”

Rachel watched in horror as Will’s fist came across the old man’s face.

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