Page 63 of All Dressed Up

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Rachel reached in her bag and pulled out Mary’s purse. She’d forgotten to check it this morning, a bit preoccupied with onboarding her new employee.

A quick check revealed that it was empty.

Disappointed, she held up the bag. “Okay, Mary. I’ve hired Jesse and trained him for the last two hours. How about giving us our first clue?” She gave the purse a shake.

Nothing.

She should know by now that correspondence from Mary was unpredictable and solely on the ghost’s terms. She stuffed the purse back in her bag. Will would be here any minute. She planned on confessing that she took the purse from his home when the time was right.

Her second confession would have to wait: just how much being with him the other night meant to her.

It was her secret to keep tight until she found his heart.

She moved to the glass door and peered out, her own heart beating its longing to see him.

The back door shut, and she glanced over her shoulder. There was still the matter of Will not knowing about her new employee. That was about to change soon. Would he blow up? She watched as Jesse returned a couple of large containers to the cooler that he’d cleaned out earlier.

He’d actually been a big help. The man knew about flowers and seemed to be willing to do anything she asked. She always struggled lifting those containers when they were filled with water. For a senior citizen, he was quite strong.

Jesse shut the cooler and came up beside her. “What next, Boss?”

She clapped her hands. “I’m glad you asked.” It was time to focus on why she’d hired him in the first place. She walked back behind the counter. “So... there is something that I think you can help me with that I suspect you might be very good at.”

“You didn’t hire me to clean out your cooler and trim your flower stems, did you?” He smiled mischievously.

“Well, I do appreciate your doing those things, but yes, there is something else. Something big that I can’t do alone. You seem to have the magic touch.”

“Magic touch, you say,” he repeated. He leaned an elbow on the counter. “I’m intrigued. Lay it on me.”

Rachel bit down on her lip. Could she trust this man? Her thoughts rewound back to Friday night and the pinnacle moment lying deliriously happy in Will’s arms. She wanted to be there again—but with all of him. Jesse was her only hope. She took a deep breath. “Will’s heart is missing. I need you to help me find it.”

The old man’s bushy, gray eyebrows furrowed. “Come again.”

“I know how silly that sounds, but Mary Reed’s been leaving me notes in an old purse that belonged to her.” She opened up her cash register, pulling out all the cards and placing them flat on the counter. “These are the notes.”

Jesse inspected the cards one by one, picking each up and squinting his eyes to read.

Rachel pressed a finger on the last one that she’d gotten from Mary. “This one told me that Will’s heart was missing and that I would need help finding it. I have confirmation from her that you’re that help.” She paused for a beat before asking the only question that mattered, “How do we find it?”

The old man glanced up at her, his expression blank.

“You don’t know,” she confirmed. Frustrated, she gathered the cards and shoved them back into the cash register. “Of course, you don’t. This is stupid. We should probably start working on today’s arrangements. Customers usually swing by to pick up orders on their lunch break or on their way home from work.”

“Hold on just a second.” Jesse picked up Mary’s purse and closed his wrinkled eyelids.

What was he doing?She watched as he looped his bony fingers through the purse’s silver loop chain strap. “Everything okay?”

He ignored her. At least she thought that was the case. Maybe he was a bit hard of hearing. She grabbed her iced coffee off the counter where she’d left it earlier and sipped her straw. How long was this going to take?

Suddenly his eyelids flew open. “Football field.”

“Football field?” She set her coffee down. What was he talking about?

“Yeah. Mary wants us to go to a football field. Is there one nearby?”

“No.” She thought about it for a minute. “The nearest pro football stadium is in Buffalo. That’s four hours away. Syracuse University has a college team. That’s not as far.” She really had no desire to drive to Buffalo or Syracuse.

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