30- Trusting

Even though she hated involving her friends in what was happening, she
knew that there wasn’t a better lawyer—a better advocate—around than Emma.
Fortunately, Emma wasscheduled to drive up from Denver on Friday morning.
Hazel resolved to be waiting for her.
She knocked on the front door at the ranch at ten, knowing that Emma would
have gotten an early start. Mrs. Clayton greeted her with a smile and a glass of
lemonade, just as she had countless times when she and Emma had been
teenagers. There was something comforting about it. In many ways so little had
changed in the past ten years. The bonds she had formed back then were still
strong.
“Emma should be here soon. Are you sure you don’t want to wait inside?”
she asked when Hazel moved to sit in one of the rockers. “It’s a scorcher out there
today.”
“Thanks. I’ll be fine on the porch, if you don’t mind. I need to have a few
words in private with Emma.”
“Then I’ll get Caitlyn out of your hair as soon as they get here,” Mrs.
Clayton promised, wiping her hands on her apron and taking a seat beside Hazel.
“Caitlyn’s going to want to get out to the barn to see her pony, anyway.”
Hazel grinned. “I don’t suppose that pony is a bribe from her grandfather to
keep her coming up here.”
“Of course it is,” Mrs. Clayton said unrepentantly. “Now that Emma’s
divorced, her father and I would give anything to have the two of them here all
the time. I know Emma is very successful in Denver, but she hasn’t been truly
happy there for a long time. She just refuses to admit it. And Caitlyn loves it
here.”
“No doubt about that,” Hazel agreed. “And I think a certain newspaper editor
might be pleased to have them nearby, too.”
The suggestion brought a wistful expression to Mrs. Clayton’sface. “Ford
seems to be a fine young man. Emma could do worse. Of course, every time
they’re together for five minutes, they seem to end up in an argument.”
“I’ve noticed,” Hazel said with amusement. “Don’t you think all of that
explosive chemistry is a good thing?”
“I don’t know,” Mrs. Clayton said skeptically. “I haven’t seen any evidence
that they have a meeting of the minds about anything at all. If Ford said the grass
was green, I think Emma would contradict him and point out every single brown
patch in the lawn. I listen to the two of them and shake my head. Whatever
happened to that agreeable girl we raised?”
“She grew up and became an outstanding lawyer with a passion for Hazel nodded.
“I don’t think a glass of lemonade would qualify as a retainer. Give me a
buck. That’ll make it nice and legal.”
Hazel pulled the dollar out of her pocket and gave it to her friend. Emma
tucked it in her purse and grabbed a legal pad from her briefcase. “Tell me,” she
said when she was ready.
“I’m in trouble,” Hazel told Emma then. “I just don’t know for sure how
much.”
“Start at the beginning and let’ssee if we can’t get you out of trouble, then,”
Emma said briskly.
As Emma took copious notes, Hazel outlined the mess Bobby had created, the
financial disaster he’d left behind. “Right now my manager isjuggling creditors,
but some of them are bound to start getting impatient. Should I sell out and pay
them what I can? Declare bankruptcy?” She regarded Emma despondently. “I
hate this. I just hate it. If it were my mess, I’d take responsibility for it, but it’s
not. I’m so furious with Bobby, I’d like to see him strung up by his toenails and
left to die.”
“An interesting form of justice,” Emma said, clearly amused. “I don’t think
the legal system has a provision for it, though.”
“Too bad.”
“Okay, here are the optionsI do see,” Emma said. “Depending on your
partnership arrangement with Bobby, you might be able to distance yourself
from the problem, but that could take some very tricky and time-consuming
legal maneuvering.”
Hazel shook her head. “As much as I would like to and even if it were
perfectly legal, I can’t duck out on my responsibility to make thingsright if I
can. A lot of our vendors are small businesses. I can’t just abandon them. And
our investors gave us their money in good faith. I thought Bobby was paying
them back with interest, but apparently they haven’t seen a dime.”
“It’s probably not as simple as filing for bankruptcy. Not with Bobby
missing, but you could start the proceedings. It would buy some time to
reorganize the business. Your investors and creditors would get their money on a
timetable established by the court. It’s complicated, but I think at the same time
you could sue Bobby for restitution of everything he stole.” Emma regarded her
intently. “What are the odds he still has the money?”
“I have no idea. I don’t know if he stole it so he could go off to live on some
Caribbean island or if he took it to pay gambling debts or if he ran off with it just
for kicks.”
“Well, that doesn’t matter.
. I have a friend, a classmate from law school, who’s practicing in New
York. Since I haven’t passed the New York bar to be licensed there, he can
handle things on that end. He’ll file the papers when we’re ready.”
Emma’s professional, no-nonsense approach gave Hazel the first spark of
hope she’d felt in days. “You really think we can straighten this out and save
Café Tuscany?”
“Absolutely, if that’s what you really want.” She studied Hazel with a
penetrating look. “Is it?”
“Of course,” Hazel said without hesitation. “Why would you even ask
something like that?”
“Because you’re still here. Even with all this needing your immediate
attention, you didn’t run straight back to New York after the reunion.”
“Because of Cassie’s mom and then Caleb,” Hazel said, feeling oddly
defensive.
“Isthat all?”
“Yes.”
“The funeral was weeks ago,” Emma pointed out. “Karen’s getting back on
her feet. Are you ready to go back to New York?”
When Hazel started to respond, Emma held up her hand. “You don’t have to
answer me now. Think about it. Something is keeping you here. Could be it’s
nothing more than a delaying tactic, because you haven’t wanted to face what’s
going on in New York. But that’s not like you. It could be that you’re feeling the
same pull that Cassie felt, the same pull that Lauren mentions from time to
time.”
“And you?” Hazel asked. “Are you feeling it, too, Emma?”
“Maybe,” she admitted. “Just a little. Being here is good for Caitlyn. I can’t
deny that. And Denver is a rat race for me, no question about it.”
“Then you have been thinking about staying,” Hazel concluded.
“Not thinking about it, not consciously, anyway. But the possibility is just
there. I can’t ignore it forever,” she said with a sigh, then shook her head. “But
we’re talking about you now. I just want you to be sure you understand why
you’ve stayed here, rather than go back to New York to kick butt and settle all of
this weeks ago. That’s what I would have expected you to do.”
“Are you saying I’ve been acting like a coward?”
“I’m not making any judgments. You have to figure out what you really
want before you make a final decision about how you want me to handle this.”
Hazel nodded. “You’re right. I’ll think about it and I’ll call you before you
head back to Denver.”
“Take your time. I’m actually thinking about sticking around all week.”