Sweet Dreams on Center Street by Sheila Roberts Read Free Book Online

woman.
Correction, angry and unbalanced.
    Of course, he could see how his predecessor had gotten sucked
into making poor decisions. That long red hair, those big hazel eyes, that cute
little tush—Samantha Sterling was hotter than the Wenatchee Valley in August. So
were her sisters and her mother. He’d seen them around. They were a tag team of
damsels in distress. He could imagine Muriel flashing a bit of cleavage and
batting those thick-lashed eyes of hers at old Arnie and putting him in a trance
where he’d happily give her everything, including the keys to the vault.
Watching her and her daughter struggle so valiantly to keep the family business
going, watching those big eyes fill with tears—the poor slob hadn’t stood a
chance.
    But Blake was made of sterner stuff. Of course he’d do all he
could to support Samantha. He’d buy chocolates even though he was allergic to
chocolate. Gram had a birthday coming up soon and he’d get her the biggest box
of candy they had, and when his mother and sister were in town he’d send them to
the Sweet Dreams gift shop to go crazy with his debit card. He’d even be willing
to help Samantha brainstorm ways to raise funds—private investors or a loan from
some of her cronies at the Chamber of Commerce. He’d have told her all that if
she hadn’t had a meltdown and stomped off. But he couldn’t change bank policy
just for her. He’d already gone out on a limb by extending her loan to the end
of February.
    It’s not your business to fix other
people’s mistakes, he reminded himself. You
can’t save every failing business in the state. Still, it seemed a
shame to let this one die. He was well aware of the company’s history and it was
the stuff of movies. Except right now the Sterlings’ story wasn’t looking like
it was headed for a happy ending.
    He forced himself to focus on the papers in front of him. It
was impossible. All he could think about was what a villain he felt like. Sweet
Dreams was Samantha Sterling’s baby and she was trying desperately to save it.
If he had to lock the company’s doors and sell off its assets he’d be a
baby-stealer and everyone in town would hate him. Almost as much as he’d hate
himself.
    * * *
    Elena took one look at Samantha storming into the office
and muttered, “Mierda.”
    Samantha set the basket on Elena’s desk. “Take it home to your
family and enjoy.”
    Elena’s eyebrows drew together. “That is a lot of money
there.”
    â€œConsider it a bonus,” Samantha said. “God knows it’s probably
the last one I’ll be able to give you.”
    â€œYou mustn’t talk like that,” Elena scolded. Sixteen years
older and forty pounds heavier than Samantha, she sometimes forgot she was an
employee and morphed into an office mother. “And why are you back with
this?”
    â€œLong story,” Samantha said, “and one I don’t want to tell.”
Having shut the door on a fresh lecture, she then shut her office door on the
world, plopped down at her desk and stared bitterly at the array of pictures on
the wall.
    Generations of successful family smiled at her. Great-grandma
Rose and her husband, Dusty, wearing their best clothes, stood in front of the
newly purchased building that would house Sweet Dreams Chocolates. Then there
was Great Aunt Fiona and Grandma Eleanor posing in their aprons behind the
counter of the retail gift shop in the fifties, and Grandpa Joe, smiling over
his shoulder for the camera while he worked the line in the factory with a young
José Castillo and George Loomis. There was a shot of Mom before she married Dad,
sitting at the receptionist’s desk. And one of her and Grandpa, displaying the
logo Mom had created for the seal on the candy boxes. There was Dad in front of
the store, posing with his three daughters, the whole Sweet Dreams team gathered
around and