Shockingly, the rest of her day passed smoothly and without any drama. She knew it wouldn’t last, so she enjoyed it while she could. Even so, by the end of her workday, Beryl was more than ready to hop in her car and drive downtown.
She managed to find a parking space close to Jake’s shop, locked her car and went into the shop.
Jake grinned as soon as she walked through the door. “Thanks for meeting me here,” he said, putting his palms on the counter by the register as he focused all his attention on her. “Frederick had to go home early for a family event. In this case, it’s probably better if I talked to the clients myself anyway.” He glanced at his wristwatch quickly and then back to her.
“No problem,” Beryl said, taking her time walking toward him so she could fully enjoy the view. It felt like days since she’d seen him instead of less than twenty-four hours.
“I would’ve had you just meet me at my house, but I’m not sure how long this is going to take,” he said.
“Don’t worry about it.” As she reached the counter, Beryl looked around the space to ensure she hadn’t missed a customer. Confirming they were alone, she planted a quick kiss on his mouth. She took a step back, gauging his expression to see if he had issues with public displays of affection in his workplace.
“You know, my brain sort of locks up when you do that,” he said, a heated glint in his eye. “Not that I mind, but I just need my brain for another twenty minutes or so.”
His admission pleased her immensely. “Okay, but I hope you don’t think I’m sorry, because I’m not.”
“Me neither.” Jake chuckled and gestured toward the door that presumably led to his workshop. “Why don’t you wait in here for me?”
Before she took two steps, a jingle from the front door signaled that his clients had arrived for their consult. Beryl waved at him, mouthed “good luck,” and ducked into his workshop, closing the door behind her.
She really appreciated that he trusted her in his workspace. Determined not to abuse his trust, she clasped her hands behind her back and took in his projects and the tools of his trade. Once she had circled his workspace twice, she started looking a little deeper.
There were several cabinets and rolling tool chests in the large space. In one corner, Beryl saw what looked like pieces of wood attached to the cinderblocks of the back wall, beneath a corner desk at counter height. For some reason, that seemed odd to her. She walked closer and tried to see if the wooden cabinet front hid any treasures behind it. Was it a secret safe?
Curiosity got the best of her and she tried tugging on it from several different places around the edge, but it didn’t budge. It was probably a frame, minus a picture, stuck to a wall, causing curious-minded people like herself to make more of itthan it was. She shouldn’t be trying to discover all of Jake’s secrets anyway.
Beryl circled his workshop again.
Like a magnet for her curiosity, she was drawn back to that odd wooden frame on the wall. She felt around the edges, fingertips searching for some sort of a knob, handle, button orsomethingthat would spring the thing open.
She was about to give up when she found what felt like a small metal lever along the lower edge of the frame. Excited, she flipped it. Abruptly, the frame swung open, revealing a one-and-a-half-foot-square cavity behind what was obviously a door, not a frame. It was a secret safe after all.
Beryl looked at the stash of items she didn’t recognize. Many looked to be made out of metal. Were they weapons? Surely not. Perhaps they were specialized tools.
Then she saw a square leather pouch. Thinking it might be something Jake had made, she couldn’t resist taking it out of the safe for a closer look. In the strong overhead lights, she saw the initials LR embossed on the flap. Without thinking, Beryl lifted the flap. There was a notebook inside. She pulled it out, flipping the book open to see notes written in a language she didn’t recognize. Whimsically, she thought,Probably secret code, and smiled.
Before she could study any of the other items in the stash or, best of all, put everything back the way she’d found it and pretend she didn’t know about the safe, Jake walked in.
Worse, someone had followed him into the workshop.
So both Jake and some stranger caught her red-handed being a big snoop.
How embarrassing.
Chapter Sixteen
Jake watched as Beryl closed the workshop door behind her. Having her wait in his shop while he worked out the details of a special project for his clients somehow seemed very intimate.
He turned his attention to his clients.
The couple wanted him to craft a birthday gift for their small son. They wanted a special footlocker to put at the end of his bed to collect his treasures in.
Jake thought that was a great idea and showed them photos of other trunks he’d done, explaining that he could modify the design to suit whatever they wanted.
“I mean, I know he’s only going to be four years old,” the woman said. “But I really want this birthday present to look like it maybe came out of a castle dungeon or something. He loves dragons and castles. Since you do metal and leather crafting, perhaps you could adorn the trunk with some cool leather and metal decorations in the shapes of dragons or maybe dragon scales? Something like that, anyway.”
Her husband nodded. He seemed satisfied to let his wife do all the talking, but was just as excited about the project.
“Absolutely, I can do that,” Jake said. “Let me make a few sketches and I’ll send them to you. From those, you can select which ones you like best or we can work together and come up with something that’s more in line with what you’re thinking.”
