It's true. She's been telling me what Europe and Italy are doing. I shoo her in my office, shut the door so they can talk, and man the phones in her absence. Buttons here, buttons there, green ones, red ones. I have no idea what to do. I just push the blinking ones.

"Gucci boutique, this is Hallie. How can I assist you?" This is actually a little fun.

I would never be able to be Miss Happy Go Lucky all the time, but for the moment it's entertaining me.

"First, you can have dinner with me." My heart skips a beat hearing Bo's voice. "Next week, I am coming to work on the Burger Beer deal. What do you say?"

"Um..." I stutter.

He completely catches me off guard. There is a week to plan and come up with a smart-ass dig and put everything out there on the line. Set the boundaries as running partners only.

"Sure," I say. I don't tell him about me leaving Gucci. I'm sure Piper will do enough talking for all three of us. "Give me a call when you get in town and we'll take it from there."

The other blinking lights, on the phone, is a good excuse for me to get off. The longer he talks, the less angry I am at him.

Beatrice can't thank me enough when she gets of the conference call with Charlie.

"I think I am going to explode."

"Out of all the associates I've worked with over the years, you deserve this." I take both of her hands in mine.

Beatrice is on cloud nine the entire day. The boutique is busy. We ended the day on a good note with a lot of sells.

I take my time driving to Hyde Park. When I pull into the driveway, I'm shocked to not only see Lucy, but she's pulling weeds out of the flower bed.

"Lucy?" I question.

There are dead leaves crumbled in her hair when she looks back at me. I sit down next to her in the grass. This is obviously a time for an intervention.

Henry scratches on the door when he hears my voice. He bounds out into Lucy's lap when I open the door, giving her kisses.

"Luce, what's wrong?" I place my hand on her back.

"I think it's over," she whispers under her breath and looks up with her red puffy eyes. "Beck and I are over. He really is going to stay in Mason Crossing."

"I'm sorry." I wish I had more words to comfort her.

"I don't want to move back there and become my parents. Why in the world would I want to do that?" She's sobbing now.

"I wouldn't want to be your parents either, but why would you have to be?" I pick a few dandelions, toss them out into the yard.

I can't imagine Lucy cooking and running the vacuum each night, which is exactly what her mom does. I love her mom and she's been a second mom to me, but she's a little too June Cleaver.

"You need to put some distance between you and Beck. You need to go home and work. You'll make the right decision on your time, not Beck's, not your parents. Yours." I reassure her.

"I*m going back to Chicago tomorrow morning." There is firmness in her voice.

I follow her inside as she gets her suitcase. She's reached the stage in her life where the road is splitting off. She is sad, but strong, at the same time.

I rush down the stairs when the doorbell rings. I forgot about Natalie coming by to talk with me a little more about her idea for her mom's birthday present.

She has six siblings with six different birthstones. Her idea is amazing. She wants simple seven-millimeter sterling silver beads with each of their birthstones evenly sprinkled throughout the bracelet.

Genius. Why haven't I thought of that for moms?

"Natalie, you are amazing." I look at the design I had sketched in my notebook. "We can definitely come up with it. Plus I'm going to show you how to do it."

Natalie looks up and smiles. "I was hoping you could show me. I want her to know I made it and came up with the idea."

I'm envious of Natalie. She has her mom, dad and siblings to go home to. She loves her family. It makes me think of Aunt Grace.

She is my family and the image of her walking with her head down into her apartment building is weighing heavy on my mind. She doesn't look in the best health and I know I should treat her better I do, but sometimes she pushes my buttons the wrong way. Unfortunately it never ends with her.

"I was wondering," I say, "if you want to work for me."

Natalie is mature for her age, but fun and has an eye for fashion, which is proven in the short shorts, tight t-shirt, scarf wrapped around her neck, long knee socks and Chuck Taylor tennis shoes with a slew of Beadnicks bracelets she wearing.

"I'd love to!" She jumps at the chance. She is fidgeting with her bracelets. "I love your jewelry. What will I do, sort the beads? Where is the store going to be?"

She is talking and asking questions faster than I can process them.

"Hold up." I put my hand in front of her. "Actually in a couple weeks I'll be moving back to Chicago. I plan on keeping Dee supplied with bracelets, the simple ones we have in the store. I need your eyes to tell me what's going on in the fashion world and what teenagers are looking for. I'm also talking with Nordstrom's and Saks about carrying a spring line. That means I'll need lots of ideas and maybe a few trips to Chicago. Plus you can make your own designs and we can market to teens."

Natalie is a big part of Beadnicks' success with the teenage population here. Plus her mother's bracelet is a no-brainer. I would've never come up with the idea since I don't have a mom to make any jewelry for.

My mom.

What constitutes my mom? Aunt Grace stepped in as my mom on a second notice. No one ever asked her if she wanted me. She never once let me go hungry. Why haven't I made Aunt Grace a bracelet?

"I think I want to make one for each of my four sisters. They'd love to have a birthstone bracelet." Natalie's voice brings me back from my thoughts.

The bracelet Natalie has in mind for her mom is an easy bracelet. In fact, it's the easiest bracelet I've ever made. It's a good starting bracelet, especially for a teenager. Straight circular beading on wire.

"Birthstone bracelet." I think about marketing it just as that. "I can call these birthstone bracelet for teenagers and mother's bracelet for the moms."

She agrees, and we have several bracelets made in just under an hour.

I want to call her parents and set up a meeting so I can share my ideas about Natalie and the future of Beadnicks in Cincinnati. If I'm going to be in two cities, I'll definitely need her help. She's going to be an integral part to the teen line and the mother bracelet idea I have.

Chapter Forty-Seven.

Training Beatrice is a lot smoother than I thought it would be. It's embarrassing, how she's always been two steps ahead of me.

"I must confess." she says, shying away in a little-girl way, "I took the reports home last night and scoured every inch and detail. I want to do a good job. I want to become a buyer and move to New York and onto Italy."

I often dreamed of becoming a buyer for Gucci. I would lay in bed with a sketch pad and design clothing and jewelry. I just didn't realize it was going to be my jewelry line. I laugh.

"Thoughts become things, so choose the good ones."

I can see Beatrice thinking about that for a second.

"Thoughts become things," she says, taking it in, "so choose the good ones. That's good." She scribbles it down on her pad.

During lunch, I take my mother's bracelet idea to the local hospital. What better way to get to a new mother than through their bundle of joy?

Think about it, everyone who has a baby gets a gift. Usually a shitty gift from the gift shop. You know, the ceramic blue or pink booties with a couple flowers in it, or the bear dressed in a pink or blue shirt.

What if a Beadnicks mommy bracelet is an option? The child is born in July, so they can buy the ruby mommy bracelet. Who will want flowers when they can get a Beadnicks bracelet for a little more money?

I walk into the gift shop and don't see any jewelry for a new mom. There are several different breast cancer items, and angel bracelets, but no baby jewelry.

Within minutes, I have, Eloise, the manager of the gift shop, in the palm of my hands. She calls the labor and delivery manager to come down to talk to me.

"This is a great idea." They agree with each other. Eloise looks at the labor and delivery nurse manager. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Yes." The nurse manager says, "We give away bags filled with coupons and samples to all new families. We can put your business card in each bag stating they can get one in our gift shop." Evidentially, they've been trying to come up with new gifts for new moms. "We don't have great gifts for new moms and these will sell."

My phone vibrates. I look at it to see if it is Beatrice. It's Bo. I push ignore and send him to voicemail. Hopefully sending him to voicemail will send him a message.

"What if I come up with a postcard brochure, elegantly done, of course? I will get your opinion before we mass-print them and use those. That way the new mom can see a picture of an actual bracelet."

The deal is done.

Bo calls again. This time I answer.

"Hello?"

My heart still sinks every time his name pops up on my phone. I want to tell him off, I want to let him know that I know his little Piper secret.

"If I didn't know better, I think you're avoiding me." He nervously laughs. "I'm coming into town tonight and I want to see you."

Tonight? How am I going to come up with a payback scheme in a couple hours?

"Hallie?"

"I'm here." I want to get him out of my mind.

"I heard. You're doing fantastic." Monk probably told him that I asked for advice. "Piper told me you gave notice at the boutique."

Piper.

"Pick me up at eight? You know where I live." I'll definitely have a plan in a couple hours.

There is just one more stop I need to make before I go back to work.

"Aunt's upstairs." Uncle Jimmy sweeps the stoop without looking at me. Or maybe it's just me not wanting to face the fact that threw them to the curb.

I slink upstairs with the smell of shame all over me. The odor isn't as bad as it usually is. Maybe the debugging worked and left a nice smell to boot.

However, Aunt Grace's number still hangs by a thumbtack. Carefully, I tap on the right side of the number and watch it flap up and down.

"Hallie." Good old Aunt Grace is just as happy to see me as always. She has her hands outstretched in front of her. No matter how much I've wronged her, she always makes it right.

I fall into her like a young child. Her arms are comfort for me today. I need her to forgive me for the way I've treated her.

"What's wrong, honey?" Aunt Grace's embrace becomes tighter. No matter how hard I have always pushed her away, she squeezes harder.

"Nothing." I pull away and take the bracelet out of my pocket. "I'm on my way back to work and I want to give you a bracelet I made for you."

The emerald mommy bracelet sparkles in the dull hallway light. Aunt Grace's smile is even brighter.

"It's emerald." I want to make sure she knows the stone.

"Yes, I know. Your birthstone."

She whispers as I put it on her arm. "It's beautiful, Hallie. I love it."

"I'm glad." I roll it around on her wrist. "I want you to be the first mom with a Beadnicks mother's bracelet."

It looks good against her small wrist.

It's my way of telling her I recognize her as my mother. She gets it.

"I wouldn't have it any other way." Tears gather in the corner of her eyes. But I'm not ready to go there with her.

I squeeze her shoulders. "I love you and I hope you enjoy it."

"Oh, I will." She is still ogling the bracelet when I leave.

I call Wilson as I trot down Aunt Grace's stairs. I have a favor. A big one he needs to be in on, and it involves Bo.

He is reluctant at first. Luckily, with a little coaxing and holding one little Prudence over his head, he decides to go along with my plan.

Uncle Jimmy and I do a very nice job ignoring each other. He glares at me as I tell Wilson I'll be home after work.

Chapter Forty-Eight.