Love Loyal and True (Must Love Diamonds 2)

“And receipts for stuff like this?” This time he pointed to a number of small withdrawals from local gas stations, restaurants, and her favorite grocery store.

“I told you, those are all personal.”

“Then they shouldn’t be on your business credit card.”

“I only have the one credit card. I mean, other than a few store cards, but I only use them at those stores.”

“You don’t have a separate card for your shop?”

The note of censure in his tone sparked her defenses. “No. I’ve never needed to. It’s not that big a deal.”

“It is when you can’t balance your accounts.”

“I’ve told you what everything is for,” she countered. “My other accountant never had an issue with it.”

“What about this? You’ve got a twelve-hundred dollar deposit, but again, no invoice to go with it. Where’d that come from? What’s it for? You need a paper trail to back this stuff up or you’ll be screwed if you ever get audited.”

Roxanna leaned down to look at the bank statement as the dollar amount tripped her memory. She’d forgotten all about that, and hadn’t even known it had been deposited.

“That one I’m not sure on,” she admitted reluctantly. “It was a personal check that came in, and Darcy was supposed to follow up on it.”

“It’s your business. You should follow up on it.”

She straightened, shifting back on her heels as annoyance surged forward. When the door chimes rang for incoming customers, she shot a glance at a hipster guy and two girls who entered, and lowered her voice. “Normally I would, but the past few weeks have been a little crazier than usual. I forgot about it because I was dealing with the fire—replacing my driver’s license and social security card, and credit cards and clothes. Then there was the election—and then you.”

His expression seemed to say none of those were a good enough excuse. Heat rose in her face, leaving her feeling inadequate and irresponsible.

“Just like your mother,” Gram’s voice echoed.

Roxanna set her jaw as she scraped the papers together in an uneven stack and thrust them against Loyal’s chest. He grabbed for them as she said, “I’ll ask Darcy about the check again tomorrow, and I’ve answered you about the rest, so is everything set back there now?”

“Not even close.”

“What?” His somber tone dropped her stomach straight down to her feet. “Why not?”

“Because there’s a reason things haven’t been adding up for you, but I haven’t figured it out yet. I want to go through your profit and loss statements from the past few years. Maybe even from the time you opened.”

“Why? My old accountant did all those.”

“Exactly why I want to go through them.” His gaze narrowed as he tilted his head. “You never noticed anything weird on them?”

“No—not that I really understand them. Besides, I’ve known Mirela for years. We worked together at a previous job, so as long as the numbers balanced out the way they should, I trusted it was right.”

“You’re too trusting, then. And if you’re going to run a business, you should know how to read your own P&Ls.”

His judgmental tone was starting to piss her off. “Not all of us like numbers, Loyal. I thought that’s what accountants are for.”

“And clients like you are the reason some accountants are richer than they should be.”

His criticism struck a deep nerve. “Speaking from experience are you?”

“Don’t turn this around on me. You know where my money comes from. I’m just trying to figure out where yours is coming from—and going to.”

She got stuck on the first part of his last sentence. There it was. He still didn’t trust what she did.

Noticing the hipster guy was heading their way, she pushed Loyal toward the back, along with her hurt and disappointment. “It’s coming from customers and clients. How about you do your job, and I’ll do mine.”

Chapter 25