Turn up the Heat

and Owen’s baby.
    They had decided not to be told whether the baby was a boy or a girl, so all possibilities were open. And for a world of possibilities, no place on earth beats the Web. Using a baby-name site that allowed me to save a list of names under consideration, I put together an appealing selection and then looked up the meanings of the names in case I’d misguidedly chosen something that meant “idiot woman” or “son of burglar.” While I was on the site, I looked up Noah, which turned out to mean “wanderer,” “peaceful,” or “comforter.” Well, the wanderer part rang all too true, and if “comforter” was the bedroom variety, then it fit, too. Peaceful? Well, Noah probably felt peaceful after having sex with one of his random one-night stands. Chloe, I discovered, had two meanings, both pleasant: “young green shoot” or “blooming.” I typed in my last name and was disappointed to learn that Carter meant “cart driver.” Dull!
    Josh called and interrupted my important research. “Listen, I can’t talk long, but I just had a pretty weird conversation with a friend of mine, Dan, who's a chef at Asiago, one of Owen’s restaurant accounts.” I heard the usual kitchen noise in the background.
    “Uh-huh. What’d he say?” I entered Joshua. The word looked funny, since I never called Josh by his full name. “Lord is salvation” or “God rescues.”
    “Owen told me he was delivering to Asiago, so I asked Dan how Owen was working out and all that. Dan had no idea what I was talking about. He said that Owen had come in but that his prices were too high, so Dan didn’t use him.”
    “So? Maybe Owen just meant he was trying to get the account.”
    “There’s more.” Josh spoke loudly to make himself heard over the restaurant din. “Dan is good friends with the chefs at a few of the other places Owen said he delivers to, so I had Dan call over to them and see what they had to say. Turns out, Owen only has one of those accounts, and they only order a few of their products from him and still use their other fish purveryor for most of their orders. I called Porcaro, too, because I’d sent Owen over there when he first started his job, and I forgot to ask Porcaro about it the other night. Owen told me Top of the Hub was one of his biggest accounts, and they were giving him great orders five times a week. When I talked to Porcaro today, he said he only orders scallops from Owen twice a week.”
    “Owen is lying about his accounts? What’s going on with him? Maybe he’s been trying to keep Adrianna from worrying.”
    “I don’t know. But Mark also told me that his friend Sam from Danielle’s Bistro does use Owen and has gotten to be friendly with him.”
    “Okay, so that’s good. He’s building a relationship with his account.” I felt desperate to find something positive.
    “Owen told Sam that he bought the delivery truck. It doesn’t belong to the Daily Catch company. It’s his. Owen was showing it off to Sam and told him how much he paid for it, which was a lot, by the way, and how he got a brand-new refrigeration unit put in himself. Chloe, Owen must have huge car payments every month for that thing.”
    “No, no, that can’t be right,” I insisted. “He’s said a hundred times that his delivery truck is a company truck. Adrianna said he doesn’t have to pay for the insurance or maintenance on it because his boss takes care of all of that.” Josh had to be mistaken; Owen wouldn’t lie.
    “No. Mark was sure about this because he heard that Owen made a little bit of a spectacle of himself by flashing off his new truck. You know Owen. I don’t think he was being a jerk about it, but he definitely made a show of it.” That was like Owen.
    I shut my eyes and sighed. “I don’t even know what to say right now. But don’t say anything to Owen, and especially not to Adrianna, about this.”
    “I agree. I don’t know what the hell to think. Something weird is going on with Owen. Listen, I have to go, but I wanted to tell you what I knew. I’m coming!” Josh shouted out to someone in the kitchen. “I’ll talk to you later tonight or tomorrow.”
    I hung up, stunned by what Josh had just told me. Owen was lying about something significant to Adrianna, his fiancée and the mother-to-be of his child. How could he possibly afford a new truck? And now, of all times? And the maintenance and the insurance! Especially without the major accounts he had described