3. Ella
I yawned and stretched before pressing my hand into my lower back and curving it out to relieve the tension that had built up there. I slipped off my blue-light blocking glasses and closed my eyes before pinching the bridge of my nose. Gloria wanted me to proof the articles for Sunday before I left, so I’d spent the last few hours staring at a computer screen. My eyes were tired.
Gloria had been weird to me all day. After she learned about my encounter with the mystery man this morning, she was acting as if I couldn’t be trusted. Every time I walked into a room while she was talking to someone, she dropped her voice to a hush before she promptly ended the conversation.
My spidey sense was going haywire not only from what the mystery man had said, but how he’d said it. But I was willing to let her weird behavior pass. After all, Gloria was my boss. If something was off-limits, I was going to honor that. But her behavior just heightened my suspicion that things around this town weren’t exactly what people thought they were.
If she wanted to throw me off a scent, she was failing miserably.
My phone chimed. I flipped it over and glanced down to see a text from Asher. I smiled as I swiped the screen.
Asher: Burning the midnight oil?
I laughed and nodded as I picked up my phone to respond.
Me: Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner.
I pushed my chair back, stretching out my legs in front of me. I leaned back and let my muscles relax as I waited for Asher to respond.
Asher: Red looks good on you.
I frowned as I read his text. Then I glanced down at the red satin button-down shirt and black pencil skirt I was wearing. How did he…? I glanced around. Could he see me?
Asher: To the left
I glanced over to the wall on my left.
Asher: Other left
I glanced to the widow on my right and laughed. Asher was standing at my window with a coffee cup in each hand and a giant grin on his lips. He wiggled his eyebrows, and I shook my head as I moved to stand.
“Wanna let me in?” he shouted through the glass, nodding toward the front door Gloria had locked when she left earlier that evening.
“You’re such a dork.” I stood and made my way through my office to the front room. Asher was standing at the door when I unlocked it and pushed it open. He instantly held out a cup of what I could only assume was my regular order, so I took it from him. “Thanks,” I said as I held the cup in both hands and took a long sip. “You are a hero.”
“That’s me. Harmony’s realtor by day, and coffee bringer by night,” he said as he grinned at me.
I turned and moved away from the door so he could join me inside. He shut the door behind him and then glanced over at me. “Gloria’s got you slaving away, huh?” he asked as he slipped his free hand into his front pocket and glanced around before taking a sip of his own coffee.
“Yeah. She wanted me to get the articles proofed before we send them to the printers on Sunday.” I took another long drink, feeling better with each sip. “I was the one who volunteered to stay late.”
He paused and looked at me. “You volunteered, or you were volunteered?”
I pursed my lips and raised my eyebrows as if to say, what do you think?
He tsked. “What did you do to tick Gloria off this time?”
I sighed and took a sip of coffee. I wasn’t sure how much I wanted to tell him. Should I tell him about what happened when I got to work that morning? Or should I just let it go? Gloria told me not to do anything about what the man had said. The Proctors were rich. They had a lot of enemies in the community. The person was probably a spiteful individual who was just looking for revenge. There was no need to bite the hand that feeds you just because of baseless accusations.
And while I agreed with that, not looking into the accusations seemed strange as well. After all, that was the job of a journalist. It was my job to make sure that truths were revealed for the greater good. Ignoring something out of fear of whom it might upset went against everything I’d sworn to do when I decided to major in journalism. And then to have my editor—the woman who hired me to tell the truth—tell me not to so much as look into the family. It didn’t sit right with me.
“Ella?”
Asher’s voice brought me back to the present. I blinked and glanced over at him. He raised his eyebrows and was studying me like he was waiting for me to respond.
“I’m sorry, what?” I asked, forcing the thoughts of the mystery person into the locked box in the back of my mind. I wasn’t going to worry about that right now.
“I asked you what you did to tick Gloria off.”
I nodded. “Right.” Then I shrugged. “Who knows why Gloria gets in the ruts she does.”
Asher took another sip. “True.” Then he glanced over at me. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know that you’d be working under someone like her when I suggested that you come to Harmony.” He sucked in his breath. “I guess I was just selfish, and I wanted you here.”
I offered him a smile. “It isn’t your fault. You didn’t know.” I took a few steps toward him and punched him playfully in the shoulder. “And I’m glad you told me about this job. I needed to get out of Chicago. Plus, I like Harmony. It’s growing on me.”
He looked relieved. “Good.”
I nodded toward my office. “Wanna wait while I get the last article read, and then we can get some dinner?”
He studied me for a moment, his expression turning serious. “Does a bear poop in the woods?”
I laughed before shaking my head. I waved for him to follow me to my office. I sat at my desk, reading Sabrina’s article about the Founder’s Day Festival that was coming up. Asher sat in the chair across from my desk, doing work on his phone.
Needing to rest my eyes for a moment, I glanced up at him. His dark blond hair was sticking up, indicating that he’d just pushed his hand through it. His gaze was trained on his screen, and from the way his eyes were moving back and forth, he was reading something.
We’d met in college when we were both RA’s. Our friendship had always been easy. We remained best friends until he moved away from Chicago after graduation and I stayed. I thought our relationship was over, but surprisingly, it didn’t skip a beat. It just changed from seeing each other every day to texting or calling with a weekend get-together every few months.
When I told him that I’d just broken up with Scott, my long-term boyfriend, he told me about the job opening in Harmony. Chicago was a big city, but every corner I turned reminded me of Scott and the life I’d thought we were going to live. Moving away to a small southern town where my best friend lived seemed like just the escape I needed. So, I jumped on it despite my friends and family thinking I was crazy to do so.
As soon as I got here, Asher was there to help me. He found me a place to live and even showed up with groceries my first night. Even now, a few months later, he was bringing me coffee and keeping me company.
I was lucky to have such a good and loyal friend.
As if he had sensed my gaze, he glanced up at me and furrowed his brow. “What?”
I shrugged as I smiled. “Just thinking about how great of a friend you are.”
His smile faded for a moment before he shrugged. “Yeah, well don’t tell anyone. I’ve got an image to uphold here.”
I laughed. “Oh, really?”
“Plus, my vetting process is long. I’m not sure many would get through it.”
I leaned forward and rested my chin in my hand. “Is that so? I got through it.”
He waved his hand in the air in front of him. “So, you know firsthand how ruthless I can be.”
“Totally ruthless.”
“I’m an animal.”
I shook my head. “You’re a dork.”
He shrugged. “I am that as well. A ruthless, dorky animal.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “So…is this vetting process the reason why you’re not dating anyone in Harmony?”
He paused before he looked over at me. “Since when did you start keeping tabs on my dating life?”
I leaned back in my office chair and bounced a few times. “It’s hard to keep tabs on something that doesn’t exist.”
“Ouch. Shots fired, Calipso.” Then he shrugged. “I haven’t found the right girl. Plus, I’m working on building my company.” He leaned forward. “Which is going magnificently, thank you for asking.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Really?”
“Yep. I just got a call from Marcus Proctor. He’s going to have some houses to list in the next month, and he wants me to be the agent for them.” His smile was so wide that I hated how my stomach sunk at the mention of the Proctor patriarch. Was there a part of this town that family wasn’t entrenched in?
“Wow. That’s amazing,” I said, hoping I sounded genuine in my excitement.
He nodded. “It’s great for my company, especially since I’m so new in a close-knit town. Having the backing of a big fish gains me trust that would have taken years to cultivate without it.”
The reporter side of my brain kicked in. I knew I shouldn’t pry, but this might be my chance to ask questions without arousing suspicion. If I was going to put this whole Proctor thing to bed, I needed to appease my gut feeling that there was more to the story than just a jilted friend. Something was going on in the Proctor family, and no one seemed willing to talk about it.
“Do the Proctors own a lot of real estate around here?” I brought my elbows up to rest them on the arm rests next to me.
Asher scoffed. “That’s an understatement. They own a lot, and are quickly buying up properties to flip. With Deveraux construction investing heavily, the Proctors are on the fast track to own a huge portion of the town.”
That in and of itself wasn’t illegal. But it didn’t sit right with me either. No family or entity should own that much of any town. Corruption had a way of rooting itself when competition was taken out.
“Oh no.”
I glanced up to see Asher studying me. I frowned. “What?”
“I don’t like that look on your face.”
I reached up and squished my cheeks. “What look?”
He sighed as he sat back in his chair. “Your reporter look.” He raised his eyebrows. “It’s the look you get when you’re collecting information.”
“Collecting information? Why would I be collecting information?” I lied.
He studied me. “Sometimes there’s no story, El. Sometimes, what you see is what you get.”
While I knew that was true, it was also false. There was always a story behind everything. Whether it was newspaper worthy or not, there was always a story behind everything a person did.
“I’m just curious,” I said as I shrugged my shoulders and pushed around my computer mouse to wake up my monitor. “Can’t I be curious?”
“You can be curious,” Asher said.
“Good.” Even though he’d agreed with me, I knew there was more he wanted to say. So, I paused to see if he was going to continue.
“It’s just that this is a good thing for me. Having a relationship with the Proctors will really help take my business to the next level.” He scrubbed his face. “I need this.”
I gave him a soft smile. “I’m happy for you, Asher. I’m not trying to rain on your parade.” That was true. I wanted only good things for my friend.
He studied me before he nodded. “I know. Thanks.”
Silence fell between us, so I turned my attention to my monitor. “I have about five minutes until I’m done, and then we can head out. Does that work?” I asked, all the while not taking my eyes off the screen.
“That works,” Asher said.
I forced my mind to focus on the words in front of me even though all it wanted to do was mull over my conversation with Asher. I was beginning to realize that if I acted on the suspicion that was growing in my gut, I was going to have to do it alone. My boss and my friend didn’t seem interested in pulling on any thread that might unravel the Proctor family’s secrets.
Sure, it might behoove me to forget what that man said to me this morning. The easy thing was to walk away and pretend it was just a figment of my imagination. Problem was, I wasn’t the kind of girl who took the easy way out.
And I doubted that was going to change anytime soon.