My Young Rebel Daddy (The Young Daddies #3)

13. Nick

Chapter 13

Nick

I was having such a nice day too!

Having made some wonderful flower displays for a series of truly delightful customers, I was flying high.

In all of my years working in finance, I never experienced anything close to the satisfaction of seeing a smiling customer happy with their flowers.

Honestly, I’m not exaggerating when I say that arranging flowers is just about the most wholesome and life-affirming thing an individual could do.

Well, okay, maybe preparing bouquets is not quite that earth-shatteringly incredible for everyone, but for me it is!

So when my Daddy walked into the store, I was more than ready to give him a big kiss and tell him all about my day.

But the second I saw Daddy’s face I knew that something was wrong.

And now here I am, riding shotgun in Daddy’s truck as we make our way home, desperately trying to figure out how to solve this mess.

But all hope is not lost, far from it.

I’ve just emailed my friend Anthony, a lawyer buddy from back in the city. He’s a smart, quick-thinking lawyer who always impressed me with his ability to cut to the chase and say it straight.

Some lawyers I came across were all about the doublespeak and grifting an extra ten thousand dollars out of their big clients, but not Anthony.

I see my cell phone flash up – boy, that was a quick reply!

Hey, Nick! So good to hear from you. But I’m sorry it has to be in these circumstances. Okay, long story short: this isn’t great. In the event of this Werner Hodge guy gaining a compulsory purchase order, you CAN appeal. But these kinds of appeals can take a long time, and to be honest they rarely come down on the side of the appellant. You’ve got the money to fund a strong case, and I’d be happy to throw my hat into the ring to represent you. But it would be long, tough, and extremely stressful for you. You know me – I tell it like it is. Let me know your thoughts. ANTHONY.

‘Daddy, that was Anthony,’ I say, my voice not exactly at its most jubilant. ‘He says we can appeal. But it’s not going to be easy. I don’t know if I can handle a long, prolonged battle. Maybe I should sell up and look for a plot of land somewhere else?’

‘Absolutely fucking not,’ Jason replies, shooting me a stern look. ‘We’re not going to let this snake in the grass push us around. I’ve seen Hodge do this to people in the past. He’s a bully. And what’s the one thing that bullies can’t handle?’

‘What Daddy?’ I say, my heart thumping at the sight and sound of my Daddy being so aggressively protective of me.

‘Bullies hate people standing up to them,’ Jason growls. ‘And if Werner Hodge thinks I won’t knock his ass from here all the way back to whichever hole he crawled out of, he can think again.’

‘I love it when you talk like that!’ I giggle, momentarily forgetting the seriousness of the situation.

‘But here’s the thing,’ Jason says. ‘You might not like this and believe me I’m not too keen on it either.’

‘ Uh-oh , this doesn’t sound good!’ I reply, totally not sure where this is headed.

‘We might just need your stuck up, stick-in-the-ass neighbor’s help to take Hodge down,’ Jason says, a focused look on his face as he swings the truck around the corner and flooring the accelerator to get us home as quickly as he can. ‘But if that’s how we take Werner Hodge down, then I don’t give a damn.’

Daddy’s right, I’m not exactly delighted at the thought of involving Christopher Snoot. He was mean to me and never made me feel welcome in the neighborhood.

But…

Like Daddy said, the most important thing now is putting an end to Werner Hodge – and if I trust one person in the whole world to make the right call, it’s my young Daddy…

To be honest, I never thought I would find myself standing inside Christopher Snoot’s house – but here I am!

I’m pleasantly surprised by what I see too.

With a fine eye for detail and some brilliantly evocative black and white photos of orchestras and opera conductors from the past, the entrance lobby is stylish.

‘There’s more to me than just your pain in the butt neighbor,’ Christopher says, a wry grin on his face. ‘Maybe one day we can have a coffee and actually get to know one another.’

‘Yeah, why not,’ I reply, still not entirely certain that we’re ever going to be anything even approaching BFFs!

‘But that isn’t what this is about,’ Christopher says, looking at Jason and me as we stand there. ‘We’ve got a mutual problem that goes by the name of Werner Hodge. I knew he was trouble from the first time he showed up here. And then when he came to bad mouth you, Jason… well, I’m ashamed to say that I heard what I wanted to here.’

‘How so?’ Jason replies, a stern look on his face.

I don’t think my Daddy has warmed up to Christopher yet, and to be honest I don’t blame him – after all, Christopher did make an attempt to break us up and ruin the home build project.

‘Well, my whole reason for being against Nick’s new home project was…’ Christopher says, a slightly embarrassed look on his face. ‘I was afraid the new house would overlook my garden. And I value my privacy too much. And I hate change too. So… all I can do is apologize to you both.’

‘Apology accepted,’ I say, seeing that my pain in the butt neighbor actually seems to mean what he’s saying.

‘Yeah, why don’t we call it quits and let it go,’ Daddy says, offering his strong hand to Christopher. ‘Let’s shake on it and move on.’

I beam with pride as I see just how dignified my young Daddy is.

The kinds of Daddies I used to meet in the city were always full of pride and never liked to let any grudges die. But to see Jason, a Daddy who’s not even thirty years old, be so wise and forgiving is truly inspiring.

‘Well this is all well and good,’ Jason says, looking around the lobby. ‘But we need to make sure that this beautiful house and my baby boy’s house don’t end up being flattened to make way for a ton of gross luxury apartments.’

‘I think we need to tell him that we’re not going to accept this,’ I say, putting my brain into gear and trying to bring back the old me who used to make million dollars deals before breakfast. ‘We move quickly to let him know that he’s not going to win this without a fight.’

‘Sounds good,’ Christopher says, nodding his head in agreement.

‘This might sound wild, but I think we take this fight directly to Hodge,’ Jason says, a knowing look on his face. ‘The last thing he’ll expect to see is us rocking up at his office. He won’t like it either. But anything we can do to unsettle him is a net benefit to us. We have to take him out of his comfort zone. Put him in a panic. If we can force a mistake out of him, that’s even better.’

‘Well what in the world are we waiting for then?’ Christopher screeches, reminding me and Daddy exactly why he’s not exactly our favorite person! ‘I’ll follow you two in my car.’

‘Whatever you say,’ Jason replies, rolling his eyes – and probably thankful that Snoot didn’t try to travel with us. ‘Come on boy, let’s go. It’s time I showed you that my truck isn’t just a pretty face… it can seriously shift too.’

‘Yay! We’re going to show that stink-butt that he can’t mess with us!’ I squeal, a rush of adrenalin coming over me as me and my Daddy leave the house and sprint over toward the truck.

It’s time to find Werner Hodge and put him in his place.

I’m a Little who made his millions in the cutthroat world of finance – I might be a gentle florist now, but I think I might be about to show this bully that I’ve still got some fight left in me yet!

‘Buckle up,’ Jason barks, leaning over and pulling my safety belt across for me as he turns the truck engine on. ‘But before we leave, I want you to know this, baby boy…’

‘Yes, Daddy?’ I say, my heart beating faster than I’ve ever felt it before.

‘No, nothing,’ Jason replies. ‘I’ll tell you when this is all over.’

Whatever Daddy is referring to will just have to wait, I guess. And maybe that’s a good thing too. Right now we need to focus on one thing, and one thing only.

It’s time to put our building project back on track and remove Werner Hodge from all our lives – for good.