Chapter 8
It was past seven when Leo returned to Pecan Corner. Other than a visit to Needle Drop Vinyl, he’d mostly worked in Earl’s
apartment over the past three days. He stopped by the shop on Friday out of curiosity. There were records and a stereo player
in the house he grew up in, but he didn’t remember his parents ever playing them. His nannies did, though. A long-dormant
memory had surfaced of Edith, his favorite nanny, dancing around the room while she picked up his toys as eighties music played
through the speakers.
He had no idea why he was remembering Edith now. He’d had so many nannies because Constance kept firing them for one reason
or another. Leo had learned later from some of his classmates that letting staff go for petty reasons was commonplace in their
social circles. Just one reason of many why he moved as far away as he could and still be in the same country.
When he entered the shop, a tall, slender man about the same age as Leo, wearing a long blond ponytail, introduced himself as Zander and asked if he could help with anything.
Leo listened to podcasts more than music, but they did end up discussing popular groups from the nineties, Zander’s preferred decade.
Like Addie and Sherman at the general store and the staff at the Corner Eatery, he was remarkably genial, and not in a salesman type of way.
He suspected all the business owners in Pecan Corner were similar.
Via certainly was.
The mess in Earl’s apartment did provide a welcome diversion. He started by going through the numerous stacks of papers that
were everywhere and quickly discovered that she’d been right about his uncle refusing to throw anything away, no matter how
insignificant. If Earl had a computer, Leo would have just scanned everything, but the man had been a complete Luddite. There
was nothing he could do except break down the piles into smaller, organized ones, then go through them again to figure out
what to keep and what to discard.
The tedium eventually got to him and by Sunday evening he had to get out of the apartment. But first he called Robert and
asked him to overnight his laptop. He didn’t plan to do a lot of work, just check in on a few things and keep tabs on others.
Then he took a drive around the area, but it quickly grew dark and he couldn’t see the landscape. That shouldn’t have mattered—just
being in his Turismo usually mellowed him. Not this time. As he had so often since their meeting in her office, he started
thinking about Via again.
Calling her Smitten Kitten had slipped out, and he shouldn’t have moved so close to her that he could see the flecks of gold
in her honey-brown eyes, the almost transparent splash of freckles across the top of her peaches-and-cream cheeks, and those
incredibly soft-looking lips.
But he had to put on the brakes. He’d been caught up in the electric teasing between them as he insisted on going camping with her.
He still intended to do that and all the other things on her bucket list that he’d committed to.
But they barely knew each other, had spent less than twenty-four hours together total, and here he was thinking about kissing her .
. . again. The magnetic attraction baffled him.
Excited him too. It was something he could never act upon, and that’s why he withdrew from her, eager to get away and sort through his confusion alone.
He figured avoiding her until they were forced to be together Monday evening in Second Chapter was his only option.
Then Sir had dashed into Earl’s apartment later on Friday, and Leo realized he had a huge problem on his hands. Being apart
from her didn’t clear anything up. It only made the attraction stronger when he saw her. Via Dalton was testing his ability
to conceal his emotions to the limit. While he enjoyed a challenge, this wasn’t what he bargained for.
He pulled into the parking spot in front of Second Chapter, hopped out with several plastic bags filled with food and other
things he needed, having stopped at a big-box store while he was out since the Pecan Corner Store was closed on Sundays. He
fished Earl’s key ring out of his pocket and went inside the building, jogged up the apartment stairs . . . and heard Sir
Meow meowing through Via’s door.
Leo glanced at her apartment. He’d never been around cats for any length of time—pets were forbidden in the Brewster penthouse—so
he had no idea if Sir’s behavior toward him was normal.
“Sir!” Via’s voice was muffled behind the door. “Shhh!”
She was home. He turned slightly toward her apartment. Had she eaten supper yet? He’d bought enough food to last awhile and
had planned to make spaghetti tonight instead of eating a sandwich or canned soup. Nothing fancy—jarred sauce and frozen meatballs.
He rarely cooked, but when he did spaghetti was his go-to dish.
He’d enjoyed their dinner together the other night at the cat café. Maybe he should—
Leo shook his head, amazed at how fast his thoughts flew away from him. He shouldn’t do anything where Via was concerned, except keep the commitments he made to her.
He unlocked Earl’s apartment door and went inside, set the bags on the kitchen counter, and slipped off the jean jacket he’d
borrowed from his uncle. He found it in the coat closet in the living room, which was just as jam-packed as the one in the
bedroom. He was heading to the bathroom when he heard a noise.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
He turned the faucet handle more tightly. Nothing was coming from it, but the dripping sound continued. He opened the cabinet
under the sink and groaned. The entire bottom was wet from a leaky pipe. He hadn’t noticed the dripping sound all weekend,
but it looked like the plumbing had been leaking for a while.
After going to the kitchen and finding a bowl to put under the drip, he used his phone to search the internet for a plumber.
First name that popped up was KD Plumbing Company. They had almost perfect reviews. The leak wasn’t an emergency, so he could
make the call in the morning.
He was pocketing the phone when it buzzed. He pulled it out and glanced at the screen to find an unexpected name—Bennett.
“Hello?” he answered.
“Hello, Leo.” Bennett’s voice was bright. “Just checking in to see how things are going.”
“They’re . . . going.” Things would really kick into gear now that Via was involved.
“Good, good. Earl was a borderline hoarder, so I thought you might be getting overwhelmed.”
Borderline? More like certified. “Thanks,” he said, meaning it. “I’m glad you called because I have a question.”
“I’m happy to answer it if I can.”
Leo was starting to like this guy. “Is there anything specific I need to learn for the quiz? I feel like I’m flying blind here.”
“Earl didn’t specify. The quiz is sealed and I can’t open the envelope until day thirty. My advice is to learn as much as
you can. There’s no telling what kind of questions he came up with.”
He rubbed his palm over his jean-clad thigh. “Will do.” He paused, unsure if he wanted to ask another question, the one that
had been surfing in his mind while he was going through his uncle’s paperwork. But it wouldn’t go away unless he got an answer.
“Did Earl tell you anything about his—our—family?”
“No. He only mentioned you and your mother in a legal context.”
“Oh.” He felt a little jab of disappointment at that.
“Glad things are going well for you. If you need me, I’m down the street or a phone call away.”
“Thanks, Bennett.”
They hung up, and Leo glanced around the apartment. Earl didn’t have a single picture of his parents or Constance in view.
None of himself either. No personal pictures at all. It was hard to believe he and Constance were even related. She would
never step foot in either the apartment or Second Chapter, and not only because of the chaotic states they were in. Earl’s
surroundings were too bourgeois. Ironic, considering she’d grown up with him in a working-class family outside Philadelphia.
That was all he knew about her past. He couldn’t even remember ever meeting his maternal grandparents.
He’d had a decent relationship with his father, though.
But it was also distant due to Elliot being in his early fifties when Leo was born—he was twenty-five years older than Constance.
When his father died shortly after Leo got his MBA, it was expected that he would take over the family real estate business.
And he did, for a short while. But with Constance being on the board of directors, she sabotaged him.
In less than a year, he left the company—and her—for LA, never looking back.
She never forgave him for that, and he didn’t care. He would never forgive her for robbing him of his inheritance . . . and
he wouldn’t allow her to rob him of this one.
He went to put the groceries away, then settle in for another night in Earl’s apartment. He’d make his spaghetti, eat it on
the couch since Earl’s dining table was covered with junk, and watch some cable TV before falling asleep on the sofa, unable
to bring himself to sleep in Earl’s bed.
He was used to spending nights alone. He was adaptable too. He’d been on plenty of business trips since he started working
at the firm. Whether in his house or a high-end hotel, he never minded being by himself at the end of the day. Until now.
He looked in the direction of Via’s apartment. A hop, skip, and jump and he would be right at her door. And he wouldn’t be
alone anymore.
Instead he searched for a pot to boil water, finding one inside Earl’s oven, along with other cookware. Seems like his uncle
didn’t like cooking. And from what Leo knew so far, Earl spent his evenings alone too.
Monday evening after she closed down the café, Via headed to Second Chapter, Sir Meow in tow. She opened the door to the hallway
and stood in front of the bookstore’s side door. Sir immediately started meowing. Leo was inside.