Chapter 5 #3
Before she’d left Canton, this area was an empty field where the kids played tag and wiffle ball. Now the land had been divided into five large lots, with newly constructed brick homes complete with wide covered porches, circle driveways that led to detached garages, and fenced-in backyards.
They looked as if they’d been constructed at roughly the same time, but they were different enough in style to avoid being cookie-cutter homes. Certainly they were nicer than most of the houses in town.
Absently admiring the neatly trimmed hedges that separated the front lawns, Jesse’s attention was captured by the house at the far end of the block.
The white, two-storied farmhouse with a wraparound porch and a tin roof wasn’t new.
In fact, she had a distant memory of an elderly man living there when she was growing up.
Watson? Wilson? Something like that. They used to sneak into the field behind his house and swim in the lake, and steal apples from the nearby orchard.
It looked distinctly out of place next to the elegant brick homes.
Almost as out of place as the glamourous woman with bleached-blond hair who was currently standing on the porch.
She was still some distance away, but it looked like Reese Skylar.
Jesse’s gaze shifted to the large male who was leaning out of the open front door to talk to the real estate agent. Jesse blinked. Was that Noah Allen?
Her steps slowed, her brows arching as she watched the two share an animated conversation. From a distance, it looked like they were arguing. Not a shouting, threatening-violence sort of fight. But they were each making their point. Forcibly.
Jesse felt a stab of surprise. There was no reason the two wouldn’t know each other. It was a small town, and even if Reese was relatively new to the area, it wouldn’t take long to become acquainted with the locals. But the sight emphasized just how much had changed in the past nine years.
A new subdivision. Noah living in his own home. Reese Skylar and her bleached-blond hair.
With a shake of her head, she forced herself to continue down the sidewalk. Whatever was happening between the two was none of her business. Even if she was itching with curiosity to know what they were squabbling about.
The cost of small-town living was perpetual interest in other people’s private business.
Reaching the end of the block, Jesse realized she’d timed her pace to meet Reese as the woman flounced down Noah’s driveway. An accident? Or had she done it on purpose?
She shrugged aside the question. She wanted to know what was going on with Noah. So what? He was an old friend.
“Hello again,” she murmured as the woman neared.
Reese jerked up her head, obviously too deep in thought to have noticed Jesse’s approach.
“Oh, hi.” She flashed her too-white smile. “Jessie, isn’t it?”
Jesse nodded, glancing past the woman to watch the front door close with enough force to rattle the large front window.
“Does Noah Allen live there?”
“Yes.” Reese looked annoyed. “I’ve spent the past three months trying to convince him to put his house up for sale. It’s really too big for a single man, and he could get a fortune in this market.”
Jesse arched a brow, glancing back at the farmhouse. It was sturdy, but the foundation was crumbling in spots, and a few of the boards were beginning to warp. Only the thick layers of paint kept them straight. Not exactly prime real estate.
“A fortune for that house?”
“A fortune for the land. The house would have to come down, of course,” Reese clarified.
“Walter created this subdivision with the expectation that he could expand it to include this lot, along with the field behind it. Canton desperately needs more decent family homes with plenty of room for children and dogs.” She clicked her tongue.
“In fact, I have three potential buyers ready to write a check today so they could start building.”
“Walter Johnson created this subdivision?”
She nodded. “He was the broker who purchased the land and hired the contractor to build the homes. I think Noah helped with some of the construction. Which is why I don’t understand why he’s being so stubborn about selling.
He has to realize that having his old house on the same block is bringing down the property values. ”
Ah. Now Jesse understood the younger woman’s frustration.
Jesse knew Walter Johnson well enough to guess he’d created this fancy subdivision as his personal legacy.
There was probably a plaque with his name attached to a post or a tree, proclaiming him as the founding father.
The last thing he’d want was a blight in his pretty neighborhood.
Plus, as Reese had pointed out, the land was now worth much more money with the upgrades.
“No luck getting him to sell?”
“Not yet. But I’m nothing if not persistent. Walter wants that property and I intend to get it for him.”
With a last, determined glance at the farmhouse, Reese turned to march down the sidewalk, her heels clicking on the cement.
Jesse hurried to keep pace. She told herself that she wanted to know more about the agent.
It made sense. Reese was young and probably inexperienced.
Jesse needed to be confident she was going to get her top dollar for the Tap Room.
But the truth was, she was just being nosy.
A part of her wasn’t convinced that the argument between this woman and Noah was nothing more than a request to sell his house. There had been something intimate in the way they leaned toward each other. And the strain that hummed around their stiff bodies.
They were across the street and angling toward Main Street when Jesse broke the silence.
“What made you move to Canton? Do you have family here?”
“No.” She waved toward the bluff behind them. “My boyfriend transferred to the college last year. He decided to transfer again at the end of the semester; I decided to stay.”
“Oh.” Jesse winced, worried she’d brought up a sore subject. “Sorry about that.”
“I’m not. I realized after we moved in together that he didn’t have the sort of ambition I’m looking for in a man. Good riddance.”
There was a sheer lack of emotion in her voice that Jesse admired. After pretending for years that she was a lone wolf who didn’t give a shit about anyone, the myth was shattered the second she’d caught sight of Parker Moreau across the crowded nightclub.
The truth was, she’d been desperate to find someone to love.
“You like it here?” Jesse demanded.
“For now. Unlike my ex, I have plenty of ambition, and Canton is a nice town that gives me an opportunity to get some experience without battling through a ton of competition.”
“That’s true. There’s not much competition for anything around here.”
Reese sent her a curious glance. “You don’t like Canton?”
“A complicated question,” Jesse admitted.
“I loved my childhood. I had my dad and a ton of friends. During the summers, we’d zoom our bikes up and down the bluff and eat peanut butter sandwiches next to the river.
No one ever went home until it was dark.
There’s something special about growing up in a small town where you always feel safe.
” She shook her head, the happy memories fading.
“But sometimes bad things do happen in small towns. And it changes everything.”
“I’m not going to pretend that I haven’t heard the stories.”
Jesse wasn’t offended by the blunt words. She preferred it to people acting like they weren’t obsessed by the nasty rumors.
“I don’t doubt that. It’s not everyone who has three members of their family disappear.”
“You don’t have any idea what happened to them?”
“None.”
“How odd.”
“Yep. Very odd.” Realizing she’d gone from questioning the woman to being questioned herself, Jesse came to a sharp halt. She nodded toward the side street. “This is a shortcut for me.”
“Of course.” Reese stopped to release her blinding smile. “Let me know when you’re ready for me to come and take pictures.”
“I will.”
Jesse walked away, waiting until she reached the corner before she glanced over her shoulder. Reese had disappeared, but a weird feeling crawled down her spine.
Was she being watched?
The suspicion spurred her into motion. Picking up speed, she power walked to the end of the street, once again avoiding the alleyway to enter the bar through the front entrance.
Once inside, she closed the door, relieved there was enough waning sunlight flooding through the windows to chase away the shadows.
She hated the sense of emptiness she felt whenever she walked through the door.
As if the bar had become a tomb, waiting for someone to once again breathe life into the musty corners.
With a shake of her head, Jesse crossed the wood-planked floor, abruptly halting as she caught a familiar scent.
It was the smell of male cologne. More specifically, it was the smell of her father’s cologne.
Her hands clenched, a chill sweeping through her. It wasn’t a faded memory. The sharp, citrusy cologne was as pungent as if her dad was standing next to her.
Muttering a curse, Jesse sprinted toward the back foyer and up the stairs.
She’d found a bottle of that specific cologne when she was cleaning out her dad’s bathroom cabinet.
She’d even tossed it on the bed with the rest of his things to be donated.
At the time, she hadn’t noticed the scent, but there was a possibility that the bottle had broken.
Or the top was loose and the cologne had spilled.
That would explain why the scent was so fresh.
She slowed her pace as she entered the master bedroom, instinctively glancing around, as if expecting to find someone there waiting for her. There was no one, of course. Not even the ghost of her father.
The room now had the same stale emptiness as the rest of the building.
But the scent of the cologne was even stronger.
Crossing to the bed, Jesse moved aside the various stacks of belongings, searching for the bottle. She remembered pulling it out of the cabinet, along with her dad’s shaving kit, but she didn’t remember precisely what stack she’d tossed it in.
A couple of minutes later, she’d located the shaving kit, but no cologne.
It was there. It had to be, right?
She sorted through the clothes and shoes and toiletries, then dropped to her knees to peer under the bed, just in case it’d rolled off the mattress. It had to be there. It had to be.
Only it wasn’t.
It’d vanished. Just like her father.