Chapter 4
Seth
The storm had left Wisteria Creek looking like a war zone.
I stood in the middle of Main Street with my phone tucked between my ear and shoulder, clipboard in one hand, pen tapping restlessly against it.
A week ago, this had been a sleepy little town.
Now, it was my job to make sense of the mess: fallen trees, ripped roofs, shattered windows.
Every corner I turned, there was another pile of debris.
Normally, I thrived on this kind of work. Chaos, then order. Take something broken, rebuild it better than before. It was why I’d become an architect in the first place. But seeing my hometown torn up like this? That was different.
“Yeah,” I said into the phone, my voice clipped. “Get a crew on Oak Street first. Priority is stabilizing the houses with families still inside. We can deal with cosmetic damage later.”
My foreman confirmed and I hung up. I scrubbed a hand down my face, already feeling the start of a headache. The list was endless.
And then, of course, my phone buzzed again.
Blair.
I almost didn’t answer. Not because I didn’t love my sister. God knows I did, but because her timing was rarely convenient. And judging by the way my gut twisted, I had a feeling this wasn’t going to be good news.
“Hey, Bee,” I said, forcing some lightness into my tone. “What’s up?”
Her voice was calm, but too careful. “Seth… Maddie’s house suffered a lot of damage last night.”
I frowned, flipping through my notes. I’d already been to her street. The little blue bungalow with the sagging porch. Yeah, it was bad. The roof was half gone and there was water damage everywhere. It was going to be a nightmare to fix.
“Yeah, I know,” I said. “I had it on my list for priority inspection. She’ll need a full rebuild in parts of the house.”
There was a pause. “She and Olive can’t stay there. Not even for a night. And Greyson and I… Well, we can’t take them in right now.”
I stiffened. I didn’t like where this was going. “Blair.”
“They’ll stay in your guesthouse,” she said quickly, as if ripping off a Band-Aid.
I nearly dropped my clipboard. “I’m sorry, what?”
“It makes sense,” she rushed on. “It’s separate from your house, it’s fully furnished, and you’re barely ever home anyway. It’s perfect, Seth.”
“Perfect?” I let out a short, humorless laugh. “For who, exactly? You realize we’re talking about Madison.”
Madison Cole. My sister’s best friend since childhood. The girl who’d spent half her life looking at me like I was the devil incarnate. The one person in this town who could get under my skin with nothing more than a roll of her eyes.
“Look, I’ll cut a check,” I continued, already pacing. “I can cover a motel for her, hell, I’ll rent her a place for a month if that’s what she needs. But living on my property? No. That’s a disaster waiting to happen.”
Blair’s voice sharpened, that little-sister edge slipping through. “Don’t be dramatic. Madison’s a good mom, and Olive adores you. You’ll survive a few weeks of having neighbors.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Neighbors? Blair, we’re not talking about random people down the street. We’re talking about Madison. She hates me.”
“She doesn’t hate you,” Blair said firmly. “She just… doesn’t know you the way I do. And this isn’t about you, Seth. This is about Olive having a safe place to sleep. I already told her it was fine.”
I stopped dead in the middle of the road. “You what?”
“I told her you’d be expecting them tonight,” Blair said, sounding much too pleased with herself. “So be nice. And maybe, just maybe, try not to drive her crazy.”
Before I could argue, the line went dead.
I stared at my phone, muttering a curse under my breath. Perfect. Absolutely perfect.
Madison Cole is living in my guesthouse. This was going to be hell.