Chapter 3
Chapter Three
TINSLEY
It’s been a few days since I put Biff in his place, and things have been quiet. I wasn’t sure how he was going to respond or heed my warning. He’ll either back off or make another go at me. I’m not worried about it. I’m back home, and he’s all the way in the city.
I still can’t believe that asshat tried to smear me with my Instagram pictures.
Sure, they were a touch more risqué than I would normally be, but it was a honey trap.
The town isn’t shunning me over them, nah.
It only gave them ammo to tease me with.
This place is a giant family for the most part, and if they get anything on you, you’ll be hearing about it until the end of time.
I’m still getting shit over the Christmas display that I mowed down years ago. I can’t get into anything with wheels without a person shouting out for everyone to clear a path. I probably shouldn't be behind a wheel. Driving isn’t my strong suit.
However, Biff doesn’t need a plan to poke at me. He’s already doing it without knowing. That lawyer of his was highly amused by the argument between Biff and me. I could tell he was fighting a laugh.
No matter how hard I try to push him to the back of my mind, it’s not working.
All I can think about is him. I even dreamed about him.
No one has any business being that attractive.
I bet he wins court cases by merely winking at the jury.
One cannot be six-four with broad shoulders that fill out a suit and have sun-kissed skin that softens the rigid lines of a face chiseled by the gods.
I now know what tall, dark, and handsome is.
Maybe he's dumb, and that's why he gets to be so damn hot.
That has to be it. I mean, he is a lawyer for Biff.
I would have rejected him as a client solely based on his name.
Then again, he's smart, and Biff is an easy mark to suck money from, and he has that stupid last name that people say means something.
"Look who's back in town. New Hope's first model and influencer."
"Don't you have a driveway to shovel?" I say to Brandon. He actually shovels all the roads in town. He is a necessity. An annoying one but still needed nonetheless.
"I could shovel your driveway." He wiggles his brows at me, and I grab the napkin off the table and ball it up to throw at him. My aim is shit, and he only snickers at me as he makes his way up to the counter.
"Get me one of the heart cookies!" I shout after him.
"You've had three," Nicky shouts back from behind the display of baked goods. I've been hanging out here because my own home has turned into a brothel. My brother and I moved out for a few months, and our parents reverted back to teenagers.
It's disgustingly adorable. More than that, it's a reminder that I am still single and now back in New Hope with no prospects of a relationship in sight. Even Brandon here has found love. He’s getting married in a few months.
"I don't need this cookie judgment." I need a sugar high right now. New Hope is big on holidays and celebrating them, and love is now in the air with Valentine’s Day around the corner. These cookies are very needed at the moment.
"Says the judgy one," Brandon smirks.
"I'm not judgy; I'm gossipy, okay?" Which I need to catch up on. I’ll need to swing by Kindred’s. That is the fastest way to catch up on New Hope’s gossip. She is the all-knowing, powerful one in this town. I’ve looked up to her since I was a kid.
She’s a huge sweetheart who would give you the shirt off her back but would also douse you in glitter if you did her dirty.
I was in the city for almost a year to finish school. It's a few hours away, and it wasn't always easy to come back home, and to say I was homesick was an understatement. This place becomes a part of you.
"Did you get a boob job and not tell me?" Katherine, my childhood best friend, asks, dropping down in the chair across from mine.
“It's the bra, and you know it.” I am tiny all around, but a good push-up bra can do wonders.
“If I had pictures that I looked this good in, I'd encourage a smear campaign."
“I should probably delete the account, but sometimes the tea is so good there when people slide into my DMs looking to catch their partner being disloyal.”
The first thing I always tell them before I agree to do it is If you feel the need to test him, maybe you shouldn't be with him to begin with. He must be doing things that are raising red flags in your mind.
“I didn’t come to only talk about your tits.” A few people flick a glance our way, not locals. The bakery is a hot spot for tourists. It’s not only the sugary sweets. It's the hot chocolate that everyone is always craving.
“Would you rather we talk about yours?”
Katherine grabs her boobs. “What’s wrong with mine?”
“Nothing.” I laugh. Brandon walks by, placing the cookie down on the table before slipping out of the bakery. I pick it up and break it, giving half to Katherine.
"Thanks, I need this after what I overheard."
"Overheard?"
"All right, I might have been listening extra hard to the mayor and sheriff talking. It's not my fault their voices carry."
"You're right. It's not your fault." I nod in agreement. "What's going on? Did someone steal Mittens again?" Mittens is the local town cat that everyone is always trying to adopt.
Mittens is from the streets, but if she goes missing for a few days, people start to panic. There is a search party for her every other month. I'm pretty sure she does it on purpose because she's dramatic. She wants to keep everyone on their toes and remind us she's in charge.
Katherine leans towards me, dropping her voice. I lean in too. “There are talks about a ski resort being built.”
“What?” I jerk back, already shaking my head no.
New Hope has gone to great lengths to keep any big companies out of here. If we wanted a ski resort, there would be one because we would have done it ourselves, and there would have been a giant-ass town meeting and a vote. That means it's an outsider who’s trying to commercialize our town.
"I know, I wouldn't believe it either if I hadn't heard it for myself."
"All right." I take a breath, trying not to overreact. It's something I have been working on with my therapist, but she did quit on me, so maybe I don't need to work on it anymore. “Let me poke around.” My mind is already going in a million different directions.
“What?” Katherine asks, knowing me far too well. It’s annoying, and I have missed the hell out of it and her.
"It can't be Biff, right?"
"Whoa, you think he'd go that far?! That's insane." I might not have been too far off with my joke about him being obsessed with me if it is him.
"The man is mega rich. If I were at that wealthy level, a pettiness for revenge would be unstable." I don't want to think of things I might be able to do.
"Oh God." A gasp leaves her. "We'd end up in jail."
"Rich people don't go to jail." I wave that off. "Besides, you can do things the legal way. Like buy things they love and burn them down. Buy their favorite baseball team or—"
"All right, let's focus here." Katherine shoves the rest of her cookie into her mouth.
"Hey, a girl has to have dreams." I joke, but the reality is this isn’t funny at all, and I have a sense that I’m not wrong on who might be behind this.