Chapter 4
Two hours later…
I couldn’t do this.
The after-church lunch had transformed into an afternoon backyard party that somehow resulted in me being included in weekly gin rummy nights, group picnics, parties, and a book club (that I didn’t mind), and then there was the group chat, and, and, and…
For a person who didn’t people, I was suddenly being included in a lot of peopling. If not for the very good wine, I probably would have pulled a Bambi by now. But the wine was good, and it was keeping my anxiety somewhat under control.
“So I heard Jerome paid you a visit this week,” Louise stated, picking up her wine glass, her Southern accent the strongest of any of ours.
“Ugh, how—?”
“Small town,” Cady-Jo answered my unfinished question.
“Right.” Small town and the gossip mill. My mother’s words of warning came to mind, followed quickly by the “I told you so” I knew she’d say when I called her later. No matter how old you got, there was something exceptionally annoying about your mother being right.
“I heard a ‘concerned citizen’”—Helen made air quotes— “called in an anonymous tip that your house had building code violations.”
Would I ever get used to this? Everyone knowing my business? And how long until everyone figured out just what my business was?
There was little point in denying it. “It’s true. My ex and his current—” Homewrecking walking incubator? Probably shouldn’t say that. “—girlfriend,” I choked the word out, “were behind it as a revenge gift for last Sunday.”
“Ah, yes. We heard Wade and some of the guys ran them off.” Louise stood, going to the table just behind us to grab some food.
The setup was pretty awesome. The adults were all sitting around a wrought iron table with surprisingly comfortable chairs while the kids ran wild in the large backyard with its tire swing, tree fort, and jungle gym.
I was relieved to see Lachlan was taking part for once.
Given he was grinning widely, I knew he was enjoying himself, too.
So far, I hadn’t heard a word about any “tools,” which I was profoundly grateful for.
“It wasn’t them,” Cady-Jo said, grabbing a bottle of Miraval from the large cooler.
Louise returned, dropping a plate full of sandwiches, the mini-quiches I’d run home to grab, some tart-thing, and the brownies I promised myself I’d only eat one of—or should I say one more?—on the table.
“What do you mean?” I reached for a brownie.
“It wasn’t your ex,” Helen explained. “Your little visit was courtesy of our resident mean girl. Amber-Rae Denton.” She said her name while crossing herself, like she was afraid she’d summoned the devil.
“Amber-Rae?” PTA Amber-Rae? Amber-Rae who got her son Rowdy to fix my leaky roof two weeks ago, Amber-Rae? Coffee tomorrow after the kids are in school, Amber-Rae?
“The one and only.” Helen took the bottle of wine from Cady-Jo, pouring a liberal amount in my now empty glass. “That woman is a menace.”
“I don’t understand. Why would she call on me?” I mean…really?
“Oh, that’s right!” Louise nodded. “You don’t know.”
Clearly.
“It goes like this. Amber-Rae got it into her head that Winterbourne Manor should be hers. No one knows why,” Louise began.
“It’s not like her house isn’t four times the size of it,” Cady-Jo muttered.
“Exactly!” Louise continued. “Anyway, once Mr. Winterbourne put it on the market, she tried to buy it, but he has a long memory. He wasn’t about to sell his house to the woman who tormented his granddaughter in high school, so every offer she made, he refused.”
“That’s terrible, but what does that have to do with me?”
“Amber-Rae is vindictive. Cady-Jo and I grew up here.” Did I mention Louise and Cady-Jo were cousins? “We were even friends with Amber-Rae until—”
“Until a certain New Yorker came to town and claimed them as her own,” Helen proclaimed theatrically.
“Anyway, Helen also inadvertently claimed Mitch O’Brien’s heart that same year, unaware Amber-Rae had already claimed him for herself.
And, well… you’ve seen Mean Girls, right?
” Cady-Jo looked at me quizzically, waiting for my nod of confirmation.
“Well, it was like that but worse. Not only did she try to get Helen expelled, but we were thrown in with her because of our supposed ‘betrayal’.”
The next several minutes were spent with them telling me all the things Amber-Rae had done.
“That’s crazy.” My jaw dropped. “But what does that have to do with me? I just met y’all today.” Was the woman some kind of clairvoyant? An I-know-you’re-going-to-be-friends-with-my-enemies-so-I’m-gonna-make-you-pay-in-advance psychic?
Louise sighed. “That’s a question many have asked, and no answer has ever been found.
We’d thought things would have settled by the time we came back from university, but she seemed to get worse, despite staying and marrying the mayor’s son.
Even having the biggest property in town, she has some crazy obsession with owning other ones, and she doesn’t even rent them out.
She just wants to own them. And if she doesn’t get what she wants?
Another offer is accepted or the owner doesn’t want to sell to her because of stuff she’s done?
Bam!” Louise snapped her fingers. “The city inspector is on your doorstep.”
“Or bylaw,” Cady-Jo added.
“Or the police,” Helen quipped in disgust. “You see, Old Mr. Winterbourne has no love for Amber-Rae and made it his business to make sure she didn’t get his house—”
That explained the strange purchase requirement.
“—she even put in an offer a hundred grand over his asking, which he refused only to turn around and sell it to you.”
“And before you ask…” Louise picked up a mini quiche. “Our cousin works in the clerks’ office and took the ‘anonymous’ phone call.”
Well, that changed things.
“How can she get away with this?” I mean, surely there were laws that this broke? Wasn’t this some kind of harassment?
“Because she’s married to the mayor’s son. No one has been able to conclusively tie her to it, and the city’s bylaws say all complaints are anonymous.” Louise lifted another brownie, offering it to me, which I took.
As I took a bite, my mind whirled. What the hell have I gotten myself into?
“It’s usually not a problem unless your house is in violation…” Helen let that dangle, and I sighed.
“And there were many in mine.” What point was there in denying it?
“How bad was it?” Helen sat up straight, her face going from slightly buzzed to alert, lawyer-mode firmly engaged.
“You mean that hasn’t made the town rounds yet?” I sat back, my mouth falling open in mock shock.
“I knew I liked you!” Helen grinned.
“Thanks.” I grinned in return.
“So what did Jerome say?” Louise pursed her lips.
I gave them a rundown of the list of violations, the timeline, and the fact I couldn’t seem to find a contractor in a hundred-mile radius who was available, leaving me with no choice but to call someone in Atlanta.
“Cady-Jo, maybe you can ask Ty to take a look?” Louise shifted in her chair, looking to her cousin.
Cady-Jo shot her a disgruntled look.
“That’s a great idea!” Helen proclaimed, getting up to go grab the kite that had gotten stuck in the branch of a tree for the kids.
“Who’s Ty?” And why did Cady-Jo look like she wanted to murder Louise for mentioning him?
Giving Louise one final sour look, Cady-Jo faced me. “He’s my son.”
Umm…wait. What?
Immediately, I looked at the young man who could be no more than college age. He sat away from the kids, a notebook in his hand. Helen had said he was Cady-Jo’s son when he’d shown up, and given I was trying to get out of walking club, I hadn’t paid too much attention at the time.
Damn. This was going to be bad. “Umm…he’s a little…young.” There. That was tactful, wasn’t it? Surely it would be understandable that I’d wanted someone more…experienced to work on my house?
“A little young?” Louise followed my line of sight and then let out a bemused chuckle. “Not that son. Jesse is just entering his first year of college. No, I’m talking about Ty. Right!” She smacked her head. “You wouldn’t have met him yet.”
Raising my eyebrows, I shook my head. “Guess not.”
Cady-Jo sighed. “I have another son. My oldest. He’s thirty. He and his dad have a construction business here in town.”
Thirty. Wasn’t she only forty-six? Oh…
“Yeah, I had him when I was sixteen.” She sounded defensive.
“And you’ve managed to build a business…” She and Louise ran Maple Mornings, a café in town. “And raised three other kids at the same time? You put me to shame. I can barely handle Lachlan some days and I had him when I was twenty-six.”
At my genuineness, Cady-Jo relaxed. “Thank you. Most people like to judge me for having a kid in high school.”
“People suck,” I said, and we laughed.
Helen returned, asking us what was so funny.
I’d thought the awkwardness would have left after that, but there still seemed to be an undercurrent of tension where Cady-Jo was concerned, even if she did agree to give her oldest son a call on my behalf.