Unraveled (Amber Ridge #2)

Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1

S omething wasn’t right. What? The playlist? Were the songs too slow?

Sky Williams leaned her hip against her dining room table, studying the printed plans in front of her.

No. That wasn’t it. It was a fundraiser ball. She’d chosen the perfect mid-tempo playlist to get people out on the dance floor.

Maybe it was the food. She didn’t have enough variety. Too much sweet and not enough savory.

No. That wasn’t it either. She had at least a dozen savory options and half a dozen sweet. That was plenty.

So, what was it?

Argh. Maybe it was nothing. Maybe she was just overthinking the entire dang thing and the fundraiser would be a perfect success, just like every other fundraiser she’d organized.

Ha. The last fundraiser had been a trivia night, and Rosemary Symes and Ivory Hanks had gotten into an argument about whose dog was better behaved. Then Mr. Bruno, who’d had one too many drinks, had jumped in and claimed it didn’t matter whose dog was better behaved, because they both looked like monkeys’ asses.

Now, if it had been her, she would have laughed the ridiculous, drunken joke away, but Rosemary and Ivory were very sensitive about their dogs, and Ivory had ended up throwing her drink into Mr. Bruno’s face.

Her phone rang and Sky picked it up, already knowing who it was without even looking at the screen. “Ivory’s going to throw her drink on Mr. Bruno again.”

Her mother chuckled. “No one’s throwing a drink on anyone, Skylar.”

“You can’t guarantee that.” She pursed her lips, still studying the millions of pieces of paper scattered over the table. Plans and receipts. Ideas scribbled on sticky notes. “Something’s wrong with the fundraiser.”

“What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know. I’m looking at the plans and I can’t figure it out.”

“Then how do you know something’s wrong?”

“It’s just…a feeling.” Not the most scientific method to know a problem existed, but she was right.

“Honey, you’re overthinking this. Despite some oversensitive dog owners, your last fundraiser was a success, and this one will be, too.”

Sky nibbled her bottom lip. The last one had been a success. They’d raised a ton of money for the dog charity, and she was hoping they’d raise a lot for this one too.

“Are we still handing out fliers on Wednesday?” her mother asked.

“They’re printed and ready to go. Thank you for helping.”

“Of course. Anything to spend time with my only daughter. Now, I called to talk to you about Tony.”

The groan tried to slip from her throat, but she swallowed it.

Her mother may want to talk about Tony, but she did not. She’d known Tony since they were kids, and the day his family moved away she’d been happy, because even as a ten-year-old, she’d found him annoying. And smelly. How a kid could maintain their stink into adulthood, she wasn’t sure, but he had. A disgusting onion odor that could be detected a mile away.

She’d actually nicknamed him Stinky Tony. Well, not to his face. But in her head, it was basically his legal name.

“He’s still staying with your father and me.”

“I know that, Mother. You told me he’ll be with you for a couple of months the other night, when you showed up with him at Indigo.”

Not only had her parents shown up with him, they’d then left the table to “get a drink from the bar” and hadn’t returned for thirty minutes . It was the most obvious date setup she’d ever endured.

She was thirty-two dang years old and her parents had set her up on a date.

“Well.” Her mother cleared her throat. “We were actually talking this morning, and he mentioned that he’d love to have another meal with you.”

“No.” The word was out before her mother had finished speaking, and probably with a tad too much aggression, but no way was she sitting through another meal with Stinky Tony, trying not to gag while being bored to death with his insurance talk.

“No?” her mother asked, for some reason sounding shocked.

“I’m not interested in him.”

“Oh, Skylar, why not? He’s lovely.”

Lovely? Every time he spoke, she wanted to take her fork and drive it into her skull. He’d gone on and on about insurance policies and how his company could get her the deal of her life. “You only think he’s lovely because his family used to be members of your church.”

Her parents were big churchgoers, and her father in particular liked to harp on about how she needed to marry someone from the church with good values and ethics…blah, blah, blah. Like he thought anyone who didn’t attend the church couldn’t have good values. Which would include her, then.

“That’s not true,” her mother argued. “I like him because he has a good head on his shoulders, he has a successful insurance business, and he’s funny.”

“Name one funny thing he’s said.”

“Well…I can’t off the top of my head.”

She moved to the window, watching the clouds race over the gray sky. “He’s been living with you for a week, Mom. If he’s funny, something should spring to mind.”

“Really, Skylar, I don’t know why you’re being like this. When I was your age—”

“You were married to Dad and already had me. I know. You’ve told me.” About fifty gazillion times.

“Well, it’s true. And your father and I just want you to have a man who can…”

Sky’s back straightened and she didn’t hear whatever her mother said next, because her entire focus turned to her neighbor, who was walking across his lawn. Her very annoying, obnoxious and rude neighbor. In fact, she was pretty sure he stayed up at night plotting new ways to torture her. A month ago, it was blocking her fence from going up because of a city ordinance technicality. And before that, it was installing external cameras that filmed her front yard, as well as his own.

And right now, he was holding a chainsaw and wearing earmuffs.

No…he couldn’t be walking toward the tree. Her tree, which he’d already cut without her permission earlier that year.

“Mom, I’ve got to go.”

“But—”

“I’ll call you later.” She hung up and ran toward the front door. She wasn’t wearing shoes or a sweater, but there was no time. Her psychotic neighbor could probably have her entire tree down before she could blink.

She sprinted across her front lawn, the cool chill of the morning slapping her in the face. She reached the tree seconds before he did and planted herself in front of it. “Don’t even think about it.”

The words didn’t have quite the impact she’d intended, mostly because she was winded. Man, she really needed to start working out.

A corner of his full lips lifted and he pulled off the earmuffs. “Hey, Peaches. You look angry. Did you ever take up that meditation I suggested? It could do you wonders.”

“For the fiftieth damn time, my name is Sky . And I don’t need meditation. I need you to move away. Far, far away. And not just from my tree.”

The other side of his mouth lifted now, like he enjoyed her anger. “Ah, but then we’d lose sweet moments like this.”

“Sweet?”

“Wrong word? What about fun? Joyful. No, I know—exciting.”

“I’d agree with you, but then we’d both be delusional.”

He chuckled and lowered the chainsaw, the muscles in his bronzed arms flexing.

Do not look, Sky. The man might be pretty on the outside, but he’s the devil incarnate on the inside.

“Your tree’s blocking my street view. It’s a safety thing.”

A safety thing? For him or her? “It’s my tree and I say it stays how it is.”

He looked at his watch. “Look, Peaches, I have to head to work in an hour, so if we can speed this along, that would be great.”

“Speed what along?”

“You call me all the unladylike names in your vocabulary, I stand here, unaffected and charming. You go back inside, and I give this tree a little trim.”

Her jaw dropped. She was going to murder him. There was going to be a warrant out for her arrest because he’d be dead. “First of all, you are about as charming as a frog. Second, the last time you gave my tree a little trim , you butchered it. Key word, my tree.”

“Come on. It’s hanging over my property. If it means so much to you, I’ll save you the branches.”

“You put a stick in my hand, and you’ll know what it feels like to be a pinata.”

He threw his head back and laughed.

That wasn’t meant to be funny. It was an accurate account of what would happen if he so much as touched her tree. Okay, maybe hitting this man with a stick wasn’t the smartest idea. He was a million feet tall, and word around town was that he was a former Navy SEAL. But anger could do crazy things to a woman, including give her superstrength.

“Look,” he said, finally sobering. “Let’s make a deal. I trim the tree, and you stand right there and supervise. If I get too excited, I give you permission to pick up a stick and hit me with it.”

“How about we make a different deal? We wait until my fence permit arrives and you can trim any limbs hanging over it.”

“That’s not gonna happen.”

“Yeah, because you know the tree’s not on your property.”

“No. The fence isn’t happening.”

Her eyes narrowed. She’d already bought the fence but had made a silly mistake and applied for the wrong permit, something her kind neighbor here had been all too quick to point out.

“There’s nothing you can do,” she said, straightening. “The application’s in and once it’s approved, the fence is going up.”

“Why are you so fixated on me not seeing your front yard? Got something to hide?”

“No. Got something to block… you .”

The corners of his eyes creased. “Do you know, this lovely old lady, Mrs. Ferrington, lived in that house before you. She used to bake me cobbler and get my mail when I was away. I wonder what happened to her?”

“She probably got the hell away from you so she could live her last few years in peace.”

“I miss her.”

Sky slammed her fists onto her hips. “Go away and take your chainsaw with you.”

“Just as soon as I’ve trimmed this tree.”

God. He was infuriating. “If you don’t go back into your house right now, I’m going to…” Shit . What was she going to do?

He lifted a brow. “Call the sheriff’s office? You could, but I’m not sure having my brother drive out here worked so well for you last time. Or you could try my sister, but she’ll just tell you I’m as stubborn as I look and you should let me trim the tree.”

It was actually unbelievable that the egotistical jackass had a brother who was the town sheriff. You’d think if God was going to make her live next door to Becket Hayes, he’d at least give her a town sheriff who hated him as much as she did.

She folded her arms. “I’m not moving. You’ll have to physically remove me to get to the tree.”

“Honey, if that’s your way of asking me to touch you—”

“Oh my God, I keep thinking I’m dealing with an adult, and then you speak.”

He laughed. He actually laughed at her.

She was plotting ways to murder him when his phone rang.

He glanced at his cell. “You’re lucky. Duty calls. Should we pick this back up tomorrow? Noon, maybe?”

He was a firefighter—fire chief, actually. And she absolutely would not be admitting how sexy he looked every time he stepped outside his house in uniform.

“You go anywhere near my tree and I’ll murder you in your sleep,” she said.

That damn smile widened. Then he leaned closer, the black specks shining in his brown eyes. “A visit from you in my bed late at night? Doesn’t sound so bad.”