* * *
I spend the rest of the morning fuming and working furiously on my laptop. My fledgling business doesn’t stop just because some asshole doesn’t want the people of this nowhere town to know he spent the night with me.
Three hours pass before I stand and stretch, amazed that I accomplished so much in such a short period of time. My stomach rumbles, reminding me that I’m starving. Logan’s groceries are in the fridge, but there’s no way I’m touching them.
Even if I knew what to do with a steak, I wouldn’t eat it.
I check the time again; my rental car should be here any moment. Holly and Crey insisted on paying for one since I wouldn’t take any money for “house-sitting.” I have my pride, and no one is going to pay me for squatting my homeless ass here.
Opening the fridge again, I decide that the orange juice inside is fair game. I basically claimed it as mine last night.
There’s a knock at the door at noon, and I peek through the lace curtains to see who it is. Two cars are parked out front, and a man is still sitting in the running one.Perfect.
I unlock the ancient dead bolt and pull the door open.
“Ms. Regent?” the man at the door asks.
“Yes.”
He holds out a set of keys. “This is yours for however long you need it. Just call the number on the key tag to give us the location when you want us to come pick it up.”
That’s easy.
“Thank you,” I say as I accept the keys, and he turns and heads back to the other car.
And just like that, I’ve got wheels, which means it’s time to shower so I don’t actually look homeless while I explore Gold Haven.
Chapter 26
Logan
Idon’t hear the ding of the door chime over my music, but as soon as someone turns Black Sabbath down, I know I have a visitor. Unfortunately, both of my employees are taking a smoke break, so I slide my creeper from under the car I’m working on and look up.
Julianne props a hand on her cocked hip and stares down at me. “Well, well. Aren’t you the talk of the town this morning. I knew that bad boy from high school was hiding somewhere inside the upstanding-citizen thing you’ve got going on these days.”
Even though I expected this, it’s not what I want to hear. “How bad is it?”
“The girls at the salon have been buzzing about it all mornin’. Lots of speculation on the woman, that’s for sure. Some are saying that Holly Wix ran away from her husband, and you’re her secret lover.”
“You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me.” I stand up and wipe my hands with a rag from my back pocket.
“Nope, not at all. I’m sure that’ll probably make the tabloids, because I know for a fact that Deana has pictures of your truck out front of Holly’s gran’s house, and will probably try to sell them because her ex is seven months late on child support and she’s getting desperate.”
“Fuck. I better call Holly and give her a heads-up.”
“That might be smart.”
“What else?” I ask.
“Your favorite restaurant manager stopped in to get a nail fixed and got the whole story from the peanut gallery. If you’re looking to make any moves there, you might have to do some damage control.”
I don’t owe Emmy any explanations, but that isn’t something I need to tell Julianne, because it’ll just add to the gossip mill that’s already churning.
“Anything else?”
“That’s about it, but for sure when whoever you were fucking all night long makes an appearance, she’s gonna get the side-eye like nobody’s business. So you might want to make sure she’s aware of what’s coming too. Unless it was awham, bam, thank you, ma’amkinda thing.”
I know this is Julianne’s way of trying to find out exactly who’s staying at Holly’s gran’s house, and my answer will set the tone for how the entire town treats Banner for as long as she’s here.