I was practically leaning on the counter with this woman, so wrapped up in her story. It was so sad.
“Amelia died not long after the boys moved away. Everyone says she died of a broken heart. Her youngest, Timothy, was like a bright light around here. He was funny and always playing pranks on people. His brothers were more serious, so when he died, it was like all the light left the family. So, after Amelia died, Terrance just became a recluse. He wouldn’t let anyone visit him. The house was already in pretty bad shape, but after she died, he just stopped caring. The house fell into disrepair and now you see what’s happened to it. It was very sad. We rarely saw him in town. Eventually, the grocer started delivering groceries just so the old man didn’t shrivel up and die. But then one day, he went to drop off the groceries and the old man was dead. He was sitting in his favorite chair in the living room, just staring off in space. They say it was an aneurysm. Anyway, nobody ever bought that house after that. Everyone says it’s cursed.”
I huffed. “Well, lucky for me, I don’t believe in that stuff. I love that old house. There’s so much charm to it.”
“And you’re fixing it up?”
“Yes, I hired a Cortell actually, Eric. So, I was thinking that I would have some fresh baked goods every morning for the crew.”
Her eyes lit up and she snatched a box. “I have just the thing. He usually comes in here to buy baked goods for his secretary. She can be a little pesky if she doesn’t have her morning treat, especially now that she’s pregnant.”
“He gets treats for his pregnant secretary?” I asked, slightly confused.
“Anna? Oh, she’s his sister-in-law. Well, she would be if she would ever marry his brother.”
“And which brother is this?”
“Robert. He was a big shot lawyer in Chicago until he gave it all up to come live down here with Anna. She’s the love of his life.”
“That’s so sweet.”
“It really is.” She started working on gathering baked goods, smiling as she did it. “You should join the town facebook page. It’ll catch you up on all the town gossip. And if you really want some eye candy, that man of yours—“
“Sorry, what?”
“Eric, the man doing your work, he’s got his own page.” She snickered as she dropped in a few more scones. “Mrs. Cranston is a tad obsessed with him. He has his own handyman page, dedicated to him and all the dirty positions she could find him in. It’s quite entertaining. Even his girlfriend is part of the group.”
“His girlfriend?”
“Oh, yes, well, all the Cortell brothers are taken. All except Andrew. He’s the lone wolf right now, waiting for the right woman to snatch him up.” She looked me up and down and grinned. “Are you married?”
“Widowed,” I said, holding up my hand that showed the faint line from my wedding ring.
“Oh, I’m so sorry.”
I smiled slightly, keeping up the facade of the grieving widow. “We were only married a year. Sometimes it feels so much longer, but when it’s your time, God takes you.”
She nodded sympathetically and handed over the box. “I’m Mary Anne, by the way.”
“Lorelei.”
With my box of baked goods in my hands, I headed out of the bakery toward my car with a smile on my face. I could check off one more place that I had made friends. Glancing around the street, I saw that there was an auto shop down at the end of Main Street. I could stop in there for a tune up and maybe make a few friends there. Then across the street from me was a law office. I grinned, thinking about how I could use this lawyer to my advantage in the future. Callum was great, but having a local lawyer on my payroll would be an advantage for me. I made a mental note to stop in there tomorrow.
“Don’t think I’ve seen you around here before.”
I spun around to see a handsome man in uniform. He was tall, with a devilish grin on his chiseled face. He had sandy brown hair that just peeked out from under his deputy’s hat. He had bright blue eyes and a playful smile that made me think he was always up for a good time.
I smiled back and held out my hand. “I’m Lorelei Henning.”
“Carter Roy,” he said, tipping his head as he took my hand. “Folks around here call me Corduroy.”
“Corduroy,” I laughed. “That’s cute.”
He shrugged slightly, looking down the street. “What can I say? There’s just something about me.”
I smiled back, feeling a little bit like a minx right now. “Oh, I can definitely see that.”
“So, did you just move to town?”
“I actually bought the old Granville house.”
“Ah, the house that nobody wants to live in. Well, good luck with that. Not many people are willing to stay there. Some say it’s haunted.”
“I’m sure you would come rescue me if I was in danger.”
“Oh, sweetheart, I would be there in an instant. It’s all part of the small town charm of being an officer.”
“So, if I called you up and told you I saw a ghost, you would come out to protect me?”
“And so much more.”
I wanted to fan myself, but I resisted. Two hot men in one day. It was like this town was meant for me. “I take it you’re not married then.”
“No, ma’am.”
“Oh, please don’t call me that. I’m not that old.”
He glanced down at my left hand and his eyes narrowed in slightly. “Old enough to be married.”
“Widowed.”
“I’m sorry.”
I shrugged slightly. “Dying is part of life. I’ve learned to make peace with the things we can’t change.”
“And the things we can change?”
It felt like a trick question, like he was trying to trap me, so I went the safe route. “There’s no point in hiding from things that scare you. It’s very scary to suddenly be alone, but the best thing to do is put one foot in front of the other and take it a day at a time.”
He nodded. “Very wise words.” He pulled out a card and handed it over. “My cell is on the back. Call me if you ever need anything. Like I said, that house has a way of scaring people.”
“Well, I guess it’s a good thing I don’t frighten easily.” I held up the card and smiled. “Thank you for this. It’s a great welcome to the community.”
He tipped his hat again and walked past me, turning just a few feet away. “Call me if you need me, or even if you don’t.”
I laughed to myself and headed for my car. It was like the men in this town had taken a course in charming the pants off women. They didn’t know they were already dealing with a professional.
After driving back home, I took in the sounds of power tools working around my house. I finally felt like I was living again. After years of having only one goal in mind, I was ready to put my past to rest and move on. I just needed that damn trust to finish what I had started.
I walked through the front door and headed for the kitchen. Dust clung to the air, making it almost difficult to breathe. I recognized Eric immediately, despite the mask over his face to keep the dust out. He was in the process of yanking out cabinets while the sander was working in another area of the kitchen. I hadn’t met all his crew yet, but now was as good a time as ever.
“Eric!” I shouted over the noise. He turned to me and nodded, setting down the cabinet and walking over to me, brushing his hands on his pants.
“Hey, good morning.”
“I brought you all some baked goods from town.”
“You didn’t have to do that.”
“Well, call it buttering you up,” I smiled. “I thought it would keep your spirits up as you tore this place apart.”
He eyed the box, but I could see he was already salivating to get at what was inside. Apparently, Mary Anne wasn’t lying about how good her baked goods were. I opened the box slightly, and then cringed when Eric whistled loudly for all the work to stop. It went silent in the house.
“Take five. Lorelei brought us all so
mething from Mary Anne’s.”
One minute I was standing with just Eric, and the next, I had five guys around me, reaching for the box and smacking each other’s hands to get at what was inside. Eric snatched the box out of my hands, holding it above his head. “RJ, take the guys outside. We don’t need an even bigger mess inside.”
RJ, or who I assumed was RJ, grabbed the box from him and practically ran outside.
“That was very nice of you.”
“Well, I just want to show my appreciation for all you’re doing.”
“That’s what paying us is for,” he grinned.
“I know, but I came from a town just like this, where you always had coffee on for anyone that stopped by and some coffee cake to go with it.”
“Where did you grow up?”
“West Virginia.”
“Coal country.”
I nodded. “For a while, it was thriving.”
“What happened?”
“The factory was bought out and the town died. Anyone that stayed behind, which was most of the town, had to scrape for food or any jobs that would come their way.”
“That’s terrible.”
I nodded. “I remember working at the gas station when I was a teenager. The owner knew everyone in the town, along with their financial situation. One day, there was a kid that came in to do some shopping. The mini mart inside was basically the grocery store. Anyway, this kid came in to get two cans of soup, and my boss asked if he was sure his mom wanted two cans instead of just one. You know, that’s the difference of fifty cents, but my boss knew that fifty cents would literally make or break this family. The kid went and put back one of the cans and paid for the can of soup, then ran back across the street to go home. It was one of the saddest things I had ever seen.”
“That’s terrible. We’re a small town, not a lot of jobs, but I don’t think anyone has it that bad.”
I nodded, feeling like I had just brought down both of us. I slapped a smile on my face and turned to him. “Anyway, I just wanted to thank you for the work you’ve been doing on the house. Oh, and I met your brother this morning.”
“Which one?”
“Andrew. He seemed a little skittish.”
“Andrew?” he asked incredulously.
I nodded. “Yeah, he kept backing away from me like I would attack him.”
His brows furrowed and he shook his head. “That’s not like Andrew at all.”
“Well, maybe it’s just me. Anyway, he was helping a woman pick out paint samples. I told him he should come help me pick out samples for here. He was very good at it.”
He frowned for a moment and I worried that I had offended him in some way, but he just shrugged. “So, we think the kitchen should only take another day to tear apart. I have all the cabinets ordered, but a few things are on backorder. It might take an extra week to get in, but we can start on other things in the meantime. Have you thought about what you’d like to do with the master bedroom?”
After walking through the house with him, and explaining what I had come up with for the master bath, I felt like it was all finally coming together. After snatching one of the last remaining scones, Eric went back to the kitchen and got to work, while I decided to do a little work on the outside. It was getting colder by the day, and with the light snowfall the other day I wanted to get as much of the dead shrubs and fallen branches picked up before winter hit. It wasn’t long before I was lost in my new job.
Andrew
After smelling what Sofia was making for dinner, I decided it was best for me to slip out now before the table was set. I couldn’t eat it. I had already seen the strange concoction on the stove, and food poisoning wasn’t on my list of accomplishments for the night. I pulled on my coat and shoes, then headed for the door.
“Wait! Where are you going? Dinner’s almost ready.”
“Uh…” Joe walked out with pleading eyes, begging for me to stick around. But as much as I loved my brother, there was no way I could do it. “I already told Eric I would go over to his place tonight. He’s having issues with Kat, so I thought I would smooth things over.”
“What kind of issues?” Joe asked accusingly.
“You know…baby issues. Something you should actually be thinking about. You know, it’s not safe for Sofia to be walking up and down the stairs all the time. One slip and…” I shrugged, like that said it all.
Joe looked down at the floor for a minute and then nodded. “He’s right. I didn’t even think about that.”
“Think about stairs? Are you kidding?”
“Well, he has a point. What if you fell down the stairs when I wasn’t around? Who would help you?”
“That’s what cell phones are for.”
“But you shouldn’t need a cell phone. You need me here by your side to make sure that you’re safe at all times.”
“You can’t possibly be here by me at all times. That doesn’t even make sense!”
And with that, I slipped out the door. I had successfully distracted both of them, and I was now free to make my escape. I ran down the stairs, starting up my truck and pulling out like I was afraid Joe would come running out and stop me. I pictured him grabbing onto the tailgate as I dragged him down the road, and chuckled to myself.
Pulling up to Eric’s house, I could already smell the homemade meal cooking inside. I thought briefly about knocking first, but it didn’t really matter. Kat was already knocked up, so sex was a non-issue. Or so I thought. I flung the door open, only to be treated to a rather scandalous view of Eric fucking Kat up on the counter. Spinning, I ran out the door, slamming it behind me.
“Fuck, that’s just nasty.”
I shivered violently as I walked on the porch, trying to wipe those images from my brain. It was bad enough that I saw Eric’s ass, but Kat was like my sister. I didn’t need to see her boobs hanging out.
The door opened and Eric stepped out, tucking his shirt into his pants.
“Yeah, too late. I already saw way too much. You could warn a guy.”
“Warn you? You’re at my house. Uninvited.”
“Yeah, but put a sock on the knob or something. I swear, I’m never gonna recover from seeing Kat’s boobs.”
“You saw her boobs?” he shouted.
“Well, yeah, they were hanging out! When did they get so big?”
“Seriously? You looked at them before?”
“Well, yeah, before the two of you were really an item. They’re huge now. Is that because of the baby?”
He sighed and ran a hand over his face. “Just…pretend you didn’t see anything. The last thing I need is for her to be embarrassed.”
“What? You think I would say anything to her? I don’t want to ever remember what I just saw. In fact, if there was a way to bleach it from my brain, I would.”
“What are you here for anyway?”
“Sofia made dinner.”
As if that said it all, Eric waved me inside. “You’re lucky Kat made lasagna stuffed shells.”
“Two pans?”
“What do you think?” he asked as he opened the door.
I nodded to Kat and she grinned. “Hey, did you get a nice view of Eric’s ass?”
I rolled my eyes and turned to Eric. “I thought you said she wouldn’t say anything.”
“No, I said I didn’t want her to be embarrassed.”
“Why would I be embarrassed? It’s my house,” Kat said.
“Look, I just came for the food. Can we just pretend that didn’t happen?”
“Sure,” she smirked. “Just let me find my bra.”
“Jesus Christ,” I muttered, rubbing at my eyes.
I sat down at the table and did my best not to look at Kat as she placed two hot dishes of shells on the table. Scooping them onto my own plate, I inhaled the delicious scent and cut into the first shell, ready to devour it.
“So, Lorelei said that she met you today,” Eric said, just as I put a shell in my mouth. I sucked in a sharp breath, onl
y to choke on the damn shell. Kat came over and started smacking me on the back. I flinched away from her. I didn’t want her hands on me after what I had just seen.
“Yeah, I met her.”
“She said that you were skittish.”
I chuckled nervously. “Skittish? That doesn’t sound like me.”
“That’s what I thought, but she was pretty certain about it.”
I didn’t say anything, not wanting to bring on more conversation. After all, Eric didn’t know I was investigating her, and if I told him, he might not work at her house. What if she was innocent? Though, judging by the looks of her, I would say that was a big fat no in the innocence department. The woman was most definitely a seductress.
“She’s really nice.”
“Yeah, until she marries you,” I muttered under my breath.
“What’s that?”
“Nothing. Great shells, Kat.”
“Thank you.”
“So, why were you so skittish around her?” Eric pressed.
“Around who?” I feigned ignorance.
He sighed irritatedly and dropped his fork on his plate. “Lorelei.”
“The woman from the store?”
“Yes, the woman from the store,” he snapped.
“Why would you think I was skittish?”
“Because she told me,” he practically shouted, his irritation growing by the second.
I shrugged like I had no idea what he was talking about. “I don’t know, man. I met her, we chatted, and then she left.”
His eyes narrowed in on me and I started to sweat. I was so terrible at this lying thing. How the hell was I ever going to trick Lorelei into talking to me?
“She seemed really nice to me,” he continued. “She brought all of us baked goods from the bakery.”
“Of course she would,” I muttered under my breath.
“What’s that?”
“I said, that was really nice of her.”
He narrowed his eyes at me, but before he could say anything, Kat jumped in. “Why would she bring you baked goods?”
“She said that she came from a small town. I think that’s just the way they did things there.”
Tangled Web: A Small Town Romance (The Cortell Brothers Book 6) Page 5