Kyle looked so excited she was finally bidding on something, she was sure he wasn’t taking into consideration the amount of work it was going to take to clean it out. She just hoped Erica had told him he wasn’t here only as an observer. He’d be joining in on the fun.
She thought about letting it go when the bidding reached five hundred, but the look on Kyle’s face when she didn’t bid right away almost broke her heart. She raised her hand to bid five fifty. The other guy dropped out then, and she took a relieved breath as she went to place her own padlock on the door.
“That was so freaking awesome,” Kyle said.
“You might not think so when you’re helping me load all this crap into the truck later,” she told him. She flung her arm around his shoulders as they walked to the next unit.
“Yeah, I will,” he answered, sounding sure of himself.
It ended up being the only unit she bought for the day, but it looked like it would be a good profit for her. The snowmobile was almost new, and there had been a large flat screen TV and a gaming console in there too. Even though she knew she could sell it, Kyle seemed so excited about the PlayStation 3, she’d decided to let him keep it. She wasn’t going to let him know until they’d gotten back home though.
“So why didn’t you bid on the unit with all the electronics boxes?” Kyle asked while they were loading up the truck.
Cass leaned against the wall of the unit and looked around, noticing they’d gotten everything but the big items. The easy part was over. Now came the backbreaking portion of the day.
“Chances are those boxes were empty,” she told him. Erica took a seat on a newer looking sofa and Cass smiled at her.
“Why would someone put empty boxes in a storage unit?” Erica asked.
“Most states, New York included, mandate that all money these places get at auction over and above the cost of arrears due them, and their cost to contact the owner and place ads about the auction, has to go to the person who rented the unit in the first place.”
“So you can rent a unit, not pay for it, and then if the storage facility gets more than what’s owed, the person who stopped paying gets the excess?” Erica asked. Cass nodded and noticed they both looked a bit perplexed.
“People have started to wise up about the law, so they stage the unit before they stop paying,” Cass explained. “They place empty boxes for desirable electronic items in the front of the unit, and then the bidding usually goes sky high.”
“Like it did today,” Kyle said. “But how do you know somebody didn’t really store their electronics in those boxes?”
“You can’t really know for sure,” Cass admitted with a shrug. “You’re taking a gamble either way. I’m going to share something I was told when I first started doing this. Most people will put the really valuable items in the back corners, usually on the right side of the unit. I’ve found it to be true more than seventy-five percent of the time.”
“How did you learn the trick about the empty boxes?” Erica asked, and Cass chuckled.
“The hard way. Danny and I bought a couple units like that only to be sorely disappointed when we opened the boxes up. Trust me, you learn real quick when you realize you’re throwing your money away.”
“What’s the most interesting thing you’ve ever found in a unit?” Kyle asked.
Cass glanced at Erica. She knew the look in his eye. He’d had his interest piqued, just as she had twenty years earlier. Erica didn’t know it yet, but her little brother was destined to become an auction hunter.
“Most of the time we’re lucky if we make a profit at all,” she answered honestly. She wasn’t about to give him false hope. “But then once in a while you find something to bring in a tidy sum. Those units are the ones we keep coming back for. We’re always looking for the item that might bring us six figures.”
“Have you ever found one?” Erica’s eyes were wide with excitement.
“No, and I’m fairly certain we won’t here in western New York. Not unless we came across a unit owned by one of the Bills or Sabres, anyway. But then why wouldn’t they pay their storage bill every month?” Every unit they bought stoked the fire in her belly, even though she knew their chances of finding a real treasure was slim to none, and slim just walked out the door, as her father always said whenever she’d ask him for money. But it didn’t stop her from dreaming. “And you’ve got to remember, people who have the money to buy those high priced electronics probably have the room to keep them in their houses. They wouldn’t need to rent a storage unit for them.”
Kyle only nodded as he stood and went out to the truck. He came back a moment later with the hand truck so they could move the appliances and heavy furniture. He wheeled it to the refrigerator and then turned to face her.
“You never told us what the most interesting thing you ever found was,” he said.
“Most interesting, or most expensive?”
“Both.”
“Well, we bought a unit owned by a little old lady who had died. Her entire art collection was packed in boxes. There weren’t a lot of original pieces in it, but what there was brought us around fifty thousand dollars when all was said and done.”
“Damn,” Kyle said, then he looked at Erica with a sheepish expression. “Sorry, but the moment seemed to call for it.”
Cass laughed but quickly stifled it when she received a rather stern look from Erica. She wondered briefly if Erica would be so serious in the bedroom.
What? Where the hell had that come from?
“As far as the most interesting, I would have to say the dead body we found in a casket last fall,” Cass said, unable to stop the shudder running through her body. The nightmares finally stopped about a month afterward, but it still gave her the heebie-jeebies to think about it.
“I remember hearing something on the news about that,” Erica said, looking horrified. “Oh, my God, it was you?”
“Yes, it was, I’m sorry to say. The coffin was with a bunch of Halloween decorations, so neither of us thought much about it, except whoever owned it must have been a little strange. I never expected to find a real body inside of it. In fact, Danny and I both thought it was a dummy until the stench reached us.”
“Okay, enough,” Erica said, her stern side coming out again. She stood and walked toward the door of the unit. “I think you’ve just fueled my nightmares for the next six months. I’m going to wait in the truck for you two to finish here.”
“Did you touch it?” Kyle asked when Erica was out of earshot.
“What? No. Hell no,” she said. She could only imagine what her face looked like by the way he laughed at her reaction. She smiled then. “But at least I didn’t go running out of the unit screaming like my brother did. I thought for sure he was going to have a heart attack.”
They both laughed then, and Cass thought to herself she could get used to having this kid around. She allowed the idea to bounce around her head for a moment. She knew the mere thought of it should scare the hell out of her, but it didn’t.
And that realization did scare the hell out of her.
CHAPTER TEN
Erica insisted they go home with her so they could help unload everything. Cass warned them her brother’s mother-in-law was visiting, so who knew if Danny would have time to help her do it anytime soon. Had she known Danny would insist on them staying for dinner, she never would have offered to help unload. She felt out of place because she didn’t know these people, but they seemed nice enough.
When they were done eating, Barb went upstairs to rest. Danny and Cass stood side-by-side at the sink washing the dishes. Who didn’t have a dishwasher in this day and age? She knew she’d probably let the dishes pile up until she ran out of clean ones if she didn’t own one. She and Kyle sat at the kitchen table watching them.
“Thank you again for dinner, Danny. It was wonderful,” she said.
“It was my pleasure, believe me,” he said with a glance over his shoulder. “Cass has never brought home
a girl she was dating before.”
Kyle gave her leg a nudge with his foot, and when she looked at him, he was smiling and nodding. She rolled her eyes and refocused her attention on Cass and Danny. She had to admit, it was an interesting piece of news to hear, but she was in no way ready to let anyone know exactly how interesting she found it.
“Maybe because I’ve never dated anyone before,” Cass said, giving Danny a punch to the upper arm.
“Ouch!” Danny rubbed the spot with his other hand and glared at her, but Cass was laughing at him. Erica saw what was coming before Cass did, but it happened too quickly for her to tell Cass to look out. Danny grabbed the dishtowel he had flung over his shoulder and in one swift move, snapped it against her leg.
“You asshole,” Cass said, still laughing at him.
Just when Erica thought a war might break out, Barb’s mother, Judy, came bursting through the door looking as though she wanted to string somebody up by their toes.
“Are you trying to wake the baby up?” she asked in a whisper-yell Erica had never experienced before. She found herself thankful she wasn’t a member of this family. Judy stalked over to the sink and poked a finger into Danny’s chest. “I had you wash the dishes to keep you busy, not to fool around and make enough noise to raise the dead.”
“It was my fault, Judy,” Cass said. She bowed her head slightly and had her hands clasped behind her back. She reminded Erica of a little girl getting a scolding.
“Maybe you should go home then,” Judy said, sounding angrier by the moment. “Lord knows your brother doesn’t need any help getting in trouble.”
“Judy—” Danny began, but she cut him off before he could get anything else out.
“For the life of me, I don’t know what Barb sees in you. You don’t work, and as far as I can tell, you refuse to get a job. Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t take her and the baby back to Virginia with me.”
“He has a name,” Danny said. Erica had to give him credit. She was sure his mother-in-law scared the crap out of him, but it was apparent he wasn’t about to back down.
“Excuse me?” Judy took a step back, clearly not accustomed to anyone standing up to her. What a joy it must have been for Barb to grow up with Judy as a mother.
“I said, the baby has a name. I’d appreciate it if you’d use it.”
“I don’t like the name you chose.”
“Really?” Danny squared his shoulders and took a step toward her. “I didn’t pick the name. Barb did. So if she chose to name him after my great-grandfather, I can’t help it.”
“But I’m sure you did nothing to dissuade her from making such a horrid choice, did you?”
“Why should he have?” Erica asked, shocking herself by speaking up. Judy seemed even more surprised than she was at her joining the conversation uninvited, so Erica stood and went to stand next to Danny.
“I don’t recall asking for an opinion from you or anyone else,” Judy said with a pointed look at Kyle and then Erica. “Who are you again?”
“Her name is Erica, and she’s Cass’s girlfriend,” Danny told her, obviously irritated with the fact Judy couldn’t be bothered to remember someone’s name for an hour.
“Girlfriend. Right.” Judy managed to make those two words drag out as though they had a combined ten syllables. She gave a little shake of her head and met Danny’s eyes again. “Just another reason for me to insist Barb comes home with me.”
“You aren’t taking Barb, or Clarence, anywhere,” Danny said.
“I do wish you’d stop calling him that.”
“It’s his name,” said Cass, finally stepping forward to stand on Danny’s other side. Erica was beginning to wonder if she was going to defend her brother at all. “And it isn’t going to change, no matter what you do.”
Judy looked between the three of them as though they’d all lost their minds. Yep, Erica thought. She is definitely used to getting her own way. Not this time, sweetie.
“We’ll see. And I don’t want these people around my grandson.”
“Excuse me?” Cass asked. Erica had the feeling she was fighting to keep her anger coiled up, but was close to losing the battle. “These people? He’s my nephew, and in all honesty, I don’t want you around him. How do you like that?”
Judy simply smiled at Cass as if she were mentally disabled and in need of pity. Erica wanted nothing more than to slap the woman, but she wouldn’t. Not only was it not her place, but she would never stoop to Judy’s brand of bullying.
“Oh, isn’t this sweet. Daniel needs to have his sister step up for him.” Judy turned her attention to Erica for a moment before dismissing her completely. “And her girlfriend, too.”
“I want you out of my house,” Danny said, the muscles in his jaw clenching rapidly.
“Fine,” she said, turning for the door. She stopped but didn’t look back. “I’ll let Barb know to pack her things and we’ll be gone first thing in the morning.”
Danny started to go after her, but Cass grabbed his arm tightly and held him in place. He tried to pull free, but she tightened her grip.
“Let me go,” he said. “I need to stop her.”
“Do you really think Barb will let her get away with this?” Cass asked. She loosened her grip when she felt Danny relax a little. “Barb isn’t going anywhere, and you know it. I’ve heard the way she talks about Judy. She would never allow her to take Clarence, or force her back to Virginia. Barb loves you, and you have a son you have to raise. Together. Don’t do anything stupid you’ll regret for the rest of your life, like saying something horrible to your wife about what a bitch her mother is.”
The adrenaline obviously drained from him at that point, because she had to hold on to him when his knees buckled. Erica grabbed his other arm and they led him over to the table, where Kyle pulled out a chair for him.
“Jesus, did I really just stand up to her?” he asked, looking a little green around the edges.
“We all did,” Cass answered. “And I don’t know about you, but I feel awesome about it.”
“It was wicked cool,” Kyle said quietly.
“It was, wasn’t it?” Danny offered a small smile, but to Cass it looked like he wanted to throw up. She slapped him on the back and laughed.
“I thought so,” she said. All three of them looked at Erica, waiting for her response. Cass felt some of her defenses drop when Erica grinned sheepishly.
“Wicked cool,” she said with a nod.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Cass was standing on Danny’s deck, her forearms resting against the railing and cursing the cold but enjoying it at the same time. It helped to clear her head. Judy always knew how to get under her skin, and Cass seemed powerless to remain immune to her snarkiness. She glanced over her shoulder when she heard the sliding glass door open and smiled when she saw Erica walking toward her.
“Hey,” she said, returning her attention to the yard and wishing she was at her cabin with Erica. Alone. “I’m sorry about all that with Judy.”
“I take it she really dislikes her daughter’s choice in husbands,” Erica said as she joined her. Cass glanced at her and took note of the fact she was resting against the railing exactly like she was.
“You’re being far too diplomatic,” Cass said with a wry grin. She took a deep breath and watched the steam as she exhaled. The cold burned her lungs, but it felt good. It made her feel alive. Or maybe the effect was simply because Erica was at her side. “Judy hates my brother, and by extension, me. Or she may only hate me because I’m a lesbian. I never bothered to ask, so I’m not really sure.”
“Well, I for one am happy you’re a lesbian.”
“Yeah?” Cass smiled. She turned toward Erica and rested her hip on the railing. “Can I tell you a secret? I’m happy about it too.”
Cass glanced toward the house to make sure no one was watching them before she moved closer and placed her palm against Erica’s cheek. She felt Erica place a hand on her chest just above her
breasts. She half expected her to push her away, but then Erica grabbed on to her jacket and pulled her close. Their lips were mere centimeters apart, and she could feel Erica’s breath against her lips.
“I so want to be alone with you right now.”
“Why is that?” Cass asked, teasing.
“Because I want to play Monopoly with you.”
Cass laughed out loud at the absurdity of the statement, and at the way Erica said it so seriously. God help her, she liked Erica. Probably more than was prudent given her own feelings on relationships.
“We could leave Kyle here and go to my place,” Cass said, hoping the mood hadn’t been completely ruined. Erica looked surprised.
“You don’t live here?”
“Well, I live here,” she answered, spreading her arms toward the backyard. She then pointed toward the house Danny and Barb lived in. “I just don’t live here.”
“So you’re telling me you sleep in the backyard? In a tent or something?”
“No, smartass.” Cass grinned at the look of disbelief Erica was sporting. “See the light out there? It’s attached to the cabin I live in. It’s a really awesome place, just one big open area with a loft where my bedroom and the master bath are located.”
Cass watched Erica as she was apparently weighing her options. It was only nine o’clock on a Saturday night, and she was sure Danny wouldn’t have a problem playing video games with Kyle for an hour. Or maybe two. Erica finally met her eyes and shook her head with what Cass interpreted as disappointment.
“Honestly, I’d like nothing better than to go to your place and play Monopoly, but I don’t think I should. Kyle would know what we were doing, and he’d tease me mercilessly.”
Taking a Gamble Page 6