Sweet Entanglement

by Jean C. Gordon

  “Yeah.” The guy had good work recommendations, but no real experience in construction beyond helping his folks do some interior updates on their house.

  “You could hire additional help.”

  Jesse hadn’t shared how close he and Sonja were on financing. Shadows of his father’s disappointment had stopped him. Disappointment when Jesse hadn’t wanted to be an engineer, as his father had hoped; when he’d chosen racing; when he’d dropped his part-time college classes as he became more successful on the circuit. He rolled his lips in and out. Then, of course, there was his accident.

  “I’ll talk with Sonja.”

  “Yeah, you need to let her know.”

  The sounds of large equipment filled the silence that had opened between them. The foundation crew.

  “Go ahead, make your call,” his father said. “I’ll handle things with the contractor.”

  “Thanks, Dad.” For a whole lot more than today. Jesse’s chest tightened. He was getting maudlin now. Or it could be apprehension about calling Sonja, about old patterns repeating themselves. Jesse paced in front of the cottage while the phone rang.

  “Hi, Jesse, you just caught me,” Sonja answered. “I’m on my way out to a showing, a second showing.”

  Sonja’s confident enthusiasm reminded him of Lauren when she got all bubbly about something she was excited about. Or how Lauren used to get all bubbly. He hadn’t seen much of that side of Lauren since he’d arrived in Indigo Bay. He shook his head as if that could clear the cloud that had descended on him when he saw the damage to the cottage.

  “The foundation people didn’t reschedule again, did they?” she asked. “They know our time frame.”

  “No, they’re here.” He paused. “Someone vandalized the cottage. Shelley and I aren’t going to be able to move in this week.” Jesse continued over the squawk of dismay from Sonja. “Dad and I are going to have to move on to the big house and come back to the cottage repairs, if we’re going to make the planning board deadline. We may have to hire some more help.” He might as well get that out front.

  “You have to do what you have to do. I can take a loan against my retirement account if needed to cover the costs. And I know someone I can recommend for the work, part-time, at least. His name is Jace Fisher. But Jace’s part-time would be as good or better than someone less experienced full-time.”

  Jesse tried not to give in to the relief that washed over him. “Thanks, but I don’t want you overextending yourself for me.”

  “Get this right. It’s not for you. It’s for me. The B&B is my dream business. I’ve got two showings today. I can’t get over until late afternoon to see the damage. You called the police?”

  “Yes, and there’s no need to come over. I can tell you tonight.”

  “My prospective buyers are here. Lauren can come look at the damage for me.”

  He hadn’t told her Lauren had already seen it. Jesse had too many emotions tangled up in that meeting right now.

  “She’s our attorney, after all,” Sonja said. “And I’ll text you Jace’s contact information.” Sonja clicked off.

  Jesse stared at the blank phone screen. He didn’t know what Lauren being their attorney—and his only until Shelley’s last name change was final—had to do with the vandalism. What he did know is that he didn’t need Lauren witnessing his life falling apart again.

  “Brittany, I’ll be out for a while,” Lauren said. Hey, Ray and Gerry did it all of the time. They were both out now. She’d make it up to Brittany another time for leaving her to handle the office alone.

  “Early lunch?” Brittany asked.

  “Client meeting,” Lauren answered before her co-worker could ask her to pick up something. “I’m not sure how long I’ll be gone.”

  Brittany’s knowing look as Lauren exited the office said she knew exactly which client, too. Of course, that wasn’t hard. Lauren had only a few clients with open business right now and Jesse and Ken Kostner were the only male ones. Ken had been her early morning appointment. She’d jumped into his project, even though she was technically still working with Jesse. But not for long. She’d gotten notice this morning of the hearing for Shelley’s name change, which for all practical purposes was just a formality. But that wasn’t the only reason she was on her way back to the mansion to see Jesse. No. It was her mother’s phone call a few minutes ago. Mom had let it drop that she was tapping into her retirement account to hire more workers to stay on schedule with the renovations, despite the vandalism.

  A salty tang in the air made Lauren glance at the sky before she got into her car. The darkening clouds rolling in signaled a coastal storm. A storm that couldn’t match the one she’d start if she tried to advise her mother against borrowing against her retirement funds. She needed to talk to Jesse without her mother, see how deep he and her mother were getting in and with what, or whom. The uneasiness that plagued her about the project erupted again. Indigo Bay didn’t see much truly destructive vandalism. And it had bothered her that Ken had asked about the B&B project this morning and said his offer for the property still stood.

  It was pouring rain when Lauren pulled up to the cottage. The site looked deserted, except for some excavating equipment. As she was debating whether to make a dash for the cottage or leave, Jesse came out of the building holding a square of plywood over his head, taking the chill off the day. Her knight in shining armor.

  He opened the car door for her. “Your mother called to warn me you might be on your way, although I didn’t clearly pick up on why. I don’t know what impression you got earlier or from talking to your mother, but you didn’t need to come back.”

  She stepped out under the board, close to him. He didn’t want her here? Her heart sank. That wasn’t the impression she’d gotten earlier. Too bad. From the professional side, she was still his lawyer, for now at least. As for the relationship side, who knew what they were doing?

  “But I’m glad you did come by.”

  Once inside the cottage, her heart dropped again at the wall graffiti and the now boarded-up windows.

  “Oh, Jesse.” She touched his arm as he straightened from leaning the piece of plywood against the wall.

  “It’s not that bad. I have this under control, although it means we have to postpone moving from your mother’s place. On the plus side, the foundation equipment and crew arrived today and we have them working exclusively here until the job is done.”

  “Assuming the weather clears,” Lauren said.

  A muscle in his jaw twitched.

  Why had she said that?

  His expression remained sober. “What are the chances I could get an extension on the rehabilitation agreement if the weather does cause further delay?”

  “The board might consider it if we have a stretch of inclement weather.” She hesitated. She had to be straight with Jesse. “The vandalism probably works against you. That someone was able to get onto the property and do the damage supports the city’s concern about someone getting hurt in the condemned mansion.”

  Jesse dropped his chin to his chest in a familiar action she’d seen many times when he was racing. He’d finish a race, whip off his helmet and look at his time. If it wasn’t what he wanted, expected, he’d drop his head for an on-the-spot analysis of what he’d done wrong.

  “I shouldn’t have spent the time on the cottage first. It doesn’t matter much if Social Services supervises my guardianship for a while longer. Your mother is fine with us staying with her. Maybe more than fine, where my dad’s involved.”

  The quirk of his lips when he mentioned her mom and his dad was a magnet. She stepped closer. “But you couldn’t get any excavation company scheduled to shore up the foundation until today. That could work to your advantage.” She shivered with a wave of uneasiness. For a plum job like this, she was surprised he hadn’t had local companies falling over each other to start the job. There wasn’t that much new construction going on in Indigo Bay.

  “Cold?” he asked. Not wa
iting for an answer, he closed the space between them and wrapped his warm, strong arms around her.

  “No.” Her shiver played into the conspiracy thoughts she had no basis for. She didn’t want to think. She just wanted to feel. Lauren wrapped her arms around Jesse’s neck and pulled his lips to hers.

  After a moment’s hesitation, he accepted her offering and made her one back, capturing her lips with a kiss that was soft and demanding at the same time. Too soon, he pulled back with a dazed look on his face.

  “I love you, still, again, when I have nothing to offer you.” His lips moved in words she wasn’t sure she was supposed to hear.

  His bemusement was replaced with an expression she wasn’t used to seeing on his face—defeat.

  “I think …”

  Jesse’s cell phone rang.

  Lauren ignored it and his further pull back. “I think I’m falling back in love with you, too.”

  The phone rang again, and he frowned as he drew it from his pocket.

  She shouldn’t have been so tentative. The truth was she loved Jesse more than ever, as a woman, not a girl. He had so much to offer that had nothing to do with his financial worth.

  “Brewster,” he said into the phone, listening to what whoever on the other end was saying. “Yeah, thanks for the update.”

  Jesse shoved the phone in his back pocket. “That was Ben. They’ve got a kid for the damage.”

  Nothing of the potentially life changing moment they’d shared showed in Jesse, except in the stiff way he held himself. But that could mean anything.

  “That was fast,” she said, controlling her voice to be as bland as his had been as she reined in her racing heart.

  “There was a beer can. It had a fingerprint on it. Ben said they connected it to a local kid who’d been picked up last months for underage drinking.”

  “Oh.” That was still quick work. Lauren noticed the drum of rain on the roof had stopped. “Sounds like the rain has stopped. I should get back to the office. I’ll swing by and get you a copy of the police report from Ben.”

  “Sure,” Jesse said.

  That was it? Lauren pushed open the cottage door. The angry thunderclouds still obliterated the sun. But the rain had stopped, unlike the storm their kiss had started inside her. She dashed for her car, leaving without accomplishing what she’d come to do—talk with Jesse about the project and her mother’s financial backing and tell him about the name-change hearing.

  Jesse, being close to Jesse, had messed with her organized thoughts, as had happened too often since the day they’d met. She touched her fingertip to her lips. He’d said he loved her. But, again, he wasn’t going to let himself accept the reality of that love until he proved whatever it was he thought he had to prove to her.

  Lauren had pulled herself together by the time she entered the police station.

  “Hi,” Ben said. “Let me guess. You’ve come for a copy of the Brewster vandalism report.”

  “Yep. You sure got to the bottom of that fast.”

  Ben looked from side to side. “The Chief made it a priority,” he said in a low voice. “He, most of us, are anxious to see the mansion restored. It’s part of Indigo Bay’s history.”

  Lauren took the sheaf of papers Ben handed her.

  “The case isn’t solved yet. The kid said he was hired to vandalize the property through an online ad.”

  C H A P T E R 11

  Unbelievable. Just when everything had been falling back into place. The rain had set them back almost another week on the foundation work. But once that was done, with Jace Fisher’s help and another local Jace recommended, they had worked like wildfire the last two weeks on the other mansion repairs. Jesse spat. Yeah, wildfire.

  He raised his eyes to the fire department trucks dousing the last of the flames from the fire that had nearly engulfed the back rooms of the mansion.

  The fire inspector and chief and Ben approached him.

  “What’s the word?” Jesse asked.

  “Almost without a doubt arson,” the inspector said.

  “Damages?”

  “Extensive. They may impact the structural integrity.”

  “Making the property condemnable again.” Jesse uttered an expletive. There was no way his small crew could rectify the fire damage and complete the interim requirements of the agreement with the planning board in the four days they had left.

  The inspector looked him in the eye, and Jesse recognized him from the planning board. It made sense the inspector would sit on the board.

  “I’m afraid so. Sad,” the man mused. “A beautiful old building like this. Son, maybe if you hadn’t ditched the first condemnation meeting, you wouldn’t have gotten into the time crunch you did.”

  But he hadn’t ditched the meeting, had he? No, he or Dad would have known if the letter about the meeting had arrived at his parents’ house.

  “I’ll be back when it’s cooled to finish my inspection,” the inspector said.

  “My guys will be heading out, too,” the fire chief said.

  That left him and Ben standing in the early morning sun.

  “I’ll need to take another statement,” Ben said. “Do you want to call Lauren?”

  “Why? Because you and the inspector think I set the fire?”

  Ben’s eyes narrowed. “No, because she and you … I know my first call would be to my wife, Eva.”

  “Sorry, man. You’re right.” Jesse pulled out his phone and stopped before he pressed Lauren’s number. Lauren wasn’t his lawyer anymore. After the hearing on Shelley’s name change last week, Lauren had said she couldn’t represent him at the final planning board meeting because Acer and Acer were contracted to cover for the city attorney while he was on vacation. It would be a conflict of interest. She’d said that since the work on the property would be done, the board review would be a formality, and had given him the name of another lawyer in Indigo Bay. Jesse kicked a stone. He’d never called the guy.

  “Could I come over to the station in an hour or so for that report?” Jesse asked. “I want to look around here first.”

  “As long as the firefighters are still here and you honor the crime scene tape.”

  “I won’t tamper with evidence,” he said, unable to keep the sarcastic tone from his voice.”

  “Dave,” Ben shouted to the fire chief’s retreating back. “Can you stick around? Brewster wants to see the damage. I’m heading back to the station.”

  “Yeah,” he answered. “I should keep one of the trucks here a while longer to make sure there are no more flare-ups.”

  “I’ll see you in an hour,” Ben said.

  “Right.” Jesse trudged to the back of the structure. He didn’t really want to see the damage. What he wanted was to recapture the moment he and Lauren had had at the cottage before he’d jumped the gun and blurted out that he loved her. He hadn’t seen her alone since, and when she’d given him the other lawyer’s name and number, he’d felt like she was cutting him loose. He surveyed the charred water-logged building, unsure he had the reserves to fight for both Lauren and his inheritance. But without his inheritance, could he justify even asking Lauren to give him another chance?

  “Hey, did you hear about the fire at the Morrison—I mean, Brewster—mansion?”

  Lauren stopped dead in front of Brittany’s desk in the firm’s reception area. “No. How? What?”

  “My friend’s boyfriend is a volunteer firefighter.”

  That wasn’t exactly the how and what she’d been referring to.

  “Wicked damage,” Brittany said.

  Lauren’s throat tightened. “Mom said they were close to finished with the required structural repairs.”

  “Pardon?”

  “Jesse had the project on schedule. He was all set for the interim review meeting with the planning board set for this Thursday.”

  “What happens …” Brittany’s phone rang. “Yeah, she just walked in. I’ll tell her.” Brittany hung up the phone. “Ray wants to s
ee you.”

  Lauren dragged her feet to her boss’s office. She needed to call Jesse.

  “Sit, please,” Ray said.

  That second cup of coffee she’d gulped down before leaving home sloshed in her stomach.

  “Do you have that corporate filing for Ken Kostner done?”

  The churning subsided. “Yes.” But Ray could have checked that himself.

  “Good. Going forward, he’ll be using his new partner’s attorney in Charleston.”

  Lauren swallowed hard. Kostner was their biggest client. Was Ray giving her notice? She and Jesse would both be unemployed. She restrained the humorless laugh that bubbled up, so that it came out as more of a choking sound.

  “Was it something I did. Ken leaving?”

  Ray leaned back in his chair. “No, not at all. Ken and I go way back, but he’s been dabbling in some things I’d rather not have the firm associated with.”

  A dam inside her broke loose. “Then, the firm really didn’t receive the notice of the first condemnation hearing for the old Morrison property. You haven’t been helping Ken try to convince Jesse to sell the mansion property?” Convince was the polite word, considering what she suspected Kostner might be doing.

  “No, we didn’t get the notice, and what are you talking about?”

  “Talk I heard.” From her internal voices.

  “I hope you quashed any connection to the firm.”

  “I did.” Lauren’s face pinked. By keeping my suspicions to myself. Relief that she had kept quiet, loosened her taut muscles a millimeter.

  Ray frowned. “The other reason we need to talk is the planning board meeting on Thursday.”

  He must have heard about the fire.

  “You’re going to have to cover for me.”

  Ray’s words squeezed all the air from her lungs.

  “Gerry’s on vacation and I have this stent thing I have to have done tomorrow morning at the hospital. It’s no big deal. The meeting, that is. Your mother said most of the required work was completed last weekend. It’ll be a routine approval.”