Chapter 16
Lesley drove the back roads of town with her windows down one last time on her farewell drive with Berry. The car had seen her through the last five years of her marriage, and listened to her sobs when no one else would. The piece of metal was more than a car.
Now, as much as she hated to do it, she had to sell her beloved friend. The responsibility to care for Leo and Beatrice had been thrust upon her, and there was no way she had the funds to put Rosalyn together, pay John, and place the sweet couple in a hotel for the duration of the repairs without making sacrifices. Drastic sacrifices.
Lesley turned down a paved road and headed for the car dealership she’d seen when she entered town last week. John would arrive at the manor soon, expecting a check. That is, if he even came back at all.
The kiss they shared on the old tree trunk had been anything but dull. Her mind, her body, everything inside of her, quivered and crashed directly into him. She didn’t remember how her lips ended up on his or even how her legs wrapped around his waist, but all he had to do was say the word and she would have been his completely on the dried and dead grass below their feet.
No wonder he pushed her back so abruptly—she’d acted like nothing more than a two-cent harlot. Just last week, she told herself she didn’t need or want a man, but yet, yesterday, she had thrown herself at the first one who paid her any attention.
Not anymore.
She’d been correct to tell John her divorce was fresh—too fresh to form a relationship. A fact she already knew. She’d come to Bakersville to gain her independence, and that’s exactly what she would do.
She sat up straighter in the seat. If he still wanted to work for her, then he could, but they were going to have a strict lips-off policy. Her attitude would be nothing but business from here on out. Client and contractor—they couldn’t be friends, and they would never be lovers. He made that perfectly clear from his actions yesterday. Fine with her. She’d already had one man reject her. What’s one more?
C’est la vie.
Her phone buzzed in her console, and her heart skipped a beat at the all too familiar ringtone.
What the hell, she thought as she automatically reached out and hit the receive button. “Hello?” Why did I even answer?
Whatever Peter needed to say could have been said to her voice mail.
“Good morning, sweetheart. Thank you for answering the phone.” His voiced oozed like jelly out of a squeeze bottle.
Her heart pounded at the soft tone, while her fingers trembled on the steering wheel.
He cheated on you, remember?
She hardened her heart and took in a deep breath. “I’m not your sweetheart. And I’m wondering why I answered. If it’s about your mother’s vase, I don’t plan on replacing it.” She had enjoyed smashing the two thousand dollar container into their wedding picture the night of his birthday party. What she would’ve enjoyed more was making contact with his actual face instead of his pixelated one.
“I don’t care about the vase. I care about you. Can we meet? I would love to talk to you.”
No. She had nothing to say. Besides, seeing him would do nothing more than rehash old feelings, good and bad. She didn’t have time for a walk down memory lane in her new life.
“Peter, we’re divorced. I’m moving on, and I think you should, too.”
“Lesley, please,” he pleaded.
She hovered her finger over the end button. Damn it. Despite how hard she tried, she had loved him, and forgetting ten years together was easier said than done. His begging tone pulled at her heartstrings. “What, Peter? What do you have to say?”
“Can we meet over coffee? I’m sorry about what I did. Truly, I am, and I’ve realized what a terrible mistake I’ve made.”
A few years too late.
“I don’t live anywhere near you now, and we really have no reason to meet. I wish you well, but please, don’t contact me again.”
Despite her anger toward him, she couldn’t help but care for him, and that angered her more. She wanted to hate him. She hated what he’d done to her, so in return, she should hate him. If only her heart worked that way.
“Lesley, please. We were together for too long not to try to work it out.”
His tone sounded desperate. Part of her felt sorry for him, for her, for their shattered marriage. If only he would have showed this remorse sooner then maybe…
An image of Peter pushing his face between his boss’s fake enhancements on the threshold of their living room doorway flashed across her mind. She didn’t feel so sorry anymore.
“It is worked out, Peter. And it’s over. You didn’t contest anything during the divorce, so there is no sense in doing so now. Goodbye.”
She clicked off, whipped into the parking lot of the car dealership, and slid Berry into a customer only parking space.
Her hands trembled on the steering wheel. Why had he called her? He’d screwed up the last few minutes of her joyride just like he screwed up the last few years of their marriage.
Jerk.
Her emotions were on a sorrow-filled rollercoaster, and all because of him. Lesley took a calming breath and her heart eased to a slow crumble as the thought of everything they shared together shattered like his mother’s vase.
She didn’t go into her marriage thinking it would end in divorce. The big D was never in her plans.
“I’m over Peter. I’m past the hurt,” she whispered to herself.
Each day, she thought about him less and less, but the pain still hummed deep in the crevices of her heart and mind. No matter how hard she tried not to think about him, the past had a way of lingering.
And then there was John…
C’est la vie or not, she couldn’t deny his rejection had hurt.
She pulled her shoulders back, herself together, and counted to ten before letting out a deep breath. Time to let it all go.
A short, balding man with a round belly and a coffee stain on his white shirt came out from a small trailer to greet her. His nameplate read: “Big” Mike Strata.
“Welcome to Big Mike’s. What can I do for you, little lady?”
She puffed her chest out a little more. Confidence. Fake it until you make it. “I’m looking to sell.”
“What’s wrong with your vehicle?”
The man walked around her car, examining the tires. She waited on him to rear his foot back and give the rubber a good kick.
“Nothing. Just needing something a little less expensive.”
And a little less of a reminder of my past.
“I see.” He nodded and placed a hand to his chin. “Let me take it for a test drive and see what kind of deal we can make.”
She reached in and grabbed her phone and purse. “Keys are in the ignition.”
“Coffee’s in the pot.”
You mean on your shirt. “Yeah, okay.”
“Go on in and make yourself at home.” He plopped into the driver’s seat, his belly hitting the wheel. He pushed the seat back to accommodate his gut, his feet barely reaching the pedals, and slammed the door.
Before she had a chance to make it up the office steps, he spun out of the parking lot.
For nine in the morning, the coffee tasted hours old and the box of donuts on his desk sat empty. Her stomach growled while she waited on Big Mike to come back.
She toyed with her phone, her conversation with Peter playing over in her mind. Did he actually think she wanted to talk to him after all he had put her through? He had some nerve.
Get over it, Lesley.
The office door slammed, causing her drink to slosh out from the rim of the Styrofoam cup. Big Mike stomped back inside. The aluminum building shook under his weight.
“That’s some car you’ve got there. Do you have the title?”
“In the glove box.”
“I’ll give you ten thousand for it.”
Her heart dropped. Berry might not be brand new, but she was worth more than ten grand. She didn’t even have fifty thousand miles on her yet, despite being five years old.
“Twenty.” She kept a straight face.
“Fifteen,” he counter offered.
“Twenty-five,” she spit back.
“You’re going the wrong way, little lady. You’re supposed to come down.”
“You’re not coming up enough, Big Mike. Twenty thousand dollars and you have yourself a deal.” She held out her hand to shake.
“You drive a hard bargain.” He reached for her grasp. “I’ve got my own little lady who’s going to love what I just bought her.”
When the deal was done, Lesley placed the check in her purse and headed for the door.
“You need a ride anywhere, or have someone that can come get you?”
“Actually, a ride would be nice. Can you give me one?”
Big Mike grabbed Berry’s keys off his desk. “Sure. Where to? Home?”
“Actually, can you take me somewhere I can buy a bike?”
“You mean like a Harley?”
“No, more like a bicycle.”
****
John pulled up to the manor, and for the first time since he’d started working there, Lesley’s car wasn’t out front.
Good.
He had a few more minutes to figure out what he would say when he did see her. I’m sorry didn’t seem appropriate as he really didn’t know what he was sorry for.
Was he sorry for thinking about his wife?
No.
Was he sorry for kissing Lesley?
No.
He wasn’t sorry for either. But was this the right time for them? Hell, he didn’t know.
John shook his head to clear his mind as he eased up the steps. Propped next to the front door sat a white bicycle. The banana seat and wire basket reminded him of one his mother would have ridden in her youth.
He stopped outside the door, not sure whether to knock or walk right in. Yesterday, he would have walked on in, but today… a lot had changed in the past few hours. He held his fist up, knuckles out then froze, still not sure what to do. Preparing for what was inside, he took a deep breath. The image of her wiping at her eyes was still etched in his mind. What if she was still hurt, then what?
Before his knuckles met with the wood, the door swung open.
“You just going to stand there or come inside?” Lesley greeted him in her recent style of late, cutoffs and a tank top. Her hair was pulled back and sweat glistened on her chest.
He clenched his fist and fought for control not to stare. “Where’s your car?”
“Sold it. Here’s your money.” She pulled a check from her back pocket, shoved it at him, and sauntered inside away from him, her pants not covering much of her short, muscular legs. The legs he had his hands all over yesterday.
Focus.
He followed and stuffed the check in his pocket, not bothering to look at it. “Where is your new car then?”
“Don’t have one.” She grabbed bags of trash out of the kitchen and rounded him for the front door.
He took the three other bags off the floor and trailed behind her. “What do you have then?”
Outside, she threw the garbage in the back of his truck and pointed to the bike on the porch. “That.”
“That?” He turned toward the 1950s-style bicycle. “You’ve got to be kidding me. How are you going to buy groceries in that thing?”
“It has a basket.”
“What if it rains?”
“I guess I’ll just get wet.”
“No.” He placed his hands on his hips. “I don’t like it.” And he didn’t…but what right did he have to tell her no?
Absolutely none.
“It’s a good thing you’re not the one riding it then.” She poked a finger into his chest as she marched past.
That went about the way he expected.
He followed close on her heels. “It’s at least two miles into town. You’re going to do that every single time you have to go somewhere?”
“I’ll see if Leo will let me borrow his truck.”
John glanced at the old pickup in the driveway. The truck didn’t fare much better than the house. “I still don’t like it.”
She swiveled and placed her hands up in front of her, palms out. “Listen, I think we need to come to an agreement on a few things. When I first drove into town last week, you were ready to put me in my car and send me back on my merry way to New York. Then yesterday…” She dropped her arms and took a step closer. Heat radiated between their bodies. Her voice lowered. “Yesterday, what happened out there in the field, I’ll admit was nice, but you were right. It was plainly a mistake.”
A mistake? She thought they were a mistake. Sure, he had admitted as much to himself, but to hear her say it was somehow worse.
“With that being said,” she continued, “I think our relationship needs to take on more of a normal customer service relationship. I, the customer, pay you for a service. Nothing more. And right now, this customer is ready for demolition.”
She was drawing the boundary lines.
So, that’s the way it’s going to be.
“Fine,” he bit out. “You want an agreement, you got it, but be honest with me about something.”
Her spine went rigid and her eyes hardened as her guard went up. Taking a step back, she played with the tail of her braid. He wanted to unravel the plait, watch her hair flow loose around her face as he massaged her shoulders away from her ears.
She flipped the braid back behind her. “What?”
“Why did you sell your car?”
She let out a breath. “Honestly?”
“Honestly.”
“Bea and Leo cannot stay here. It’s too hot.”
Hot? He bit back a chuckle. It was hot, but nothing out of the normal for Georgia, and nothing Bea and Leo weren’t used to.
“Are you laughing at me?”
“Wouldn’t dream of it. Continue what you were saying.”
“I was saying it’s hot, and besides, when we start tearing things down, dust is going to be everywhere and all over everything.” Her eyes softened. “They don’t need to breathe that in.”
There, she had a point.
“I have to find them a place to stay for the duration of the renovations, and I have no idea how long that’s going to take.” She shook her head. “I was told in my information about the manor that my aunt left enough for Leo and Beatrice, but I don’t know what that means. I’m not going to make them use their retirement funds to pay for another place to live. It doesn’t feel right. Problem is, I have no idea where they’re going to go for the time being.”
He should have known she would sell her car to help others. She’d been nothing but caring since she moved here.
“Let me worry about that. I know someone who owns the assisted living facility in town.”
“Let me guess, a relative?”
“How’d you know?”
She threw him a smile, one so beautiful his knees went weak.
“Lucky guess. Now, can we get to work?”
Customer service relationship. He could handle that. Besides, the faster he started destroying things, the faster he could get his mind off her.
“Can you swing a sledge hammer?”
****
By four o’clock, Lesley had helped him attack all the cabinetry, porcelain, and tile in the house with gusto, leaving only the bathroom in her room untouched until he could get her living quarters on the third floor arranged.
Laying his hammer on the floor, John plopped on the old couch. The muscles in his back ached deep all the way to his bones. Even the old, lumpy sofa felt good right now. “I made the phone call to my cousin. Bea and Leo are welcome to stay at the center as early as tonight.”
She handed him a glass of ice tea, and applied hers to her forehead. Beads of perspiration dripped off the tumbler and down to her chest. He chugged his drink and looked away, then placed his empty glass on the ground with a clank.
“Thirsty?”
“Yeah, I needed to cool off.”
Walk away.
Walk away now. Before you do something stupid like kiss her again.
He stood. “I’m uh…I’m going to tell them the good news.”
“Yeah, sure.” She cocked her head. “You okay, John?”
“Yep. Never better.” He turned away and headed for the kitchen.
“Bea and me, we don’t mind staying here. We’re used to the heat,” Leo said an hour later as they loaded the man’s old truck with two small suitcases he and his wife had packed. “But when Miz Lesley said there would be air conditioning in the whole building, well, me and Bea, we decided it might not be so bad after all.”
John smiled. “You and Ms. Bea will have a good time. They have games and activities for you to do, they even go on mini-vacations with the other residents. Besides, you guys don’t need to be around here with all the dust that’s going to start flying from demolition.”
“Yeah, I don’t imagine my ol’ lungs would like that much. And a vacation would be nice.” The old man pulled his pipe out from the pocket of his khaki pants. He didn’t bother to light it, just chewed on the end.
John wondered if not lighting the smoke stick had anything to do with the ol’ lungs.
“That Miz Lesley,” Leo said around a mouth full of pipe stem. “She’s a nice one. I’ll admit, me and Bea were worried what would happen to us after Miz Myrtle passed, but the Lord, he’s a taken care of us with the help of Miz Lesley.” A smile slid across the weathered face, baring brown, crooked teeth and bringing a twinkle to his eye. “Wouldn’t you agree?”
John ignored the God comment. “Yeah, she’s turning out to be different than I expected.”
The old guy let out a bark of laughter. “I’ll bet so. Come on.” Leo nudged him with his elbow. “Let’s round up the women folk. We don’t want to be late for the town meeting.”
“You know about that?”
“I overheard you two talking about it the other day. Great idea, asking for help. This place deserves to be spruced up.”
He strolled beside Leo back to the front porch as Ms. Bea and Lesley came out to meet them. Ms. Bea wore her Sunday best, a pink summer dress with matching hat.
Lesley had freshly showered, and a bright yellow sundress hugged her curves while spikey heels adorned her feet. Her skin was tinged pink on her shoulders and nose from hauling materials outside all day, and John’s whole body stopped like his stare did…directly on her.
“Well, don’t you ladies look lovely?” Leo popped the pipe out of his mouth and spoke for them both.
“Thank you, Mr. Leo.” Lesley grabbed Bea’s hand and helped her down the stairs. “You guys better get going.” She gazed up to the sky. “A storm cloud looks like it might be rolling in.”
John raised his head. The sky had started to take on a gray appearance to the left of them. The weather report he heard earlier didn’t look too good. “You’re right.” He reached for Ms. Bea. “Come on, ladies. Lesley, I’ll need to run home real quick to change and check on the kids.”
“Okay.” She turned and raced back up the porch, reaching for her bike, but struggled under the weight of it in her heels.
“What are you doing?” He passed Ms. Bea’s hand to her husband and sprinted up the steps to grab the bike before she did something clumsy…like fall.
“Getting my ride.” Her heels clinked on the wooden steps as she walked back down. “I’ll meet you guys in town.”
“Don’t be silly. Get in my truck.” He rolled the cycle to the grass and kicked the kickstand down.
“No thanks.” She grabbed the bike back and kicked the stand back up. “I’ll just ride.”
Holding her dress down as she straddled the bike, she nearly toppled over, trying to get her balance on the apparatus in those spikes she called shoes, while attempting to keep her modesty all at the same time.
Ridiculous…riding a bike in a dress. Besides, if he almost saw what was underneath her skirt, what’s to keep other men in town from seeing the same thing as she got off and on the contraption? A thought he couldn’t stomach.
John grabbed the handlebars and straightened her out. “Please,” he pleaded. “There’s a storm coming.”
“No.” The stubborn woman placed her feet on the ground for balance and moved his hands off the handles. “This is my vehicle.” She tapped the handlebars. “Besides, the clouds don’t look that bad.”
That bad? A gust of wind rolled through the trees, whistling an eerie sound of what was to come. Her skirt swished around her legs.
Hell, this is not good.
“Lesley, there is a hurricane off the coast. It could come this way.”
“I understand your concern.”
No, he didn’t think she did.
“And if I feel like the storm is too bad after the meeting, then I’ll figure something else out. Besides, I need to go pay a visit to your dear ol’ pal Linda and see if there is any information on Samuel William Thomas while you’re checking on Rachel and Matthew.”
“You’re serious? You really won’t ride in the truck?”
“That’s right. Business only. Remember?”
“Technically, this is business.” They were going to ask for help for the manor after all. “Now, get in the truck.”
“No.” She crossed her arms.
Difficult woman.
“And considering what happened yesterday,” she whispered, “I think it’s best we keep some distance.”
Yesterday. How could he forget? He would never forget. And he could tell by the look of determination in her stance she wouldn’t change her mind. He’d seen the same look when he tried to convince her to sell the manor. And if he mentioned anything about her dress flying up while she rode into town, he knew what she would do. Ride anyway just to prove him wrong.
“You know where the meeting is, right?”
“Across from the bookstore. I’ll be there in an hour when it starts.”
“Fine.” He kicked a rock and turned for his truck then stopped. No. Not fine. Besides her poor clothing choice, she could get hurt. He pivoted and marched right back to her.
She raised an eyebrow. “Yes?”
“Just promise me something.”
“What’s that?”
“Be careful.” He wasn’t asking. If she hurt herself riding into town when he could have safely taken her in his truck, he didn’t think he could handle it. As it stood, her record for safety wasn’t great.
“I’ll be fine. See you in an hour.” She pushed off and started down the gravel drive, pulling the lever of her bell as she rode off.
At least her skirt had stayed down.
“Damn woman,” he mumbled under his breath.
Leo chuckled as he shuffled toward John. “You sure do know how to pick yourself a gal. You’ve got your hands full with that one.”
“She’s not my gal. Just my boss.”
“Ha!” Leo let out another deep bark of laughter and slapped him on the shoulder. “Okay, son.”
Okay was right. Lesley made it clear they were in a working partnership. And he agreed. Strictly business was best for the both of them. He’d be sure to keep it that way. Despite what this old man, or his own feelings thought.