“I told you.” Bryce backed up toward the door of his SUV. “You’re bad for business. I don’t want to be painted with the same brush as you. You have this town in an uproar.”
Did he? It hadn’t seemed so bad to Trev. He hadn’t been terribly surprised by his welcome, but Bryce was moving into hyperbole. “It’s going to settle down. Something else will come up, and the town will move on to the next scandal.”
“I can see you don’t care. You don’t care about anything, obviously.” Bryce opened the door to the SUV. “Whatever happens, know it’s all your fault.”
Trev felt his eyes narrow. That sounded like a threat.
Bryce drove away, his tires squealing when they hit the pavement.
“Your brother-in-law is an asshole. You know he cheats like crazy, right? He’s got women going in and out of that office of his at all hours of the night.” Bo walked up carrying a box.
He’d heard the rumor. Why was his sister putting up with this? And why was Bryce so blatant? “How do you know about the women?”
Bo shrugged. “Everyone knows. I even heard Clarissa and her gang go to see him every now and then. I don’t know why. It’s not like he’s attractive or anything. I asked her about it once, but she told me to mind my own business.”
Oh, but this was Trev’s business. “I think it’s about time we checked on my dear brother-in-law. I’ve only met him a couple of times, you know. I wasn’t even at Shelley’s wedding. After I got fired, Bryce treated me like a leper.”
“Don’t listen to him. He’s not worth your time. Now, where do you want this? I know Beth doesn’t have one, and it seems to be your vice now.”
Thoughts of his brother-in-law fled in place of a deep and abiding affection for the man in front of him. “You got me a coffeemaker. Wait. You had to have ordered that yesterday. Didn’t you hate me yesterday?”
“Sure, but I loved Beth. I figured I could at least try to make friends with you. I didn’t want to lose her. Even if she couldn’t love me back. It was important to stay in her life, you know. So I thought I would give this as a sort of peace offering. Now I’m glad I did it because you seem cranky without caffeine.”
Bo bounced past him. Trev turned and saw Beth walk out. She’d put on PJ pants and a big T-shirt. Her eyes were wide as she looked around her. He couldn’t hear what they said, but Beth launched herself into Bo’s arms.
Trev glanced down the road where Bryce’s SUV had left dust in its wake.
What the hell was that man hiding? Trev intended to find out.
Beth looked at the boxes strewn across the living room, a sense of excitement building. It was all here. All her fixtures, the flooring she’d picked out, the paint she’d selected, the new lights. Everything. She glanced up at Bo, who was fiddling with the new coffeemaker.
“Are you sure?”
He turned slightly. He looked scrumptious in nothing but low-slung jeans and his boots. “I’m sure. I wasn’t doing anything with the money. Besides, I’m just paying you back. Remember how you used to loan me lunch money?”
“Bo, that was like two dollars and twenty-five cents. This is fifty thousand dollars worth of supplies.”
He shrugged as he pushed the button that started the coffeemaker. “I never paid you back. Consider it interest.”
“Bo,” she started. The last thing she wanted was for him to think he had to buy his way into a relationship with her. “I love you. You don’t have to do this.”
He turned. “Are we in this together or not? I want to be a partner, Beth. I get that this body is enough to make any woman salivate, but I’m more than just a gorgeous man.”
She couldn’t help her smile. He always made her laugh. And now she didn’t have to stop herself from doing what she’d always wanted to do when she was with him. She walked straight into his arms. “We’re in this together. And I’ll take the interest, Bo. You’ll see. This house is going to be beautiful when I’m done.”
“At least you got rid of that chandelier thing. It gave me the creeps. And can we get rid of the room with all the heads?”
The office was a monstrous altar to the Bellows family’s love of hunting small woodland creatures and stuffing them. “Yes, that’s going to go. I’m knocking down one of the walls to make a breakfast nook. It’s going to be light and airy.”
She was so excited she could hardly stand to wait. The first thing she intended to do was to move that antler chandelier to the curb. She went up on her toes and kissed Bo’s mouth before walking over to where Trev had stashed the fixture. She shook her head. It had probably been too heavy for the ceiling. She would more than likely need the boys to carry it out. She reached out and tested it. It was remarkably light.
She lifted it. It was heavy, but not as heavy as she’d expected. She managed to heft it up. What had caused that chandelier to fall if not sheer gravity?
“What’s going on? You shouldn’t be lifting that.” Bo walked into the dining room, putting down the mug of coffee he was carrying.
“It’s not bad.” She set it down and looked for the fixture that had held it to the ceiling. It was still attached to the base. She’d thought it would be old and ragged, but the fixture was shiny and well kept. The screws were in near-perfect condition.
Why had it fallen?
She walked into the living room and stared up at the hole in the ceiling. She couldn’t see through to the second floor, and there was surprisingly little damage to the ceiling around it. She would have expected more raggedness to the spot, but it was almost as though the thing had simply fallen on its own.
Or had it had a little help?
She needed to get a closer look. She needed to get up there and feel the wood under her hand.
“Is everything okay?” Bo asked.
She gave Bo a sunny smile before crossing to the kitchen again. “Absolutely. Though I’m going to need to find a ladder.”
She opened the junk drawer and found the key to the garage. She was pretty sure she would find what she needed there.
She walked back into the living room and noticed Trev coming in from the porch. The front door opened. Beth felt a deep sense of satisfaction that it made no sound. She’d done a very good job with that door. Trev strode in. His hair was still mussed from the night before. There was a pained expression on his face.
“He needs coffee,” Bo said, putting the mug in her hand and giving her backside a little pat. “You should go and feed the beast. I think that should be your job.”
She grinned up at Bo, the mug warm in her hand. “Will do.” She walked to Trev, whose whole face changed as he caught the scent of the coffee.
“Thank god.” He sniffed it before downing a long swallow. “Good morning.”
She kissed him, brushing her lips against his. “Good morning to you, too. Enjoy your coffee. I’ll be right back.”
She slipped past him and out of the front door. The morning was beautiful, dewy, and warm. She didn’t bother with shoes, letting her feet sink into the thick grass. She turned and looked back at the house. A deep sense of satisfaction settled in her chest.
“Well, don’t you look like the cat who swallowed the canary.”
Beth closed her eyes before turning to face Clarissa. It was Grand Central Station at the Bellows place today. No. It was the Hobbes place. It was hers. And she was done allowing women like Clarissa to intimidate her.
Clarissa was dressed in shorts and a tank top. It was obvious she’d been jogging. Clarissa’s place was roughly a mile down the road. She probably jogged this way every day. Beth decided to go with friendly first.
“Good morning, neighbor.”
Clarissa’s eyes narrowed. “I thought you were going to sell this place.”
“Who told you that?” She hadn’t mentioned anything about this place to anyone outside of Trev and Bo and the gang out at O’Malley Ranch. Beth seriously doubted that Lexi had been gossiping with Clarissa.