by Dylann Crush
fourteen
“Over there. Yeah, just a few feet to the left, I think.” Lacey clamped her hands to her hips as she directed the sign installer. Not everyone in town seemed all in on her idea to transform the Phillips property into wedding central, but regardless, she had a plan and she was sticking to it. They’d either succeed and blow away everyone’s expectations or go down in a plume of tulle, glitter, and fake rose petals.
The woodworking company in town had come through, creating a beautiful handcrafted sign that lit up from within. Lacey grinned as the guys attached it to the base they’d set in concrete last week.
Satisfied they didn’t need her help anymore, she turned to head inside the house. That’s where the majority of their time and budget would go. With only a few months before Adeline’s wedding, they’d need every spare second to transform the house into an event space. She paused on the wraparound front porch. She’d been to events at the Phillips House over the years but it hadn’t been the showpiece she’d envisioned. The city had transformed the gorgeous interior into more of a functional space. Now it was up to her and the team of volunteers to restore it to its original glory and make it the kind of wedding venue that brides couldn’t pass up.
She turned the handle on the original mahogany door and stepped into the massive front foyer. Instead of hearing the buzz of the sanding machine from the vendor who was supposed to be refinishing all of the hardwood floors, a high-pitched shriek filled her ears.
Lacey turned around just in time to collide with Adeline. Papers flew everywhere. Adeline barreled past her, through the front door, and didn’t stop until she’d hit the middle of the front sidewalk.
“What the heck was that?” Lacey muttered as she bent down to pick up the paper explosion.
“Rats.” Roman walked toward her from the doorway leading to the kitchen.
“It’s okay, I’ve got it.” Lacey gathered the papers from the floor.
Roman squatted next to her. “I mean, you’ve got rats. Adeline wanted to take a closer look at the space and we came across a baby rat in the kitchen.”
Lacey’s pulse thundered in her ears. “Rats? Are you sure you saw a rat?”
“Pretty sure. Either that or you’ve got a mouse on steroids.” He pointed toward the front door that stood wide open. “Did she go out?”
“Um, yeah. She’s out on the lawn.” Lacey swept the papers into her hands then handed them to Roman as she stood. “Here, she dropped these on her way out.”
“Thanks.” He took the stack of papers then left.
Rats. Could they really have a rat problem? Weren’t rats more likely to make their home somewhere dark and dank? Like the New York subway system? She took cautious steps toward the doorway to the kitchen, hoping that Adeline and Roman were wrong. Maybe they saw a family of kittens. Or if it had to be wild animals, maybe somehow a mama bunny had found her way into the building and made a burrow. It didn’t matter that it was only March and most baby bunnies weren’t born until spring. Trying to convince herself that surely they’d been mistaken, she crept closer to the kitchen. Maybe the mama bunny had gotten herself in a family way and taken refuge against the cooler temps inside the house. And maybe she had a few friends who’d done the same. For all she knew, the Phillips House had become a home for single bunny mamas. Word could be on the street. That’s probably all it was.
Bunnies were cute and helpless. Adeline wasn’t the outdoorsy type. It would be easy to confuse a baby bunny with a . . . rat! Lacey jumped onto a built-in barstool as she entered the kitchen. A giant creature, more than double the size of a baby bunny, scrambled past where she clung to the stool.
“Mayor Cherish.” The guy who was supposed to be returning the hardwood floors to their former glory tipped his baseball cap at her. “We’ve got a problem.”
* * *
* * *
Lacey folded her arms across her chest as Bodie taped the sign to the front window of the house. “How long until we can get back in there?”
“Depends on the contractor. Did you call the guy I told you to?”
“Yeah. He said he can come out on Thursday to take a look.” She shifted positions and shoved her hands in the pockets of her jacket. “But we’re on a tight deadline. Every single day matters.”
Bodie shrugged. “Then work on the exterior for now. You’ve got landscaping, painting, tuck-pointing . . . there are all kinds of things you can do until your problem is taken care of.”
Lacey knew that, of course she did, she was the one who came up with the project plan in the first place. But she didn’t like being put off schedule. “How could Adeline mix up an armadillo with a rat?”
“I’m sure she didn’t stick around to take a real close look.” He took out his phone and pulled up a picture he’d snapped. “Besides, if she just caught a glimpse of the tail, she probably thought it was a rat.”
“Have you ever heard of an armadillo infestation?” Lacey examined the picture of the strange creature on the screen. The only time she’d seen armadillos in the wild were on the side of the road, usually with a tire mark down the middle. They weren’t known for being the smartest animals.
Bodie tucked his phone away. “We had a few out at the ranch but the dogs tended to keep them away. Maybe we need to bring Shotgun over to run armadillo prevention.”
“No. I’ll let the wildlife expert do his thing.” It was too bad she couldn’t get him out here until Thursday though.
“Expecting someone?” Bodie nodded toward a van coming down the long drive.
“What?” Lacey swiveled around, her mind already racing with ways to adjust her to-do list. “No, I told everyone to head to lunch until we figure out where to go from here.”
“We?” Bodie tipped his head down, meeting her gaze with those big, gray eyes.
“Yes, we. We’re in this together, remember? You’re the one who said the mayor and the sheriff’s office share the same business.”
“And who’s that?” Bodie nudged his chin toward the small parking area where a woman climbed out of the passenger side of the van.
She wore a cropped black leather jacket over a tight pencil skirt. Long blond hair flowed over her shoulders in perfect waves. She paused to pull a tube of lipstick out of her bag then angled the side mirror so she could see to apply it.
Lacey’s phone vibrated in her back pocket, trilling the annoying sound bite she’d chosen for her alarm. The alarm she’d set to remind her of the appointment she had today.
“Oh no. It’s the reporter from Texas Times.”
“How the hell do you know that?” Bodie asked.
Lacey reached behind him to rip the freshly taped notice from the front door. “Because we have an appointment today. I sent out press releases to try to get some interest from the media in our renovation. She’s the only one who got back to me.”
A guy holding a large camera rounded the van. Lacey’s vision fuzzed at the edges.
“Hey, you can’t remove that notice.” Bodie clamped a hand around her wrist. “It’s legal.”
“Legal schmegal. If the one media outlet that took any interest in our project finds out we’ve got an armadillo problem, our venture will be sunk before it even begins.” She crumpled up the paper and shoved it in her pocket. “If you’ll excuse me for a moment.”
Bodie didn’t follow her down the steps to the sidewalk. Thank goodness. They might be in this together but she didn’t need him literally following in her footsteps and blocking her at every turn.
As she approached the van the woman looked up and smiled. Lacey held out a hand. “Hi, I’m Lacey Cherish. You must be from the Texas Times.”
“I’m Samantha Cross and this is my cameraman, Jay. Thanks for making time for us today.” Her slim fingers gripped Lacey’s in a firm grip.
“Thanks for coming. I do have some bad news though.”
/> “Oh?” Samantha cocked her head. “Is now a bad time?”
“We’re in the middle of renovations and the team refinishing the flooring just put a topcoat on the hardwoods.” Lacey screwed her lips into a frown. “I was really hoping to show you the inside today. I even asked them to hold off, but you know how it is when you’re working with a bunch of contractors.”
Jay swung the camera down from his shoulder. “Well, that’s a waste of time. We drove all the way out here from Beaumont to do this piece.”
“Hi, I’m Deputy Sheriff Bodie Phillips.” Leave it to Bodie to step in. “As Mayor Cherish mentioned, the interior is off-limits. Those guys would gnaw us to pieces if we messed with their floors. But how about taking a look at the exterior? This place was in my family for generations. I can give you some backstory if you’d like.”
Samantha turned toward Bodie, a huge smile on her face, basically giving Lacey a cold shoulder.
Lacey wanted to wrap her hands around Bodie’s neck and squeeze. Instead she managed to summon a grin. “That would be great, Bodie. Maybe you can start with why your family business decided to go under after so long. If Samantha really wants to get the history of the place down, she probably wants to hear the whole story.”
“I’d love that.” Samantha reached into her bag and pulled out her phone. “You don’t mind if I record the conversation, do you? I find it’s easier than trying to keep up taking notes.”
“Not at all.” Bodie gave Lacey a strained smile. “Why don’t we start at the beginning? Follow me.”
fifteen
By the time he was done giving the reporter and her sidekick a personal tour of the exterior of the Phillips House, including a guided walk around the grounds and the wild raspberry patch that always made him break out in hives, Bodie was out of patience.
He stood on the gravel next to Lacey, waving as Jay and Samantha backed down the drive.
Lacey’s smile faded as soon as the van disappeared around a curve. “I asked you to stop butting into my business.”
“What?” Bodie glared at her. “You’ve got to be kidding me. I saved your ass.”
“No. You made a bad situation worse. I had it under control. You’ve got to stop stepping in.” She whirled around, her boots crunching on the gravel as she stomped toward the house.
Bodie caught up to her in just a few steps. He wrapped a hand around her arm, causing her to stop. “Look, Sweets, if I hadn’t stepped in, you would have been screwed. That reporter would have left, pissed off that she’d wasted an entire morning driving out here for nothing.”
Lacey turned on him, spitfire sparking in her eyes. “Do you think maybe I had an idea? One that didn’t involve you divulging your entire family history?”
“Really?” Bodie let go of her arm, stepping back and crossing his arms over his chest. Damn if she wasn’t even more attractive when she had a little fire in her belly. “Enlighten me, please.”
“Forget it, it’s too late.”
“Oh no, you don’t. You want to rip me a new one because I intervened to help, you’re going to tell me how you planned to save the day.”
“Fine. I was going to talk to her about Adeline. How she’s practically Swynton royalty and how she really wants to be the first one to get married in our new venue.”
Bodie shook his head from side to side. “No way Adeline’s story trumps mine. I even showed her where my relatives used to hide their moonshine during Prohibition.”
“I appreciate your help, but we’ve got to stop thinking about this place as a piece of the Phillips family history and start trying to position it as a charming location that’s exclusive to Ido.”
“But it is a part of Phillips history. And it always will be, even if you’d rather take a big eraser and wipe my family out of the town’s history. Just like you’re changing the name. Like it or not, they helped found this place.”
“And if we’re not careful, they’ll be the ones who destroy it forever.”
They stood facing each other, locked in a standoff for what felt like forever. Bodie was too stubborn to admit she was right.
Finally, Lacey shifted her gaze to the parking area. “I’ve got to find Adeline before she tells everyone the whole place is infested with rats.”
Bodie wanted to ease her worries. The slump of Lacey’s shoulders made it look like she had the weight of the world resting on her slim frame. “Want me to come with you?”
Her palm pressed on his chest. A field of warmth radiated out from where she touched him. “You’ve done enough for today. Don’t you have official sheriff business to attend to?”
Nothing pressing unless he wanted to follow up on another random lead about a potential dogfighting ring. The sheriff’s office had been hearing rumors of a mobile dog-fighting circuit for years. Trouble was, as soon as they got wind that someone was onto them, the whole operation would pick up and move, making it impossible to catch them in the act.
Bodie grabbed her hand, giving her fingers a squeeze. “Be careful, okay?”
“You afraid Adeline is going to take desperate measures?”
“That woman’s capable of things I wouldn’t put past even some of the most hardened criminals I’ve worked with.”
Lacey laughed off his concern. “Don’t worry about me. I’m sure we can work something out. I’ll just tell her she saw someone’s pet or something.”
“You really think she’s going to buy that?”
“Maybe not, but what’s the alternative? Tell her that she’ll need to invest in traps so we can make sure a giant mammal doesn’t take off with her wedding cake?”
“Good luck. Let me know how it goes.”
“You’ll be my first call.” She rolled her eyes. “Now, don’t you have something better to do?”
Bodie reluctantly withdrew his hand. The promise he’d made to keep an eye on Lacey was turning into a bit of a chore. Not because he resented having to follow her around, but for reasons exactly the opposite. The more time he spent trying to keep Lacey out of trouble, the more time he spent with her. The more time he spent with her, the more he enjoyed her company. The more he enjoyed her company, the more he could picture her flush against his chest, his arms wrapped around her, her lips tangled with his . . .
“Bodie?” Her forehead creased. “You okay?”
“Yeah, um, see you later.” His face flushed with heat. It wouldn’t do anyone any good for him to voice the kind of thoughts he’d been having about Lacey. He waited until she made it to her truck. Then he climbed into his own pickup. Thanks to her ruining his notice, he’d have to head back to the office and print off another one before he could do much else. Maybe he’d stop by the house on his way. Shotgun had been cooped up in her kennel all morning. It would do the dog some good to get some fresh air.
As he climbed into the truck, his stomach grumbling in anticipation of his lunch, his cell rang.
Pops. Dammit. Why did his family seem to have the worst timing in the world?
“What’s up, Pops?”
“It’s your dad. He’s in the hospital over in Swynton.”
Bodie’s lungs seized then squeezed together. He tried to take in a breath around the giant lump forming in his chest. “What’s wrong?”
“Somebody sent him a message. Get your ass over there, we’ve got to figure this out.”
“Is he okay?”
“He will be. Not much more hurt than his pride. This time.” The line went dead.
Pops had never been a fan of long conversations or conversations in general. With hope for a quiet afternoon shattered, Bodie turned his truck toward Swynton—the last place he wanted to go.
sixteen
“Just a temporary setback.” Lacey took in a deep breath through her nose as she faced Adeline. She’d finally tracked her down at work. Someone somewhere seemed to think having no hea
rt made Adeline the perfect choice for being a pediatric nurse at the local urgent care clinic.
Adeline pointed a bright pink fingernail at Lacey. “You sure there wasn’t more than just one? I think you’re trying to pull a fast one over on me.”
“What good would it do me to do that?” Lacey wrapped her hand around the warm cup of coffee she’d bought from the gas station/bait shop across the street, wishing she had something a little stronger at her disposal. “We’re in this together. You get the wedding of your dreams and we get the publicity we need to kick off our project. How would me lying about an armadillo infestation be in my best interest?” As the word infestation fell from her lips, Lacey said a silent prayer that it wouldn’t come to that.
“So you really think it was just one armadillo? Who was it you said used to work out there?” Adeline wanted to believe her, Lacey could tell.
“The grounds manager. He used to live in the caretaker shed on the edge of the property. His pet armadillo went missing one day while he was checking the building. It’s got to be”—she scrambled to think of a name to give the fictional pet—“Moses. He used to make the rounds with the guy.”
“So are you returning the armadillo to this caretaker?” Adeline squinted.
Moses was a bad name. Who would believe there was a pet armadillo named Moses on the loose? “Well, we tried. But he’s moved away. I have no idea how to contact him. But don’t worry, we’ll catch Moses and then we can get back to planning the perfect ceremony and reception for you and Roman.”
Adeline tapped her fingernails on the wooden laminate tabletop. The click-click-clicking made Lacey want to smack her hand down on the table. “I don’t know . . .”
