by Natalie Ann
Bode laughed. “We tried to dress Coy up as a girl when he was younger. That didn’t fly.”
“Mom was so ticked off. I don’t even remember whose dress it was. One of the cousins had it on over their bathing suit.”
“Anyway,” Bode said, “Mom doesn’t mean any harm, but she just won’t back off. Tell her you’re seeing someone.”
“Then she’d want to know who it was,” he argued.
“Make a person up.”
“And she’ll want to meet her,” he said back.
“Then make up excuses why she can’t. You’re almost as bad as Connie with not wanting to lie.”
“It’s not that I don’t want to lie, it’s just I don’t want to get tangled in something like that. I’ll figure it out.”
“I’m sure you can go back in the office now without even leaving at this point,” Bode said. “I needed to talk to you about a few things anyway.”
“We’ve been out here gabbing like two women for ten minutes. Connie won’t even realize I wasn’t gone long. Walk with me across the street for a coffee since I’m out here.”
“Only if you’re buying,” Bode said.
“You should buy since you’re older.”
“Please, the younger brother always pays.”
“Which means you never have to open your wallet for anything.”
“It’s the price of the advice you just got.”
“That’s real good advice. Lie to Mom.”
The two of them laughed, got their coffees, then walked back to the office. Bode was right, Connie didn’t seem to notice that he barely left the parking lot.
“Your office or mine?” Bode asked.
“Mine’s neater. You’ve got tools and papers everywhere.” When they were seated in the two chairs around a table he asked, “What do we need to talk about?”
“Some of the rental properties haven’t had spot checks in a few years. We’ve been so busy, both of us, that we need to really make time to go in and check them out.”
“That’s your job,” he said.
“No. We both do it. I go in when there are problems. You do spot checks and play nicey nice with the renters.”
“They don’t even know us,” he said. “We’ve always had a property management company do it all.”
“Which you know is coming to an end soon. That’s my point. It was a waste of money and Dad agreed. Half the island knows we own properties; why should we hide behind a property manager? We talked about this with Dad last year.”
“I know,” he said. “One by one as leases ran out we were going to do the spot checks, introduce ourselves, blah, blah. I’ve done more than twenty of them so far. Isn’t it your turn?”
“Nope. Because once you have your meeting they start making their lists of things they’d like to see done and then it becomes my headache.”
“Which is why I didn’t want to do this.” He understood it was a money-saving move. A smart one too. He had no clue why one of his ancestors wanted to use a property management company out of Boston all those years ago, but Bode was right. There was no hiding anything at this point and they shouldn’t be. It’s not like they even had that many properties back then.
They were one of the biggest realty companies in Massachusetts and the only one on the island. Up until the last ten years it was a handful of rental homes at most on the island. Now it was close to fifty all over Massachusetts. They owned multiple apartment buildings too with other family members.
“We already started making the changes. We’ve only gone through about half the homes we own in the past six months. Can you let me know when the next one is so I can clear my schedule for the changes or work I’m sure I’m going to be asked to look over and schedule the crew to do?”
“Fine,” he said, getting up and going to his computer. “The next house is leased to Amanda Moore. Her lease is up in less than two months. I’ll send out the letter today to find out when a good time is to stop in for a spot check and introduce myself.”
“Good,” Bode said. “And you never know, maybe she’s some hot chick and not some retiree that came to the island for a few years to live life in the slow lane.”
“I couldn’t get that lucky even if I wanted to.”
2
Lost In Life
“What’s wrong, Amanda?” Kayla Rivers asked.
“Nothing.”
“You’re quiet and you’re never quiet. Are you upset I’m moving out? I know I wasn’t here long, but I’m paying until the end of my one-year contract.”
“No, sweetie,” Amanda said, moving forward and giving her a hug. “Of course not. I’m so happy for you. You’ve got everything going for you now. A baby on the way, a fiancé that adores you and little junior in there. A gorgeous ring on your finger too. You don’t even have to finish paying me out the lease.”
She’d find another roommate soon. It wasn’t that hard. If she was allowed to though.
“I signed a contract and I’ll honor it,” Kayla said.
“Save the money for the baby.”
“Since I’m marrying a Bond I don’t think my measly paycheck means much. You’ll get your rent check each month per the contract. And if you find someone else to fill the room, then it’s bonus money.”
“No,” Amanda said. “If I find another roommate you are out of your obligation. I just hope once you move out you won’t stop coming around.”
“Of course I won’t. You’re the mother I’ve never had even though you’re only three years older than me.”
Amanda laughed. She’d always been referred to as the mother of the house and she was completely fine with it.
“Almost four years older soon,” she said.
She never thought she’d be almost thirty-two and still single, least of all childless. Maybe that was why she had roommates, so she could take care of someone.
“Whatever,” Kayla said. “So tell me what is really going on.”
She sighed. She hadn’t wanted to bother Kayla with it. She’d had a rough couple of months. First Kayla had found out she’d gotten pregnant by accident. Hunter Bond had loved Kayla all along, but the two of them hadn’t done that great of a job of communicating. Amanda knew damn well how that affected a relationship.
Then Kayla’s mother crawled out of whatever slimy hole she’d been living in and tried to tarnish Kayla’s name and blackmail Hunter at the same time.
Again, Amanda had been through some of that in her life and knew how horrible it felt, but she wasn’t about to let on about her past.
No one knew about it here and she tried her hardest to put it behind her. Even though it’d always been lurking in the shadows, reminding her of all she’d lost in her life.
“Remember how I said I never knew who owned the house? That it was a property manager that I paid the rent to?”
“Yeah?”
“Well, it seems one branch of the Bonds owns it. They are no longer going through a property management company. I got a letter last week and someone will be here today to introduce themselves, do a spot check of the house, and answer any questions I might have before I sign the new lease.”
“That doesn’t sound like a bad thing. I can ask Hunter who it might be if you want.”
“No. It’s not that. I mean it’s not like they said the rent is going to go up and I don’t think it will. They’d said nothing will change in the contract and that they’d just like to know if there were problems in the house that needed to be addressed. Things like that.”
“Again, not the end of the world,” Kayla said.
“My lease never said I couldn’t sublease,” she admitted. “I just decided to do it because, as I told you before, it’s like living here for free by having roommates.”
“Oh, so it could be a money thing? I’m sorry. You’re definitely not letting me out of my lease. I know what it’s like to be short on cash.”
“No, no. Money isn’t an issue. Trust me there.”
She�
�d been smart with her money ever since she left home fourteen years ago. The minute she was recovered enough, she packed up and drove away. She’d had a job, and she’d had that big hush money check that she never wanted.
It was a good thing she didn’t rip it up like she’d wanted when Randall’s stuffy mother handed it over with the stick stuck up her ass.
Nope, it’d come in handy when she found herself alone. Even without a baby to raise, it was enough for her to start her own life.
“Oh, if they say Sidney and Bri have to move out they might not be able to find another place.”
“Exactly,” she said. “And if they do, they will have to pay a lot more. I don’t want to do that to them.”
“Always the concerned parent. Don’t worry about it until it happens. When are they coming?”
“This afternoon,” she said.
“So, that’s why you’ve been running around the house like the energizer bunny cleaning.”
“Yeah. Not that anything is ever messy here. We are all pretty neat. I’ve had some dirty roommates in the past.”
Kayla shook her head. “And I’m sure you cleaned up after them rather than telling them to pick up their own messes.”
“No. I can be firm when I need to. I can be bitchy even when you girls don’t think I can.”
“I doubt it,” Kayla said. “I see your baking stuff out too. I was going to ask what you were making and now I think it’s because you want something to offer them when they come. To butter them up?”
“Maybe,” Amanda said. “But it’s just being polite.”
“It is,” Kayla said. “I’ll get out of here before he comes.”
“You don’t need to go. I enjoy our Mondays together.”
Amanda had Sundays and Mondays off of her job at the hair salon. Kayla worked nights but had Saturday, Sunday, and Monday off. It’d gotten to be their routine to hang on out Mondays but now Kayla was spending more time at Hunter’s than here.
“I do have errands to run anyway. And I promised Hunter I’d cook for him tonight and stay the night. We’ve been talking about the nursery and getting some work done.”
Amanda smiled. It was sincere, not forced. Just because her daughter’s birthday would have been in a few days didn’t mean that she held it against anyone else for their fortune.
She’d never been that way and she never would.
She never wanted money. She never wanted material things.
She wanted a man that loved her and she wanted a family.
She got neither of those two things and she wondered if she ever would at this point.
“I can’t wait to see what you do with the room. Maybe you’ll let me help you decorate?”
“You know I will,” Kayla said. “You’re like my best friend ever. You and Sidney. I’m going to miss you both when I move out. I love Hunter to death and can’t wait to live with him and start our family, but the other part of me doesn’t want to leave you.”
“I feel the same way. But you aren’t going far. Just a few miles away.” Though Kayla would have a new life and family that would take up her time.
“I’ve only known you girls for six months but it seems like a lifetime.”
“What about Bri?” she asked with a smile.
“I love Bri, but she isn’t like you and Sidney. Bri just doesn’t get us and I think she’s a little jealous of me right now.”
“She’s very jealous of you and you know it. She moved to this island in the hopes of finding her forever man. I can’t tell you how many men she’s gone through in the fifteen months she’s lived here, but it’s a lot.” More than Amanda had been with in her life.
“She’s trying too hard. I wasn’t trying at all,” Kayla said.
“I never try.”
“Why?” Kayla asked. “Or is that too personal?”
“I guess it just hasn’t happened for me. Trying harder isn’t going to make it so,” she said. There was no use saying anymore.
“It will happen. You’re a terrific person and any man that you want or love that doesn’t see it, isn’t worth your time.”
She laughed. “I’ve always felt that way too.”
“Okay. You’re going to make me cry and I’m not sure why. These crazy hormones.”
She hugged Kayla. “I love you like a sister.” Not like the sister she had that she hadn’t spoken to in twelve years. Her younger sister, Charlotte, was just as prissy as her mother. Or she did what her mother said because she was stuck up her ass like a wet tongue on a frozen metal pole.
Her father wouldn’t even look at her. To this day she wondered if her mother was even going to show up at the hospital that day when Amanda called her crying that she was in labor several months early and there was no heartbeat.
She should have known her mother would be there just to rub her face in it.
Amanda swore she’d never ever treat another person that way. Everyone made mistakes in life but no one deserved to be left on their own during the worst of times.
“I love you too, Amanda. Now I will leave though. You’ve got things to do and I’m getting all sappy. Let me know when the coast is clear and if there are any goodies left later.”
“I will. Have fun today,” she said.
“You too. It won’t be bad. Trust me, it will all work out.”
“If you say so.”
3
Buttering Me Up
Bode was right, Drew thought when he rang the doorbell around three. A hot chick opened the door with a smile on her face.
“Hi,” he said. “Amanda Moore?”
“That’s me,” she said back and pulled the door open wider. “Come on in. Well, you can, it’s really your property.”
He smiled. Most people weren’t so welcoming when the landlord came knocking. Or they weren’t smiling either. Nor did the house smell like...cookies.
“It’s your home though,” he said. He wanted her to feel like this was a friendly visit, not something she had to be suspicious about.
“It is. But we know that could change if you wanted it to. Can I take your jacket?”
He pulled off his fleece. The end of October had varying degrees of weather and today was a dark, windy, and gloomy one. Until Ms. Moore opened her door and it felt like the sun was reflecting like a halo around her head.
What the hell was he thinking?
“Thanks. It sure smells good in here.”
“Snickerdoodles,” she said. “Can I offer you a coffee to go with them?”
“Did you make them for this visit?” he asked, knowing that had to be a first. He hated these visits and lost the coin toss with Bode over them. Normally he was great with people but found that when the tenants realized who owned their house, most were either nervous or scared for some reason.
If not that, then they had a list a mile long of all the things they wanted done or changed assuming since he was a Bond, money wasn’t an issue.
Which it wasn’t, but that didn’t mean he had to fix everything they nitpicked about either.
Cookies waiting for him with a smile and a cup of coffee. Nope and he couldn’t wait to rub Bode’s face in this one.
“I’d love a cup,” he said. “I just want to assure you that we are meeting with all our tenants since we decided to terminate our relationship with the property management company. I’m hoping that they met your needs and answered questions or concerns you might have had in your almost two years of renting.”
“They have,” she said. “Follow me to the kitchen, though I’m sure you know the way.”
“Actually, I haven’t been in all of these houses,” he admitted.
“I guess that means there is a lot of them. Have a seat.”
What a host. He pulled a chair out while she poured him a cup of coffee and put cream and sugar on the table with a plate of cookies. He picked up his cup and drank it black while she poured a little sugar in hers.
“We have enough of them,” he said. “My father found it
easier to continue to use the company to manage this branch of the business as it expanded over the years. My brother Bode and I are running things now from both the real estate and property end. Building relations, you could say.”
“That’s nice. A special touch.” She pushed the cookies toward him. “Please, help yourself. I like to bake.”
“Don’t mind if I do.” He took a bite of the soft monster cookie that pretty much filled his palm up. “Oh lord, these are slightly warm. Did they just come out of the oven?”
She kept smiling and images of a halo floating around her golden hair just filled his brain again. Maybe there was something slipped into these cookies.
“I did,” she said.
“I feel like you are buttering me up and you’re going to pull out this huge list of needs or wants. Repairs, changes and so on. First off, your lease won’t change when you sign it again next month, if you choose to stay.”
“I’d like to,” she said. “I love it here. Not to mention I work on the island and know how hard it would be to find another place, though I’m sure you could easily replace me if I left.”
He could but had no intention of it. “I’m glad you want to stay,” he said. He’d looked into her history and she was an ideal tenant. No complaints and her rent always paid on time.
“And why would you think I had a list of things to be done? If I have a problem, I check with the property managers, but have had very little issues here. If the toilet is running, I fix it myself. I believe minor repairs of anything under two hundred dollars are in the lease for me to cover.”
Damn, not only hot, but smart enough to read and understand her lease. And fix her own toilet. “That is the case, but many will call the landlord anyway before they’d call a repairman to find out the cost.”
“Again, no issues here.”
Another first. “As much as I’d love to sit here and keep eating these cookies, do you mind if we walk around? Since you know I haven’t been on the property before, you can show me where everything is.”
“Sure,” she said, standing up. She walked out of the kitchen to a room off the back. He tried not to let his eyes wander to her ass, but it was hard to do in the jeans that fit her so well. She was one lean and leggy woman.
