“Hi,” Tori and Kathy said in unison. Anissa said nothing, but her back had stiffened.
The woman offered her hand. “I’m Lucinda Bloomfield. Nice to meet you.”
Tori made the introductions. “And this is Anissa Jackson.”
Anissa still said nothing, but her expression in reaction to the woman’s greeting said ‘I’ll bet.’
“You ladies have been working hard. Going to put the house up for sale?” Lucinda asked hopefully.
“No,” Anissa answered. She offered no other explanation, so Tori jumped in.
“Anissa and I have similar plans to do a cosmetic refresh.”
“Cannon,” Lucinda said thoughtfully. “You’re related to the people who own the Lotus Lodge?” She said the words with a hint of disapproval. No doubt, she considered the shabby and shuttered motel to be yet another eyesore at the foot of the road that led to her elegant mansion.
“Yes.”
“Will you be reopening the motel or demolishing it?” Lucinda asked. It sounded as though she’d prefer the latter.
“I’d like to reopen it,” Tori bluffed. She’d actually talked herself out of the notion, but her seldom-seen ire had been tweaked.
“The brewery fishing derby is just six weeks away. Surely you can’t get it ready for occupancy by then.”
Tori shrugged. “I’m going to try. Anissa is a contractor. She’s going to help me.”
Anissa cocked her head to one side but said nothing. This time her expression said, I am?
“A contractor?” Lucinda repeated, as though in disbelief. She eyed Anissa critically.
“Anything a man can do, I can do better,” Anissa said finally.
Lucinda took in Anissa’s chiseled muscles. “I don’t doubt it.”
“Why did you want to know if I was going to sell my father’s house?” Anissa asked, her voice sharp.
Lucinda shrugged. “It’s in need of a lot of repair. I just thought…”
“Wrong,” Anissa asserted. “My daddy said you badgered him to sell. Why?”
“Badgered?” Lucinda repeated. “That’s an antagonistic word.”
“That’s what he said. Why would you want this house?” Anissa repeated.
“Not the house, the property. My grandparents bought the land where my home resides over seventy-five years ago. They weren’t interested in water access. I am.”
“You gonna buy a party barge or something?” Anissa asked, her words sounding like a taunt.
“I have a sailboat. It’s currently berthed at Parkland Marina. I’d rather not have to travel that distance when I want to sail her.”
“Gee, that’s too bad,” Anissa said, not sounding a bit sorry.
“Cannon’s is a lot closer,” Tori suggested, knowing full well that it was far too shabby, and with no amenities, for an expensive sailboat to be moored. Kathy gave her a stern glare.
“You have a beautiful home,” Kathy said, sounding desperate to steer the conversation in another direction.
“Thank you. It’s been featured in Architectural Digest, Home Beautiful, and Country Living magazines.”
“I’m sorry I missed it,” Kathy said with sincerity. It was Tori’s turn to glare at her friend.
“Well, I’d better get back home. It’s time to feed my dogs,” Lucinda said.
“Dobermans?” Anissa asked.
“No, Yorkies.” If Lucinda was offended by Anissa’s suggestion, she didn’t show it. She smiled, and this time it seemed a little more genuine. “Welcome to the neighborhood.” She turned and started back toward her driveway.
“Thank you,” Kathy called after her.
Tori and Anissa turned their gazes on Kathy. “You don’t live here,” Tori reminded her.
“And technically you don’t, either.”
“You haven’t decided to buy that crappy old house, have you?” Tori accused.
“Of course not, I mean, not just after one viewing.”
“Kathy,” Tori admonished.
“We’d better finish up here. We can still get a few hours of work in on your grandpa’s house tonight.” She looked toward the bungalow. “I’ll collect the rakes.”
Tori waited until she was out of earshot. “Can’t you convince her that buying that house would be a huge mistake?”
Anissa shrugged. “I’m not convinced it would be. If you’re gonna stay with your Gramps, why wouldn’t you want your best friend nearby?”
“I would love it, but I don’t want to see her go broke trying to resurrect that wreck.”
“I never got a chance to check out the basement for her. I can’t give her a yay or a nay until I do.”
“Thank goodness for that.”
“Shhh—here she comes,” Anissa warned.
Kathy struggled to hold onto the rakes and the weed whacker. “Grab the loppers and we can load up the mower.”
Tori did so and joined the two women by the car. Kathy looked disappointed. No doubt, Anissa had told her she couldn’t comment on the house. Good.
Tori placed the loppers in the back of the car with the other tools and the three women hefted the mower into the back once more. They secured it with the bungee cords and then turned back to examine their work one last time.
“What color are you going to paint it?” Tori asked, hoping it wouldn’t be the same mustard yellow.”
“I don’t know. Maybe hot pink. That might annoy old Lucinda,” Anissa said with a smirk
“You’re bad,” Kathy scolded.
“Maybe—maybe not,” Anissa admitted. She let out a long breath. “I can’t thank you guys enough, and not just for helping me with the yard. I feel like I’ve made a couple of new friends today.”
“One new friend,” Tori said indicating Kathy, “and got reacquainted with an old one.”
Anissa laughed. “Yeah.”
“If you get lonely, I’m going to be staying with Gramps through at least the weekend. Then I need to go back to Rochester to start shutting down my apartment.”
“So, you weren’t shitting old lady Bloomfield. You really are going to reopen the Lotus Lodge?” Anissa asked.
Tori shrugged. “I don’t know. It was terrible of me, but I just felt the urge to bug her by telling her yes.”
“You bad girl, you,” Anissa said and laughed.
“Yes, you’re very bad,” Kathy said with disapproval.
“Don’t tell me you like that old bat,” Anissa accused.
“I don’t know her well enough to make that kind of judgment,” Kathy said.
Instant shame gushed through Tori, making her blush. One of the things she admired most about her best friend was her honesty and sense of fairness. “We’d better get going,” she said to hide her embarrassment.
“Yeah,” Kathy agreed. She turned to Anissa. “Any chance you can come with me to look at the basement of that house tomorrow morning? That is, if I can get Jerry to come back and show it.”
“Sure thing.”
“Great.” They exchanged phone numbers. “I won’t be leaving until lunchtime, so I’ll call you later tonight or tomorrow morning.”
“Okay.”
Kathy followed Tori and got in the car.
“See you,” Tori said, and started the engine. Kathy waved as they pulled away.
They drove in silence back to the Cannon compound. Tori finally broke the quiet. “So, you’re serious about that house?”
“I won’t know until Anissa tells me about the basement. There could be all kinds of problems that would be deal breakers; from dry rot, to termites, to foundation issues. Seeing the condition of the rest of the house, I’m pretty sure all the mechanicals are shot and in need of replacement. It might be that the place is only fit for demolition.”
“But you hope not,” Tori stated.
Kathy shrugged. She opened the passenger door. “Come on. We’ve got a lot to accomplish tonight.”
“Including your call to that real estate agent,” Tori said with disapproval.
&
nbsp; “Yeah,” Kathy agreed. She got out of the car and shut the door, then headed for the house.
Tori got out of the car, but instead of following her friend, she walked up to the road and then along the shoulder until she could see the front yard of what she was already beginning to think of as Kathy’s Folly. The police had departed, but there was no sign of crime tape. They must have either determined that finding the wallet was a fluke or a plant, or that there was no reason to believe it was a crime scene.
If she ended up living with Herb, and if Kathy bought the house across the street, life could be pretty damn nice. So why was she against the idea of Kathy buying the place?
She needed to think long and hard about that—including questioning her own motives, because just when life had handed her a giant stinking turd with the loss of Billy and her job, Kathy might be on the cusp of fulfilling a long-held dream. Was a green-eyed monster lurking deep within her?
Yeah, she had a lot to think about.
#
It seemed like Tori wasn’t the only one who had ideas about reopening the Lotus Lodge. When she and Kathy started going through the contents of the packed guest room, they found a gross each of white towels in two sizes, matching washcloths, sixteen new bedspreads, and an assortment of Egyptian cotton linens. Most had been purchased on eBay. The fact that her grandparents had never even owned a computer made it a bit of a mystery until Tori grilled Herb.
“Your grandma’s friend, Irene, has a computer. That damn woman thought it was a mistake for us to close the Lodge and she never let us forget it. Sure, but it wasn’t her who was going to do all the work.”
“What would it take for you to reopen?” Kathy asked.
“Hell freezing over,” Herb said and laughed.
Tori didn’t join in. But after seeing what her grandmother had accumulated—and it was all quality goods—she had a better understanding of what Kathy must have been feeling about that wreck of a house across the road.
Tori got little sleep that night, and it wasn’t just the uncomfortable bed. Could she really reopen the Lodge and make a go of it?
Once she decided to broach the subject with her grandfather, she fell into a deep sleep. Still, she was up in time to catch Herb making breakfast for himself.
“Want some scrambled eggs?” he asked, whisking a couple he’d already cracked into a bowl. “They’re my specialty.”
“No, thanks, Gramps. I’ll just pour myself a cup of coffee once it finishes brewing.”
“Pour me one, too, will you?”
Tori set out mugs, got out the milk, and poured the coffee. She sat down at the table and waited until the toast popped up and Herb joined her before she spoke. “Gramps,” she began.
Herb shoveled a forkful of eggs into his mouth. “Hmm?” he grunted.
“I was thinking.…”
Herb swallowed and took a sip of his coffee. “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking these past few days, too. Maybe your Aunt Janet and Uncle Dave are right. Maybe it is time for me to sell the business.”
“What?” Tori asked, horrified.
“I can’t believe what a difference sprucing up the shop and the yard has done for business. I’ve had more customers in the last two days than I’ve had all month.”
“Doesn’t that prove that the business can turn around?” Tori asked.
“It sure does. I know it won’t sell right away—maybe it’ll take a year to find a buyer—but now’s the time for me to start thinking about what I want to do for the rest of my life, and it sure as hell ain’t selling bait.”
Tori’s cheeks felt hot, and she fought the urge to cry.
“Don’t worry, girl, you can stay here until I sell the place. I’d be glad of your company until you get back on your feet.”
“Thanks, Gramps,” Tori found herself saying.
“And don’t think I haven’t noticed how hard you and your friend, Kathy, have been working on clearing out the house. It’s beginning to feel more like a home than a warehouse. I never understood why your grandma needed to have so much junk piled around her.”
Tori stared at the Lotus Lodge mug in her hand.
“That Dumpster is already half full. By the time you clear out the Lodge it’ll be full, eh?” Herb asked.
“Yeah,” Tori said quietly.
Herb finished his eggs and sipped his coffee before speaking once more. “Your friend did a nice job repainting the sign for the Lodge, but I wish she hadn’t.”
Tori said nothing.
“I asked her if she’d do the sign over the shop before she goes. That ought to bring in even more customers, eh?”
“Yeah.”
He frowned. “Is that all you can say, girl?”
Tori shrugged.
Daisy wandered into the kitchen. She stopped in front of Tori, then jumped onto her lap. She stood there, rubbed her head against Tori’s chin and purred loudly. Tori wrapped her arms around the cat and kissed the top of her head, grateful for her company at a moment when she felt bereft.
Herb got up and took his dishes to the sink. He didn’t rinse them or put them in the dishwasher. “Are you going to put stuff outside the shop for sale today?”
“I can,” Tori said. She set Daisy down on the floor and got up to take care of the dishes.
Her grandpa nodded and headed for the door. “I’ll be in the shop.”
The door closed behind him as silent tears flowed from Tori’s eyes. It had been a stupid idea to even consider reopening the Lodge. If Herb left Lotus Bay, there’d be nothing left for her to do but try to find another full-time teaching job. She might have to find a roommate—not what she wanted at this stage of life but, with her finances in shambles, she wouldn’t have much choice.
Tori wiped her eyes and closed the dishwasher, wondering what she should do first. She needed to wait for Kathy to show up before she could assemble the tent. One problem was a lack of stickers for marking prices on the items, and she wished she’d brought her printer with her two days before. Still, she could group items of like value on separate tables and just put a sign up with the price—if she could find some paper. She might have to take a trip into town.
Odds were she’d make enough money from the sale to pay for the Dumpster, which was rented by the week, and nothing more. She’d need to clear out the Lotus Lodge during the next five days, and without help, too.
Tori had been looking forward to finding more treasures among her grandmother’s trash, but now the idea of all that work for no gain made her feel depressed. It looked like all too soon she’d be alone and destitute.
Her heart ached with sorrow—mostly for herself—and she wished for just one more loving hug from her grandmother, who’d always had the power to make her feel safe and secure. Worse was the knowledge it would never happen again.
CHAPTER 8
Kathy had been awake long before sunup but didn’t want to disturb Tori if she was sleeping in. She’d packed her bags in anticipation of leaving by noon, but by seven, she couldn’t stand another minute of the bad reception on the little TV in her tiny rental room and sent Tori a text.
I’ve been up for hours, was the reply. Coffee’s hot. Come on over.
Kathy locked up and was knocking on the door to the small house across the way, just a minute later. As soon as she saw her friend, she knew something was wrong. “Spill it,” she said as Tori handed her a mug.
“Gramps is so happy with the work we’ve done and that we’ve added so much value to the property that he’s going to put it up for sale!”
“Oh, no!”
“Oh, yes,” Tori said, close to tears.
“Now don’t panic. Do you think there’s a chance you could talk him out of it?”
“Probably not. He figures he’s got a few good years left and doesn’t want to spend them tied to a dying business. And at his age, who could blame him?”
“What if you could manage it? It would be income for him,” Kathy suggested.
“I’m n
ot sure I could support both of us on it—especially during the winter, even if I do manage to get hired for substitute teaching.”
“Oh, Tor, I’m so sorry.” Kathy set her mug on the counter and gave her friend a hug. She pulled back. “But you’re not done yet.”
“How can you say that?”
“Because I’m sure that not only can you turn this place around, but you can make it profitable. We will figure out a way. But first, we’ve got to finish our curb appeal project. As soon as I finish this coffee, I’m going out there. I will paint the sign over the shop while you set up for your yard sale. You guys need money coming in.”
“That’s for sure.”
“And I’ll see what I can do to make your Gramps see things a different way.”
“But don’t you have to go see the house across the way this morning?”
“Yes, but not until eleven. Anissa is going to join me there, then I’ll have to hop in my car and head for home. I have things I need to do before I go into work. I’ll be cutting it pretty close as it is.”
Tori nodded. “I can’t tell you how much I appreciate all that you’ve done for us.”
“You can thank me after we figure out how to keep the Cannon compound in the family’s hands—and not be put on sale to the public.”
Kathy picked up her mug and chugged the contents, then set it back on the counter. “I’m outta here.” She retrieved the paint brushes still wrapped in plastic from the fridge, and headed outside.
The sky to the south was pale blue and cloudless as she walked from the house to the bait shop. The paint cans were where they’d left them the night before. The door to the bait shop was open, and Herb sat on a stool behind the counter, tying flies. “Hey, Mr. Cannon,” she called brightly.
“Hi, Kathy. Come to paint the sign?”
“Yes. I thought I might add a hook on the upper right corner. Would that be all right?”
“Honey, whatever you do to spruce up that sign is fine with me.”
Tori showed up carrying a stepladder. “Thought you might need this.”
“Thanks.” Kathy opened the ladder and the paint cans, setting them on the shelf before she climbed. She was already at work painting the white background when a tubby middle-aged man in jeans and a faded Buffalo Bills sweatshirt came up from the dock. He said nothing to her, and entered the shop.
With Baited Breath Page 9
