Dirt: A Sexy Small Town Romance (Copperwood Book 1) (13 page)

“What did she tell you?” I felt like I was missing something. As if I was looking down at a puzzle with a few missing pieces and I couldn’t see the entire picture.

“She didn’t tell me anything. Kirstin did.”

The little blonde pugilist. “Okay, what did Kirstin tell you?” My hands tightened into fists inside my pockets, and even though the last place I wanted to look was in Rich’s eyes, I knew looking away was an even worse prospect. Whatever she said, it had to be bad.

“I think you need to get your priorities straight, son. And once you figure it out, if you’re lucky, you can decide if you want to try to convince Mya you’re worth it.” Rich crossed his arms over his chest while he spoke.

I never thought of his as an intimidating man. Possessive over his daughter and scary in a way that dads usually were, but never intimidating. That belief quickly flew out the window. I didn’t doubt Rich’s ability to knock me on my ass and doubted my own ability to even defend myself if he raised a hand against me.

I pulled my hands out of my pockets and held them out to him. I wasn’t a man who was used to begging, but I had a feeling if I wanted to see Mya again, I was going to have to beg Rich to let me see her. “I honestly have no idea what you’re talking about.” I combed my fingers through my hair and glanced at the window, wondering if Mya was still watching me.

“She saw Alene with you.” The flat tone of his voice frightened me more than his words did. His words just pissed me off.

“Yeah. I had something I needed to take care of.”

Both of Rich’s eyebrows lifted high above his eyes in surprise. I don’t think he expected me to admit to it. Which made me wonder what he thought we were doing together.

“It was a business matter.”

Rich turned his head to the side and flicked a quick glance to the house before looking back at me. “Really?”

“Really.” I took a step closer to him, stepping onto the dried out lawn. “I spent maybe an hour with her and now that our business has come to a conclusion, I don’t plan on having anything more to do with her.
Ever
.”

Rich’s hands relaxed, as did his face. I wasn’t sure he completely believed me, but he seemed more likely to listen to what I had to say.

“I’m not lying, Rich.”

“I don’t think you are. But I do think it would help Mya if you told her why you were with Alene.”

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea.” I tucked my hands back in my pockets and looked at the house. As if I could will her to come out and talk with me instead of a bunch of intermediaries.

“Trust goes both ways, son.”

“Yeah, but it’s not my place.” I looked back at him. “It’s not my dirt.”

Rich nodded his head slowly. “None of it’s been your dirt.”

“Yeah, but she’s still alive.”

Rich chuckled at that. The noise, warm and soft, surprised me enough to pull my attention away from the house and the window I knew Mya was hiding behind.

“I won’t tell her she needs to talk with you, but I’ll tell her she should give you a chance.”

“I placed a bid on the house this afternoon.”

“Oh?”

“I don’t know if I’ll get it, but Steve thought they would take it.” When he didn’t respond, I kept going. At that point, I didn’t have anything else to lose. “I didn’t put in the offer for me.”

Rich inhaled deeply and let his breath leave slowly. Like he was contemplating what he wanted to say next. “I know.”

“My work is full of secrets, I can’t tell Mya everything. When I have to leave, is she going to constantly question me?”

Rich laughed and shook his head. “Well now, I suppose that won’t be a concern unless you figure out how to fix this, will you.”

“Will you help me?”

“Are you kidding? This is better entertainment than the water heater breaking.” Rich turned around and headed back into the house. “Fix it, son. I don’t care how you do it, but fix it.”

That was the problem. I had no earthly idea how to fix any of this. Part of me was pissed at Mya for not trusting me, but how could she? I hadn’t been around for years. Alene had ten years to remind Mya I turned her down back in high school. Of course Alene’s words, whatever they were, would have pushed her to the edge.

I buried my face in my hands. Fuck, she actually saw me with Alene.

I look back at the house and smiled at the window. When I showed up back in Copperwood, I never thought I would be where I was at that moment.

25

Mya

I
brushed the damp towel over Mike’s knuckles one more time before pressing it down on the top of his hand. “You’ll live.”

Mike grunted and leaned back in the worn chair, drumming his fingers against the duct tape holding the split seam on the arm together.

“Your dad’s coming back.” Kirstin hadn’t moved from the window since she came back into the house. “And Shane’s just staring at the house.” She spun around and pressed her back against the wall.

I cocked my head to the side and looked at her.

“He saw me,” she whispered.

“He can’t see you through the wall.” I walked out of the room and into the kitchen. I was sad. My friends were angry and didn’t understand why I wasn’t as angry as they were. I couldn’t answer them. I didn’t know why. All I knew is that whenever I tried to get angry with Shane, my stomach curdled into a tight knot and the tears welled up behind my eyes.

I needed to get away from them. They might be my friends and I knew they meant well, but standing around them wasn’t helping. Once I took a breath and settled down, or at least settled down as much as I could considering the situation, I walked back into the living room.

My dad leaned back against the door with his eyes closed.

“Dad?”

I waited for him to say something, but he remained silent. His stoicism frightened me. It was something I wasn’t used to seeing.

A single thought invaded my mind.

Had I made that one decision I’d never get over?

26

Shane

I
paced the perimeter of the lobby of Steve’s office. When I walke in, he was talking on the phone and he still hadn’t ended the call. Didn’t he realize I didn’t have time to wait around for him to gab away with a client who wasn’t likely to ever be ready to buy a house?

When the conversation didn’t slow, I stomped across the floor and threw myself into the chair in front of his desk.

He looked across at me and raised his eyebrows, but at least he wrapped up the call. “I’ll run the changes through MLS and we’ll see if we can’t find something closer to your liking.”

I rolled my eyes. Nothing would ever be closer to their liking unless it was in the right price range and even the smallest and most run–down of houses wasn’t in anyone’s price range in Copperwood. Especially now that the only employer in town who paid anything had been taken over by a corporation intent on maximizing profits.

“Shane?”

“What’s the least amount over asking I need to offer in order to not get a counter–offer?” I didn’t have time to negotiate.

“You already made an offer?” Steve stared at me and his eyebrows pulled together, almost meeting.

“I know, pull it. We’ll make another offer.”

“That’s…” Steve placed his hands down on the desk surface and leaned forwards. “Unusual. It will show that you may go higher.”

“What will it take?” I ignored his warning. I didn’t care, I just needed to get the acceptance as soon as possible. Without it, nothing else would work and I’d lose Mya for good. Actions always spoke louder than words. Every politician was testament to that little truism.

“How much can you afford to go over?”

“Don’t worry about that.” I leaned back in the chair, finally feeling more comfortable with my plan. Steve didn’t say no.

“Go fifteen over and I’ll tell the broker, the offer is final. Counter offers won’t be considered.” Steve didn’t blink an eye. The garrulous fellow pretending to be everyone’s friend was gone and in his place sat a shrewd businessman, already calculating his commission.

I nodded my head. “How quickly can you write it up?”

Steve picked up the phone and cradled it the handset between his cheek and shoulder. After dialing a number, his fingers flew over the keys of his computer. He paused for a moment and I heard a muffled voice on the end of the line.

“Luce, it’s Steve. Have you shown the offer I sent over earlier to your clients yet?”

He paused for a moment, listening to a response I couldn’t hear from my vantage point.

“Great. Pull it. I’m going to send something over in fifteen minutes.”

I watched his face, looking for any expression that could tell me the direction the conversation was taking.

“Hey, Luce, the offer I’m sending over is final. My client won’t negotiate. It also has a time limit.”

Now it was my turn to look at Steven in surprise.
Time limit
?

“We need to know by midnight.”

I could feel my eyebrows climbing up my forehead. I thought not considering a counter–offer was playing hard enough, but Steve took it up a notch.”

“Yeah, that’s right. If they don’t want to accept, that’s fine, but he’s on a time frame and needs to make an offer on his second choice if your clients don’t want it.”

I had a new appreciation for the man sitting across from me. I didn’t think a small–town realtor needed to have to have to be quite as cut throat. I was wrong. I had to smile at my own prejudices and assumptions. I knew better than to think anyone was who they seemed.

“Thanks, Luce.” Steve hung up the phone. He pressed a button on the keyboard and a printer came to life across the room. “They’ll take it.”

“You’re certain?”

Steve pushed up from his chair and walked over to the printer, when he returned he slid the new offer letter across the table to me and smirked. “Trust me. It’s been on the market for over nine months and every offer has been below asking. Now sign it so I can fax it over.”

I signed the page and Steve moved through the final steps of sending the offer.

“How soon until I hear?”

“We gave them to midnight. I would say we’ll hear within a few hours.” Steve sat back down and stared at me.

I knew his expression well. I wore it as many times as the men I worked for wore it. He had a question he wanted to ask, but didn’t want to offend me by asking it. I took pity on him. “What do you want to know, Steve?”

“You aren’t buying this house for you.” He didn’t ask the question he wanted answer, instead he gave me a statement I could expand on if I wanted to.

“No. She’s always loved it. I’m buying it for her.”

“Alene?” He seemed shocked to hear Alene liked the lake house.

“Mya.” I felt my forehead wrinkle. No wonder Mya thought something happened between Alene and me. Alene must have been sowing her tales around town since she walked into the bar and saw me sitting next to Mike.

“Oh… well… I didn’t….” Steve stumbled over his words. “I thought…”

I took pity on him and smiled. “It’s not like Mya and I have been running around town.”

Steve pressed his hands against the edge of the desk and leaned back in his chair. “Mya hasn’t exactly had an easy time of it, Shane.”

“You aren’t the first one to tell me.” I crossed my arms over my chest. I didn’t need another lecture.

“But then, neither has Alene.”

I wasn’t expecting
that
admission. I felt my eyebrows lift up when my eyes widened. “When the mine was sold, I’d guess that most people haven’t had the easiest time of it.”

Steve’s head bounced up and down in a gentle nod. “True.” He glanced around the office and drummed his fingers against the table. “You want to stick around for their response? Or do you have things you need to do?”

I had a lot of things I needed to get done. But everything depended on the offer being accepted. Without the house, I didn’t have anything. “Have a deck of cards?”

27

Mya

K
irstin and Mike hadn’t left my side and from the pile of DVDs sitting on the floor in front of the TV, I didn’t think they planned on leaving anytime soon. It wasn’t that I didn’t appreciate their company, it was just more of wanting to be alone.

“Rear Window.”

“Not fair, any Hitchcock film wins by default.” Kirstin swung her arm out and smacked the back of his hand against Mike’s shoulder.

“Okay, Okay.” Mike rubbed the palm of his hand over his arm where Kirstin made content. “The Changling.”

Kirstin’s head bobbed side to side, considering Mike’s latest addition to the list of movies that scared without relying on gore. “Rosemary’s Baby.”

“Oh, oh, that one with Donald Sutherland and the red jacket.”

“Ohh yeah, Don’t Look Now. Anytime I see a little kid in a red jacket I freak out that they aren’t a little kid and have a knife hidden under their jacket.”

“Below.”

“And that’s the winner.” Kirstin snatched a DVD out of the stack and popped it into the player. “And for the piece de resistance, that guy from Hangover is in it.”

“Bradley Cooper?” My interest was increasing. It might not be a romantic comedy, but at least one of the actors did romantic comedies.

“No, the other guy, with the beard.” Kirstin’s forehead crinkled for a moment. “Come to think of it, he has a beard in this one too.”

“After, we are definitely watching Don’t Look Now.” Mike grinned at Kirstin.

Mike and Kirstin made the unilateral decision we needed to watch movies and they needed to find the antitheses to the romantic movies I usually binged on. I flat out refused gore, so they went with the next best thing, scary movies without all the hack and slashing.

Mike reached over and patted my leg. “Hey, Mya?”

I didn’t want to look at him or the self–satisfied smirk I knew he wouldn’t be able to hide. He warned me about Shane, and I ignored him.

“You know, Shane didn’t have that ‘hey, I might have been caught doing something shitty, but it’s all good ‘cuz I’m Shane’ look he perfected in high school.”