Prelude of Lies (11 page)

Sydney tried to be quiet when she opened Daisy’s door. She’d heard the muffled sound of conversation and figured Daisy talked to their mom. And she assumed the secrecy had something to do with Daisy’s parents.

She understood. But still felt left out.

Daisy would talk to her when she had things in perspective. She always did. Sydney couldn’t help noticing the change in her sister since they’d come back to Brookside. Daisy was always cheerful and full of hope, and now, not so much. She seemed to have taken on Sydney’s serious side, and now Sydney was the one watching out the window for spirits.

Daisy slept curled on her left side, almost in a fetal position, her cell phone and the big mysterious envelope beside her. She seemed so peaceful. Sydney didn’t have the heart to disturb her even though contractors were stacked up outside waiting for their attention.

She’d handle the day and they’d worked things out later. Her poor sister. Not only was she dealing with the total change in her life, she had to be thinking about her birth mother and wondering. Maybe that was what this was about. She gently closed Daisy’s door and organized what needed to be done in both her mind and on the notepad that was her constant companion.

Her cell phone rang on her way to meet the electrician. She glanced at the number and cursed. Damn. Jace. Like she needed to talk to him this morning.

Sydney debated for a few seconds, listening to the notes of her jazzy ring tone. Finally, she answered, doing her best to keep her tone semi-pleasant.

“I wasn’t sure you’d answer.” Jace sounded different.

“Busy. What can I help you with?” Good job of being nice. Now if she could only keep it up.

“You’re not the same this morning.”

“Same to you. Listen, if you just called to harass me I’ll take a rain check.”

“I called to ask you to lunch. I think there are some things we need to clear up. I know you said we have nothing to discuss but after going through this file my grandmother keeps sticking under my nose, I’ve decided there are some things you need to know.” Something about his tone made Sydney stop.

Now that was a switch. Had he just used a note of disdain in reference to his beloved grandmother? Lunch was definitely going to happen. Except one glance at the downed trees and demolished cabin, she didn’t think that day would be today.

“The storms left a lot of clean up. What about Thursday?” She wanted to hear what he had to say, but wasn’t counting on him being completely honest. He could be yanking her chain just to get her away from the campground and stop their forward momentum toward re-opening.

“I figured as much. Two options. I pick up something and meet you there. You have to eat. Or we do dinner. Again, eating is crucial.” His insistence piqued her interest.

“I’ll tell you what. Let me take care of my morning appointments and I’ll call you back. I don’t want to commit when I don’t know what’s required of me around here today.”

He agreed, his pleasant regard intriguing. Sydney would definitely see what she could do about meeting him today. With her luck, the request would end up as a trick, but she’d make sure Uncle Al knew if it was. That way, if they didn’t open on time, maybe they could get the judge to give them some leeway for nasty tricks and rotten interference.

Besides, Al thought her meeting with him was a good idea. She didn’t know why, but figured if her legal counsel advised her to work things out this way, there was probably a reason. And she’d definitely ask Uncle Al about that reason when she talked to him.

After giving the contractor a brief rundown of what they wanted in the bathhouses, she left him to do his measuring and met up with the electrician. Thankfully, the guy had some brains and was already checking out their system.

He smiled when she approached. His shaved head and solid build caused her stomach to flip. If she was going to have a one-night stand, this Mr. Clean look-alike was the man for the job. Until she saw his wedding band. Sydney was more relieved than she thought she’d be. Like she needed the stress of another man in her life.

“Your wiring is a mess.” His friendly tone erased the fear that he’d seen her checking him out.

“Great. That makes my day.”

“Not as bad as you probably think. This section is in need of new outlets and wiring.” He pointed to the oldest group of campsites. Then to the area that included the office and what would be her and Daisy’s house.

“The rest is fine. You’ll want to replace the receptacles in the sites and you have a few options with that. Your service is up to date and except for that old section, you’ll pass inspection for opening.” He smiled and Sydney reminded herself he was obviously married.

“Excellent. How difficult will it be to add to this? We have two hundred more acres we’ll eventually want to utilize.”

“I’d recommend new service. When you’re ready it won’t be a problem.”

“Okay. Hit me with the bad news. How long and how much?” She should have asked that first, but it was good to know what they’d need when they were ready to expand.

He passed her a proposal, the numbers not as shocking as she imagined. “That’s just for the campsites. I’ll do separate figures for the house and office.”

She should have never gotten her hopes up.

After showing the electrician the buildings, she waited while he went over the structures. The office was relatively simple, at least she thought. Most of the space was supposed to be a gift shop. Private bathrooms for staff were next to a kitchenette and a conference room. The office area had an open floor plan so it would feel accessible to customers at all times. As long as the wiring could handle the computer systems, they’d worry about rearranging the building in a few years, providing they were in the black. The house was a different story. Thanks to Violet and her refusal to live there, it had sat empty for far longer than the campground. Sydney had always loved Gramps’ place. He managed to keep the house and garden showplace-worthy while running the campground at full capacity during their childhood was too much for her to fathom. The house was what she always compared with every other living space, except now everything was sad and terrible.

Weeds choked the sidewalk, taller ones covering the windows. Some critter had used the antique chair as a nest. Dead birds and several chipmunks died on the wood floors, dark stains spread out to outline their long-gone bodies. The stench wasn’t too bad right now, but on a hot day, she couldn’t imagine.

She and Daisy hadn’t even considered moving in to the house or spending money to fix it up. At this point, restoration was going to cost a fortune and that didn’t include new appliances. The furniture was a total loss, but that didn’t matter since she and Daisy both had full sets in storage. Still, the destruction saddened her more than anything.

She showed the electrician the breaker box and went outside, unable to bear the condition of Gramps’ house. The man returned a few minutes later, shaking his head and wiping spider webs from his snug jeans.

“What’s the damage?” Sydney crunched numbers in her head.

“You won’t believe me.” He reviewed the paper on his clipboard.

“Try me.” She tried to see what he’d written.

“The house needs nothing. New service was nearly complete. The entire house is updated. All I have to do is run a line to the new box and unhook from the old one. Same with the office.” He quoted a price that made her want to jump up and hug him.

“Wait. That’s too easy. You’re telling me this house and the office are good to go?” Did she dare believe him? What did he have to gain by lying?

“Absolutely. I’ll have to confirm because I was relatively new back then, but I have a vague memory. The owner should remember. I’ll let you know.”

Gramps had used this company or she wouldn’t have called them. She wanted to work with the same people he trusted. She’d obviously been right to do that.

“Thanks. When can you start?”

“Next Monday. I already fixed the problem with your power going out, a squirrel- or chipmunk-damaged wire. I’ll give you a call if the day changes. If you don’t hear from me, I’ll be here Monday morning.” He handed her his business card before shaking her hand.

“Excellent.”

Considerably lighter, she checked her watch. She had time for lunch. Dialing Jace’s number, she tried to squash her excitement. She was only happy about the electricity, not about having lunch with her nemesis.

Yeah. That was it.

CHAPTER 10

An hour later, showered and trying to look her best, despite the mud surrounding her everywhere she went, Sydney left Daisy a note and headed for the restaurant. She tried to pick out Jace’s car in Kay’s parking lot. She’d seen his fancy truck the other day, so she should be able to recognize it.

When her scan turned up nothing but a beat-up old pickup truck with a new-looking pop-up camper attached, she figured he ran late. Good. Now she’d have a little time to talk to Kay.

Kay greeted her at the door with a smile. “Your lunch date is at your table.”

Sydney leaned in and whispered, “He’s not my date. It’s a legal matter.”

“Shame. He’s damn fine. Cuter than your ghost hunter and hot enough to make this old lady sweat.” Kay kept her voice at the same whisper Sydney used.

With a sigh, she moved around those naughty pool tables. Jace saw her and stood, holding his hand out and giving her a welcoming smile.

“I’m glad you came.” Damn. He was cute. Not cute, sexy as hell. And in jeans and a well-worn denim shirt, too.

“Have you been here before?” His office had to be quite a drive from town.

“Not enough and not for a long time.”

She didn’t ask what he meant, but got the impression there was more to what he didn’t say.

“How’d your morning go?” Was he trying to be nice, or nosy?

“Far better than I expected.” She didn’t elaborate, though she could see he wanted her to tell all.

“Good. Listen, I wanted to talk to you about . . .”

Kay appeared with a tray of drinks. Her favorite diet soda and what had to be an iced tea for Jace.

“Have you decided yet?”

After a quick glance at the menu, she ordered the same burger she’d had during the storm. Kay seemed to sense she’d interrupted an important conversation and left with a wink.

“You were saying?” she prodded. Really, her impatience was too much.

“Okay. Grandmother is asking a lot of weird questions. She keeps calling to find out what I’ve done about ‘our little campground problem’, as she calls it. My caseload has been heavy and even though I kept telling her I didn’t have time to deal with her drama and that I’m not her attorney, she insisted I help her settle this sale with you even though she has her own lawyer. It’s really not my place to be involved.”

Again with the nearly derisive tone concerning Violet. Interesting.

“Now that I’ve cleared my backlog and am officially on vacation, I had no choice but to check out her
important matter
. I spent the weekend going over everything and I’m here to tell you my grandmother is trying to take Brookside from you.”

Was he serious?

“You didn’t know?” How could that be?

“Of course not. Grandmother asked me to talk to you about the deal you made concerning the campground. She said you agreed to sell. I had no idea about the will. I had no idea what she’d done, that she’d lied. No wonder you wanted to stab me in the eyes.”

“Violet said she contested the will because you wanted the campground. We were told you felt Gramps owed you some inheritance and that she was only acting in your best interest.” Could he be serious?

“Bullshit. I liked your grandfather a lot. He was a great guy and treated me very well. Spent more time with me than Grandmother ever did. Of course, he talked about you and Daisy all the time. He missed you so much. He seemed to think marrying grandmother is what kept you away.”

“Why did he then?” Had she really asked that? Crap. She didn’t care. Not really. Jealousy that Jace had the time with Gramps that should have been hers made her stomach bleed. How was that fair? She didn’t care how much Gramps had spoken of her and Daisy to Jace, she wanted that precious he had experienced.

And it would never happen.

“You know, I’ve never been able to figure out why. I even asked him, not long before he passed. He said the reasons were private and someday everything would make sense.”

“Are you telling me you’ve had nothing to do with the trouble at the campground?” Her patience thinned, probably because of her resentment.

“I’m not saying that. Unfortunately, I followed Grandmother’s instructions twice. Believe me when I say she won’t use me again. I thought I was negotiating a business transaction. That’s why I came out there and called you. And that’s what I get for acting without all the facts.”

“No. Not that stuff.” Was he yanking her chain?

“What are you talking about?” He really did seem confused.

“The flashlights and noises in the middle of the night? The destruction in the cabin? The graffiti in the bathhouse? The kid dressed up like Halloween? He said a guy paid him a hundred bucks to prank us.” Shit. She wasn’t supposed to tell him that.

Jace sat back. Either he was a good actor, or he really had no clue. “No. That does sound like Grandmother on a mission though. I’ll talk to her. It’ll stop, if I tell her she stands to lose any option she has on the land, she’ll quit.”

“She will lose her option to the land.” Sydney pulled herself up and met his eyes. “Daisy and I will open on time.”

“Good. I don’t think folks around here want a casino. I know I don’t. Besides, the land is yours. I wish I knew why she wants it so badly. It’s not like she’s desperate for cash.”

He said good? What the heck was going on?

“What kind of acting do you do?” Snotty, but she was not going to let him take her for a ride.

“What? Oh. Listen. I know you don’t trust me. You have no reason to, but you will. I promise you I’m not involved in this. Many of my responses to you stemmed from being told you made a promise to Grandmother and were trying to back out. This weekend, I made the connection. Actually, that’s not true. The first time I came to the campground I knew something was wrong. Grandmother told me you’d promised to sell her the land.” He leaned back as Kay placed their food.

As Kay sat her plate down she winked and Sydney pretended not to see. She was confused enough without Kay’s strange expressions.

“I never promised that. How is it that you missed all the legal stuff? Where were you at the reading of the will?” Really, his explanation didn’t make enough sense. And why had she never met him before?

“I didn’t know. Gramps passed his gift to me before he died and I wasn’t called to the reading. Grandmother kept everything else to herself. I’ve been too busy to care.”

“What was his gift to you?”

“I’d rather not say.”

Oh. She’d find out, not because she feared he had something she wanted. Why then? Because she was nosy and would be able to understand how Gramps viewed him by what he imparted on him before he died.

“Where does this leave us?” She picked up a fry, using it as a pointer.

“The legal stuff is tight. I don’t see a way around her stipulations. She had every right to set them since Gramps agreed. There was no prenup. I think this is a compromise, one I don’t believe she thought you’d be able to honor. I understand Gramps built some cash into the deal? You pass your weekly inspection and you move forward?”

“Right. Something no one bothered to tell us. That’s not going to happen this week. The storm caused too much damage and I have two days and not enough hands to get the cleanup done,” she explained to Tucker and his crew.

“Don’t give up just yet. Did I mention I’m on vacation?” He smiled, and she felt the movement of his lips to her toes.

“What are you suggesting?” Was he really planning on helping? What would Daisy say?

“Maybe Grandmother will understand how serious I am if I’m part of the crew.”

“So you’re doing this to teach your grandmother a lesson?” Worked for her, but could he be serious?

“Yeah and maybe because I’d like to spend more time with you.” He met her eyes. She was in huge trouble.

“Ha. Don’t you live in York? That’s a long drive every day.” Was she really going to accept his offer? What did she have to lose? If he proved to be anything but a help, she’d send him packing.

“I wasn’t planning on going back and forth every day.” His eyes held something Sydney didn’t think she could even try to figure out right now.

“You will unless you want to sleep in a tent.”

“Did you see that camper in the parking lot?” He grinned as if he’d just won an award. “Mine.”

Sydney sighed. Daisy was going to kill her.

She was right. Daisy stood on the front porch of their cabin, her eyebrows practically fused together. She was furious. Sydney didn’t think it was only because of the truck that followed her into the campground.

Jace stopped at the site where the funky lights had been all over the trees. He waved at Daisy as he got out of the truck. She wasn’t happy in the least.

“What did you do?” Daisy’s voice was low.

Sydney shrugged. “He’s on our side. Apparently, Violet lied to him.” She explained as quickly as she could – before Daisy went over and smacked Jace.

“And you’re trusting his word? Unbelievable. You let me sleep when there’s tons of work to be done around here, then you go off to meet him without telling a soul where you’ve gone? Do you know how worried I was?” Daisy paced, ready to unleash her beast on Jace.

“Whoa. Listen, Mom. You obviously needed the sleep. I handled the contractors and I left you a note. And I figure we’ll keep a close eye on him. If he’s lying, then at least we’ve gotten some work out of him. We need the help, Daisy.”

“I know. Don’t keep too close of an eye on him. Marshal won’t appreciate that.” Daisy cocked an eyebrow.

Sydney stepped back, anger erasing the feeling she’d done something good by allowing Jace to appease his guilty conscious.

“Marshal does not own me. I make my own decisions and there’s nothing going on between Jace and me. Or Marshal and me for that fact.” Her words were quiet, but Daisy heard.

“You led him on. Maybe nothing’s happened yet, but until Jace showed up, it was going to. Marshal’s my friend, Syd, don’t hurt him.” She turned and went inside the cabin.

Sydney followed, guilt eating her insides.

“I’m not trying to hurt him. The thing is, I don’t know what the hell I’m doing. Up until this morning, I hated Jace. Now I don’t know.” Great. She was doomed.

“Just be careful.”

“You know what? I don’t have time to play this game of who’s a better match for me. We have a campground to open, and not much time. Neither one of us have time to go all soft over a pair of tight jeans. We’re not here to find love.”

Daisy paused for a few seconds. “You know what? You’re right. Absolutely right. Good. We don’t need these stinking men. Let’s get busy.” Daisy breezed past her, the sound of her work boots echoing through the cabin.

Sydney sat down at the table and dropped her head to the scratched wood. What was happening? Daisy was hiding something big and painful. She wanted Sydney to be with Marshal, but Sydney didn’t know if she should even be thinking about the opposite sex right now. Maybe she should forget this campground idea and get a bunch of cats. Or find a convent that would take her as a reformed virgin.

Daisy kicked at the stones along the path. One pinged off the side of Jace’s camper, but she ignored his startled expression. From the way he wrestled with the canvas, he obviously didn’t know what to do with that brand-spanking new camper. There was no way she was helping him. What the hell was wrong with Sydney?

Jace was the enemy.

All that shit Sydney told her about his time with Gramps felt like a hot knife in her heart. Jace had taken what should have been hers and Sydney’s. So what if it wasn’t his fault? He still had their grandpa all to himself when Gramps needed his only granddaughters. Damn. That hurt. A lot.

She kicked a bigger rock, not caring that Tucker and his crew had just finished raking new stones into the path. She didn’t want to talk to Tucker either.

Or Graham.

Everyone seemed to think they knew what she wanted. She was tired of being told what to do and how she should feel. After arguing with Tucker again this afternoon about the ticking of his biological clock, she almost told him his services weren’t appreciated any longer.

Thankfully, she’d managed to walk away without cutting off her nose to spite her face. The argument stemmed more from hurt feelings than the job Tucker was doing. She was mad because he’d ignored her this morning and because of the things he’d said about wanting children. Jerk.

Graham had made a derogatory comment about Sydney when Daisy couldn’t find her. She’d given him the death glare and left, even though he’d tried his best to apologize for his rude behavior. She didn’t care. No one talked about her sister like that. Except for maybe her.

This whole thing with her birth parents had her on edge. She didn’t know if she wanted to pursue this any farther, or if she should just leave the search alone. Her father supposedly lived and worked just a few miles from here. What would he do if she showed up and announced herself as his love child?

Soon she’d have to talk to Sydney. Not yet. Getting the information straight in her head was required before that happened. Sydney would want to take action, and Daisy had to decide if action was what she wanted. She pulled the gloves out of her back pocket and shoved them on, concentrating on the weeds nearly obliterating the door to the office. If the building was in decent shape, they might pass inspection this week.