Page 82 of With Wine Comes War

“You got me on that one, didn’t you?” I raised an eyebrow trying to figure out why he’s been so upset and anxious.

“I can tell you need to talk about this. Whether it’s with me or a professional. You almost look sick.” He had a weird pale look to him. Maybe it would be a good idea if he took a shower first and see if that helped any.

I gave in. “Fine, go take a shower and we won’t talk about whatever this is right now. I don’t know what’s going on, but you look ill.” I figured he’d talk about it at some point. I watched him practically drag his feet all the way down the hall.

I sent Grant a text expressing my excitement about the neighborhood, and he called me instead of texting back.

“Grant, that neighborhood is perfect.” I didn’t bother to say hello. I knew he knew exactly what I was talking about.

“That’s my girl, I knew you’d figure it out. Tell me what you’re thinking.”

“My goodness, where do I start? It’s like a clean slate with an outline.”

He chuckled.

“That’s what I was thinking. Matt and I saw your ideas for Burrow Township come to life in this neighborhood. I know that it’s going to take a little bit of work, but I know you can do it, with Roman’s help…have you told him yet?”

“No, he’s been acting really weird today, so I haven’t had a chance to tell him anything yet.”

“What kind of weird are we talking about?”

“I don’t know, he looks sick or like he’s seen a ghost or something.”

“Is there anything I can do to help? Want me to talk to him? Maybe it’s a guy thing. Maybe it’s the moving in together thing.”

Oh, I hadn’t thought of that. Maybe he’s nervous about moving in together. I know he’s the one that was pushing for this, but maybe it’s starting to hit him how permanent a situation this is, and he’s not handling it well.

“No. I’ll just talk to him and see if that’s it. And my ideas for this place are amazing and guess what?” I bounced up to my knees on the sofa.

“Alex, I know this is going to be your thing. I can hear the excitement in every word and know your ideas are going to be amazing. What is it that you want me to guess?”

“They got all the kickback money back from the zoning fraud in Texas and Roman put it in an account for me to use on this relocation project. $520,000. I don't even know what to say, it’s like a miracle.”

“Well, now that is good news. Baby girl you’re going to do great things, I just know it.” I don’t think he’s ever called me ‘baby girl’ before, but it sounded so fatherly and warm.

Grant has always been a great parental figure and mentor. I don’t know what I would’ve done without him when things were so bad all those years ago. Even though I really love my own dad, he’s a very mellow laid-back type of dad, and he didn’t like hearing about all the stuff I was going through. He said he didn’t know how to help me. Grant just seemed to know, and he was always there no matter what the situation was. I told him my ideas were to renovate the whole neighborhood. I would see if the residents would be willing to use the money they got for their homes on the purchase of the new homes and use the money from Texas to help renovate. I still had plenty of money saved that could also help, but I think this is where I would want to start a non-profit to raise money to really do some good. I mean notonly this place, but other surrounding areas that may need some work. Grant was on board with my ideas. Now time to see if Roman was.

***

ROMAN

I’m so glad she stopped wanting to talk about it. I needed to be alone for a minute and wash today off in the shower. Talk about paranoia. I’m not going to be able to leave this building without looking around at all times, wondering who was there to protect and who was there to hurt. Fuck, this is not what I needed right now. It was enough to know that Tanner was out and about trying to get his revenge or whatever he was trying to do, but now the mafia and militia are involved. I ran my hands through my hair and down my face.

After the shower I got out, wrapped a towel around myself, put my hands on the sink and hung my head.

Ugh, not the fucking phone.Who the hell is it? Alright, great no more trying to relax, it's all getting amped up again. Grant or Andrea, whoever the fuck he is.

I picked it up with a sick to my stomach feeling and said, “Yup.” Grant just chuckled. I’m glad he thinks it’s funny.

“I just got off the phone with Alex. She said she thinks you're sick. I told her you might be having the moving in together jitters.”

That was a good excuse, except for the part where I practically begged her to move in with me and it was partly against her will.

I groaned, “Did she call you or did you call her?”

“She reached out to me. She’s really excited about the new neighborhood renovation.”

“What new neighborhood renovation?”

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