Page 2 of Love and Loathing

Jessie sighed and put her phone in her back pocket. One day she’d figure out where he was, and then she’d … well, she hadn’t figured that out yet, but she’d make sure he got justice. He’d get so much justice it’d come out his ears!

* * *

Jessie parked out front of Emma Lee Bradford’s family farm, which was really a mansion and one of the biggest homes in Harvest Ranch, and peered up at the house. Snow covered the ground in thick patches between her and the front door. She zipped her winter coat all the way and pulled her hood over her ears. It was a frosty twenty-eight degrees out now, with a good breeze.

All bundled, she ran for the front door and rang the bell. Emma answered it almost immediately and waved her in.

Emma was statuesque, with platinum blond hair and dark brown eyes. Where Caroline was angel-esque, Emma was Aphrodite-esque. She was a wealthy heiress who took care of her often bedridden father, she owned her own very successful online business as a wedding planner/guru, and to top all that off, she was a total sweetheart. Emma had started filming videos for her website, mostly instructional, and had hired Jessie to edit them. The job had saved her bacon, and it made the possibility of buying her own home closer to a reality than the twelve dollars an hour she got at her grandpa’s bookstore in town.

Jessie stomped her feet on the mat by the door, dispelling large chunks of snow as she removed her coat.

Emma took it and hung it by the door, in a closet the size of Jessie’s bathroom at home. “You must be freezing! Follow me, I made us hot chocolate.”

The women went to the back of the house, where the massive kitchen was. Two mugs had been placed on the counter, and a pot of hot chocolate brewed on the stove. Jessie took a seat at the island as Emma poured her homemade drink into the mugs. Emma sat next to Jessie.

Jessie pulled the thumb drive with the edited videos from last week from her pocket and slid it over. “Here you go.” She took a sip of the drink. “Oh, wow. This is so good.”

Emma grinned. “I added a little nutmeg this time.”

“Have you ever thought about selling this?” Jessie’s eyes rolled back into her head as she took another swig.

“Nah, I prefer to just share it with my friends.” Emma chuckled. “Speaking of which, the job I was telling you about …”

Jessie spun toward Emma. “Yes, the wedding?”

“That’s right. It’s this Saturday in Charlottesville at the Grand Marina Hotel—”

“The Grand Marina?” Jessie gulped. That was a five-star hotel. It cost, like, a thousand a night to stay there. Sunset Valley Lodge and Spa, the lodge directly on the other side of the border of Harvest Ranch, was also a five-star, but it cost only half that, and she’d still never stayed there. She could never hope to.

Emma patted her arm. “You’ll be fine. They’ve seen what you’ve been doing for me, and they’re happy to take my recommendation.”

Jessie gave her head a quick shake and pulled it together. “I’m just surprised they don’t already have a videographer lined up.”

“They had someone, but he backed out last minute.”

“They’re not worried that I didn’t film any of your videos, just edited them?”

Emma grinned. “You forget I’ve seenyourvideos. It was because of those that I hired you.”

“Thanks, Emma,” Jessie said. She took another drink of the hot chocolate ambrosia.

“My pleasure. Just wear a nice dress—oh, and the job pays five thousand dollars.”

Jessie spewed her hot chocolate out her mouth and nose, then started coughing.

Emma cringed away. “Whoa!” She patted Jessie on the back.

“Five thousand?”

“Is that not enough?”

That was one-third of what she needed to get that house! And all for a few hours’ work? “It’s enough. It’s enough.”

Chapter 2

“This is so surreal. I can’t believe Alexander Young is sitting here negotiating a deal with us.”

Alex leaned back in his chair at the large conference table. Across the top of it lay several blueprints, four glasses of water, and a pitcher. Alex had contacted Steven Howard and Kevin Lance months ago, and they had slowly negotiated a sit-down meeting. Until he’d walked into their office in Charlottesville an hour before, they’d not known who he was, not really. Though Alex hoped that just this once, he’d be treated like a normal person. No such luck, apparently.

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