Page 39 of The Deadbeat Next Door

CHAPTER EIGHT

Cody

“Hello, Mr. Gregory,” I said. “How are you today, sir?”

He didn’t smile at me, he just waved me to the rocking chair next to him. He looked worn out and grim, on the front porch of his home, which also looked worn and grim. “I expect you’re here to tell me all about your shiny new fiancée.”

I sat in the rocking chair, feeling not unlike a bear about to walk into a trap. “I did want to tell you that I’m engaged to Carrie Harrison. I thought it might be the kind of investment in the town that would convince you to sell me your property.”

Bart grunted. “Carrie Harrison? Lovely girl. I believe I’ve spoken to her parents a time or two. Such a tragedy when that beautiful daughter of theirs was killed. I suppose you never get over something like that. I suppose Carrie has never gotten over it.”

Carrie hadn’t mentioned her sister to me and I didn’t know the story beyond what Norma Jane had told me. I didn’t need to know the story. I just needed to pretend I was engaged. “I suppose not,” I said. I wanted to push the question of the sale, but I suspected that would be a mistake.

“Folks like to talk in this town,” Bart said. “And I don’t put much stock in what they have to say. I’m going to ask you if it’s true you took Carrie Harrison out to a local den of intoxication and acted the fool with her.”

What the hell was wrong with people in this town? “She was out having a good time. She had a bad reaction to some medication she was taking, but I don’t think it’s fair to say she made a fool out of herself.”

“We’ll agree to disagree then, I suppose.” He rocked in silence for several long moments, the creak of his chair and the birds chirping the only sound, his hands resting on his massive belly. I was so tired, I felt spaced out and way out of my league. The rock of his chair and my own wasn’t helping me to be any more alert.

“About the property,” I said.

“Ah, yes. About the property. I’m a mite suspicious, you understand, of your sudden engagement. Seems a little too convenient if you take my meaning. Especially since, according to Norma Jane, you and Carrie Harrison haven’t been dating more’n a week.”

“I can absolutely understand your point of view, but I can assure you the engagement is real. I love Carrie.” The words felt funny in my mouth, and speaking them aloud, knowing they were a lie, made me feel like I was betraying her in some way. Betraying our fragile friendship. “It’s one of those crazy coincidences that happen sometimes. No one can predict when they’ll fall in love. Love is a many splendored thing.” What the fuck was I actually saying? I shut my mouth and rocked, sure that my rambling, idiotic speech had made me more instead of less suspicious.

Bart nodded. “That it is. I was married for more’n forty years and I loved my wife every moment of those years. I wanted to kill her sometimes, but I never stopped loving her. If that’s what you’ve found, I’m mighty happy for you, boy, but I have to say I’m pretty damn near sure you’re lying.”

His chair came to an abrupt halt and he stared at me. For an elderly and slow-moving man, he had a terrifying stare and I was absolutely certain he could see inside my skull and tell that I was lying to him. I’d dealt with a lot of savvy men, brokered a lot of business deals, but I’d never felt more out of my element than I did in that moment. I could back out and admit the truth, but that would leave me without my dream property and leave Carrie looking like a liar. “I don’t fault you for doubting me. But I can assure you that Carrie and I truly are in love. And we are getting married. I have no intention of leaving this town, even if I don’t get the property.” Just like that, my mouth had dug my own grave. I’d gotten myself in so deep, I could no longer see sunlight, and I had no choice but to keep going. “What can I do to prove it to you?”

Bart released me from his stare and went back to rocking. “How about we start with you two kids coming to dinner over here tomorrow night? Say around six?”

“And after that?”

“Just be here at six, boy, and count your blessings I haven’t told you to go back to that fancy family you came from and stay the hell away from me and my property.”

“Thank you, sir.” I was entirely at his mercy and I hated it, but there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it. I stood and crossed the porch to the stairs. I stopped before I started down them and faced him. “For what it’s worth, my fancy family isn’t involved in the purchase of this property or the winery I plan to establish. I haven’t accepted any of their money.”

Bart scowled. “You’re a whole lot dumber than I thought you were. You got family that wants to help, you let them help. I can’t imagine your momma is too happy with you.”

My mother wasn’t particularly happy with me, but I suspected that had more to do with me destroying her dream and driving her husband to an early grave than with me not accepting her financial support. “I’ll see you tomorrow at six.”

I went back to my empty house and I paced, trying to figure out how to convince Bart that Carrie and I were serious. We were going to have to up our game and be more convincing than we’d been yet. I was tired of waiting to get started on my winery, tired of sitting around spinning my wheels.

At loose ends, I picked up my phone and called my mother. “Hello, dear,” she said. “I must say I’m shocked to hear from you.”

Her tone was my first warning that she was less than happy with me. “Um, why?”

“Well, darling, first of all you only call about every two months since your father died and second, because I understand you’ve got some game you’re playing up there in Virginia that I would imagine you don’t want me to know about.”

I could just see my mother on the other end of the phone, in jeans and a button-down shirt, her hair a bit loose and frazzled. Since my dad died, my mom had been working in one of the family hotels at the concierge desk. It wasn’t her dream place, but she told me she liked to keep busy and she’d always loved people and the hospitality business. She’d met my father when she was working as a front desk clerk at the hotel where he worked as a maintenance man. “What did Noah tell you?”

“Noah didn’t tell my anything, Cody Reynolds. I got a call from a Mr. Gregory who says you’re pretending to be engaged to convince him to sell his property to you. What are you thinking? Didn’t you cause enough trouble the last time you mixed business and pleasure?”

I flinched, my mother’s harsh tone and words stinging. I could lie to a lot of people, but I’d never lied to my mother and I wouldn’t start now. I just didn’t need to tell her everything. “Carrie is my neighbor. She’s an English teacher at the high school and she can’t stand me. Probably with good reason. I’m pretending to be engaged to her to help her as much as to help me.”

My mother snorted. “I love you, Cody, but I have never known you to do anything that didn’t primarily benefit you.”

That one didn’t just sting, it dug deep and ripped out a piece of my flesh. The fact that she was right only made it that much more painful. “The truth is, she came to me for help. She was really upset and scared that she was going to lose her job. I could help her, so I did.”

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