Page 41 of A Heart So Haunted
No pressure.
A gnarled, sore part of me reared.
No pressure, he’d promised, before backing me into a corner days later and whispering,Haven’t I waited long enough, Lan?
Ivan’s eyes met mine, and for a split second, I could have sworn I saw the memory there, too. Then that casual smile slipped back into place, and any indication of the frustration he might have felt toward my snippiness disappeared.
Emma gave a light clap. “How about you two go take a look around and Landry and I will talk options, yeah?” She leaned out the front door, closer to Trevor. “You can go through an inspection, too, if you’d like.”
I saw red.
I watched, stiff, as Ivan and Trevor nodded, then moseyed their way through the front yard, speaking in low voices, before rounding the side of the house.
I jerked to face Emma, my hands clenched. “What wasthat?” I snapped.
“What?” Emma’s expression faltered, only to turn incredulous.
“Why are they here?” I whispered. My voice shook.
“I had an appointment for today. Here. I made it with Ivan back when I ran into him.”
“Well,Ididn’t make an appointment. For today. Here. When I ran into him,” I echoed, stark. Suddenly, I was at the base of a waterfall, mouth opened wide, and suffocating.
Her eyebrows touched her hairline, tongue poking at her bottom lip. “You didn’t have to be so crass, you know. It’s an inspection, so what? Besides, the contractor is cute.” She raked over my hair, then my outfit, as if it only just now hit her what I looked like. “Why didn’t you fix your hair before you came down?”
My eyes widened. “Excuse me?”
“I’m trying to make a good impression?”
My arms fell to my sides. Was this really happening? I snorted. “Oh, please.”
“What?” Her voice rose. “Seriously. What’s wrong?”
“Did Itell youI needed an inspection?” I shot out. “Did youtell meabout them coming by? Didyou thinkI hadn’t covered this already?”
“Well, no, but it needs to be done anyway, right? I looked it up—”
“I had two inspections done before the funeral,” I snapped. I shook my head and crossed my arms over my chest like a barricade. “This is my house. I know what it needs.”
“I was just trying to help!” Emma shut the front door, as if they wouldn’t have heard us already. “You’ve been caught up in this huge to-do list of yours, tearing out stuff, and I thought we should get a move on.”
I balked. “It’s not your house,” I said, exasperated. “I don’t need you calling people in here for the fun of it when I’m trying to get things done. Have you seen that bathroom upstairs? It’s a wreck. Any of the bedrooms? Not even started. The study? Don’t even get me started on going through all those books. And theattic?” I gave a pinched, hysterical laugh. This was the last thing I needed. Another thing to stick on my plate. “I don’t have time to entertain Trevor and—and—”
She blinked, flushed. “Who pissed in your cereal?”
I pressed the heel of my palm between my eyes.You did, I wanted to say.
“Ivan’s the best around,” she defended. She jerked a thumb over her shoulder. “Have you looked at the reviews online? Have you seen his portfolio? He was featured inLowcountry Living, for God’s sake.”
“I don’t give aflying—”
Emma’s hairline turned red. “You’re upset over a high school relationship that didn’t work out, Landry. Get a grip,” she barked back. “You can’t be bitter your whole life over a guy you lost that ended up being more successful than you.”
The entire room was sucked of oxygen. My teeth vibrated in my skull. Tears burned the backs of my eyes. More successful than me? Really?
Bits and pieces of that memory, the grimy feel of his hands, the pull to his mouth, ran like black-and-white film in front of my eyes.
I stalked off to the kitchen, vision splotchy. I found my purse and a discarded sweatshirt on the back of the couch and stalked right back to the front door. I flung it open. “I don’t need this,” I grumbled.
