Page 11 of Last Chance Seduction
“Oh, that’s good.I mean, not good, but weird.I don’t know, do you need help?”Brooklyn asked, and I saw the sincerity on her face.
“I can handle it.We want this estate.It would not only do great things for the company, we’d make a huge profit on it, and it’s a building we really want to work with.It’s good all around.Except for the pesky ex-girlfriend problem.”
“Speaking of ex-girlfriends that aren’t your ex-girlfriend,” Jamie added in, and I narrowed my gaze.
“Who texted you?”
“Dash of course.”
“Wait?What did I miss?”Brooklyn asked.
“I figured out who my new neighbor is in the two-story next door.”At Brooklyn’s curious look, I sighed.“Mercy Caddel.”
My cousin’s eyes widened.“Oh no.I mean, it’s great.I haven’t seen Mercy in well...Damn it.How is she?I mean, I guess you can’t really ask how she is.It’s been, what, a year since Emily passed?Poor Mercy.”
I ran my hand over my chest, wondering why once again I felt as helpless as I always did when it came to her.“I didn’t even have a chance to say my condolences or truly mention how much I hate Justin.Not that I wanted to bring up Justin.”
“Yes, he’s such an asshole.”
“And he lives nowhere near here, so I don’t have to see him again.And Mercy is never going to have to see him.”
“Well her being next door’s going to be good for you guys.I know it sucked when you lost touch after everything happened.She was always running around with you Fort Collins Montgomerys,” Brooklyn, the Denver Montgomery kid, said with a laugh.
“I didn’t really get to know her, and I wasn’t at the wedding, so let me know if you want me to stop by, and I don’t know, mend fences?”
“Jamie, I love you, but there’s no need to mend fences.I was childhood friends with Mercy, then I wasn’t.Now we’re neighbors, and it’s all going to just work out in the end.We’re adults.I just hate the fact that we couldn’t go to the funeral.”
“Mercy doesn’t have any other family, does she?”Brooklyn asked.
As someone with more family than I could deal with, it seemed unheard of to me that she wouldn’t have anyone else in her life.And I didn’t feel pity, because Mercy would hate that, but I did feel for her.
“Well, I’m just going to do what the Montgomerys do best and wheedle my way in so she knows she doesn’t have to be alone if she doesn’t want to.Though, she probably hates me right now.”
“Because of Justin?”Jamie asked.
“No, because of the construction.”
Both girls winced, and I snorted.
“Yes, that.One more strike against me.”
“That ass was cute you know, at least from what I remember,” Brooklyn provoked.
I shook my head and pulled back from the table.“And with that annoying look, I’m going back to work.And don’t even think about calling Mercy and doing whatever witch work you do.”
“Oh, interesting,” Brooklyn teased.“Now I have ideas.”
I ran away as quickly as I could, once again afraid of the Montgomery women.
If my mother, a Wilder and a Montgomery had taught me anything, it was that you didn’t have to be fearful of a Montgomery woman, you just had to understand that you would never win an argument.
And you also had to be a little crafty when it came to making sure they kept out of your life.I was going to go back to my desk, get to work, and focus on the bid that was going to change our business.
And not on the neighbor that I had done my best not to think of for the past two years.And knew just like I had failed for the past two years, I would fail in this once again.
ChapterThree
Mercy
