Page 20 of Heart Strings & Hotlines
“No.”
“No? That’s surprising. Then when you reflect on this day, what are your thoughts?”
“I have a lot of thoughts. I need to change the locks on my door and install locks on Lottie’s door. That her coffee table was unbalanced and needs a leg to be leveled. That Kara’s face changes when Lottie’s in the room. That I have to figure out what to do with a screaming ratdog. Wait…” I glance around the room. “Where is the pest?”
“Mrs. Perez is puppy-sitting overnight. She’ll bring her home tomorrow and will probably issue several apologies.”
“Fuck, this is exhausting.”
“What is?”
“Dealing with all these people. Seeing their faces and listening to them when they talk.”
“That is exhausting, especially when you’ve trained your brain to only pick out the facts. There will be a steep learning curve for you, and I suggest you take baby steps. And just so you know, bullying someone out of their house so you can buy it and live next door to Lottie is not taking baby steps.”
“I bullied no one. I gave an offer that was more than fair, and when he countered, so did I.”
“Right. Well, we’ll come back to that one. Have you been using the flash cards I texted you after your last custody hearing?”
Those might be the worst of all. They’re so overexaggerated I can’t take any of them seriously.
“Yes,” I lie. I built an app last week that recreated them all in video format without the clown-like poses.
“Okay. Well, I’m going to find Kara and get her home. Remember, take it one task at a time so you don’t become too overwhelmed. You’re doing great.”
When he stands there staring at me, I say, “Thank you.”
“What do you know? He does have manners.” Rafe laughs, and it echoes through my mind like a tiny monkey banging on the drums of my frontal lobe.
Closing my eyes, I focus on my to-do list that went from forty-four items to ninety-three in less than a day. And the first thing I’m going to do is upgrade all the locks on Matchmaker Lane.
CHAPTERSIX
LOTTIE
I’m sortingemails in order of importance, which means deleting the ones from LotiTech, JW Tech, and the worst offender, Sinclair Systems—the technology companies hell-bent on acquiring my Single Dad Hotline.
It’s the newer company, LotiTech, that has me nervous. All I can find on them are a bunch of vice presidents’ names who have no contact information.
It’s fishy, and my money is on it being a shell company for my father, or perhaps even Thane’s father. They’re both assholes who don’t take no for an answer. I have an inbox full of threats to prove it.
I’ve already replied to my IT department. Decisions will have to be made soon if they can’t find out where the security breaches are coming from.
My mind drifts to Thane. It’s been doing that far more often than I care to admit.
My father would shit his pants if he knew I was becoming friendly with his biggest rival’s son. No, not friendly. He’s a client. That would still piss him off though, and it really does fill me with joy.
Rupert Sinclair is more the my-enemy-is-your-enemy kind of dad. The hurt little girl inside me throws up a double fist bump at the small rebellion.
My phone vibrates on my desk, showing someone is ringing the bell next door. This is the blessing and the curse of living in one side of my duplex while working in the other.
Instead of speaking through an app, I close the screen and head outside, where a tall man stands at the front door to my home with his back to me.
“Can I help you?” I ask.
“Aw, hello, Miss Lottie.”
“Hi, Tanner. What are you doing here?” My shoulders relax as he shifts his feet from side to side.
