Page 31 of Home Team Advantage
Matt looked up at the outdoor security camera and sighed. “Does Kieran know you access his security feed?”
“Who do you think asked me to install the system?” Ian asked. “For the record, I almost never abuse the privilege. Now, as I was saying, I’ll look into those names, flip a few rocks, and see what crawls out, but if we’re talking mob connections, it wouldn’t hurt to talk to some people too.”
“Like who?”
Ian replied in his best Italian accent—which was actually quite bad—“I know a guy.” He followed that up with, “Let me make some calls. In the meantime, keep your eyes on the pretty girl. You know, just in case she decides to do something villainous.”
Ian was still laughing when Matt disconnected the call and shoved the phone into his pocket. He could take the ribbing from his uncle, but what he absolutely could not shake was this growing obsession with Anna Black.
Did he believe she was up to no good, as Eddie Campbell seemed to suspect? Not really. She just didn’t seem the type. Then again, those who were truly good at their craft—like him, for example—were skilled in creating and maintaining false personas. Was the quiet, reserved woman who’d sat across from him at the diner the real Anna Black? Or just what she wanted people to believe?
She did have secrets. Of that he was certain.
Matt looked up at his neighbor’s house again. All appeared to be dark now, except for the low-level light in the kitchen. The sense that he was being watched remained, however.
The question was, why? Did she, despite her earlier rebuff, secretly find him attractive? Or was she learning as much as she could about the people around her for, as Ian had jokingly said, villainous purposes?
He wouldn’t get answers to those questions tonight, but tomorrow was a different story.
Matt stepped back into the house, surprised to find his mother still awake.
“What are you still doing up?” he asked.
“I had a sudden burst of inspiration and wanted to sketch it out before I lost it,” she said.
He glanced at the open sketchbook. “Gardens?”
“Yes! Did you know that garden design was a celebrated art form during the Hellenistic period? Aidan’s expanding the resort again, and he wants to add luxury villas that contain lush year-round gardens. Mary and I are meeting tomorrow to go over ideas.”
Aidan was Aidan Harrison, owner and CEO of the Celtic Goddess franchise—the five-star restaurant and luxury resort where Faith worked as an interior designer—and a very close friend of the Callaghans. His wife, Mary, ran a nursery and flower shop in Birch Falls and was known for doing fabulous interior arboretums and botanical displays.
“Mary’s handling the greenery,” Faith continued. “I’m trying to come up with a room design that complements it.”
“You’re off to a good start. These look fantastic.”
“You’re a good kid,” Faith said, beaming. “I just made some hot chocolate. Want some?”
“You read my mind.” When she went to get up, he said, “Sit. I’ll get it.”
After topping off her mug and pouring one for himself, he joined her at the table.
“What were you doing outside?” she asked.
“Nothing really. Just taking it all in.”
Faith nodded knowingly. “I do that, too, sometimes. It’s important to know where you are. Even more so to remember where you came from.” She sighed. “Twenty years ago, all I wanted was to get to a point where I could put food on the table, a roof over our heads, and clothes on our backs. Never in a million years did I think we’d ever have all this.”
“Or that you’d have six kids,” he said with a smile.
She laughed. “Very true. But I’m certainly not complaining. You guys keep me young.”
She was young, only fifteen years older than him, thanks to his piece-of-shit sperm donor. Thankfully, his biological father wasn’t part of his—or her—life and hadn’t been for many years.
“So …” she said, and he braced himself for whatever was going to come out of her mouth next. “What do you think about Anna?”
Why did everyone keep asking him that?
“Mrs. Campbell’s personal caregiver?” he asked, as if there was another Anna she might be referring to. He shrugged. “She seems nice. I don’t really know much about her.”
