Page 35 of Meet Me in Ivy Falls

‘Of course,’ I volleyed back. ‘You know Manny has a great working relationship with the city.’

He humphed under his breath. ‘This is a valuable piece of property. At one time we were considering having it rezoned for business.’

‘It’s a good thing I bought it then,’ Beck flung back. ‘It’s important that we save and respect the town’s history. Don’t you agree, mayor?’

My father gave one last glance at the crumbling walls and finally mumbled, ‘We’ll see.’

‘Did you need something else?’ I said, trying to keep the venom from my voice.

‘No, we’re done here.’

‘Yes, I think we are,’ I shot back.

He gave a firm nod like he had to have the final word. ‘I’m sure I’ll be seeing more of you, Beck.’

‘Only if you come back to help. The sewer lines will be waiting.’

My father gave a tense laugh and fled down the stairs.

Once the front door slammed shut, I slumped back against the wall.

‘Are you okay?’ Beck asked, soft and low.

‘I had things under control with him.’

‘I know you did, but it can’t hurt to have backup.’ He slouched next to me. ‘At least we’re consistent,’ he teased. ‘You know, with your dad catching us in a compromising position.’

He waggled both his eyebrows and I let loose a roaring laugh. The scene was so ridiculous, my luck so bad, that all I could do was cry or laugh. Laughing was a much better option.

‘It could have been worse,’ he chuckled. ‘Remember the time the button on my jeans popped off and we were late for curfew? Your dad stood on your front porch and kept staring at the fact that my pants were barely hanging on to my waist.’

‘Yeah, I heard about that for weeks.’ My throat went dry as I continued to howl. ‘He mentioned more than once that I should buy you a belt for your birthday.’

Beck laughed louder. ‘Or what about the time Sally Mae got stuck in the mud near the lake?’ he gasped. ‘We tried to get her back wheels out and at one point you pinned me down with a kiss and then I flipped you over. By the time we were done, we were covered head to toe in muck.’

‘Yeah, that was fun trying to explain to my parents why I had gravel in my hair and, well, other places.’

His laugh filled the hallway and my cheeks ached from smiling so hard.

‘Thanks for saying what you did about needing my expertise.’

‘And intelligence,’ he said with another grin.

‘Yes, that too,’ I whispered.

We swapped a few more stories about our childhood adventures. The frogs we caught in the creek. Forts we made in the dense woods behind my house. The hours we’d hid in my treehouse eating too much candy (SweeTARTS for him; Hot Tamales for me) and reading every book we could convince my mom to give us.

We kept talking until a loud creak from the gaping hole in the ceiling brought me back to reality. I’d sworn no walks down memory lane but here we were doing exactly that. That familiar buzz in my chest warned me again that this deal between us was probably a very bad idea.

We stood in an uncomfortable silence, neither of us wanting to acknowledge the kiss.

‘I think we should get back to work.’

‘Yeah, right,’ he said, his smile fading.

He strode away and I couldn’t keep my eyes from wandering to the way his butt still fit perfectly into those damn Levi’s, and that it’d taken absolutely no time for us to break the rule about walking down memory lane.

Chapter Seventeen