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Zeke broke out of his bad-ass sheriff routine to deal with this newest development. “Rusty, get Bruce Bailey on the line.” Bruce Bailey was Whispering Bay’s mayor and the way Zeke said his name didn’t bode well.
“I’m on it, Chief.” Rusty exited the building like he was on a mission.
“That’s my cue to give Steve Pappas an update,” Tom said. He glanced between Allie and Zeke, then left to make his call.
“What’s going on between you and that guy?” Zeke asked once they were alone.
“I already told you. Nothing’s going on.”
“Don’t bullshit me. I saw the way he looked at you.”
“Oh yeah? Like what?”
“Like you were breakfast and he hadn’t eaten in days.”
That certainly described what she’d woken up to this morning. Only to be fair, she’d been just as hungry as Tom. She tried for a blank expression. “French toast or scrambled eggs?”
“Allie,” Zeke said in a warning tone.
“No worries, big brother. It’s all good. Tom has actually been…kind of cooperative here.”
“I don’t care if he did a rain dance trying to call this ghost of yours out.” Zeke ran an agitated hand through his cropped dark hair. “Are you getting back together with that guy?”
“What? No!”
“Good, because that asshole broke your heart. You cried for days, hell, it was more like weeks. Think I’ve forgotten about that?”
That asshole, as Zeke put it, walked back into the building the exact moment her brother uttered those words. No sense hoping he hadn’t heard it. It was clear from the look on Tom’s face that he’d caught Zeke’s entire tirade.
Captain Crunch. Leave it to Zeke’s big mouth to make things even worse than they were before. Now Tom Donalan felt sorry for her. This was totally unacceptable. It had been twelve years. She got why she might feel bitter, but why did Zeke still harbor so much animosity toward Tom?
“For the record, no one broke my heart. Okay?” she announced. “And while I appreciate the big brother routine,” she said to Zeke, “I’m thirty years-old and I can take care of myself, thank you very much.”
Neither of them said anything and somehow that made it all worse. Like they didn’t believe her. She could barely look Tom in the eye. If her license wasn’t suspended she’d get in her car and drive back to Tampa this instant.
Rusty walked back in the building with a long face. “Bad news, Chief. Mayor Bailey says he can’t interfere with what’s going on here. Something about not wanting to take sides.”
“More like not wanting to lose votes,” Zeke muttered.
Allie glanced over to find Tom staring at her hard. “I think I have a solution,” he said. “Follow me.”
They all marched outside. Allie was curious to discover what sort of solution Tom had come up with. He positioned himself at the edge of the crowd. The protestors, sensing something was up, quieted down to listen. “I’ve just spoken to my boss at Pappas-Hernandez Construction. We don’t want anyone to get hurt here, so the company is willing to compromise.”
The crowd began chanting, “Séance-Séance-Séance!”
“You have forty-eight hours. And that’s it,” Tom said sternly. “Forty-eight hours and this building comes down. No matter what.”
A cheer went up among the protestors.
Forty-eight hours? Steve Pappas was willing to give them another forty-eight hours! Only this time, Allie wouldn’t be going solo. She’d have Phoebe and the rest of the Sunshine Ghost Society to back her up.
“That doesn’t sound like Steve Pappas,” Zeke muttered.
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“Pappas is all about the bottom line. He’s a nice guy, but he’s a businessman first and he’s doing this project pro-bono, so he doesn’t need any more PR. Bruce Bailey already wants to give him the key to the city.”
Allie used her hand to shield her eyes from the sun and searched Tom out. He appeared busy talking to a group of his workmen. She thought about what Zeke had just said, but what reason would Tom have to lie about the demolition extension?
