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I rolled my eyes. “And he knows it too, Sonja.”
“Daddy’s money?” Lisa asked.
“Sort of. He took over his family’s apple business.”
Lisa Scoffed. “Apples? That’s how he got rich?”
“Drought resistant apples. He patented a seed. And now he looks for unique apples to cross-breed it with. Apparently he controls most of California’s apple market.”
“Ok, I’m slightly impressed. Go on,” Lisa nudged.
“Well, he’s taken an interest in Dudley’s property. His land surrounds it and for some reason Dudley’s property is the only portion of the hill he doesn’t own. I think Dudley wouldn’t let Brenton’s dad buy him out. They must have had some sort of beef with each other. Oh, and then my uncle’s lawyer made some weird comment about how I shouldn’t let Brenton near Dudley’s land.”
I had totally forgotten about Wally’s warnings last evening while I was with Brenton.How could I have been so distracted?I thought to myself. Something was fishy about this man and I needed to steer clear.
“Intriguing! Well, how much do you know about him? Or his family?”
“Only the little he’s told me. He didn’t know much about his father and Dudley’s tiff either.”
“Have you googled it?”
“Um,” I looked down at my freshly painted toes. “Not really, no.”
“Oh my god, girl. Where’s my Helen?” Lisa gawked.
She was right. How had I not thought of that, either? Man, I really had been distracted these last couple of days. I looked at my bestie, who now had her phone out and was typing furiously.
Sonja began to protest. “Miss, your nails need more time to dry—”
“The truth can’t wait! I’m dying to know!” Lisa exclaimed.
Sonja grew quiet and egged Lisa on with a nod. She was invested now too.
“Ok, hold up.” Lisa stopped scrolling. “I found an article about Mr. McLean buying up property to expand his business.”
Lisa was quiet as she read.
“Well?” I asked.
“OMG! This is some serious tea!” She kept scrolling.
“Lisa! Care to share?”
“Sorry! Ok, so you were right. Dudley refused to sell his land to Brenton’s father. He managed to buy out every other person on that hill except Dudley. But that’s not all! Dudley used to work for him!”
“What?!”
“Yeah, it says here ‘Dudley K. Washington, formerly employed by TruFruit, was disgruntled by his termination and unwilling to sell his property to his former employer John McLean. He has lived on the property ever since, surrounded by land owned by Mr. McLean. The two have yet to reconcile.’”
“When was this written?” I asked.
“Twenty years ago.”
“Wow. He was fired? Does it say what he did?”
“Nope,” Lisa said, shaking her head and putting her phone down.
I couldn’t believe it. Dudley worked for TruFruit? Brenton had to have known, right?
