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“Brenda thinks the condo will sell quickly,” Alanna said, pointedly ignoring her mother’s words. “The market’s hot.”
The sooner the better. She needed that money to tide her over for the next three months. And to afford Renee’s salary. She’d offered to let her executive assistant work remotely in Los Angeles, but she was hoping Renee would choose to move to Yucca Hills. It was a big ask, but Renee had always talked about wanting to get her daughter out of the big city.
“That’s good, about the condo,” her mother said neutrally. Her hands moved in a blur. The cortisone shots were clearly a success. But for how long? It was impossible to know.
Pushing that unhappy thought away, Alanna pressed a fork piled with Hamburger Helper into her mouth.
Oh, God, yes.She sipped from her glass of wine. Rose and Thorn pinot noir, of course. The taste made her think back to her first pitch yesterday.
“The next three months are going to be a little crazy,” she warned her mom.
“You’ve survived crazy before,” Dede said. “And now you have me and Layla to help take care of you.” Her blue eyes peeked over her knitting, and she might as well have said the rest of her thought out loud.And Sully, if you’d let him.
Yeah right.If only her mother knew the truth. Alanna could still perfectly remember what Sully had said last week.The woman is incapable of caring for anyone but herself.
The memory hurt like hell. And then he’d gone dark. No apology. No call. No nothing. The message was clear. They were over.
Fine by her. She didn’t have time for silly flings anyway. She had to build New Horizons from the ground up. Alanna knew she’d have to work herself to the bone, but she reveled in the idea of helping businesses she cared about.
Still… something was off. When she’d been building Fresh Perspective, her whole being had been focused on making the business work. She hadn’t cared about anything else… anyone else. And it’d been enough. Now, even with the prospect of starting her new agency, she felt an emptiness inside of her. She wanted more.
Alanna ignored this thought.New Horizons would be enough. It had to be. On that note…
“I won’t make as much representing small businesses in Yucca Hills,” she said to her mother, “but if I can keep on at least six clients, I can support myself and Renee.”
“Em-hmm,” her mom said, not looking up from her knitting.
“And, once I get my feet under me, I plan on pitching a second and third round of businesses. There’s a new yoga studio on Chaparral Drive and a horse stable a few miles away. If I get more clients, I’ll be able to rehire some of my old account leads. They don’t even need to move down here. They can work remotely if they’re willing to take a pay cut.”
“That’s nice,” her mom murmured.
“And this way, I could stay here, in Yucca Hills,” Alanna said. In her mind, she added,And I could look after you. I could actually help Layla plan her wedding. I could even keep going to the Crazy Cat Lady Club meetings.Even without a cat, Alanna knew her friends would accept her.
Sure, she wouldn’t make nearly as much money or be able to live the lifestyle she’d had in Los Angeles.
Money isn’t everything.The words whispered through her mind in a familiar voice.
“Any other reasons you want to stay in town?” Her mother asked. Was that a mischievous twinkle in the other woman’s eye?
The doorbell rang. Both women froze. Cue a dozen more twinkles in her mother’s eyes.
Could it really be him? Alanna set down her fork and walked toward the door. Her hand hovered over the knob as her heart pounded.
Ch. 50 Sully
“WhythehelldidI let you talk me into this?” Hue groaned.
“Almost done,” Sully assured his friend, who was nothing more than an ogre-sized outline against the setting sun.
“That’s what you said two hours ago.”
“That time I was lying.”
“No shit.”
Squinting in the falling dusk, Sully clipped the last clay tiles to the roof of Junkyard Dogs Gym. Originally, he’d only planned to patch the gym’s roof leak, but when he’d taken a closer look at the problem, he’d realized the roof was in desperate need of replacement. The underlayment was practically begging for death.
It was a big job. He’d been compelled to call in reinforcements.
