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“Who the hell is Meredith?”
“My cat. I have a feeling she and Houdini wouldn’t get along.”
“When did you get a cat?”
“A couple of days ago. You know I’m volunteering at the shelter, right?”
“No, I don’t. When did you start volunteering there?”
“Last week. I’m mainly helping them with their social media. Adoptions are up about twenty percent thanks to their TikTok.”
Her face softens. Liv likes to pretend that she’s a hard ass, and she is in a lot of ways. She was widowed thanks to an IED when she was pregnant with Sammy. She had to raise her two kids on her own, and when it comes to kicking ass with schedules and making sure everything runs on time—like in this office—she’s a queen. But she has a soft heart, and she knows I’ve always had this need to help. Not many of my other siblings seem to notice.
“Anyway, I have to go up there tonight for dinner. There will be adiscussion.”
I hope that Estella comes down on my side in this situation. I really like that house, creaks and all. And Meredith loves that backyard. The house has good bones, and Nancy and Travis made the most of those while updating it. Estella’s granddaughter and her fiancé have the country’s most popular home improvement show. As soon as I think of them, they walk through the door.
Nancy is a compact ball of energy with dark hair and the same shade of blue eyes her cousin has. She seems tiny, but her personality makes up for what she lacks in height. She’s wearing a T-shirt with the logo of their show on it.
Her co-star and fiancé, Travis Spencer, is a big hunk of a man. He is well over six feet, has blondish-brown hair, and always has a ready smile. He reminds me of a big happy teddy bear. I mean, if the teddy bear is hot AF with muscles to spare.
“Hey, I heard you took out my cousin last night,” Nancy says with a laugh.
“Where did you hear that?” Liv asks.
“It was on the Juniper Springs Express,” I say.
Liv rolls her eyes. “That app.”
Yeah,thatapp. Jon Howard, the intruder who smells like heaven with the most amazing blue eyes, invented it. I have a feeling that the townsfolk wouldn’t leave him alone about creating it, so he did it to get them off his back. Don’t get me wrong. I love this town, right down to the gay ducks, but they can be a bit much. It was set up to be like a community center on your phone. The LOLs have turned it into a gossip rag.
“I’m not the one he has to worry about. I saw a few comments from the teens on the JSE about making him pay.”
Yeah, there has been a brewing vendetta against Jon. The teens hate they can’t sneak around and do what they want in this town without one of the LOLs commenting on it.
Nancy laughs again and takes the seat next to mine. “That’s true. We’ll be there tonight, by the way.”
“For dinner at the big house?”
“The big house? You make it sound like a prison,” Nancy says.
I shrug. I think it is, at least for Estella, although she’s started branching out a bit. She’s become an LOL in the truest sense. I know it’s important for older folks to have a community of peers. Until recently, Estella has been rattling around that massive mansion all by her lonesome. Okay, by her lonesome with a chauffeur, maids, and a cook. But still. A girl needs friends no matter what her age.
“Yeah, well, I hope she lets me stay in that house. I really love it.”
“It was one of our first projects,” Travis says.
“I thought I saw your hand in the back garden.”
“It was my grandparents’ first house,” Nancy comments.
“Yeah, I think she told me that.” She did. I think Estella has shared more about her life with me than with her grandchildren, which makes me sad.
She nods. “It wasn’t a love match, but my grandmother loved that house.”
“Well, I do too. I love the master bath. And the kitchen?” I roll my eyes. “I know Savannah will love it whenever she sees it.” If my sister-in-law gets to see it.
Nope. I’m going to keep thinking positive, then it will happen.
