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“How’s my great-grandbaby doing?” Grams asks. The midafternoon sun is a warm kiss on my upper back as I push her wheelchair along the sidewalk.
I know she’s referring to Jasper, but that doesn’t stop the hollowness that stretches and writhes in the empty space where my uterus used to be. Claws at my vital organs. Echoes my old grief. Fortunately, she can’t see the pain on my face.
“He’s doing great. Once he’s had all his vaccinations, I can bring him with me when I visit you.”
“I’m looking forward to that. Then I can take him for a spin on my set of fancy wheels.” Grams pats the arm of her wheelchair. The wheelchair she can’t wait to be rid of.
We walk to the nearby park, and I position her wheelchair next to the bench where Delores and Samantha are sitting.
“So, where are you and Lucas going on your honeymoon?” Delores asks.
I sit next to her. “We haven’t decided yet. We’re waiting until after his trial”—in three months and eleven days—“before we go anywhere.”
“There are plenty of romantic locations even in Oregon. Especially along the coast. You can stay at a bed-and-breakfast. That’s what Fred and I did when we got married.”
“Or maybe they can find a romantic lodge like what Crystal and Walter want to build.”
Samantha’s words get my attention.
“What lodge is that?” I already know the answer. I just didn’t know Crystal and Walter were the couple who wanted to build it.
“They recently came into some money and figured that running a small lodge would be a great idea. It was their son who suggested it. He’ll be helping them run the place.”
Samantha scrunches up her nose. “I can’t believe he even suggested it. Since when did that lazy man ever raise a finger to help them? They’ll be the ones doing all the work. But I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s the one who will profit.”
Her reaction stokes my curiosity, adds more tinder to my need to help Lucas. “You don’t believe they really want to build the lodge?”
“No, I think they do. But if it weren’t for their son, they certainly wouldn’t have thought about building or running it.”
I catalog everything she tells me to pass on to Lucas when he comes over to see Grams after work. “Are they the couple interested in purchasing the Wakefields’ land that’s for sale?”
“That’s right.”
“And if they don’t get it?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t discussed it with them.” Samantha looks at Delores, who responds with a shrug.
They might not have discussed it with Crystal and Walter, but what’s stopping me from asking Crystal a few questions?
Maybe their bid has nothing to do with the drugs found in Lucas’s house. Or maybe there’s more to Sebastian wanting the land than Lucas and his brothers realize.
23
Lucas
I fasten the bead molding to the window with the electric screwdriver. Even though my lunch date with Simone was incredible, it can’t make this job feel any less like work for me. I miss being back in the PT clinic and helping my patients. But until I clear my name, that’s just not going to happen.
I pull the small white plug from my tool belt and push it into the hole in the PVC. A vehicle door bangs shut behind me. The neighbor’s front door squeaks open. Once I’m done here, I’ll check to see if Mrs. Jenkins would like me to oil her hinges.
I glance in the direction of her house. She’s eyeing me like I’m a rabid raccoon she’s not sure how to exterminate.
Okay. Maybe that’s a no to the hinges being oiled.
I return to screwing in the trim.
“Lucas,” Troy calls out while I’m pushing another plug into a hole.
I swivel to see what he wants.
