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“Let me guess. You live in some swanky apartment in the city?”
“Yes. I’ve got a nice place in Arlington, right on the river across from DC. You can see the Washington Monument from my bedroom. You’d love it,” I said with a wink and a mouth full of chocolate chips.
“Oh, you think so?” Charlie said.
“Of course. The city’s got your name, Charlie Washington. But seriously, wouldn’t it be nice to have central air?”
“You know, I would’ve imagined that Lydia Radcliffe’s grandson would have a little more regard for the history of this town. She loved New Elwood.”
“You knew her?” I tried to keep the tension from my voice. The old woman was beloved in this town. She only showed her ugly side to the people she was supposed to love.
“The rumor was that no one really knew her. But yeah, I met her a few times. She was sharp, and she gave a lot to this place. Maybe you should consider following in her footsteps.”
“Oh, I plan to,” I said, looking her straight in the eye. I’d burn bridges and turn my back on the people I was supposed to call my own, just like Grandma.
A crack of thunder rolled overhead, startling us both. She looked up at her roof as droplets began to pelt the windows from outside. Springtime showers of Virginia. Maybe the one thing our two different worlds had in common.
“On that note, I should get back to work,” Charlie said, moving away from our passthrough.
“Yeah, I sent you a few proposals about the new project.”
“I saw that. You got something against trees?” she grumbled, and I rolled my eyes. Those trees were digging into the building’s foundations and causing problems for half the block. I was more than prepared for her to veto everything, but we’d see how far it would get her in the end. The woman loved to tell me no. Shut me down. But she had no idea who she was going up against.
Then I heard a drop of water. The kind you hear from a leaky faucet that keeps you up all night. “What was that?”
“What was what?” Charlie returned to the hole. I set my cookies to the side and walked over to the desk that was still sitting beneath the open hole. A few tiny water specks were splattered on the varnished wood surface. I glanced up as another water droplet fell past Charlie’s red hair cascading down from above and smacked me in the face.
“Is that a leak? Is the roof leaking?”
“Calm down, it’s a slow leak.” Charlie disappeared from view then returned with a flimsy blue bucket. “Here, take this.”
“Are you telling me you’ve been living with this leak?” I asked with my hands on my hips, glaring at the bucket. The high of the cookies was wearing off, and my patience for this living situation was wearing thin.
It was all well and good to dance around each other with this push-and-pull routine. But this house was falling apart, and Charlie didn’t seem to even see it.
“It’s not that big of a deal,” she said.
“It’s not a big deal until it rots the floor and someone falls through.” This place was a death trap and she knew it. I sure as hell knew it; I’d grown up in a place just like this, and look how that had turned out. I knew just how quickly a place like this could turn dangerous. It was all fun and games when a naked lady fell through the ceiling. But now that the thrill of wielding a pair of tweezers had worn off, all I could think about was the fact that we were risking our lives every minute we stayed in this place.
Why couldn’t she see that?
Charlie pursed her lips. “Relax, okay? Albert’s going to patch up the floor tomorrow morning.”
“Who’s Albert?”
“Albert on the first floor. He does the maintenance for the apartments.”
Well, Albert was doing a pretty shitty job if you asked me. “Is he going to fix the roof tomorrow too?” Not that it really mattered. Soon enough that mansard roof would be nothing but a pile of rubble and dust on the ground.
Charlie furrowed her brow. “Sure, boss. Now do you want this bucket or not?” I grabbed the cheap bin and set it on the desk with a thump. Charlie’s gaze circled my face, and I figured she could tell how annoyed I was with this whole situation when she said, “You know, if you hate it here so much you could just go back to Arlington. No one’s stopping you.”
No one except my grandmother’s will. Reality settled in as I looked around the room. It would be nice to be back in my beautiful high-rise, with its insulation and 180-degree view of the city. But it would be even better to close this deal with Sinclair and get the capital I needed to buy The Bach Company. And it wasn’t all about making a fortune for myself. It was also about making sure my mother got what she rightfully deserved. I might not have given a shit about this town, but I did care about the people I loved.
“Sorry, Reeves. You won’t get rid of me that easily.” I looked up into her narrowed blue eyes, and she let out a sharp sigh through her pretty pink lips. My own gaze matched her hostility as we glared at each other through the hole. She might have had legs that killed in six-inch heels and a temper that got me hot, but I was here for reasons bigger than a woman. Bigger than her.
Another droplet fell, this time landing in the bucket. I looked at it, then at her.
“Goodnight, Mr. Anderson,” Charlie clipped and walked away, not bothering to cover the hole with her towel this time.
