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Gabe looked at me with the same gray-colored eyes I had and held up a single finger for me to wait while he finished pouring a beer from the tap. I let out an impatient breath and set my tote down on the bar.
“These are the occupancy projections for the first three years. Not to mention, a hotel like this will create a lot of jobs,” the man next to me said. Occupancy? Hotel? Hang on. I tilted my ear toward their conversation and glanced at Patrick’s expression out of the corner of my eye.
“This could definitely support our tourism efforts, but what about the location? That kind of construction on Main Street will be very disruptive to the surrounding businesses. Traffic is already congested as is,” Patrick replied.
Well, would you look at that? Was this the infamous real estate developer attempting to schmooze a councilman for a vote while sitting on my barstool? The owner of a certain notorious pair of tweezers? The guy didn’t waste any time, did he? What a jerk. Smelled nice, though. But that was beside the point.
“Only in the short term,” the New Elwood saboteur continued. “Once the hotel is up and running, our guests will bring new business to Main Street. Everybody wins.”
Everyone except the patrons who cherished the old Art Deco theater like my girl, Charlie.
The conversation paused when Gabe served up the beer and a glass of red wine to my bar-top neighbors and asked if they needed anything else. Yeah, Sebastian Anderson needed to get the hell out of New Elwood. They each declined, but the councilman got up and headed to the bathroom. Gabe gave me a nod—he knew my order—and moved down the bar to serve someone else.
That’s when the bigwig’s phone rang. Curious, I fiddled with my crocheting while I listened.
“Checking up on me, are you?” Anderson asked, spinning his glass of wine on its coaster without picking it up to drink. “Uh-huh. It’s all in hand. No problems at all. We’ll be able to execute the sale immediately.”
I frowned. What was that about? What was he selling?
“Listen, Sinc—no, not yet. Still waiting on the demo permits. Uh-huh. I’m not worried. There’s absolutely no chance they’ll agree to restore a dying theater when I can show them a way to refill the town’s coffers without having to lift a finger.”
I arched my brows. Thought very highly of himself, didn’t he? And who was on the other side of the line? Sounded like ole Anderson McSnootyPants had some kind of backer. I wondered if Charlie knew about it. She hadn’t mentioned it.
“I’ve got things with her under control,” Anderson growled, the fingers on his wine glass stem tightening.
I leaned closer, heart thumping. Her who? Charlie? Was he about to divulge some juicy, juicy gossip that I could use to help Charlie run him out of town?
“I gotta go,” he finally said, glancing in the direction of the restrooms, where the councilman was emerging.
I snapped my gaze back to my crochet, then looked up when Gabe appeared behind the bar in front of me again.
“Did you get that new security system installed on the house yet?” Gabe asked me.
“Will you stop with the security system already? I’m a grown woman, all right?”
“Grown woman or not, you’re in that big ole house by yourself now. I’m just looking after you. That’s my job.”
“Actually, it’s not. It’s officially not. Your job is to make sure I get the good cuts of chicken on my salad and to roll your eyes with me when Mama adds another nutcracker to her Christmas collection.”
“Yeah, that collection is getting out of hand,” Gabe replied. He’d been like this since we were kids. Older than me by three years, he always took on the role of my protector, which was really sweet when my size was a 4T, but once I started my first period I was over it. “It’s just that since your divor?—”
“Uh-uh!” I held up a pair of crossed arms. “I don’t want to talk about that anymore. We don’t say the D-word.” Nothing ruined lunch more than talk of your cheating ex-husband—especially when I’d caught him cheating during a surprise lunch break. So enough of that.
“Fine,” Gabe said. “Then just get the alarm installed.”
“Why are you so bossy? It’s been installed,” I said, and Gabe narrowed his eyes like he didn’t believe me, but it was true. I just kept forgetting to set it at night. Why did I need to? This was New Elwood. I could leave my front door wide open all night and still nothing bad would happen.
Then I heard the guy next to me say, “Ms. Reeves,” and my attention flipped away from my brother.
“Abigail,” Gabe said, and I shot him a wide-eyed look and gave an inconspicuous nod to the guys next to me. “What?” he asked, not even bothering to lower his voice, so I silently shushed him. “Whatever. I’ll grab your order.”
Finally, my overbearing brother overbore no more. So I leaned to my right, eavesdropping again. Maybe it was time for me to consider a career change. I could be a private investigator and expose all the money-hungry leeches and cheating exes in this town.
“Sure, you can talk to her but her proposal’s all wrong. With the amount of work it would take to restore it so that it’s safe, you might as well bulldoze it,” the big city bastard said, sipped his red wine, and set his glass down.
Something came over me when he said that. I clenched my jaw and balled my fist, and before I knew it, I’d elbowed my tote hard and fast and it toppled over, knocking the wine glass into the arrogant jerk’s lap. Merlot spilled all over his fancy-schmancy pants. Sebastian Anderson jumped to his feet. Bulldoze that, asshole.
I faked a gasp and flicked a glance at the councilman. “Oh, my gosh, I am such a klutz. What a mess! Let me buy you another glass.” So I can throw that one in your pretty little face. And pretty it was, with that sharp jaw and green, green eyes. Charlie had totally downplayed how handsome he was. I knew there was an important detail she’d left out. I’d have to razz her about that later.
