Page 26 of Just for Tonight

“Maybe. She’s not going to ask for it, though. That’s not her style.”

“No,” I agree, intrigued.

Luke clears his throat. “The thing is, she left to get away from Patrick. Now that he’s gone, she might want to come back, but where would she come to?” He looks around. “Not here.”

“God, no.”

“Not the old house.”

“Only Mike saw fit to live there and even he said it was for the commute.” The old house, the one Mike and I grew up in, is right beside the offices for Cavendish Enterprises. It has the company parking lot right beside it and a greenhouse dead behind it. The choices made for the company have undermined the value of that piece of real estate, though that was done after Candace abandoned the house of her predecessor for this new splendor.

“She won’t ‘impose’ by staying with anyone, so where?” Luke asks, clearly not expecting an answer. “She always loved that house, and I thought I could facilitate things for her maybe.”

“You seem to be doing a lot of that lately. Facilitating.”

“I am.” He nods. “Trying to make the world a better place beats the shit out of making it a worse one.”

There is that.

“I have no objections to this plan. There’s a lot of real estate and I’m not sure how much of it can be sold. I would even toss in my share, whatever it turned to be, for Abbie’s sake.”

“I’d rather just do it myself, if you don’t mind.”

“Okay.”

“But?” Luke invites, his gaze intense. “It sounded like you were going to say but.”

He thinks I’m going to turn him down because of who he is, but he’s wrong about that. He’s ready to be insulted and I don’t want that. Okay, he had me with the defining characteristics of early Tutankhamen. I liked that. I wonder if I could like him. I loved the new café and if he’s responsible for its presence in town, well, maybe it’s time to be adults together.

He stepped willingly into this house, for Abbie. I totally relate to that.

So, I tell him the truth.

“But I don’t know how much money there is,” I admit and he sits straighter. “I’m starting to wonder if there’s any.”

“Go on,” he murmurs.

I raise my hands, then head for the big table and beckon to him. “Look at this. It’s the receipt for Candace’s SUV.”

He studies it. “Top of the line, Infiniti, all the bells and whistles. Paid cash.”

“More bells and whistles,” I say, handing him the customization bill.

He reads it and nods. “Okay. Fancy ride.”

Another receipt. I let Luke work it out himself, watching his gaze dart over it.

“He refinanced it,” he says finally. “He got most of the price back in cash, for a lien on the vehicle.”

“Look at the dates.”

Luke’s eyebrows rise. “Whoa. He did it the next day.”

“I’m going to guess he had it planned all along.” I gesture. “There’s Madison’s car, Ethan’s car, the house itself, the kitchen renovation, the pool installation, the cabana and the landscaping.”

“Everything is owned by someone else,” Luke says softly. “But where’d the money go?”

“I’m still looking.” I get the laptop and show him the thousand dollar balance in the bank account I’ve been reviewing. “I’ve got a pile of credit card bills here that there’s not nearly enough cash to pay.”