Austin came in and sat beside me, patting my leg. He kept his hand on my knee and I leaned against him, enjoying the subtle scent of his cologne.
“She’ll still love you,” he said, and my heart ached. “We’ll have to tell her the rules about revealing our secrets, but I trust your mom. I’ve known her almost my entire life and I get good vibes from her.” He blew out a breath and lowered his voice. “I put Ben and Wheeler to task finding a new house, or at the very least, some property we can build on. One’s big and has an amazing view up high. It’s modern, has a pool, and will cost me a fortune. The second one is older and used to be a hotel but was renovated years ago. The owners are old and don’t have any kids to pass on their inheritance, but they haven’t had any luck selling because of the location and condition of the house. It’s just as big as the first one, but it needs work. It’s rustic, doesn’t have a pool…”
“That’s the one you should take,” I said decidedly.
He made a “huh” sound. “Why’s that?”
I stood up and looked over my shoulder. “Because you’re not Lorenzo. He would have bought the first house to show everyone up. Sometimes things that are worth having are worth fixing up. Not everything comes in perfect condition, but it doesn’t mean it’s not the right one for you.”
When his eyes slid up to mine, my breath caught. Austin’s next question had a deeper meaning we both understood.
“Which house would you choose?”
***
Outside of our brief conversation, Mom had no insight as to why else my dad would have kidnapped her. Deep down, he must have loved her in some irrational way, but his reckless actions had put our lives in danger and it only fueled my hate for him even more. Now that I knew he wasn’t my real father, it was easier to hate him. Because he was Maizy’s, I didn’t say anything out of respect, even though she didn’t know him. I didn’t want her to have memories of me slamming him, because one day she would find out for herself what kind of man he was.
I spent the entire afternoon with my mom, but I couldn’t get the shop off my mind. Ben and Wheeler ate their hamburgers and headed out. When I asked where Ivy had gone, Austin explained he had begun the process of officially claiming her with one of the head Packmasters in the territory, and the man’s wife wanted to speak privately with Ivy.
It was sometimes customary for the women to open their door to one another, and perhaps she wanted to make sure there was nothing being forced on this young woman.
Just after sunset, I headed back home alone. Mom agreed to stay with Austin until they caught my father. While Ivan had retracted his offer to help us any further, Lorenzo hadn’t ended his search. I knew because I’d kept my promise and called him earlier that day.
“How did everything go?” I asked April over Lorenzo’s phone. I was beginning to think having one of these phones would come in handy. I ascended the stairs and twirled my keychain around, looking for the key.
“Um, you could have told me you were sending two hunks over.”
I snorted. “Really? I didn’t think they were your type.”
“Well, kind of not. They’re eye candy, but not really my kind of candy. One of them stared at my ass and the other guy didn’t say much. The store is so clean you wouldn’t believe it! Some of the canisters I’m not so sure they’ll be salvageable. Have you heard from Charlie? What happened?”
I slid the key in the lock and glanced over my shoulder. “Cancer. I’m going to try calling around to see where he’s at; his neighbor said they took him away in an ambulance a few days ago.”
“Oh, no.”
“Yeah.” I sighed when I heard her sniffing over the phone. We really liked Charlie and were fortunate to have a boss like him, even though he had quirky ways about running his store. “Hopefully he’s okay, but I need to get a hold of him so I can find out what to do about the power. Until then, just lock everything up and take off for a few days. There’s nothing we can do at this point. We’re not getting a paycheck this Friday, so you’ll need to let the girls know. It’s not going to hurt them as much as it will us.”
“Gee, I didn’t think of that. I need to be honest and tell you I might be able to let one paycheck slide, but that’s it. I mean it, Alexia. And I’ll need reimbursement for the missed week as soon as the funds are available.”
I opened the door and flipped on the wall switch that connected to a lamp in the living room. Then I gasped.
“What happens if you can’t find him? Alexia?”
“Um, April, let me call you back…” I hung up the phone.