“What’s the property worth?” Sean asked, helping himself to the bowl of home fries as he glanced at Conner.
“Five acres and access to a private lake, it’s valued at four hundred thousand,” Conner said, which meant that they weren’t going to make much flipping the house once they were done. But that didn’t matter, not to them. They weren’t here to make a profit. They were here because they all wanted a chance to get their hands on one of their great-grandfather Noah’s houses and put it to rights.
“I’ll give you two hundred for the property,” Uncle Jared said, sighing heavily as he helped himself to the bowl of scrambled eggs.
“Two-fifty,” Rory said as she took a sip of her hot cocoa.
“Two-seventy-five,” Uncle Jared said with a glare.
“Two-ninety,” Connor said.
“Two-”
“I’ll give you four hundred thousand,” Garrett, who’d disappeared two hours ago, said evenly as he took the empty seat next to Joey and rubbed his hands roughly down his face, “and I’m moving in today.”
---
“This can’t be happening,” Joey said, worrying her bottom lip as she frantically searched through her backpack only to toss it aside when she didn’t find it there either.
“What are you looking for?” Julie asked from her spot on the stairs where the kitten that Joey really should figure out a name for at some point, attacked her shoelaces.
“My Eeyore keychain,” she said, checking her pockets, again, only to come up empty.
“Did you check your car?”
“Five times,” she said, sighing heavily as she pulled her cellphone out of her back pocket, hoping that Jackson found it only to shove it back in her pocket when she saw that he hadn’t responded yet.
“Any chance that you left it back at the campsite?” Julie asked as she reached down to scratch the kitten behind his ear.
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” Joey said, feeling her shoulders slump.
“You can probably order one online,” Julie suggested with a hopeful smile.
“I can’t,” she said, grabbing her bag and started the search all over again.
“Want some help?” Julie asked, giving the kitten one last scratch as she stood up.
“That’s okay. Jackson probably has it,” Joey said as she forced herself to drop her bag, knowing that it was pointless.
“You’re probably right,” Julie said as Joey glanced around the foyer, hoping against hope that she’d spot the small keychain lying around somewhere.
“Probably,” she mumbled sadly as she stood there, trying to figure out what she was going to do.
“How was the camping trip?”
“It was fine,” she said, glancing towards the stairs and wondering if she could have dropped it when she brought her bags upstairs.
“Anything interesting happen?” Julie asked as she returned her attention to the kitten.
“We all tried to kill Matt,” Joey said, pulling out her phone and—
No response.
“I’m honestly surprised that no one has succeeded yet,” Julie murmured.
“I think I’m going to call it a night. Thank you for taking care of him,” she said, forcing a smile.
“Anytime,” Julie said with an easy smile as she headed for the door while Joey glanced around the foyer one last time before heading upstairs for the night.
Along the way, she investigated every corner, shadow, and crevice with no luck. By the time she made it upstairs, she’d accepted the fact that it was probably long gone. She never should have put it with her car keys, she thought as she stepped into her room and closed the door behind her. She should have kept it beneath her pillow, but she liked having it with her and now it was gone, she thought with dread as she headed to the bathroom.
“It was just a stupid keychain,” she tried to tell herself as she pulled her clothes off and stepped into the shower, but she knew better.
It was-
“Everything okay?” Reed asked as he wrapped his arms around her and pressed a kiss against her neck, instantly making everything better.
“Everything’s fine,” she managed as she reached over and turned the hot water on.
“I saw Julie on the way over here. She said you lost your keychain,” he said, resting his chin on top of her head.
“It will probably turn up tomorrow,” she said, placing her hands over his as she closed her eyes and dropped her head back against his chest.
“Probably,” he murmured. “If we can’t find it, I’ll buy you a new one.”
“It’s just a keychain,” she said, wondering how long it would be before she believed it herself.
“You’ve had it since you were little,” he said, making her smile.
“Jackson got it for me the first time you went to Disneyworld,” she said, turning her head so that she could kiss his chin.
“He dragged me to ten different stores looking for that damn thing,” he said, chuckling as he leaned down and brushed his lips against hers.
“Were you able to talk any sense into your cousin?” she asked, turning around in his arms so that she could wrap her arms around him.
“No, but we did manage to get the heat working and the water turned on,” he said, gently caressing her back.
“Any idea why he couldn’t stop glaring at the house across the street?” she asked, pressing a kiss against his chest as she closed her eyes and decided to forget about everything else.
“No, but I have a feeling that it had something to do with him quitting his job and suddenly deciding to move to the other side of the state,” Reed said on a groan as he ran his hands down her back and over her bottom.
“He quit his job?” Joey asked, trying to stay focused but it was becoming increasingly difficult with the way he was touching her.
“Mmmhmm, he probably would have made partner in another year,” he said, kissing his way down to her neck.
“All of a sudden?” she asked, frowning only to moan when he found that spot on her neck that drove her crazy.
“Mmmhmm,” he murmured as he reached up and cupped her breast.
“Why?”
“He wouldn’t say,” Reed said, giving her breast one last squeeze before he reached down and picked her up.
“And you didn’t ask,” she guessed as she wrapped her legs around him.
“No,” he said, moving towards the wall as he kissed her
“Why not?” she asked, threading her fingers through his hair as she kissed the man that made everything better.
“Because all I cared about was getting back to you.”
Chapter 41
Tuesday
“The alarm’s going off.”
“I know,” the small woman sprawled out on top of him mumbled before releasing another one of those sad little sighs that had his lips twitching.
“We need to go to work,” he said as he continued to slowly run his fingertips up and down her spine.
“I know,” she mumbled sadly.
“Are you planning on getting up this morning?” he asked, reaching over to push the hair out of her face so that he could see that cute little pout that he loved so much.
“I’m getting up right now,” she mumbled even as she continued laying there, looking adorably pathetic.
“I can see that,” he murmured, more than fine with laying here with her in his arms, but when several minutes went by, and she still hadn’t moved he decided that it was time to do the one thing that he hadn’t done in five years.
He was going to call in sick.
Keeping one arm around her, he grabbed his phone off the nightstand and sent a text to Mrs. MacArthur and Erin, his vice principal, and let them know that he wouldn’t be coming in today. He also let them know that Dr. Lawson sent him an email telling him that she was taking a sick day as well. When he was done, he tossed his phone aside and resumed tracing her spine with his fingertips.
“We have to get up,” she mumbled on a groan, sounding so damn miserable that he couldn’t help but chuckle.
“No, we don’t,” he said, kissing her forehead.
Frowning, she looked up at him. “We don’t?”
“I called in sick so that you could stay home and be miserable.”
“Really?” she asked, blinking up at him.
“Mmmhmm,” he murmured as he closed his eyes and-