“So you’re Daddy’s little love child,” he said.
Annabel gasped, and Andy said, “Max!”
I was too mad to be shocked. “I’m pretty sure love didn’t have much to do with it. I assume you’re Junior?”
“I go byMax,”he corrected me.
Which is why I called him Junior.
“If the will hadn’t been so clear,” he said, “I’d be challenging you in court for this place.”
“Stop it, Max,” Annabel said. “This is all Kayla got from Dad. We got decades of his love and time.”
I swallowed hard, wondering what that must have been like.
“Super,” Max said dryly. “Well, I just wanted to see for myself. And I’ve seen enough.”
With one last cold look at me, he spun on his heel and headed back to his Porsche.
Junior was completely absurd. Was his dad —mydad — that much of a jerk?
“Later, bro!” I shouted as Max got to his car. He glowered as he slipped behind the wheel.
Landon coughed, covering up a laugh. “I’m sorry, guys, but—”
“I know,” Andy said. “I’m sorry, too.”
“He misses Dad.” Annabel was obviously more forgiving of Max’s contempt.
“It’s OK,” I said. “I can’t really get that wrung out over being dissed by your brother. My brother, I guess. I don’t know him. But I’m glad I’ve gotten to know you a little bit. And you’ve done a hell of a job clearing the path.”
“We’ll do more, I promise,” Annabel said. “This is crazy, but I’ve always wanted a sister. Please don’t be a stranger. I mean it.”
Her sincerity got to me a little, or maybe it was the pollen. But I sniffed and let her hug me, and I hugged her back. Andy shook my hand, and the siblings headed for their car while Landon wrapped an arm around my shoulders and squeezed.
“Are you upset?” he murmured as they drove off.
“Weirdly, no.” I leaned into him with a sigh. “It’s strange to just suddenly have relatives materialize out of thin air.”
“Like ghosts come to life?” I heard the smile in his voice.
“Yeah, kind of like that. Do you think Max is going to make trouble for us?”
“If he does, Annabel will kick him in the teeth. But we’ll have to keep an eye on him just the same.”
I sighed. “I was afraid you’d say that.”
Chapter 12
The house would be inaccessible for three days. The bug guys left generator-powered fans running to circulate the nasty stuff inside the house, which we heard dimly as we attacked the garden outside the circus tent. With the help of some of Landon’s Known Guys — a crew of real landscapers, not my stepsiblings — we managed to get the worst of the overgrowth under control.
Landon’s tree guy came, too, and using a crane and ropes and gymnastics worthy of Ringling Brothers, they took down the dead oak in pieces.
“That was a hell of a tree,” the crew’s leader, a grizzled guy who looked almost as old as the oak, told us after I’d thanked him profusely. “It probably would’ve lived another hundred years or so, except I think it got struck by lightning.”
“That’s a shame,” I said. “Look how wide the stump is!”
“Five feet at least,” he agreed. “We’re out of time today, but if you want us to grind it down, I have an opening next week.”
