It wasn’t like I’d need the key anytime soon, though we relocked the closet to keep snoopers out. We had way too many renovations to think about for me to waste time researching the strange closet.
While Landon worked miracles with the city’s building department and his crews of Known Guys to get the renovation and event permits we would need, I spent an afternoon editing together a promo video from our friends’ visit to the house. It was a teaser more than anything, with judicious cuts that implied more than it showed. I combined slow-motion glimpses of blurry figures, dilapidated rooms, spooky staircases and creepy shadows with light effects, a dash of scary music and one of Thea’s amazing screams. It concluded with effects-laden titles:MILKWEED MANSION unlocked … experience Bohemia’s original haunted house!I included the dates and a web address at the end for a quickie site Thea and Cali had agreed to put together. October was less than a week away, and we wanted to announce everything on the first of the month.
And I was freaking out just a tiny bit. Landon and his peeps were a massive help, but my bank account was dwindling anyway. I had to put enough aside for the basics of living, and I’d received my last paycheck. Plus I kept having to dole out money for supplies, or pizza for the helpers, or any number of little emergencies.
Tuesday evening, Landon was watching some sort of football analysis show from the couch — hey, it beat politics — while I sat in the easy chair and stared at my credit-card balances and bank account on my laptop. As I willed one set of numbers to go down and the other to go up, I realized he was calling my name.
“Kayla? Is something wrong?”
I looked at him bleary-eyed and saw my fatigue reflected in his handsome face. It wasn’t just work on the mansion wearing him out. I knew he’d also been popping in to help on jobs with his dad’s company, even though his father had pretty much given himcarte blancheto help with the house. I didn’t understand why, but I was grateful.
“I just don’t think I can handle this alone,” I admitted to him. I could have put on a brave face, but I was just too damn tired.
“You’re not,” he said with a small smile.
“No, I’m not, thanks to you and everyone else. But there are still expenses. We can’t get everything donated. Permitting fees … the electrician’s supplies … paint for the whole house…”
“That’ll come later, and anyway, I think I know…”
“You know a guy?”
“A girl, actually. I mean a woman. She owns a paint company on U.S. 1. I think she’d love to be on the plaque.”
I was so tired, I didn’t even worry about whether this paint lady was just a friend or a passionate paramour. And I’d been thinking a lot along those lines lately, when the last thing I wanted was to be jealous about Landon.
“It just feels weird to take all this money,” I said, “and Iampaying you rent. There are no two ways about that.”
“It’s OK, Kayla. You can pay me rent if you want to.” He flashed me the Fireworks.
I couldn’t help a pathetic little laugh. “Easy for you to say.”
He looked thoughtful. “Why not reconsider Alex’s offer to invest? He’s jazzed about the event space, and he loves supporting local art and history. This is right up his alley.”
“I don’t know. It feels like taking charity. And what if he wants control?” Because even though I’d been reluctant to take the project on, the idea of running the business had grown on me. As Landon had suggested, it wasmine.
“That’s what contracts are for,” Landon said. “And believe me, it won’t be charity. He has a nose for profit. Not that you don’t have any business sense—”
“It’s not my strong suit. Yet.”
“I’m just saying he has a gift for picking projects that work and turning around projects that don’t. And I didn’t want to bring it up, but if you need more money, my dad was feeling me out about investing, too.”
“Really? What would he get out of it?”
“I honestly don’t know,” Landon said. “The plaque?”
I chuckled. “I’m sure that’s it.” I wasn’t convinced yet that an investor was a solution, but my burden felt a little lighter just talking to Landon. “OK. I’ll think about it.”
“Good. Now put down the computer and come over here.”
I wrinkled my brow at him. “Why?”
“Why so suspicious? Because you need to relax, that’s why.”
Every molecule in my body pulled me toward the couch. It was like I was a meteor and the couch was the black hole. Only it had this glowing light at the center. Fireworks.
I closed my laptop, set it on the coffee table and sank with a sigh into the cushions next to Landon.
“Here,” he said. “Turn your back to me.”
