“Yes! She said she and Marshall ‘deserve a second chance.’” Benny made air quotes so exaggerated he nearly lost his balance. “You know what that means, don’t you? She’s gonna try tostealhim from my mother.”
Red winced at the crack in Benny’s voice, matching the one he could feel in his heart.
Bianca wasn’t just here to play house. No, siree. She was here to snare a good man in a bad way.
The memory of overhearing—maybe—her evil plans made his stomach turn. He had yet to tell a soul, hoping the problem would solve itself without Red having to stick his nose where it didn’t belong.
Apparently, that wasn’t going to happen.
“So we gotta do something,” Benny insisted, plopping into the chair across from him. “We can’t just let her stay here and wreck everything.”
Red scratched his chin, knowing the “something” to do was alert Marshall. Or Gracie. Or someone who would put a stop to this, but the very idea made him a little ill. It wasn’t his business and he shouldn’t act on something he wasn’t even sure he heard while he was hiding out in her cabin like a serial killer.
Who would even believe him?
“But I have a plan,” Benny said, his eyes fiery with a mission. “You want to hear it?”
Did he? Probably not. “Hit me,” Red said.
“We make her hate it here so bad she wants to leave.”
Red snorted, no stranger to Benny’s wild and frequently dangerous ideas. “Think we can irritate her right out of the state?”
“Maybe. I got some clues last night about what might really freak her out.”
Red tilted his head. “Freak her out?” He certainly didn’t want to break a pregnant woman, just get her to ditch her dumb schemes. “What are you thinking, Benny?”
“Wildlife,” Benny said, utterly serious. “That lady is terrified of anything that walks, breathes, and lives in the woods.”
“So…you want to scare her away.”
“It could work,” he said. “Maybe something like…snow snakes.”
“Snow what now?”
Benny’s eyes lit up. “We tell her that there are these rare winter snakes that slither under the powder. Totally harmless—but super gross. Then we sprinkle, like, garden hoses or something around her cabin at night so she flips out when she opens the door.”
Red stared, hating that the idea had merit, but that woman was too smart for that. Also, maybe pregnant, and he just didn’t want her getting hurt. “Do better,” he said, and Benny—bless his heart—nodded.
“Raccoons?” he suggested without hesitation. “We could wrangle some to knock garbage cans around outside her cabin.”
Red gave him a withering look. “Wrangle raccoons? Good luck with that.”
“Okay, okay.” He snapped his fingers, thinking, undaunted. “How about a baby bear? Opossum? Maybe just a standard rat that gets into her cabin.”
Red choked. “A rat? Benny! The woman is pr— problematic.”
“You’re right. She’ll sue Snowberry Lodge for all we’ve got.” Benny mussed his mop of hair as he ran his fingers through it, as though he could rub that amazing brain into a higher gear. “We need something scary but not…real.”
Or maybe Red could confront the woman and shame her into leaving?
Benny practically leaped in the air, giving a clap with a soft hoot. “I got it, Grandpa! I totally know how to scare her away with something that isn’t real but she couldn’t handle.”
“What?”
Benny beamed, put his hands on his hips, and narrowed his gaze behind his angled glasses. “Bigfoot.”
Red snorted so hard he needed a tissue. “Bigfoot?”
