“Thanks.” I smile and wish there was something I could say to him to make him feel better. “You know what, Finn?”
He looks back at me over his shoulder. “What?”
“If you like Bella, you should go for it. Obviously, that bad boy thing hasn’t worked out for her. Maybe it’s time she went out with a nice guy.”
“You think so?”
“Yeah.” I give him my brightest smile.
“A little secret.” Finn winks at me. “Nice guys can be bad too.”
And I blush so hard, my face feels like it’s on fire. Which, I guess, he thinks is funny. With a chuckle, he pulls open the door. “All right, well, I’ll go over and talk to your neighbor.” Finn rolls his eyes. “Hell, he probably has no idea Mona called this in. I also suspect her nephew is high as a kite. He usually is.”
“Ah.” I wondered about that. I knew the tenant is her nephew, I didn’t know he dabbled in that.
“And since he lives there for free, he’s going to go along with whatever Mona wants.”
“Free?”
“That’s the word on the street.”
“Well, you know as well as I do, the word on the street’s been wrong before.” But, on this subject, there’s probably truth to it.
“Don’t work too late.” He uses two fingers to salute me. “Oh, and lock this when I leave.” And, poof, he’s gone.
I turn to look out the window into the darkness. The streetlight enables me to see him as he walks toward the neighbor’s house. I’d love to go outside and hide in the bushes to hear that conversation, but it’d probably make me angrier.
No. I need to focus on my work. Time to finish painting.
CHAPTERFIVE
LOU
“You goingto the city council meeting tomorrow night?” Bella asks as she sips a glass of white wine and I do the same with my bottle of beer. It’s Tuesday night and we’re at her kitchen table, nibbling on cheesy puff pastries she whipped up. They’re delicious.
“Thinking about it. You?”
“I wouldn’t miss that shit show for the world.”
“I suppose.” Snickering, I bite into another pastry and let the flavor of the sharp cheddar cheese melt in my mouth. “My god, woman. You can sure bake.” I smirk. “With your skills, you should totally open a bakery.”
“Yeah?” She smiles. “Maybe I will.”
We both laugh at that because that’s exactly how Bella’s Bakery was conceived. The two of us were drinking, beer at the time, but we were eating something yummy from her oven. She’d inherited a little money from her grandmother—enough to lease the old bakery in town. It had closed the year before, but the owner hadn’t sold the building yet. The rumor was they wouldn’t sell it because Mona wanted it.
But they’d lease it—to the right person.
And Bella’s Bakery was born.
“What do you think Mona’s going to complain about this time?”
I shrug. “No idea. She called the cops on me. Did I tell you that?”
Bella sets her glass down. “No. When?”
“Monday night. Finn stopped by.”
“He did?” Bella’s voice sounds more like a croak.
