Ladybug scowled. She didn’t like to take advantage of the friendliness between her family and the Hemmings, especially didn’t want to exploit the close friendship Jack had shared with her aunt, but Holt was right. Jack managed her money, and while it was rare that she visited the office for any other reason, there had never been a time when he had not gone out of his way to assist her.
“Is there anyone whoisa fan of you?“ she asked aloud.
Holt only sniffed, dropping back. “Go ahead, I need to get back to the city. You go back to that office and get it done. Don’t take no for an answer.”
She nodded, raising a hand in parting as the black cat slipped between the buildings, leaving her before the heavy gold door.
“To what do I owe the pleasure?”
Jackson Edmund Hemming the seventh was the most handsome man in the world, she’d thought as a young girl, and now as an adult, several decades later, her opinion remained unchanged. Each of his six sons had inherited his tall, dark good looks, making them some of the most sought-after bachelors in town, although Trapp was the only one she had ever been friendly with. She was briefly acquainted with the younger three, and Trapp’s intimidating older brothers had never been in school with them at the same time. Even still, Jack Hemming was the only person in town who didn’t make her feel as if she needed to adopt a different personality just to exist in public, who didn’t talk over her head, who reminded her that she was, in fact, a vital member of the community.
“Rhonda is notarizing my business license. Well, a copy of it. I–I’m going to have a table at the Makers’ Mart. Or at least, I’m trying to.”
She grinned, feeling warmed under the weight of his blistering, bright white smile.
“I am thrilled to hear that. Diversify. Increase your funnels without changing your workflow. Business is good, then?”
Ladybug nodded. “It has been. Well, it’s picked up, I guess I should say. It’ll probably never be what it was, but I suppose I can’t expect it to be, now that I’m working alone.” She hesitated, unsure if she wanted to keep talking now that she was here.No.Holt’s right. Jack in your corner is an asset.“I–I wanted to talk to you about something. Some of my neighbors . . . Jack, they’ve been talking. They’realltalking, I think, not just the neighbors. Even just now at City Hall . . . I suppose that’s their right, but —“
“Do you know what a scandal it was when your mother came back to Cambric Creek?”
Ladybug sucked in a breath. Her face had steadily heated as she spoke, a sure sign that her tremulous emotions were in danger of bubbling over like a cauldron forgotten over the fire. She was grateful for the interruption and the redirection of her thoughts.
“M-my mother?”
“Unmarried, pregnant, college dropout. People couldn’t stop talking about how Laurel was taking advantage of her poor old aunt, how Authricia was simply a bighearted pushover for taking her in. Which just goes to show how little they knew Authricia.”
Ladybug laughed, as the thought of her great-aunt being anyone’s pushover was comical.
“But it was the scandal of the moment and people in the neighborhood couldn’t get enough. There’s a reason Sandi and I built our house practically on the other side of town. I don’t even know what my neighbor does for a living. Well, I do, but that’s incidental. He and I are friendly, but we’re not friends. We’re not chatting about the family across the street over the hedge every evening. I don’t care how he lives his life, and I’m assuming he doesn’t care about mine. And if he does, well, I don’t care about that either.”
He paused, steepling his fingers to give her an appraising look. Ladybug fidgeted beneath the scrutiny, wishing she’d bothered taming her hair before leaving the house.
“Jack, they’re talking about passing ordinances. What’s going to happen if they make him leave?” she asked in a trembling voice, not realizing it was even a possibility until that day. “My-my house . . . I can’t sell my house. I don’t even know where we could go if I did!”
They would put up a fight, but if Anzan was forced to leave, she would go with him. She wouldn’t let him be cast out alone, not again. Not when she knew the bitter sting of what that felt like.
“My clients and my house . . . the garden. What will happen to the —“
“Elizabeth.”
She felt winded as he cut off her panic, halting her spiral with a ring of authority in his deep voice.You have the ear of the most powerful man in town, and there is quite literally nothing he would deny you. Holt was right. This was a card she couldn’t forget to play.
“I know all about what they’re saying, what theythinkthey’re planning. That’s not going to happen. I can promise you that.”
“But what if —“
Jack leaned forward on his elbows, shaking his head with a smile. “They’ll have to run my whole family out of town first, Elizabeth. Jackson’s going to be mayor soon. Not what I wanted for him, but he’s picked it himself. Owen is on the board of commissioners. If I go home and tell Sandi they’re denying you a table at the market, she’ll march into the community center on Monday morning and dismantle the whole program.Nothingis going to happen.”
She needed to stop being stubborn and listen to every treacherous thing that Holt told her. He was right, and she couldn’t afford not to.
“Oldetowne has been this way forever,” Jack went on with a shrug. “Half the folks working in Ansleth’s office are from the old neighborhood, and the other half just want to be spectators. You don’t need to put any stock in it. They’re small people with boring lives who spend too much time fixating on what the neighbors are doing.”
Her chest felt tight, but she nodded. He was right.
“But what will happen if they try?” Her voice was barely a whisper, the thought too terrible to contemplate.
On the other side of the desk, Jack Hemming grinned with casual disdain. “Then you’re going to sue the city. Gray already knows what’s going on. Maybe we ought to set you up with a meeting together, for your peace of mind, if nothing else. Actually, that’s a good idea . . .” He leaned forward, tapping his computer screen to life. “I’m going to send him a schedule tap right now. He probably won’t be able to squeeze you in this month, but let’s see . . .”
