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“I don’t have any of my cards on me right now, but my number is on the sign out front of the Daileys’ if you need anything at all.”

“Yeah, okay.” She rolls her eyes, and I barely avoid rolling my eyes back at her before I turn and open the door.

Stepping outside, I hear her mumble a half-hearted goodbye, and I call “Have a great day” over my shoulder.

I can’t say that she is the worst neighbor I’ve met over the years in this industry, but she might be in the top five of most annoying.

When I get to my car, I glance at her house and see her standing on her front porch with her phone to her ear, staring in my direction, so I wave. Unsurprisingly, she doesn’t wave back. I’m sure our encounter didn’t go as she expected it would, and she’s now on the phone with her husband, complaining about me not giving in to her.

Getting in behind the wheel of my car, I start the engine, then type out a text to Jessica and Liam, who are both at work, and ask them to call me when they have a chance. Even though I don’t think that Ashley has any legal standing, I want them to know about the encounter and prepare them just in case she does take things to the city and the city decides to investigate the matter. If that happens, it won’t prevent the Daileys from selling, but it might delay things for a bit.

After I press send on their text, a message comes through from my friend Tiffany, asking if I want to meet her for a drink after work, and I quickly text her back “yes” with about a dozen exclamation points. Back in Chicago I had a few really good friends, but none of them ever compared to the friends I had back here, friends that I had grown up with, friends that I knew I could call anytime, day or night, and they’d pick up or be on a flight to see me if it came to that. Plus most of my friends back in Chicago were married with families or getting married, so after Johnathan and I broke up, one of the things we once had in common we didn’t anymore, which made things awkward. Well, that and there was a long stretch of time when I didn’t even want to spend time with myself because I was such a downer, so I can only imagine that they felt the same. After Tiffany sends me back a text with confetti, raised hands, and a smiley face, I grin to myself, put my cell in the cup holder, and put my engine in drive.

It takes fifteen minutes to get back to the office, and when I arrive, my mom’s car isn’t anywhere in sight, but my dad’s truck is parked out front, which is rare. My dad is always on the road, meeting with clients or visiting one of his rental properties, or at home, where he has an office that he uses more than his actual office. Honestly, I think he likes to be home because he can sneak in a nap or a TV show without Mom coming to bother him.

After I gather my things from the passenger seat, I head inside and find my dad in the small kitchenette, hovering over a pink pastry box with a cup of coffee in his hand.

“Hey, honey,” he greets me when he sees me.

“Hey.” I slip off my coat and put it on the back of one of the chairs at the round table in the corner of the room. “Mom’s out?”

“Yep, she’s scouting locations for the ad she wants to shoot for Wyatt’s campaign.”

“Of course she is.” I laugh, walk to where he’s standing, then lean around him to examine what he has in the box. Seeing a croissant that looks like it’s filled with chocolate, I pick it up. It’s still warm, so he must have just gotten them from Moose and Muffins, the bakery in town. After taking a bite and audibly groaning with happiness, I grab a napkin and wipe my mouth. “Since you’re here, I should probably fill you in on a situation that happened when I was at the Daileys’ delivering their ‘Coming Soon’ sign.”

“Everything okay?” He leans back against the counter across from me with his own pastry.

“I think so.” I quickly give him a play-by-play of the conversation I had with Ashley, trying not to leave anything out.

“So basically, she doesn’t want to pay for a full fence and is just being ridiculous about the leaves situation,” he says when I finish.

“Basically.”

“Well, the good news is it doesn’t sound like she has a leg to stand on. The bad news is if she does decide to go to the city with her complaints, it might delay the sale of the house, depending on when you get an offer.”

“That’s what I was thinking.” I take the last bite of my croissant.

“Have you spoken with your clients?”

“Not yet. I sent them a message asking them to call. They’re both at work.”

“It will be interesting to hear what they have to say about her.”

“Oh, I’m sure they have stories. She seems like a character.”

“It sounds like it,” he mutters, then adds, “I guess all you can do is wait to see how it all plays out.”

“True.” I grab a napkin and wipe the chocolate from my fingers.

“Besides that, how are things? Are you settling in all right?”

“Yeah.” I lean back against the counter across from him. “I mean it’s a little strange knowing that this isn’t a vacation and that I’m not going to be going back to Chicago in a few days or a week.”

“That’s understandable.” His face goes soft. “You’ll get used to it.”

“I already am, and I’m not upset about being here—I’m actually feeling pretty optimistic about things.”

“That’s good.”