Page 69 of Claimed By my Frenemy

Aurora smooths her hands over the front cover of her folder. “Well, let’s begin. Madison, anything from you since, as you stated, you don’t have a job and have nothing but time on your hands?”

“That’s notexactlywhat I said, but sure! I’ll go first. I talked to a few people who were involved at the community meeting that Theo held, people who asked questions. You know who they are—the leaders of Oak Island. They said Theo has seemed genuine about the revised plan, but they’ve noticed that Steve, his business partner, has been more resistant. I tried to get specific examples from them, but the only one people seemed to say over and over again is that Theo is always the one making announcements and connecting with people here, but many of them don’t even know what his business partner looks like.”

“Steve is a mystery,” Aurora summarizes.

“Basically, yeah. I couldn’t really get any more information than that, but I have to say that the Danishes at that new bakery in town are absolutely amazing.”

“Where’s mine?” Stella asks. “That’s what we’re missing at this meeting. Why didn’t anyone bring food?”

“Istillhave leftover chicken fajitas if anyone wants,” I offer. “I made way too many.”

My friends laugh but turn away my offer of chicken fajitas.

“We need to stay focused, ladies,” Aurora reminds us. “Zoey? You were supposed to talk to the contractors. They’ve beenworking more closely with Theo, so they should know more about him, both as a person and as a boss.”

Zoey nods. “I have to agree with the contractors. They haven’t heard anything about adding an additional building from Theo, just his business partner. One of them even said he’s considering taking his team to a different project because the arguing between Theo and his partner is too much. They don’t know what plans to follow or who is really in charge.”

My stomach turns over at that news. I don’t want to see Theo fail, but Idohave to look out for myself first.

Stella looks thoughtful. “I reached out to a couple of people who know Theo. It seems like this is the first project he’s working on with his business partner. He was told that Steve has built similar places at different beaches in the Carolinas, and his approach has always been successful. Theo doesn’t agree with some of his business practices, though. Apparently, Steve is all about the money, while Theo... Well, Theo seems to care about the people and the community too.”

My heart swells with pride upon hearing that. It’s not that I’m rooting for one thing or the other. I just want to know the truth, but hearing that Theo may not be the bad guy I’ve been worried about comforts me.

Aurora holds up the folder from her lap. “I did some digging into the business side of things. It looks like Theo filed the revised plans–which don’t include your land, Mia–but Steve re-filed the original plans with the county. It looks like there could be some back and forth between the two of them. I don’t know if Theo even realizes Steve has filed the revised plans or not.”

I let out a breath. “So, Theo might actually be on our side?”

Zoey squeezes my hand. “It looks that way. But we still need to be careful. Steve is clearly a problem, and if he’s pushing Theo to change his mind...”

Madison nods. “We need to find a way to deal with Steve. If we can’t get him on board, this whole thing could fall apart.”

“Do you think Steve could have left the note?” I hate the vulnerable squeak in my voice, but I can’t hide it.

“I think so,” Aurora says. Zoey, Stella, and then Madison all nod.

“It’s the only thing that makes sense. Maybe he knows that you two have some sort of relationship, and he wants to ruin it so he can get the land. I mean, if you and Theo break up, then you wouldn’t want to live next to his resort, right?”

“I’m not selling,” I repeat.

Stella smiles. “And we’ll make sure you’re not pressured to, right?”

Everyone agrees with her.

They start talking about a plan for dealing with this, but I’m frustrated. I don’t want to deal with this calmly. Steve would only be coming after me if Theo gave him reason to think I would change my mind. Maybe Steve re-filed the plans with the county because he and Theo talked. Theo agreed to sell me out.

Maybe our whole relationship has been a lie.

I can feel myself getting frustrated and overwhelmed.

Finally, I stand up. “Enough! I’m going to go talk to Theo.”

“We’ll come,” Aurora offers, setting her folder aside.

“No, this is something I have to do on my own.”

I march out of my house, the door slamming behind me and head to Theo’s place.

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