Page 47 of Wandering Closer

“What the fuck was all that?” I ask, plopping back on Michele’s couch as she hands me a water bottle, sitting across from me.

“From what I gathered from town talk and their bickering before you got here, Mike is paying Sherry a fair salary, but she is completely cut off otherwise. Something about a six-figure shopping spree in Seattle,” she snickers. “All those zeros in your offer have her money hungry ass salivating.”

“Ugh,” I groan, rubbing my hands down my face. As if I don’t have enough going on already. “Before we dive into all that, I need your help with something. Lily’s bathroom needs a complete gut, so she’s going to be staying with me while I fix it. I want to give her a writing space, but I don’t know where to start or what to put in it.”

Michele has a knowing smirk on her face, and I flip her off playfully. “She texted me this morning to say you guys were official. We agreed I would be the first to know.”

“Well, Riv was kind of there, so he beat you to it. And I told my parents last night. She’s slacking on her friend duties,” I joke. “But honestly, she had a rough night, so go easy on her.”

If Lily hasn’t confided in Michele yet, I don’t want to break that level of trust again and tell her. When she’s ready, she’ll share what’s going on with her parents.

“How’d it go with the lawyer? And how’d you get her to do it pro bono?” she asks, raising an eyebrow like she already knows the truth.

“I’m paying for it. I wanted Lily to have the best, and Kinsley is that. I know she is living off of a small income and can’t take on an expense like that. You can’t fault me for that.”

“I can fault you for lying to her. Can you afford an expense like that?”

I rub at the back of my neck, then take a sip of water to stall. I have money, but the lawyer is going to cost more than I anticipated and we aren’t even far into things yet. There’s the option to break into my savings, and I will for her, but it’s still a big expense.

“I’m managing it.” Michele stares at me, shaking her head. We’ve known each other long enough that I know she thinks I’m being an idiot. But it’s the right thing to do and we both know it.

“You know selling even just one of those slots of land would take care of that problem. Where’s your head at with all that?”

“I don’t know, Chele. It’s a lot of fucking money.” I drop my hands to my knees and hang my head. “Sherry was right about one thing; I’d be stupid not to take the deal. I just always thought that land would be used for something better. I don’t know what, but I figured I would hold on to it until I knew.”

So many possibilities existed, but I never thought it would be developed for commercial use or attract more versions of Sherry to our town. That is the last thing I want or need. Maybe this isn’tmeant to be about me, though. I can talk to the city council and see what they think about it all.

Michele stands up, patting my shoulder as she walks by. “You have time to think about it. I have a showing to get to, so lock up when you leave. I’ll text you with some ideas for Lily’s office.” With that, she grabs her purse, leaving me to wallow.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

lily

Iused to live in a perpetual Groundhog Day, going to the same job, seeing the same people, doing the same things. I rarely deviated from my routine, only occasionally seeing Tyler, and even then, most of our time together was tiny moments at my place. Since the day I got fired, I feel like no two days have been the same. I was finally settling into a new normal here, getting a sort of routine going. Until my bathroom crumbled, and crushed all sense of normalcy with it.

I moved in with Thoren a week ago, and things have been busy ever since. He spent Saturday and Sunday tearing apart my bathroom and wouldn’t let me help because of the mold. He came back home every evening absolutely wrecked and went straight to bed after dinner. This week hasn’t been much better either.

Monday after work, he started working on replacing the pipes, and has been doing that every evening since. He let me help, but I think I was in the way more than anything, so I used that time to make us dinner and pack a lunch for him instead. It’s been nice, doing mundane chores for him like cooking, cleaning, doing his laundry, no matter how much he insists I don’t need to.

He’s been so busy trying to do all that for me that even though I’ve been sleeping in his bed every night, nothing more has happened between us. I don’t want to complain, but I haven’t even laid a hand on his magnificent dick yet, and I am desperate to.

I told him this morning before he left for work that he couldn't work at my place at all this weekend because he deserved a break. Selfishly, I just want more time with him. I haven’t heard any more from my parents, and Kinsley called on Wednesday to let me know they denied mediation again. Today at 4:30, right before everyone leaves for the weekend, they will be served with the lawsuit paperwork.

My nerves have been all over the place, and writing certainly hasn’t been happening, so I took Shadow on a walk to calm myself down. We did some exploring through the woods, and it was going great until my furry little bestie decided to roll.

In something dead.

That had not been dead long.

She smells horrible, and has bits of an animal I don’t care to identify sticking to her fur. “What were you thinking, crazy girl? You’re going to need a bath now,” I scold her.

We make our way back to Thoren’s, where I hose her off outside to the best of my ability before texting Thoren.

Lily:

If I were doggy soap, where would I be?

Thoren:

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