Page 7 of Beautiful Harmony

“But you have no idea why he moved here? I get expanding the company, but New Cassel isn’t that far from Harmony Falls. He could work remotely from the city.”

“He has some control issues,” Lucas said with a grin. “Despite that, he’s a great boss. But he keeps things strictly professional at the office, so I had no idea he bought Rayna and Sean’s properties.”

“Oh, he hasn’t bought Rayna’s,” Connor said. “She refused the first offer Kira gave her.”

“Really?”

“Yes. And the second.” Connor drank some beer. “Kira didn’t tell me what the offers were, obviously, but she did say they were well above market value.”

“I wonder why Rayna isn’t selling,” Lucas said.

“No idea,” Connor said. “Kira doesn’t know Rayna all that well.”

“Rayna is Emma’s best friend,” Lucas said. “Maybe she knows.”

“Maybe,” Connor said.

“Anyway, it’s supposed to be this big hush-hush deal, but you know how it is in small towns,” Connor said.

“Fucking tell me about it. Harmony Falls might be even worse than Willington when it comes to small town gossip,” Lucas said.

“And yet, you left the big city of New Cassel to return to small town life,” Connor said.

“Because I was offered a promotion, and the company is here in Harmony Falls,” Lucas said.

Connor stared at him, and Lucas said, “Fine, I would have moved back to Willington and commuted to work in New Cassel if I hadn’t got the promotion here.”

Connor grinned. “We can’t help it if we’re small town boys, Lucas.”

Lucas rolled his eyes. “This isn’t a Journey song, Connor.”

“Wait, wasn’t the guy the city guy, and the girl was the small town girl?” Connor asked. “Fuck, now I have to google it.”

As Connor pulled out his phone, Lucas drank the last of his beer and took out his phone. He checked his text messages, keeping the grin from his face when he saw that Emma had texted him. It was just a silly gif of a cat jumping onto some guy’s back, but Lucas texted back with a laughing emoji and a thumbs-up. He waited much too anxiously for a reply for a guy who just thought of her as a friend. The three dots appeared, and like a junkie waiting for his next fix, he stared at the screen.

Emma

Hey, you still on for coming by Friday night? Jesse’s trying to get final numbers for the game.

Lucas

Yes, I’ll be there. How’s your day?

Emma

Good. You?

Lucas

Busy. Just having beers with Connor.

The three dots appeared, and disappointment washed over him at her reply.

Emma

I’ll let you get back to your beers. Talk to you later.

He stuck his phone in his pocket, pissed at himself for telling her he was with Connor and making her cut their conversation short.

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