Page 56 of Mending Fences
“Bordello, aka brothel with some class.”
“I know you are mad at him, but this is going too far. And the hot-pink shutters are too tacky to be called classy. The swimming pool looks like a—No, Mandy! I can’t believe you would do this.”
“Look closer.” Mandy zoomed in on some of the windows. One had vinyl lettering: “No tops allowed, bottoms optional (but frowned upon).” Several other windows boasted activities worthy of bodice-ripper romance covers.”
“You can’t do this. Isn’t it slander?”
Mandy shook her head. “Every photo I used is from a stock-photo site, and although some of the men may be blue-eyed, tall, and sandy-haired, none of them are DC.”
“Where on earth did you find statues and topiary so ... so ... risqué?” Candace pointed to a garden and maze and a large gazebo with a bed at the center. “They are like triple-X versions of Rodan’s Kiss.”
“They are highly manipulated stock photos from a pretty trashy site.”
“Trashy or pornographic?”
“Technically art nudes, but I have seen some rather shocking things.” Mandy gave the tiniest of shudders.
Candace sat down on the bed. “Mandy, I am sure this is good therapy, but you realize this image can never leave this room. He only took you to dinner and kissed you once.”
“Yes, and thanks to that, I have had death threats and my schoolroom vandalized. I’ve been humiliated on TV—okay, that was our fault. And the same lips that kissed mine—did you see those photos last night?” Mandy burst into tears, all the pain of the last two weeks trying to leave her body at once.
Candace wrapped her arms around Mandy and let her cry. There wasn’t enough fudge extreme ice cream in the world to solve this one.
