Page 21 of Bargain with the Bachelor
Aiden, Josh, Paul, and Reid all looked up from their own laptops and offered greetings.
Hap, who occupied the other end of the couch, gave me his trademark ultra-white grin. He’d been a child star on TV in his youth, and the Hollywood glow still surrounded him.
“Hey Doc, welcome home.” Now there was a guy who was cheerful, no matter the time of day or night.
I did not share his mood today. “Hey.”
“So… how was the trip?”
“Fine,” I replied, opening my laptop and starting to work. I had a lot to catch up on, and I wasn’t in the mood for chit-chat.
Hap snorted. “You must be jet-lagging—hard. Whenever I travel from the West Coast, I’m wiped.”
“Yeah. I’m pretty tired,” I agreed because I didn’t want to get into it.
Fatigue wasnotthe reason for my funk.
On the way home from the restaurant, I’d driven by the Bianco family’s mansion and nearly wrapped my Bentley around the trunk of an old-growth beech tree.
There was a Lila Delman Real EstateFor Salesign out front.
Stunned, I’d swung the car back around and pulled into the drive, getting out and walking up to the front door, intending to knock.
A heavy, black lock box hung from the door. I knocked anyway and rang the bell. No answer. Stepping to the side, I’d peered in through a window.
The house was empty. All the furnishings were gone. They’d moved out.
Baffled, I’d dialed the realtor’s office and found out the mansion had been repossessed by the bank.
Repossessed.I didn’t get it. How could this have happened? I’d driven home, my belly tumbling with worry and disappointment.
Hap shrugged at my terse response and went back to his work, but I never managed to fully immerse myself in my own tasks. I’d wanted to apologize to Kristal tonight. Now I had no idea where to find her.
And there was a bigger concern. Where was she living? Was she okay? I couldn’t stop thinking about it.
“Hap?”
My friend lifted his head. “What’s up?”
“Remember Kristal Bianco from high school?”
“How could I forget? You drilled her name into my brain back then. Kristal this, Kristal that. Why? You two going out?”
“What? No. I just saw her… at the Cliffhouse.”
Hap’s interest increased. “How’s she look? Still hot? Or did she peak in high school?”
“Hardly. If anything, she looks better. Have you heard anything about her? Like, about her family fortune being blown or something?”
The other guys had all stopped working and were listening now as well.
“No.” Hap looked around the room as if seeking input from the others.
Each one shook his head no. Hap looked back at me. “Why?”
“She’s working there… as a waitress.”
Hap’s jaw went slack. “Wow. That’s weird. I haven’t heard anything, but I can ask around. Hey—you gonna ask her out now that she’s fallen from the clouds down to the level of us mere mortals?”
