Page 30 of Faking I Do
Jay swung the camera down from his shoulder. “Well, that’s a waste of time. We drove all the way out here from Beaumont to do this piece.”
“Hi, I’m Deputy Sheriff Bodie Phillips.” Leave it to Bodie to step in. “As Mayor Cherish mentioned, the interior is off-limits. Those guys would gnaw us to pieces if we messed with their floors. But how about taking a look at the exterior? This place was in my family for generations. I can give you some backstory if you’d like.”
Samantha turned toward Bodie, a huge smile on her face, basically giving me a cold shoulder.
I wanted to wrap my hands around Bodie’s neck and squeeze. Instead I managed to summon a grin. “That would be great, Bodie. Maybe you can start with why your family business decided to go under after so long. If Samantha really wants to get the history of the place down, she probably wants to hear the whole story.”
“I’d love that.” Samantha reached into her bag and pulled out her phone. “You don’t mind if I record the conversation, do you? I find it’s easier than trying to keep up taking notes.”
“Not at all.” Bodie gave me a strained smile. “Why don’t we start at the beginning? Follow me.”
CHAPTER 15
BODIE
By the timeI was done giving the reporter and her sidekick a personal tour of the exterior of the Phillips House, including a guided walk around the grounds and the wild raspberry patch that always made me break out in hives, I was out of patience.
I stood on the gravel next to Lacey, waving as Jay and Samantha backed down the drive.
Lacey’s smile faded as soon as the van disappeared around a curve. “I asked you to stop butting into my business.”
“What?” I glared at her. “You’ve got to be kidding me. I saved your ass.”
“No. You made a bad situation worse. I had it under control. You’ve got to stop stepping in.” She whirled around, her boots crunching on the gravel as she stomped toward the house.
I caught up to her in just a few steps. I wrapped a hand around her arm, causing her to stop. “Look, Sweets, if I hadn’t stepped in, you would have been screwed. That reporter would have left, pissed off that she’d wasted an entire morning driving out here for nothing.”
Lacey turned on me, spitfire sparking in her eyes. “Do you think maybe I had an idea? One that didn’t involve you divulging your entire family history?”
“Really?” I let go of her arm, stepping back and crossing my arms over my chest. Damn if she wasn’t even more attractive when she had a little fire in her belly. “Enlighten me, please.”
“Forget it, it’s too late.”
“Oh no, you don’t. You want to rip me a new one because I intervened to help, you’re going to tell me how you planned to save the day.”
“Fine. I was going to talk to her about Adeline. How she’s practically Swynton royalty and how she really wants to be the first one to get married in our new venue.”
I shook my head from side to side. “No way Adeline’s story trumps mine. I even showed her where my relatives used to hide their moonshine during Prohibition.”
“I appreciate your help, but we’ve got to stop thinking about this place as a piece of the Phillips family history and start trying to position it as a charming location that’s exclusive to Ido.”
“But itisa part of Phillips history. And it always will be, even if you’d rather take a big eraser and wipe my family out of the town’s history. Just like you’re changing the name. Like it or not, they helped found this place.”
“And if we’re not careful, they’ll be the ones who destroy it forever.”
We stood facing each other, locked in a standoff for what felt like forever. I was too stubborn to admit she was right.
Finally, Lacey shifted her gaze to the parking area. “I’ve got to find Adeline before she tells everyone the whole place is infested with rats.”
I wanted to ease her worries. The slump of Lacey’s shoulders made it look like she had the weight of the world resting on her slim frame. “Want me to come with you?”
Her palm pressed on my chest. A field of warmth radiated out from where she touched me. “You’ve done enough for today. Don’t you have official sheriff business to attend to?”
Nothing pressing unless I wanted to follow up on another random lead about a potential dog-fighting ring. The sheriff’s office had been hearing rumors of a mobile dog-fighting circuit for years. Trouble was, as soon as they got wind that someone was onto them, the whole operation would pick up and move, making it impossible to catch them in the act.
I grabbed her hand, giving her fingers a squeeze. “Be careful, okay?”
“You afraid Adeline is going to take desperate measures?”
