Page 33 of All Mine

“There was an incident with the mixer,” I blurted out, my face hot and palms sweaty. Ignoring everyone in the room, I marched to the closet and retrieved the shop vac to clean the flour from the floor.

“I got it,” Camden said, taking it from me. “It’s my fault. I’ll clean it.”

I left him to it, and I held my head high as I passed Sloane and Eden back to the counter. Flour still covered my front, but I didn’t care.

“Not to be that girl,” Sloane said. “But you said you were going to kill Camden Carter, and that didn’t look like killing to me.”

“That’s Camden?” Eden whispered. “Damn.”

“Right,” Sloane said.

“No. Not right. He’s the enemy.” I pointed at both of them for emphasis.

“But,” Sloane began.

“No buts,” I retorted.

“You have two large flour handprints on your ass.”

Thirteen

Camden

The space was small, a far cry from what I had in Boston. But the structure was sound. The hardwood floors were original to the building but recently refinished, so they gleamed like new. And the exposed brick walls were old but in decent shape. The front was an open area, while two enclosed rooms with a hallway in between could serve as offices. A small kitchenette, bathroom, and backdoor rounded out the new location of Carter Global Development. Outside the two large front windows sat the sidewalk, street parking, the street, and the courthouse.

I’d rented temporary office space in other towns. Usually, they were in shared workspaces in tall high rises in big cities. Hart Valley was my first small town office. And the location matched the vibe.

The rent was dirt cheap, and I’d negotiated a month-to-month lease because the place had been empty for so long. In a few brief minutes, I had the keys and the number of a guy to order my sign from. I was inspired by Lauren’s point that I didn’t have any skin in the game when it came to Hart Valley. To open my business here in the town square made her argument baseless. And the best part, this would piss her off. No one needed to know it was temporary.

I had lunch in the diner down the block from my new work location and hoped it would give me more credibility if people saw me around town. And I could show that I had this town’s best interest in mind. Over lunch, I checked my email on my phone and made a mental note to call Lewis. I should have already been working on him. The cupcake princess plagued more of my attention than I should allow.

Someone called my name as I unlocked the glass door, and I turned to find Adrian clad in a black Lou’s Lakeside t-shirt and jeans crossing the street.

“Hey man,” I called.

“What’s up?” he nodded at the key in my hand.

“Welcome to the new location of Carter Global Development,” I said, pushing the door open.

“You rented it?” Adrian strolled into the empty room behind me.

“Yep. Just this morning. Thought I’d stick around a while. Still gotta get some furniture in here.”

He looked around the room, hands-on-hips. “Nice place. One day you’re working for Lauren, and the next, you’re opening your business here.”

“It has nothing to do with her.”

His facial expression dialed to “get real.”

“It’s not,” I protested, sounding like I was full of it. “It’s a cheap place for real estate right now, and I’m a real estate developer.”

“Aren’t you trying to get the property from Lewis for a client?”

“Yeah, hopefully, we’re going to wrap that up soon,” I said, knowing that Lauren would hear about everything. “And maybe I’ll see what else in town looks good.”

“She’s gonna hate your guts the minute Lewis sells.”

“She already hates my guts.” I crossed the room and retrieved my computer bag with my laptop. The only thing in the entire building. “Want a tour?”

---