Page 45 of Make Me Love You

“You can tell Greg here to stop being an ornery old jackass and mind his business,” Mrs. López said, her pleasant tone at odds with her words. “I would appreciate it.”

Emma blinked.

“Or how about you tell Alexis that the eyesore she’s building in her backyard is my business, and affects my property as much as hers,” Mr. McKinley snapped. “Seeing as I have to look at it.”

Emma blinked again.

“Have you tried looking somewhere else?” Mrs. López’s voice now dripped with fake sweetness.

Mr. McKinley’s face turned so red Emma was worried he would explode. “Why don’t we start from the beginning?” she asked hastily. “Mrs. López, what are you building, exactly?”

“A treehouse. In a tree that happens to be in my backyard, which means he has no say in it.”

“The trunk is in your yard, by no more than an inch, but half the branches hang on my side of the fence, and you know damn well the roots have spread onto my property. I think that means I have some say in it, and I say it has to go.” He tilted his head in the direction of the bookcase. “I don’t recall seeing a permit for building the treehouse. How about you tell us what the law says about that. That’s what Mayor Whittaker would do.”

He was right about that. Of course there was a law or ordinance to regulate treehouses, and of course Mr. Whittaker would have found the it in no time. But Emma didn’t even know where to begin. A bead of sweat ran down her neck. There had to be another way.

Not just another way. A better way.

Because the law would decide that either Mrs. López was right or Mr. McKinley, and if one of them was right, then one of them had to be wrong. That didn’t seem like it would really solve anything, to Emma’s way of thinking. A treehouse should make people happy.

Anyway, she had the feeling something else was going on here. She had on more than one occasion witnessed Mr. McKinley playing tea party with his granddaughter, Ava, on his wraparound front porch. Men who willingly wore pink feather boas in public just to make their granddaughters happy were not the kind to crusade against a frickin’ treehouse, for heaven’s sake.

“Mrs. López, isn’t Daniel around the same age as Ava?” Emma asked.

She nodded. “They were in the same class in preschool last year. I’m sure he would love to have Ava over to play in the treehouse when it’s done,” she added with a sideways glance at Mr. McKinley.

Mr. McKinley frowned.

“Wouldn’t Ava like that?” Emma prodded. “She’s with you a lot during the summer, isn’t she?” Schools were closed for the summer, and Emma knew Ava spent many of her days with her grandfather while her parents worked.

“Well, I would have thought so,” he admitted. “But she’s upset about the whole thing. It’s her favorite tree, and she’s always thought of it as hers. There’s a fence separating our properties, but as the tree grew, we had to take out that section of the fence to give it more space, so it looks like it’s no-man’s-land, though as I said, it’s on their property by an inch. With a tree house on their side of the fence, it won’t be her tree anymore.”

“Por Dios!” Mrs. López said. “You are telling me that you are doing the bidding of a child?”

“She cried,” Mr. McKinley said.

“She’s five. She will stop crying once she sees how fun it is to play in the treehouse.”

Emma’s gaze darted back and forth as they argued. She was enjoying herself now. It reminded her of her favorite part of running the food truck: Talking to people, hearing about the minutia of their lives. She leaned back in her chair and stared at the ceiling. There wasn’t a fan, but it wasn’t a very difficult problem, now that she understood the heart of it.

“Hmm,” she said.

They stopped squabbling and looked at her expectantly.

“Maybe the solution isn’t no treehouse. Maybe it’s a bigger treehouse. A treehouse that encompasses branches on both properties, and can be accessed from either side of the fence. It’s not Ava’s tree, Mr. McKinley, but maybe it can still feel like her tree if she’s willing to share it.” Emma turned to Mrs. López. “Would that be agreeable to you, Mrs. López?”

She smiled. “I think Daniel and Ava would like that solution. What do you think, Greg?”

“It’s a deal. Hell, I’ll even help Adam build it.” He stood. “Thank you for your time, Mayor Andrews.”

“It was a pleasure.”

She walked them to the door and watched them walk down the hallway together. Once they turned the corner, she did a celebratory hip shimmy. She had done it! Her first official day as mayor was a success. She—

“Ma’am.”

Emma let out a surprised shriek and spun on her toes. “Sorry, Mr. Billings. I didn’t see you there. I was just—”

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