One Week with her Rival (Eden Manor #1) Page 2
Vanessa gave a little shrug. “Some people are.”
Something changed on Joe’s face for a moment—a flicker of knowledge that made Vanessa decidedly nervous. “Some people are loyal, yeah. But I wouldn’t expect everyone to stay loyal when it comes to business.”
“What does that mean?” Her breathing had sped up at the almost sober tone of his voice.
He gave her a half-shrug. “Nothing.”
“It means something. Who isn’t as loyal as they’ve been?” She thought through her relationships with the fine craftspeople in the area. “Obviously, it’s not Ruth. And Mason Porter was Carl’s uncle. He’ll never leave me.” Mason was an artist with plaster and a great boon to Vanessa’s business.
“Not Porter. Of course not.”
The next obvious possibility was Silas Vance, the best glass and metal-worker in the county—maybe in the whole state. “Silas was Carl’s best friend.”
Joe raised his eyebrows and didn’t say anything.
Vanessa sucked in a breath. “Silas isn’t going to work for you.”
“That’s his decision, isn’t it?”
She felt a chill run up and down her spine at the possibility. Ever since her husband had died, Silas had been loyal to Vanessa, doing contracted jobs only for her, other than his artwork that he sold in craft fairs and local stores. She needed to use Silas for the stained glass and iron railings in Eden Manor. If Silas decided to expand his business to include Joe, Vanessa was going to be at a significant disadvantage.
“Have you been talking to him?” she asked.
“He’s a hard man to talk to.”
It was true, ever since his wife left him and his best friend, Carl, had died, Silas had turned into a hermit, barely ever emerging from his studio. “I know that. But have you been talking to him?”
“You and I are in competition, aren’t we? You really think I’m going to answer that?” Joe had leaned in again, his face too attractive and far too close to hers.
Vanessa held herself perfectly clear. “I’m not worried.”
“I think you worry all the time, Vanessa,” Joe murmured, his tone different now, almost intimate.
“You don’t know me at all.”
He smiled. “Yeah, but I do.”
“I’m not going to sell out to you.”
“I’m not expecting you to sell out. I’d be happy with a partnership.”
“I’m not going to partner with you.”
“You might enjoy it.”
Her breath hitched at the thickness of his voice. Her cheeks flushed, and her heart raced. “It’s not going to happen.”
“My loss, then.” He drew back again with a familiar, relaxed smile. “I guess it’s not my day. I’ll try again tomorrow.”
“Nothing is going to be different tomorrow.”
He chuckled. “You never know. I don’t give up.”
She wondered if that was true—if she was always going to be plagued with Joe Coleman hanging around, getting on her nerves, making her feel things she shouldn’t be feeling.
“I’ve got to go,” she said, more rattled by this encounter than she should have been.
He reached over to open her car door. “Of course, you do. I’ll see you later.”
She was never sure how much of what Joe said was true, but the last comment obviously was. They were on this job together for the next couple of months. And they both had a lot to do this week to get ready for the arrival of Harrison Damon.
She was going to see Joe around a lot, whether she wanted to or not.
Tuesday
The next morning, Vanessa drove over to Silas Vance’s workshop.
For the last three years, he’d been holed up in an old cabin in the woods, with his workshop in a separate building he’d constructed himself. She knew from experience that mornings were the best time to catch him. Once he’d started working for the day, he wouldn’t come out, and he wouldn’t talk to anyone.
She parked her car at the top of the dirt driveway and took a deep breath before she stepped out.
She might know Silas better than anyone else in town, but he still made her a little nervous.
“Silas?” she called out. It was always better to give him warning that someone was approaching. He worked with heavy, sharp tools and had reflexes like a panther.
She heard a grunt from the back of the cabin, relaxing as she realized he hadn’t yet gone into the workshop for the day.
She walked around the corner of the cabin, finding Silas sitting on a bench, drinking coffee out of a rustic mug, staring out at the dense woods that surrounded his home. Without saying a word, she approached until she could sit on the bench beside him.
She didn’t lean back. The bench was positioned against the back of the cabin, and the wood siding was very dirty. She wore a white shirt today and didn’t want to get the back of it dirty so early in the morning.
“There’s coffee over there,” Silas said in his normal, slightly rough voice. He was big and well-built with a long, squared-off beard and gray eyes that seemed to look right through you. He’d been in the same class as Carl all through school, so she knew he was thirty-three. There was nothing young about him. Or soft. She wasn’t surprised his ex-wife had left and never come back.
“I’m fine. Thanks.” She didn’t try to smile or make small talk. That never worked with Silas.
“What d’you want?”
“Are we still on for the stained glass windows in Eden Manor?”
He narrowed his eyes. “I said we were.”
“I know. Is two weeks from now okay with your schedule?”
He gave a grunt that she interpreted as a yes.
“Good. When it’s time, I’ll have someone remove the windows and bring them out to you here.” He never left his workshop to do jobs. Anything he worked on had to come to him.
“We covered all this already,” he muttered. “What’s your problem?”
There wasn’t any sense in being sensitive to rudeness around Silas. He was rude to everyone. She slanted him a look. “I was talking to Joe Coleman.”
“What’s that to me?”
“He...implied that you might start doing jobs for him.”
Silas’s lips parted slightly beneath his beard. A small gesture, but one she understood as enlightenment, as if he finally understood her presence here. “He’s been pestering me.”
“Yeah. I get that, and I’m not surprised. I thought you didn’t work for him, though.”
“I don’t.”
“Are you thinking about changing your mind?”
“What’s that to you?”
She cleared her throat. “Obviously, you can do anything you’d like. You have no obligation to me. I’d just like to...to know, so I can plan accordingly. You working exclusively for me gives me an advantage, so I’ll need to compensate if that’s changed.”
He stared at her for a long time. “It’s business.”
“I know that.”
“Carl is dead.”
“I know that too,” she said, swallowing hard. She could talk about Carl now without getting emotional, but it was still hard and sometimes shocking to hear his death spoken of so bluntly.
He’d be so disappointed in her if she lost Silas.
“We all need to move on.”
She glanced around at the dingy, soulless space that acted as a backyard for him. This small piece of earth he almost never left. “Is that what you’re doing? Moving on?”
She’d gone too far. She knew it as soon as she spoke the words. His eyes narrowed again and his expression was colder than ever. “It’s only business.”
“I know it is.” She’d worn out her welcome and maybe blew her one chance to keep Silas on her side. She stood up. “But the business was Carl’s, and so it’s personal to me. Obviously, there’s no obligation. I was just hoping you’d be straight with me, if anything is changing.”
He didn’t reply, so she turned around and walked away. She’d reached the corner of the cabin when Silas said from behind her, “I’ll tell you.”
She let out a shaky breath. “Thanks.”
As she returned to her car, she tried to take comfort in the fact that Silas had spoken in the future tense. The decision wasn’t already made.
If he started working for Joe, she’d make do. She’d have to. But it hadn’t happened yet.
***
She drove to the hardware store to pick up supplies for Ruth, and then she headed over to Eden Manor. Ruth had already arrived, and the two of them were unloading the back of Vanessa’s SUV when Kelly Blake made an appearance.
Kelly was young, friendly, and pretty with long dark hair and glasses. She was several years younger than Vanessa, but she had an intelligent, practical air about her that Vanessa liked.
“Do you need some help?” Kelly asked.
Before Vanessa could say they were fine, Kelly reached into the car and grabbed several pieces of wood.
“You don’t have to do that,” Vanessa said.
“What else do I have to do?” Kelly grinned at her. “I was working on my grandmother’s home since I was five years old. I don’t know how to just sit around and let other people do all the work.”
“That sounds familiar. My folks were consummate DIYers. Yours too?”
Kelly chuckled as she held the front door for Vanessa with her foot. “I never knew my parents. I was raised by my grandmother. She never did any work around the house herself, but me and my sisters did, mostly because we couldn’t afford to hire anyone to help us.” She set down the boards on the floor. “I didn’t mind. I always enjoyed it.”
“Me too.”
“Is that why you became a contractor
?”
Vanessa shook her head. “To tell you the truth, it never even crossed my mind. My husband started the business, and I helped him out. Then, when he died, I just took it over.”
Kelly let out a long sigh and gave her a little smile. “It’s funny how life happens that way. It just keeps turning you away from any plans you try to make.”
“Yeah.” Vanessa felt a surge of connection to the other woman, like they understood each other for real for the first time. “That’s exactly what it does.”
Kelly watched as Ruth started to set up her tools, evidently lost in her own thoughts. Then she finally turned back to Vanessa. “Joe says he’s trying to get you to partner up with him.”
Vanessa stiffened before she could tell herself not to react. “He told you that?”
“Yeah. He said both of you would bring assets that would make it a really profitable partnership, and I can kind of see it myself, with the way it’s worked out with Eden Manor.”
Forcing herself not to sound as defensive as she felt, Vanessa murmured, “It’s a lot more complicated than that.”
“I guess so. Everyone told me and Peter that you were rivals, and I thought you hated each other. But he doesn’t seem to hate you. It seems more like he’s into you.”
“That’s just a thing he does. It’s not real. He does want the partnership—but that’s all.”
Kelly was watching her closely. “What did he do to make you distrust him so much?”
Vanessa really wanted to tell her the truth. She would have loved to let the rest of the world know what a manipulative bastard Joe really was. But she couldn’t bring herself to say so. It felt like cheating in their battle. Plus, it wasn’t professional. “It doesn’t matter.” She cleared her throat. “But he is good at his job, so you don’t have to worry about the work he’s doing for you.”
“That’s good to know. I can’t believe Peter and I are actually doing this. Making a bed and breakfast out of this old house. It’s...it’s huge.”
“Yeah. Yeah, it is. It’s exciting, but I guess it might sometimes make you nervous.”
“Terrified,” Kelly breathed. Then she laughed. “But I can’t remember when I’ve been so happy, so there’s no doubt it was worth the risk.”
Vanessa believed her. For a few years, she’d had the experience of sharing life with someone else—all the fears and joys and pains. Now, she was in it alone.
That wasn’t true, though. She had plenty of friends. And she was still close to her parents, even though they lived in Augusta. Plus, she had a piece of Carl still—in this business he’d built—and she wasn’t about to let that go.
If she ever let it go, it would feel like she’d really let go of Carl himself.
“Well, I better let you get to work,” Kelly said, shaking herself off as if she’d been lost in thought too. “Peter and I are still working in the attic. You wouldn’t believe the amount of junk that was left in there.”
“Have fun,” Vanessa said with a smile.
She really liked Kelly—and her serious, adorable husband. It was nice to have new people in the area who she could get along with. She wouldn’t hold it against them that they were taken in by Joe.
Almost everyone was.
***
Vanessa was at Eden Manor most of the day, planning details on the rest of the jobs she was responsible for and then removing layers from one corner of the fireplace in the dining room so she could see what was beneath it.
She was thrilled to see some original tilework that was still in very good shape. They’d just have to strip all the layers of paint and plaster to expose and then restore it.
“Is that original?” a voice came from behind her.
She gave a little jerk, thinking for a minute that it was Joe. She hadn’t seen him all day, and she’d been ridiculously on edge, waiting for him, expecting him to make an appearance.
When she turned her head, however, she saw it wasn’t Joe at all. It was Peter—Kelly’s husband and her client. He was a pleasant young man with light brown hair and breezy good-looks, and he obviously took the work on his bed and breakfast very seriously.
Vanessa didn’t mind. She liked for people to be serious about things instead of joking all the time, like some guys she could mention.
“Yes,” she said, standing back so he could see the six inches of tilework she’d exposed. “I think so. It’s gorgeous.”
“Fantastic.” Excitement appeared to smolder inside Peter. “This is an amazing old house.”
“It really is. I always thought it was a shame for it to stand empty so long.”
“Yeah. I can’t believe it’s actually ours.”
Vanessa understood the appreciation in his eyes—that feeling of awe that life had turned in a way you desperately wanted but never dreamed of expecting. “It’s going to be beautiful when we finish.”
“I know it will. Hey, do you know anyone in the area who would know the history of this place. I’ve searched the archives, but there’s nothing more than names and dates. I want to know about the people who built this house and used to live here.”
“I don’t know much. I’m not from here originally.”
“Really? You seem to know your way around here.”
“I moved here with my husband. It was his hometown. I guess I’ve lived here long enough to feel at home, but I don’t have roots.”
Peter grinned at her. “I know the feeling.”
“But I can ask my husband’s grandmother. Her family has been here for ages. If she doesn’t know details about the house, she’ll know who to talk to.”
“Great. Thanks.”
“I’ll stop by this evening to visit her. She’s in a nursing home now, but she’s normally very lucid—at least about things from the past.”
“I really appreciate it.” Peter glanced at his watch and raised his eyebrows when he saw the time. “I can’t believe it’s after five already. I’ve got to make a call.”
She gave him a friendly wave and turned back to the fireplace as he left. This was going to be a hell of a job, exposing the tile without damaging it. Hal would do it, but he wasn’t always the most careful of workers. She wasn’t sure she could trust him with this.
She searched her mind for who was available and willing to do a job like this for her, and she came to the unfortunate conclusion that she might need to do the work herself.
It was okay. She’d done projects like this before. She wasn’t afraid of getting her hands dirty or working up a sweat.
She certainly wasn’t going to turn to Joe for help in this. Or in anything else.
She wondered where he was today. He hadn’t put in an appearance at all. His guys worked well, whether he was present or not, but he was usually pretty hands-on.
He probably had another job to oversee. He had enough business that he stacked jobs.
Vanessa tried once again not to resent this fact. Her business was different, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t good.
She was leaving the house, thinking about stopping by the nursing home to ask about Eden Manor before dinner, when she saw a familiar pickup truck parked next to her SUV.
Her heart did a familiar little leap—the way it always did when Joe was around.
So he’d made an appearance at last.
She didn’t pause or turn to look around, although she was tempted to search her surroundings until she found out where he was. But she was always careful to not let him know he made an impression on her of any kind.
She’d reached her car, resigning herself to the fact that she wasn’t going to see him at all today, when a voice came from the rear of his truck, making her jump. “There you are.”
She frowned, turning around to see Joe walk around his truck toward where she was standing. He looked warm and amused and sexy and more in need of a shave than normal. “What do you mean, there I am. I’ve been here all day.”
“I thought you’d be leaving to go home before now.”
Her frown deepened. “What are you talking about? Surely you weren’t skulking around here, waiting for me to leave.”
“Of course not.” He smiled in a way that made her breath hitch and then stepped forward, closer to her. “That would be kine of desperate, wouldn’t it?”
“That would be kind of creepy.” She tried to hide her breathlessness with her tart tone, but she wasn’t sure if it was convincing or not. “What did you want?”
“I wanted to see you. My day isn’t complete unless I get to talk to you.”