He regarded my feet, looking down his nose at them. In that moment, I felt two feet tall. Not just because he was so massive, but because it was really sinking in that this was his town. His turf. It didn’t matter that I’d bought the biggest house in town and his family’s lumber company. This place would never be for me. I was the outsider here.
“I’m truly sorry,” I said, ducking my head and studying my hands. And I was. I wanted him to suffer, to lose his company and regret the way he’d treated me. And he couldn’t do all that if he was dead.
JJ and Karl had flanked me at some point, clearly in a show of solidarity. God, I loved them.
“It was an accident,” JJ deadpanned. “She wasn’t trying to kill you.”
“Yeah,” Karl added, taking a single step closer. “She’s ruthless and very organized. Hit and run is not her murder style. She’d lie in wait.”
“Karl,” I hissed, elbowing him hard and almost falling over on my broken shoe.
Gus nodded, his scowl still firmly in place. He was clearly not remotely intimidated by me or my giant car. “You should wear more practical shoes. This is Maine.”
Scoffing, I gave him a once-over, ignoring how good he looked. “Thanks for the unsolicited fashion advice.”
We stood like that for what seemed like an hour but was likely just one or two excruciating minutes.
“I should go,” he finally said, “before the entire town hears about this and shows up wanting a crime scene re-creation.” With a nod, he gave me a parting frown. “See you at the office, boss.”
Chapter 2Chloe
“It’s a bad omen,” Karl mused, sipping his chai with one hand while steering the SUV with the other. “We need to hightail it back to Seattle. This place is cursed.”
“It’s a shoe,” JJ drawled from the back seat. “Let’s not blow things out of proportion.”
“It’s not a shoe. It’s a Choo,” Karl corrected, peering at her in the rearview mirror. “And what are the odds that she’d break a heel and almost assassinate her ex-husband on day motherfucking one?” He made the sign of the cross. “Bad omen.”
“I don’t believe in that shit,” I said as he parked in the driveway.
“Okay, then spill some salt and break a mirror. Prove it.”
I gave him my biggest eye roll. “Enough,” I said, pushing the passenger door open. “This day is already a shitshow, and it’s not even nine a.m. Wait here.”
I hobbled back into the house and returned a few minutes later with a new pair of shoes, finding Karl now in the passenger seat.
“Now,” I said, buckling my seat belt. “Who’s ready to talk about nothing but work?”
I could feel their rolling eyes. “You’re going to have to audit all the projections after we do the staffing, equipment and environmental analysis. That will take a lot of time.”
“And re-review the Maine forestry bylaws,” JJ piped up. “You always avoid it.”
I turned in my seat. “It’s day one,” I said calmly. The last thing I needed was to start out frustrated with the two people I was closest to. “We’ve done this a few times. It will be fine.”
She sighed. “I know. But this one feels different.”
“Yeah,” Karl said. “You usually stay in Seattle and pop in for occasional visits.”
“She moved herself, and us, across the country.” This from JJ. “The stakes are higher.”
Karl squinted at me, then gave JJ a knowing look. “I think it’s the guy.”
“Nah.” JJ waved him off. “She wants to be near her sister.”
The two of them often talked about me like I wasn’t there. And honestly? It usually made me laugh. There wasn’t a topic off-limits between us, even if they worked for me.
“Enough,” I said, gathering my bag and checking to make sure I had a scrunchie on my wrist. My hair had a mind of its own, so I never left home without one.
“You really need to define your why,” JJ said sagely.
“Yes,” Karl added. “And allow yourself to feel your feelings.”
Ugh. It was too early for this conversation. “Spare me your Gen Z psychobabble,” I said. “Can’t I just repress my feelings and get through it? Just for today?”
I took in the buildings one by one as we pulled into the parking lot of the campus. This was all so grand and total overkill. I’d probably be renting out a fair amount of the office space and selling off some of the equipment in the coming months.
We ran lean. That had been our model for years, and it worked. We’d develop and implement sustainable practices that suited the region and the workforce. The product would be our focus.
This approach had been successful many times over, on several continents. That success was what made it possible for me to swoop in and buy this place.
I’d let JJ loose in the woods, and she’d run her numbers and take her soil samples. From there, we’d turn things around in a few short months. In the meantime, I’d deal with the legal issues, the employees, the finances, and, oh yes, a small—or should I say, large and muscular—problem named Gus Hebert.
“Guys,” I said, turning around in the passenger seat. “I need to make something clear.”
Karl was arranging his hair in the rearview mirror. “Yes?”
“We are not discussing my ex-husband anymore.”
