Madelyn "Lyn" Creeke and her grandmother were the last of their family. At least, that's what Lyn's grandmother always led her to believe.
Lyn had never heard of or seen pictures of Georgina Creeke, a great aunt that had been living a few hours awa...
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We went to Saundra Waverly's office first thing Monday morning. The time after our meeting up to the following Wednesday was torturous. Jordan did all he could to keep his hands busy, and I distracted myself with getting work done for my job back in the city. I may have been hoping to put my two weeks' notice in, but until we voided the contract, I wasn't going to be closing the doors on my previous life. And so we waited until Wednesday arrived and Mr. Myers was back in town.
"I'm glad cooler heads have prevailed and we can work out an agreement about my contractor." Devon's voice was a bit more strained than usual, but he still maintained a professional smile.
Mr. Myers and I both sat before Saundra, who resembled a judge sitting behind her desk. Jordan tagged along to offer support, but only so many chairs could fit into Saundra's small office. He instead stood behind my seat and kept a steady grip on one of my shoulders. His fingers gave me a squeeze whenever my muscles tensed and his touch reminded me I wasn't going through this alone.
"I'm not sure you understand why I asked you here," I said. "We're here to discuss your contractor, but I have no intention of agreeing to anything regarding his being allowed on my property." My voice was firm and deep. It was a talent I picked up after years of working in an unforgiving business. Whether or not my hands were shaking, my voice needed to be as strong and cool as concrete if I wanted to be taken seriously.
"Discuss in what way then?" he asked, his brow raising.
"Ms. Creeke has informed me you wish to have a contractor on the property to begin assessments for a major project." Saundra rested her elbows on the edge of her desk and her fingers interlaced upon a stack of papers—a stack of papers that held all the hope I had in ending this contract.
"Yes." He straightened up and approached Saundra with the air of a salesman. "Well, I suppose it depends on what you consider a major project..."
"An expansion," she said with a curt clip to her voice. "Do you know what these are?" She pulled out the packet she had been resting her hands on and set it before Mr. Myers.
"Uh." His eyes made a quick scan of the paper. "The town's bylaws?"
"Correct," she replied with a nod. "Did you or anyone at your company read these before signing the contract?"
"Well," he said with a dismissive laugh, "I'm sure someone..."
"It would be easy to pass the buck off on an intern when we came knocking down your door after we realized too late what you were up to." Saundra's voice remained even, and somehow the disdain in her words was all the more severe because of it. She reached over and turned to the second page. "Now there's some finer points here, but I'll paraphrase this particular bylaw for you. Expansions, additions, or any major cosmetic changes to any properties within the designated tourist districts are subject to the approval of the town council." She looked at him from over the top of her glasses. "All our livelihoods depend upon the appearance of the more prominent areas of our town, and that includes the Hound and Sparrow. So Mr. Myers, I'm certain a company as large as yours has someone capable of reading legalese. So, I must ask, when exactly did you plan on approaching our council about your changes? Or were you really hoping that if you knocked out the entire backside of the inn before we could catch you, that you could get away with everything because it would be too late for us to put up a fight?"
