Crowned and Moldering

“Calming, really? The woman is making the chandeliers swing.”

She bit back a smile. “To tell the truth, they only sway a bit.”

*   *   *

I wasn’t ready to drive home yet, so I walked around the house with Emily while she pointed out other areas she’d like to have fixed whenever I had the time to fit her into my schedule. We made a plan to get together with the girls sometime in the next week, and an hour later, I was ready to drive the eight long blocks to my home.

As I carefully pulled the truck into the driveway, I was pleased to see Mac standing there.

“Are you on your way out?” I asked after climbing out of the truck.

“No, I just got home and saw your headlights coming, so I thought I’d wait for you.” He wrapped his arm around my shoulder and it felt so warm and so right, I almost froze in fear. I couldn’t get attached to Mac—I just couldn’t. The man was a bachelor millionaire who dated supermodels and celebrities. But could I fling his arm off my shoulder? No. Actually, I snuggled even closer to him as we walked through the gate into the backyard. My only excuse was that the wind had picked up and it was too darn cold to bear it alone.

“I haven’t seen you in a few days,” he said. “Is everything all right?”

“Sure,” I said casually, then reconsidered. “Well actually, it’s been weird, with the mansion closed until further notice and Sean dealing with his sister’s death and Eric showing up at school to talk to Lily’s horrible high school counselor.”

“Whoa,” he said. “That’s a lot of stuff going on. And I want to hear every last detail, but I can tell you’ve had a long day. Would you like to have di

“I’d love to,” I said, shoving all thoughts of blond supermodels to the far regions of my brain.

“Good.” He walked me to my kitchen door and waited until I unlocked it, then kissed me on the cheek. “Sweet dreams, Irish.”

*   *   *

First thing Friday morning, Ms. Barney called again. “The head engineer from the solar company wants to meet you this afternoon at two o’clock. Are you available?”

“I’ll be there. Your office?”

“Let’s meet out at the parking lot. That way you don’t have to walk back and forth across campus.”

“Perfect. I’ll see you then.”

“Just one more thing, Sha

I didn’t like the tone of her voice. “Is there a problem?”

“Sort of. When I told him we were going to go with your company, he didn’t take the news well. He told me I’d be sorry, and to watch out for you because you liked to cut corners.”

“What?” I stared at the phone. “Are you kidding? I’ve never cut corners in my life.”

“I know that, dear, and I wish I were kidding, but I’m not. He also said . . . Well, it doesn’t matter.”

“Oh yes, it does. What else did he say?”

She hesitated, then added, “He said you were lazy and probably wouldn’t finish the job.”

“Oh my God.” My stomach began to churn, and I had a feeling I knew where all of this was coming from.

“I know it was just sour grapes,” Ms. Barney said, “because you’re the best worker I’ve ever dealt with. I just wanted to warn you that you seem to have an enemy out there.”

“Can you tell me who it is?” But I already knew. “Never mind. It was Cliff Hogarth, wasn’t it?”

“Yes,” she said, surprised that I would know. “He was very unpleasant. I got the feeling from the way he talked that you two had had some other run-ins.”

I paced back and forth across the kitchen, unable to sit still after hearing Ms. Barney’s revelation. “We have, I’m sorry to say. He’s tried to poach some of my crew members and bad-mouthed me to a few of my clients.”

She considered my words for a moment. “Didn’t you go to school with him?”

“He was two years older than me, but he asked me out a few times. I said no.”

She groaned. “Oh, Sha

“I’m afraid it might be.”

“Oh, dear. I’m sorry.” She let loose a heavy sigh. “I never thought I’d ever have to say this to anyone, but please watch your back.”

“I will. Thanks, Ms. Barney.”

I hung up feeling drained. It was barely eight o’clock in the morning and I had a full day of work ahead of me, but I wanted to crawl back into bed and hide from the world.

“No,” I said out loud, causing Robbie to bark in response. “Sorry, buddy.” I picked him up and hugged him tightly, then set him back down. After gulping down the rest of my coffee, I carried the mug and my empty cereal bowl to the sink.

No, I refused to crawl back to bed. Instead I wanted to go find Cliff Hogarth and smack him upside the head. I wouldn’t mind if Eric threw him in jail, either. What a co

Hmm. I wondered if I could file a complaint of some kind. What Cliff had said and done crossed the line into slander, and I wondered if I should just sue him. But maybe the best thing to do was track him down, get in his face, and let him know I wasn’t going to put up with his nonsense anymore.

Once I’d straightened up the kitchen, I sat down and called Wade, then conferenced in Carla to let my two foremen know that I’d be meeting the engineer that afternoon to discuss the new job. I asked Wade to join me at the school for the meeting, since he had experience laying down blacktop.

“I’ll be there,” Wade said.

“You want me to work any of it?” Carla asked.

“Let me see what their schedule is first,” I said. “I think I’ll start the job and then maybe pass it on to you, Carla. I want all of us to get some experience with these canopies they’re setting up, because as soon as companies around town see what’s going on, there’s going to be more and more demand for alternative-energy construction. We might as well get all the experience we can.”

“I agree,” Wade said. “We’ve done rooftop gardens and greenhouses, and we did the windmill farm out by the Zen center.”

“Hey,” Carla said, laughing. “You might have to change the name of the company to Green Hammer.”

“I like that,” I said, feeling better. But my mood didn’t last long, as I related Ms. Barney’s warning about Cliff Hogarth and his slurs against me and the company. “Can you guys keep your eyes and ears open in case you hear anything else?”

“He’s a joke,” Wade said derisively.

“A dangerous joke,” Carla amended.

“I can’t afford to take it as a joke,” I admitted. “And, for some reason, the fact that he said what he said to Ms. Barney, my old high school principal”—I rubbed my arms—“that’s more disturbing than anything else.”

We spoke for another few minutes, and I promised I’d call Carla later to tell her how the meeting with the engineer went.

I wished my father was in town, but he was working at my uncle Pete’s winery out on Highway 128. They were building an addition onto the modern barn that housed the massive, stainless-steel, temperature-controlled tanks. This was where the wine sat and fermented before it was transferred to oak barrels.

Uncle Pete’s winery had grown more popular in recent years, as had all of the wineries in the Anderson Valley. He’d purchased another ten acres of vineyards a few months ago and now he needed extra space to add a few more tanks.

I had promised to drive out there some weekend and help with the construction. Uncle Pete had agreed to make homemade pasta while I was there. It sounded like a pretty good trade. And it wasn’t exactly a hardship to drive the distance, since the Anderson Valley was barely ten miles east of Lighthouse Cove.

When Dad wasn’t helping Uncle Pete or traveling to some fishing hole somewhere, he parked his RV in my driveway, and I got to see him anytime I wanted to. I could’ve used some commonsense advice from him right about now, because I was feeling pretty low. Thanks to that slimy snake Cliff Hogarth.

I supposed I could call him, but Dad rarely had his cell phone turned on. No, I would have to go out there and see him in person if I wanted to talk.