Caleb helped himself to a towel from the hallway bathroom, patting at the water still clinging to his hair and skin. He smelled extra-girlie after using Riley’s shampoo and body wash. The sheer number of bottles in her shower had at first confused him. What were they all for? He’d inspected a few and found multiples of the basics, plus body scrubs, bubble bath, shower gels, and something called a hair mask that looked nothing like a mask and was really just a jar of thick, green goo that smelled like something had gone bad in the fridge. He didn’t touch the mask, choosing the plainest bottles for his own use, but he still smelled like a fresh spring day and possibly roses.
His khakis stuck to him in an uncomfortable way, but remembering how he’d helped her dump the ex’s stuff, he knew his choices were be uncomfortable or be naked. It seemed a bit presumptuous to greet Riley in the nude when she returned from her managerial duties, although he was seriously hoping that was the direction they were heading. Coffee, more kissing, less clothing.
He kicked off his waterlogged shoes. Funny how being around Riley was hard on his wardrobe—and even funnier how much he didn’t mind. New shoes were easy to come by, but moments like they’d shared at the park were priceless. She was something else, something outside his previous experiences with women. What was the word he was looking for? Caring? Genuine? Real? What the hell, all those words and more. Maybe the only word that described Riley was, well, Riley. He peeled off damp socks and stuffed them in the likely ruined shoes and padded back into the kitchen, towel around his shoulders, to finish his cup of coffee.
Riley’s laptop was open on the small dining table, printouts and notebooks fanned around it. The top sheet caught his attention—financial records. A quick scan showed they were for the Dorothy, no surprise, and if he nudged the top sheet aside to look at the whole pile, it wasn’t an invasion of privacy because they were in plain sight and the building belonged to his family so they were, in a sense, really his documents, right? Plus, her worries about the plumbing situation troubled him. Upgrades should’ve happened years ago. What was going on with the Dorothy’s financials? Now was as good a time as any to investigate.
He automatically ran calculations in his head, troubled by how the numbers added up but unable to say precisely why just yet. Intrigued, he gave up on trying to be casual and spread the documents out on the table. The picture they painted was indeed grim.
But why? The residents paid on time, for the most part. Every building had a certain margin built in for late payments, and the Dorothy was well within that percentage. Sure, the building had expenses, but with lower occupancy rates, the electric and water bills should also be lower. But they weren’t. Year to year, no matter the occupancy, the utilities steadily increased. And the insurance rates were the highest Caleb had ever seen for such a small property. There were variables to consider: proximity to the ocean, located in a flood zone, building in general disrepair. Still, the numbers seemed astronomically high. He snapped a picture with his phone. It might be worth a call to a few insurance agents to see if the building could get a better rate.
His phone dinged with an email alert. He cruised his emails with one hand, the other wrapped around his coffee mug. The usual junk mail, another note from his father’s lawyer, and a message from Grandpa William with the subject line URGENT. He set the mug down on the counter and used both hands on his phone. Grandpa William didn’t like email, never had, and he wasn’t one to exaggerate. With anxious thumbs, Caleb brought up the message.
See below.
Typical Grandpa William terseness. Caleb scrolled to the forwarded message below and read it quickly. Then he read it slowly. Then he read it one more time to be sure.
LouLou ran to the front door and scratch-scratched at the seam where door met wall. She whined, a high-pitched sound that filled the entire apartment. The doorknob turned, and the poodle leapt backward, spinning with joy.
“Hey there, LouLou, did you miss me?” Riley scooped up her dog and buried her face in her fur. After a moment of doggy-human reconnection, she set the poodle down and put her hands on her hips. “Sorry about the delay. Marco and Kent’s place didn’t take long, but then Mr. Cardoza called. He always needs something.” She smiled and walked toward him in the kitchen. “Is my coffee ready?”
Caleb didn’t move, frozen as he was. She brushed past him with a lingering touch on his arm and grabbed her mug. She took a sip and smiled. “Perfection. You make a mean cup of coffee, Mr. Donovan.”
“What is this?” Caleb shook his phone at her.
“Coffee?”
“This.” He held the screen so she could see. Her eyes scanned the message, widened, scanned again.
“Oh, uh, yeah. About that.”
“You knew?”
The mug trembled in her hands. “Not exactly.”
“What exactly did you know?”
“Eliza has a plan. A few of them. I didn’t realize she’s already started.”
“Started what?”
“To shut you down.”
“You knew. You knew this whole time. All day today? You knew about the lawsuit, and you didn’t tell me.” His hand clenched his phone so tightly he was surprised it didn’t crumple in his hand like a beer can.
“I didn’t know when or the exact details.” Riley peered at him over her mug with anxious eyes. “I didn’t know it was today.”
“But you knew something, and you didn’t tell me.” Betrayed, again. His dad, his ex-wife, now Riley. Grandpa William with his strings and conditions. No one was ever completely on his side. Fine. He shoved his phone in his pocket and slammed back the rest of the coffee.
“Why should I?” Riley put the breakfast bar between them, fussing with rearranging her K-Cups just so. “Don’t try to make me feel bad when I haven’t done anything wrong. You know I don’t want you to convert the Dorothy into upscale condos. You know how much this place means to me. Did you really think bribing me with a dog park would make me forget the rest?”
He hadn’t expected her to forget the rest. He hadn’t expected anything. This whole day had been fun, and when she’d invited him to her apartment, he thought they were getting somewhere. That she trusted him. That he could trust her. It wasn’t the first time he’d been completely wrong about someone, but he swore then and there that it would be the last.
“You’ll be hearing from my lawyers,” he said in his coldest, hardest business voice. His hostile-takeover voice.
“Guess you’ve already heard from mine.” She offered him a shaky smile, and he wanted nothing more than for her to tell him it was all a mistake, that she’d asked Eliza not to do it, that she was on his side. The truth was, of course, that she wasn’t on his side. Never had been. Once again, he was left on the outside, scrambling to understand how he could’ve been so wrong. Again.
* * *
Riley clasped her shaky hands around the warm mug and stared at her front door. She hadn’t known that if you closed it hard enough, it would bounce against the frame. LouLou sat on the inside, nose pressed to the seam between door and trim, and whimpered.
“I know. He sure was mad.” Not that Riley blamed him. Eliza had mentioned a lawsuit that the residents should file about Rainy Day not properly maintaining the building. She’d said it was an important counter to what the Donovans would no doubt claim—that the building was too old, not updated enough to preserve—as they sought permits to tear down and rebuild. What Riley hadn’t known was that Eliza had gone through with it. Of all the strategies Eliza mentioned, why had she started with the lawsuit?
“Guess I’ll go straight to the source.” Riley set down her cup and changed quickly into some dry clothes, including some long-overdue dry underwear. That she chose a lacier pair than she normally wore was nothing to worry about. They were bound to come up in rotation at some point, and spending the day with Caleb had nothing to do with her choice. She clipped LouLou to her leash and set out to the dog park to get some answers.
Lady saw them coming before Eliza did and let out a low, welcoming woof. LouLou shot through the gap in the fence, straining at the leash until Riley finally set her free. Eliza waved but stayed engrossed in her conversation with Kiki, who was held in place by a slightly overweight Princess Pugsley sleeping across the top of both feet.
Eliza and Kiki were both bent over Kiki’s phone, admiring sunset shots over a Venetian canal, when Riley approached. She watched as Kiki flipped through another dozen shots of her and Paula’s Venice adventure before gently clearing her throat.
“Eliza? We need to talk.”
Kiki pocketed her phone in her cream-and-navy-striped palazzo pants. “Is it about the lawsuit Eliza filed? She’s been excited to hear the Donovans’ reaction. Did you hear from them today?”
What happened to Eliza’s demand for secrecy for her plans? Riley cocked an eyebrow at Eliza but answered Kiki. “You could say that. Caleb and I were working on the dog park plans when he got the notice from his lawyer.”
“Boo-ya!” Eliza pumped her fist. “I knew that would get their attention. It’ll keep the lawyers distracted while we wait for the historic property proposal to wind its way through the proper channels. That can take forever, and I was worried the Donovans would pressure the commissioners and push things through before the Historic Preservation Board got a chance to chime in.”
Kiki high-fived the older woman. “You are a genius.”
Eliza grinned. “I kind of am, aren’t I? Tell your Grams not to worry. Everything is going to plan.”
Riley folded her arms across her belly. “Great. That’s great.” It should be great. Wasn’t she the most opposed of all the opposition? Weren’t her grandmother’s living situation and her own job riding on the outcome? Why, then, couldn’t she get Caleb’s betrayed face out of her mind? The way he’d looked at her, like she’d let him down—no worse, stabbed him in the back like a backstabbing backstabber—haunted her. Perhaps because she didn’t disagree with him. They’d formed an alliance of sorts on their dog park outings, and kissing him… Well, perhaps that had confused the issue even more. For both of them. She couldn’t tell Eliza to stop the legal shenanigans because she liked kissing Caleb Donovan.
Kiki and Eliza were deep in conversation again, this time about Eliza’s next legal steps and her gleeful anticipation of the trouble she could cause. “It’s even more fun than the women’s march!” Eliza rubbed her hands together and invited Kiki to the next City Commission meeting to protest the Dorothy’s demise.
“Of course.” Kiki nudged her pug awake, and they were on their way.
“You’re awful quiet.” Eliza dabbed at her hairline with the tissue she kept stashed in her bra strap. “Aren’t you happy things are going as planned? I know it takes a while. The wheels of justice grind slowly, that’s for sure, but at least they’re grinding.”
“Yeah, thank you for all you’re doing.” Riley smiled at the older woman. It wasn’t her fault she couldn’t stop thinking about the feel of Caleb’s lips on hers or the way he held her against him like he’d never let go. “You know we never could’ve afforded a lawyer on our own.”
Eliza preened and tucked a graying strand of hair behind her ear. “I may be retired, but I keep my licensure up to date especially for cases like this. Now that I don’t have to practice for the money, I get to take on causes I really care about. And I care about this neighborhood and you, Riley, which is why I’m going to ask again. Are you okay?”
Riley huffed out a sigh. Lord knew she could never tell Grams about whatever it was that was going on between her and Caleb. And who else would she tell? It wasn’t like she had that many friends. Sure, she video chatted with her college roommate, Marina, every month or so, but the truth was she spent more time with Mr. Cardoza and Grams than anyone. And Eliza spent several afternoons a week with Grams, so this urge Riley had to confess all needed to be reined in. As soon as she said anything, Grams would know. And she’d lecture. And be disappointed. Like she did so often, Riley sucked it up.
“Thanks for asking. I am a bit tired lately.” She fiddled with a loose string on her shorts; she didn’t want to look Eliza in the eye. Lawyers were trained to spot liars, weren’t they?
“Poor thing. Those residents run you ragged, don’t they? Why don’t you take a hot bath tonight and turn in early? A good night’s sleep cures many an ailment.”
“Thanks, I will.” Riley smiled and called LouLou over. She’d gotten the answers she needed, but she didn’t feel any better. To help her Grams, she had to stay the course. Caleb Donovan would simply have to help himself. “Can you forward me what you’ve done so far? I don’t want to be taken by surprise again.”
“Sure thing.” Eliza leashed Lady and let the way out of the lot. “I didn’t send it before because I know you have a lot on your plate.”
“Too true, but I’d still like the information.”
“You’ll have it by close of day.” Eliza chuckled. “Listen to me, sounding like I’m back in practice. Old habits die hard, don’t they?”
Riley thought about Caleb. “New habits don’t go too easily, either.”