Holin up, p.1
Holin' Up, page 1
HOLIN’ UP
REAL ESTATE RESCUE COZY MYSTERIES, BOOK 5
PATTI BENNING
SUMMER PRESCOTT BOOKS PUBLISHING
Copyright 2023 Summer Prescott Books
All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication nor any of the information herein may be quoted from, nor reproduced, in any form, including but not limited to: printing, scanning, photocopying, or any other printed, digital, or audio formats, without prior express written consent of the copyright holder.
**This book is a work of fiction. Any similarities to persons, living or dead, places of business, or situations past or present, is completely unintentional.
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CONTENTS
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Epilogue
Also by Patti Benning
Author’s Note
Contact Summer Prescott Books Publishing
CHAPTER ONE
“And the best part? The raccoon moved out, and I haven’t seen him since.”
Flora Abner stood in the middle of her newly renovated shed, a bright grin on her face. Violet, one of her closest friends, looked around with an expression that was both amused and a little impressed.
“It does look pretty good. I can see why it took you and Grady so long to finish fixing it. It’s hardly recognizable.”
The shed had been a wreck before Flora and Grady, another close friend and her partner-in-renovation had gotten their hands on it. The roof was leaking, the rafters and loft had been slowly rotting away, parts of the siding were missing, and the shed door had hung crooked and barely closed. It had looked like one good gust of wind could have blown it over.
After weeks of hard work, they had reinforced the supports, replaced the roof and the siding, fixed the rafters and laid down new boards for the loft, and had leveled out the lumpy dirt floor and put down boards for a wooden floor. The entire thing had gotten a fresh coat of paint inside and out, and the single, oversized door had been replaced with two smaller doors that swung easily on quiet hinges.
Most importantly, Flora could now seal the shed up tightly to keep unwanted pests out. The raccoon that had plagued her for months was gone. She no longer woke up to see its beady little eyes glowing on the footage from her security cameras, and her garbage was safe from curious little paws again.
“It feels good to finally be finished with this project,” Flora said as she walked out of the shed. She paused to shut and bolt the doors behind her, then took a step back to admire the building for a moment.
“What are you going to do next?”
Turning away from the shed, Flora fell into step next to Violet. The two of them walked around her house, through the freshly mowed grass. The flower beds she had extended around the sides of the house were full of fresh blooms, filling the air with a sweet, floral scent.
“Well, we’re going to get gravel for the driveway tomorrow,” she said. “Grady knows a guy who owns a gravel lot just north of town. I think his name is Connor, and supposedly he gives Grady discounts whenever he buys gravel from him for one of his handyman jobs. So next time you come over, you won’t have to watch out for those pot holes.”
“Thank goodness,” her friend said. “It’s one thing for you and Grady, with your trucks, but my poor car always scrapes along the ground whenever I forget to dodge that big one right at the entrance to your driveway.”
“I mean, the fact that you still forget after you’ve been coming over for months is sort of on you…”
Violet rolled her eyes as they rounded the front of the house. “Hold on, Grady knows a Connor who owns a gravel lot? Why does that sound familiar?”
“I have no idea why you’re asking me. Newcomer, remember?”
Her friend snapped her fingers. “I remember. I think his wife went missing a couple of years ago. It was big news around town for a couple of weeks.”
“Well, I don’t know anything about that. If you’re thinking of the right guy, I feel bad for him. That has to be hard.”
Their drinks were still on the little table in between the two rocking chairs on the porch. The living room window was open, and Flora could see her fluffy white Persian cat, Amaretto, sitting on the sill behind the screen, gazing out at them with sharp yellow eyes. Amaretto had developed an obsession with the outdoors. It had never been an issue back when Flora lived in an apartment in Chicago, but here, she was constantly fighting the cat back whenever she opened the door.
Unfortunately for Amaretto, she was a house cat through and through. Flora didn’t like her chances of surviving on her own in the wilds of Kentucky, so she was meticulous about keeping the cat inside. She was just glad her furry companion hadn’t yet figured out that she could claw through the screens.
Wiggling her fingers at Amaretto in a wave, Flora sank into one of the rocking chairs before sipping from her glass of lemonade. She had added raspberries and a sprig of mint leaves — both from her neighbor Beth’s garden — to the drink. It felt a little sacrilegious to add such lovely, homegrown treats to a drink she had made from a powder, but she just didn’t have the patience to squeeze juice from lemons every time she wanted a fresh pitcher of the stuff.
Violet took the seat next to her and started rocking her chair slowly. It was a slow, peaceful sort of afternoon. Flora had spent the morning tidying up the house, paying her bills, and otherwise catching up on all of the little chores she had let slide over the week. It was a day off for her, which meant she wasn’t actively working on any projects. Slowly but surely, the house was coming along. She had a year and a half to flip it and sell it for a profit, and she was becoming more and more certain she would be able to.
The only problem was, the longer she stayed here, the less she wanted to. She liked the slow-paced life she had found here in Warbler. She liked her friends, and she liked the house she was fixing up with her own two hands. Before she moved here, she thought flipping houses for a living sounded great. She could move every two years and constantly experience new areas and meet new people, all while giving run-down homes a second chance at life. She would be her own boss, would make her own schedule and live life at her own pace.
But she hadn’t counted on setting down new roots so quickly. She was going to miss her friends here when the time to leave came.
“So,” Violet said after a moment.
Flora looked over at her friend and raised her eyebrows. “So?”
“You and Grady.”
She waited, but nothing followed that statement but silence and a sharp look. “Me and Grady what?”
“Don’t give me that. Are you two dating? I’ve been wondering for a while, but I just can’t figure it out.”
Flora blinked, then laughed. “No, we aren’t dating. We’re just friends. He was the first person I really connected with here, other than you. He’s one of the best people I know, but I don’t think he likes me like that, and I don’t have time to date. Especially not when I’m going to be moving away in less than two years.”
Violet’s eyes narrowed. “Okay, first, I’m pretty sure he is interested in you. Whenever we’re all together, he can’t take his eyes off of you. He goes out of his way to help you, and he never lets you pay him for anything, does he? He’s a handyman — I know he works at the hardware store, but he also does odd jobs around town, and I can guarantee you he would charge anyone else a lot for all that work he did with you on your shed. He’s definitely interested in you, Flora. I know you aren’t that blind.”
Flora frowned. “He’s never asked me out or said anything about it. And you’re making it sound like he’s only been helping me because he wants to date me, which isn’t fair to either of us. He wouldn’t do all of that expecting something in return — I know him better than that.”
“I didn’t say he was. I don’t think he expects anything, he just likes spending time with you. Really, Flora, if you’re this oblivious I’m not surprised he hasn’t made a move. He probably thinks you aren’t interested in him, and he’s too nice to make you uncomfortable.”
“But you aren’t?” she grumbled.
Violet grinned. “Nope. Someone needed to say it, and that someone was me. Besides, you’re both friends of mine, and this intervention is going to help you both because I don’t think his interest is one-sided.”
“Look, I like Grady, and if circumstances were normal, sure — I’d go out with him if he asked. He’s cute, and kind, and I trust him. I’m not going to lie, I like watching him lift stuff when he’s wearing one of those sleeveless shirts. But not only did I just get out of a bad relationship, I’m leaving in a year and a half. It wouldn’t be fair to either of us to start something serious.”
“Girl, you are being ridiculous. You don’t have to marry the guy. Aren’t you planning on doing this house flipping thing for the foreseeable future? Are you really planning on not dating anyone, ever, just because you’re going to move every few years?” Violet sighed. “I like you, Flora. You’re a good person, and one of the bravest women I know. But yo u’re a little silly sometimes. I’m telling you Grady likes you, and I already know you feel the same about him. Get your head out of the sand and make a move before you regret not doing so. He knows you’re not going to be here forever. But that doesn’t mean you can’t have fun while you are here. Besides, you don’t know what’s going to happen. Maybe the housing market will crash and you’ll have to stay for a couple years longer, or maybe you’ll find the perfect house somewhere nearby to flip when you’re done with this one. You can’t put your life on hold forever.”
“You’ve been holding this in for a long time, haven’t you?” Flora asked. At her friend’s glare, she raised her hands. “All right, all right. I’ll think about what you said. That’s all I’ll promise.”
“Good.”
Violet sniffed and then raised her glass of lemonade to her lips. Flora leaned back in her chair and gazed out at the rolling hills across the dirt road. Maybe she was being a bit of an idiot, but did she really want to risk having her heart broken again? Even if she did start dating Grady, there would be an end-date built into their relationship. Leaving her friends would be hard enough, but she didn’t know if she could stomach the thought of leaving someone she had fallen in love with.
CHAPTER TWO
Violet’s conversation was still on Flora’s mind when Grady’s truck pulled into the driveway the next morning. She heard it approaching before it reached her house, and was out on the porch in time to see it bounce over the pot hole at the end of her driveway. She winced. Violet wasn’t the only one who was bad at avoiding the thing, but Grady didn’t seem to care.
She was a little annoyed at Violet, not for her ‘intervention,’ but for the timing of it. She and Grady were going to spend all day working on her driveway, and she just knew she was going to be distracted by what her friend had said.
She tried to push it out of her mind as she walked down the porch steps to meet him as he got out of his truck.
“Hey,” he said. “You ready to go?”
“Yep. I’m glad we’re finally doing this. I’ll finally be able to use my driveway without my poor truck rattling all over the place.” She paused. “You’ll have to move your truck to the side, I don’t think I can pull mine out around it.”
“I thought we’d use mine,” he told her.
“Won’t putting a bunch of rocks in the bed scuff it up?” she asked.
He raised a single eyebrow and made a show of looking between their two trucks. Hers, shiny and white and only a few years old. His, red and rusty and probably almost as old as she was, and with as many dents as it had years.
“I think my truck can survive a few more scratches.”
“Fair enough. Let me go grab my purse. Do you want a water bottle?”
At his nod, she ducked back into her house to grab the water bottles from the fridge and to snag her purse from the counter. She bent down to run her hand along Amaretto’s spine, the cat’s fluffy tail trailing across her arm before she straightened up.
“We’ll be back in about an hour. See you in a little bit, princess.”
She had to block the door with her legs as she slipped out, and when she glanced back after walking down the porch steps, she saw Amaretto in the window, gazing out at her with narrowed eyes. She knew that if she could see the cat’s tail from this angle, the tip of it would be twitching back and forth.
No, Amaretto was not happy being stuck inside the house all the time. Maybe she needed more toys, or better yet, a way she could safely go outside. Flora had tried putting a harness on her before and the cat hadn’t been a fan, but she decided to try again.
Wouldn’t she be a sight, walking up and down her rural dirt road with her fluffy white cat on a leash?
Grady started his truck again as she got into the passenger seat. After putting the water bottles in the cup holder and her purse on the floor by her seat, she put her seatbelt on and gazed out the window at her house as the truck pulled away from it.
It already looked much better than it had when she bought it. A new roof, a fresh coat of paint on the siding, the red and white flowers in the beds that wrapped around the house… the new gravel would really bring it all together. She still had a lot of work to do on the interior, but seeing the progress always filled her with a sense of pride.
“So, you know the person we’re buying the gravel from?” Flora asked as they drove down the road towards town.
“He’s an old buddy of my brother’s. Decent guy. Bought the gravel lot about fifteen years ago. He’s got the best prices in the area, and might give us a discount since he knows me.”
“Oh, good.” She paused. “Um, not to be rude… but isn’t your brother in prison? I’m not sure how good of a recommendation that is.”
He snorted. “Yeah. I guess that might not be reassuring. But Connor was a work friend, someone Wade met while he was trying to start up a business a while back. He was never involved with the drugs.”
“Is that what your brother’s in prison for?”
“He was arrested for possession with the intent to sell.” Grady sighed. “He got pulled over and the police found a stash in the back of his car.”
“Huh. I thought you said it was a DUI, back when we first met.”
“That was part of it,” he said, looking embarrassed. “That’s the reason the police had for pulling him over in the first place, and he tested a little over the legal limit, but it’s not what got him most of his sentence. It’s just easier to explain it as a DUI, and I didn’t know you back then. I didn’t mean to mislead you, but I don’t usually go around talking about all of this to strangers. You’re not a stranger anymore, though.”
“No, I get it. You don’t have to explain every single facet of your brother’s history to everyone you meet. It doesn’t really matter, anyway, since you said Connor wasn’t involved in any of it.”
“Right,” he said. “He’ll give you a good price, and that’s all that really matters for this. You’ll get your nice new driveway in no time at all.”
She nodded, relaxing back into the seat. She knew Grady came from a very different world than she did, but most of the time, it was easy to forget about. Sometimes, however, the differences between an upper-class city girl and a small-town guy who had grown up in a trailer park were hard to ignore. She trusted him, though, and it wasn’t like she was going to the gravel lot alone. He would be by her side the entire time.
The gravel lot was a few miles north of town. Flora had seen the piles of gravel and dirt as she drove past, but this was the first time she had ever actually gone there. Grady pulled into the driveway, past the open gates, and parked in front of the small office building. There were a couple of backhoes and front loaders parked near the building, and she saw someone using one of them to load some road gravel into a trailer.
“Let’s head into the office, see who’s in,” Grady said as he turned off his truck.
Flora got out of the cab with her purse and the two of them walked up to the building. An open sign was on the outside of the door, and she could hear voices coming from inside. She pushed it open and stepped into an argument.
“…getting another survey! Everything past the trees at the west edge of your property is mine.”
“Look, Lacie, I showed you the property lines from the surveyor I hired back when I bought this place. I own another hundred feet out, and this parcel is zoned industrial, so some noise is to be expected. I understand it’s upsetting to see the trees cut down, but I need more storage space. There’s already been enough of a delay while you hired your surveyor. It’s not my fault she quit out of the blue. I can’t delay any longer. I’m going to start removing trees next week. My offer for you to take some of the lumber still—”
“I don’t want the trees you cut down! Those are my trees.”
