One Week with her Rival:Eden Manor, Book One(3)

     



 

"Have you been talking to him?" she asked.

"He's a hard man to talk to."

It was true, ever since his wife left him and his best friend, Carl, had  died, Silas had turned into a hermit, barely ever emerging from his  studio. "I know that. But have you been talking to him?"

"You and I are in competition, aren't we? You really think I'm going to  answer that?" Joe had leaned in again, his face too attractive and far  too close to hers.

Vanessa held herself perfectly clear. "I'm not worried."

"I think you worry all the time, Vanessa," Joe murmured, his tone different now, almost intimate.

"You don't know me at all."

He smiled. "Yeah, but I do."

"I'm not going to sell out to you."

"I'm not expecting you to sell out. I'd be happy with a partnership."

"I'm not going to partner with you."

"You might enjoy it."

Her breath hitched at the thickness of his voice. Her cheeks flushed, and her heart raced. "It's not going to happen."

"My loss, then." He drew back again with a familiar, relaxed smile. "I guess it's not my day. I'll try again tomorrow."

"Nothing is going to be different tomorrow."

He chuckled. "You never know. I don't give up."

She wondered if that was true-if she was always going to be plagued with  Joe Coleman hanging around, getting on her nerves, making her feel  things she shouldn't be feeling.

"I've got to go," she said, more rattled by this encounter than she should have been.

He reached over to open her car door. "Of course, you do. I'll see you later."

She was never sure how much of what Joe said was true, but the last  comment obviously was. They were on this job together for the next  couple of months. And they both had a lot to do this week to get ready  for the arrival of Harrison Damon.

She was going to see Joe around a lot, whether she wanted to or not.





Tuesday


The next morning, Vanessa drove over to Silas Vance's workshop.

For the last three years, he'd been holed up in an old cabin in the  woods, with his workshop in a separate building he'd constructed  himself. She knew from experience that mornings were the best time to  catch him. Once he'd started working for the day, he wouldn't come out,  and he wouldn't talk to anyone.

She parked her car at the top of the dirt driveway and took a deep breath before she stepped out.

She might know Silas better than anyone else in town, but he still made her a little nervous.

"Silas?" she called out. It was always better to give him warning that  someone was approaching. He worked with heavy, sharp tools and had  reflexes like a panther.

She heard a grunt from the back of the cabin, relaxing as she realized he hadn't yet gone into the workshop for the day.

She walked around the corner of the cabin, finding Silas sitting on a  bench, drinking coffee out of a rustic mug, staring out at the dense  woods that surrounded his home. Without saying a word, she approached  until she could sit on the bench beside him.

She didn't lean back. The bench was positioned against the back of the  cabin, and the wood siding was very dirty. She wore a white shirt today  and didn't want to get the back of it dirty so early in the morning.

"There's coffee over there," Silas said in his normal, slightly rough  voice. He was big and well-built with a long, squared-off beard and gray  eyes that seemed to look right through you. He'd been in the same class  as Carl all through school, so she knew he was thirty-three. There was  nothing young about him. Or soft. She wasn't surprised his ex-wife had  left and never come back.

"I'm fine. Thanks." She didn't try to smile or make small talk. That never worked with Silas.

"What d'you want?"

"Are we still on for the stained glass windows in Eden Manor?"

He narrowed his eyes. "I said we were."

"I know. Is two weeks from now okay with your schedule?"

He gave a grunt that she interpreted as a yes.

"Good. When it's time, I'll have someone remove the windows and bring  them out to you here." He never left his workshop to do jobs. Anything  he worked on had to come to him.

"We covered all this already," he muttered. "What's your problem?"

There wasn't any sense in being sensitive to rudeness around Silas. He  was rude to everyone. She slanted him a look. "I was talking to Joe  Coleman."

"What's that to me?"

"He...implied that you might start doing jobs for him."         

     



 

Silas's lips parted slightly beneath his beard. A small gesture, but one  she understood as enlightenment, as if he finally understood her  presence here. "He's been pestering me."

"Yeah. I get that, and I'm not surprised. I thought you didn't work for him, though."

"I don't."

"Are you thinking about changing your mind?"

"What's that to you?"

She cleared her throat. "Obviously, you can do anything you'd like. You  have no obligation to me. I'd just like to...to know, so I can plan  accordingly. You working exclusively for me gives me an advantage, so  I'll need to compensate if that's changed."

He stared at her for a long time. "It's business."

"I know that."

"Carl is dead."

"I know that too," she said, swallowing hard. She could talk about Carl  now without getting emotional, but it was still hard and sometimes  shocking to hear his death spoken of so bluntly.

He'd be so disappointed in her if she lost Silas.

"We all need to move on."

She glanced around at the dingy, soulless space that acted as a backyard  for him. This small piece of earth he almost never left. "Is that what  you're doing? Moving on?"

She'd gone too far. She knew it as soon as she spoke the words. His eyes  narrowed again and his expression was colder than ever. "It's only  business."

"I know it is." She'd worn out her welcome and maybe blew her one chance  to keep Silas on her side. She stood up. "But the business was Carl's,  and so it's personal to me. Obviously, there's no obligation. I was just  hoping you'd be straight with me, if anything is changing."

He didn't reply, so she turned around and walked away. She'd reached the  corner of the cabin when Silas said from behind her, "I'll tell you."

She let out a shaky breath. "Thanks."

As she returned to her car, she tried to take comfort in the fact that  Silas had spoken in the future tense. The decision wasn't already made.

If he started working for Joe, she'd make do. She'd have to. But it hadn't happened yet.

***

She drove to the hardware store to pick up supplies for Ruth, and then  she headed over to Eden Manor. Ruth had already arrived, and the two of  them were unloading the back of Vanessa's SUV when Kelly Blake made an  appearance.

Kelly was young, friendly, and pretty with long dark hair and glasses.  She was several years younger than Vanessa, but she had an intelligent,  practical air about her that Vanessa liked.

"Do you need some help?" Kelly asked.

Before Vanessa could say they were fine, Kelly reached into the car and grabbed several pieces of wood.

"You don't have to do that," Vanessa said.

"What else do I have to do?" Kelly grinned at her. "I was working on my  grandmother's home since I was five years old. I don't know how to just  sit around and let other people do all the work."

"That sounds familiar. My folks were consummate DIYers. Yours too?"

Kelly chuckled as she held the front door for Vanessa with her foot. "I  never knew my parents. I was raised by my grandmother. She never did any  work around the house herself, but me and my sisters did, mostly  because we couldn't afford to hire anyone to help us." She set down the  boards on the floor. "I didn't mind. I always enjoyed it."

"Me too."

"Is that why you became a contractor?"

Vanessa shook her head. "To tell you the truth, it never even crossed my  mind. My husband started the business, and I helped him out. Then, when  he died, I just took it over."

Kelly let out a long sigh and gave her a little smile. "It's funny how  life happens that way. It just keeps turning you away from any plans you  try to make."

"Yeah." Vanessa felt a surge of connection to the other woman, like they  understood each other for real for the first time. "That's exactly what  it does."

Kelly watched as Ruth started to set up her tools, evidently lost in her  own thoughts. Then she finally turned back to Vanessa. "Joe says he's  trying to get you to partner up with him."

Vanessa stiffened before she could tell herself not to react. "He told you that?"

"Yeah. He said both of you would bring assets that would make it a  really profitable partnership, and I can kind of see it myself, with the  way it's worked out with Eden Manor."

Forcing herself not to sound as defensive as she felt, Vanessa murmured, "It's a lot more complicated than that."