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"I didn’t deal with it yesterday, didn’t think about it Or not much I even left my phone over there so the police couldn’t contact me So no one could I ducked and covered"

"You took a break There’s no reason you can’t take a couple ure it all out"

"Actually, there are real and practical reasons I can’t takein about two hours, unless I call them off If I take the up my schedule, which is, of course, already screwed It messes up theirs, and their e jobs, so I could lose key people for more than a couple of days if I hold them off If that decision is to walk away, I have to tell the, and no one’s going to blame you"

"No, I don’t think anyone would But it still creates a doet, which is also screwed I have insurance, but insurance has a deductible that has to be factored into the whole I’h end of es and additions Ihim "I’m okay financially, and if I can’t make it on my own, I can’t rab a couple voice-over jobs Bottom line is I can’t leave the place the way it is, half done I’ve got custom cabinets I ordered back in March, and the balance due when I take delivery The kitchen appliances will be back in another couple e It has to be finished, that’s not really a question The questions are do I want to finish it, and do I want to stay? Can I? Should I?"

He took another hit of her coffee Serious conversations, he thought, required serious attention "Tell me what you’d do if you decided to turn it over to someone else to finish If you left"

"There are a lot of places I could slip into without the baggage I have here Stick a pin in a uess, and pick one Take some of those voice-overs to thicken the bankroll, if I need to Find a place with potential to flip I can get a ular and very nice residuals froood on an application Or if I don’t want the stress of that, I could get a job with a crew Hell, I could work for Steve’s ne York branch"

"You’d be giving up your lofty personal goals"

"Maybe I’d just postpone reaching them The problem is" She paused, sipped the coffee he’d handed back to her "The problem is," she repeated, "I love that house I love what it hat I know I can make it I love this place, and how I feel here I love what I see when I look out my s or step out my door And I’iving that up"

Sohtened inside him relaxed "I like it better when you’re pissed off"

"I do, too, but it’s hard to hold up the level The part of ed is scared"

"That’s because you’re not stupid So to be scared, Cilla, until you knoho and why, and make it stop"

"I don’t knohere to start"

"Do you still think it’s old man Hennessy?"

"He’s the only one I’ve met or had contact with around here who’s made it clear he hates me Which, if this were a screenplay, means he couldn’t be behind all this because he’s the only one who hates o talk to him, face-to-face"

"And say what?"

"It’ll co your home here, and neither you nor a house is responsible for soo And words to that effect I’ toto read themthem to the cops Because if it’s not Hennessy, the next best possibility is it’s soot wind they still exist and you have them Janet Hardy’s , juicy, scandalous news"

She’d thought of that Of course she’d thought of that But "They aren’t signed"

"Might be clues in there about the identity Might not be, but we’re talking thirty-five years ago Do you reo?"

"I’" In the still, softening dark, she stared at hiht"

"Yeah The first, the prowler in your barn That could’ve been so to pick up a few Janet Hardy souvenirs I’ve got to weigh in the place has been e around now and then Against that, I’ve got to factorleft inside, and any who did probably thought it orthless junk left by tenants, not the wo"

"I clear it out, store it in the barn, and it’s clear and obvious that I’ed to reedy Possibility The second, the attack on Steve, could co Panic But that takes it way over har trespass Also above, if the letters are the goal, trespass to preserve reputation It’s up to assault, arguably atteed, pissed and scared, scared just leaped way into the lead"

"Good, because then you’ll be more careful Next, your truck door

That one’s personal and direct to you So was the e on the stone wall Maybe there are two separate people involved"

"Oh, that really helps Two people who hate me"

"It’s another possible Last, the destruction inside the house It’s more personal,shopping for a security syste to do?"

The cold bite in her tone didn’t break his skin "One of us is Since it’s your place, I assume you’d rather do it yourself But if you don’t, today, I will I’m now authorized as I’ve had you naked onto me if you didn’t bother to read the fine print"

She said nothing for a e to stew "I intended to arrange that anyway-stay or go"

"Good And you don’t care for ultimatu an exception I can sleep over there with you Happy to But sleep is a foregone conclusion at so empty at some time or other for some period of time is inevitable You need to be safe, and to feel safe You need to protect your property

"And Cilla, there’s no ’go’ You’ve already decided to stay"

She really did want to stew, she thought, and he was e "How come you’re all macho and pushy with your ultiarmor’s in the shop And maybe I just like the sex, which would be hard to co Or it could be I don’t want to see you give up so you love"

Yeah, he made it damn hard "When I came out here to sit, I told myself it was just a house I’ve put a lot of myself into other houses-it’s what o It’s just a house, wood and glass and pipes and wire, on a piece of ground"

She looked dohen he laid his hand over hers, when the gesture told her he understood "Of course it’s not just a house, not to et it back, never get back what I’ve found if I let it go"

She turned her hand over, laced her fingers with his "Plus, I like the sex"

"It can’t be overstated"

"Okay then" She took a deep breath "I’ve got to get back Get ready Get started"

"Let et some shoes on I’ll walk you home"

MATT STOOD in the center of the rim "I’ets into people, I swear I don’t We’re going to fix that wall for you, don’t worry And Stan’ll coet one of ed in place, but it’d be better to leave the glass block for Stan I’ll give hio pick up the replacee for a security system"

"I hear that People didn’t lock their doors half the tie Another das like this You said they busted out a pane in the back door? I’ll get so to order a new door, and a lock set for that and the front The plywood’s okay for now You’ll need to take down that drywall rather than try to repair it There’s enough on site"

"Sure there is Anything else I can do, Cilla, you just let me know Got the other bathroouess we’d better take a look"

They assessed daathered her lists and checked on other areas of the project, crew offered syust By the ti fro drills and buzzing saws

INEVITABLY, SHE HAD to explain to her usual consultant at the flooring center why she needed to buy considerable square footage of tile she’d already bought, as well as grout It slowed the process, but Cilla supposed that, too, was inevitable Even in LA she’d foruys, appliance guys It ith the trade, and good relationships paid off the time spent

She ran into the same situation at the home supply store when she stopped in to buy the replacement sink and other items on her list While she waited for the clerk to check stock, she cruised the faucets Chrole handles, vessel style Matching towel bars, robe hooks

All the shapes, the textures, the tones, gave her the salittery offerings in Tiffany’s

Copper Maybe she’d go with copper on her office bath With a stone vessel-style sink and-

"Cilla?"

She broke off fro down the aisle "I thought that was you," To?"

"Both, actually"

"Sa a spec out Usually ner takes care of this, but she’s out on et my hand in occasionally You kno it is"

"Yes, I do"

"Got my consultant here," he said with a wink "Buddy’lla center set when I need a wide, or vice versa"

"You’ve done it before," Buddy pointed out

"And you never let et I heard you ladies had a fine ti’s her hobby I’ve got golf, she’s got the mall and the outlets"

"Don’t see the point in either" Buddy shook his head "Fishing’s got a point"

"Excuse ’s in stock, Ms McGowan You got the last we have of the wall-hung sink"

"What wall-hung?" Buddy wanted to know "I’ for a pedestal in the third bath"

"It’s a replaceuest bath was daht, Buddy’s cockscomb would have quivered

"How the hell did that happen? Nothing wrong with it when I put it in"

Okay, Cilla thought, one more time "I had a break-in Saturday Some vandalism"

"My God! Were you hurt?" Tom demanded

"No, I wasn’t hoie"

"They busted up a sink?" Buddy pulled off his cap to scratch his head "What the hell for?"

"I couldn’t say But both second-floor baths we’d finished took a hit They used e and pickax from the look of it, slass block"

"This is terrible It’s not the sort of thing that happens around here The police-"

"Are doing what they can," she said to Tom "So they tell"I’ll be installing a security system"

"Can’t blame you I’hter living out that far on her own" Buddy shrugged "Just saying Especially after what happened to Steve"

"Bad things happen everywhere I’ve got to get my supplies and finish my run Good luck with the spec"

"Cilla, if there’s anything we can do, Cathy or I, you just give a call We’re a growing area, but that doesn’t mean we don’t take care of our own"

"Thank you"

It warmed her, and stayed warm inside her, even as her supplies were loaded, even as she drove away

Our own