The moment Courtney stepped into the living room, one of the women hopped up from the sofa and spread her arms. “Courtney, sweetie, we’re so glad you came.” Linda Petersen, Willow and Juni’s mother, enveloped Courtney in a fierce hug. Linda had apparently gotten the hippy-dippy apparel memo, because she was wearing a loose-fitting, blue-and-white India-print dress, and she smelled like the lavender she grew out on her farm, where she made the soap and other natural lotions featured at Eagle Hill Manor.
“I didn’t know you and Sid were friends,” Courtney said as Linda released her.
“Oh, I just met Sid today. I’m one of Leslie’s friends. She put out an all-points bulletin late last night, so we assembled the gang.” She gestured toward the other ladies in the room. “These are my friends Alice and Susan. Y’all, meet Courtney. She’s the wedding planner at my daughter’s bed-and-breakfast place. Leslie, Alice, and Susan are my best organizers, and if we’re going to fight this eviction, we’ll need everyone.”
Leslie and Alice looked like a couple of suburban grannies, not organizers. Courtney waved in greeting, and they waved back. “What evictions?” she asked.
“The ones I predicted,” Sid said.
Leslie cleared her throat from behind. “Yes, you did warn us all. But I had hoped that maybe Scott Anderson would finally get his act together.”
“But he didn’t,” Sid said. “He sold out, and that bastard who bought the apartments from him had all the notices hand delivered on Saturday. Dogwood Estates is going to be torn down.”
“It’s a dark day, I’ll agree to that,” Leslie said on a sigh. “But as the chair of the Dogwood Estates Tenants Association, it’s my duty to fight this thing. So I figured we could have a meeting in Sid’s living room, and that way we can plot and scheme and make sure he takes his medicine at the same time.”
Courtney was a little alarmed. She wasn’t sure Sid needed all this excitement. Besides, Linda had a reputation for fighting lost causes. Sid didn’t need to get his hopes up, although clearly he didn’t sound very hopeful, which might be a good thing at the end of the day. Sometimes being a realist was called for. And wasn’t that why she’d left Matt’s bed this morning?
She turned toward Sid. “I’m not sure protesting is going to change things. And I told you before, Sid, if you need a place to stay, you can have my spare room. I’ll take care of you.”
Sid’s lips thinned, and the twinkle dimmed in his eye. “Girl, I truly appreciate the offer, and I know you’d do a good job looking after me, what with you being a nurse and all. But I’m not an old man, and I don’t need a nurse.” His gaze shifted toward Leslie, and his expression softened ever so slightly.
Courtney knew when to stop arguing. She nodded and said, “Okay.” But a painful wave of loneliness washed through her. Sid was moving on with his life. And she was being left in the dust.
“Sweetie pie,” Linda said, pulling Courtney out of her self-pity, “we can’t let Leslie get pushed around.”
“Okay,” Courtney said, “but I don’t know if protesting is going to change anything. Maybe you should have another conversation with your lawyers or something.”
Sid waved his hand in dismissal. “Those lawyers from LL&K are as useless as tits on a bull. You’re right, a protest won’t change one damn thing, but it might make some people in government sweat a little. It might stir things up. Not that I expect anyone working for LL&K to be happy about that.”
“What are you trying to say, Sid?” Linda asked.
He let go of a long breath. “Linda, I know your girl’s married to David Lyndon. But I don’t trust any of them.”
Linda helped herself to several pieces of broccoli. “You’re entitled to your own point of view, but I can say, in all honesty, that my son-in-law has been a huge surprise to me. He’s a good man. I’m sure he cares about what’s happening here. It couldn’t hurt to get his advice.”
“Go ahead. Waste your time. But none of them Lyndons has impressed me yet. That last one, Matthew? He was the biggest jerk of them all.”
Matt jolted awake at the sound of his cell phone alarm. He raised his head, still unfamiliar with his new bedroom, and squinted at the bright morning sun streaming through the French doors. He hauled in a deep breath, filled with Courtney’s incredible scent—something wild and musky and deliciously sweet. His groin tightened as he propped himself on one elbow.
There was no sign of her. No sounds coming from the bathroom or down the hall in the kitchen. And Ghul lay curled on the pillow where Courtney had slept beside him for part of the night. He ran his hands over the rumpled sheets. They were cool.
So she’d left without a word. And judging by the single cat on the pillow, she’d absconded with Doom, who was not exactly her cat, but he could see why Doom might prefer living with Courtney. Did she know she’d taken the wrong cat? Maybe not. And maybe Doom would be happier with her. She’d probably change his name to Fluffy, or something stupid like that.
Damn, he missed Courtney. It might have been nice to wake up beside her. He had no doubt that morning sex with Courtney would be as awesome as evening sex had been. In fact, in his expert opinion, sex with Courtney was utterly mind and body blowing. And for some strange reason, her absence made him feel hollow inside, which was odd because usually he appreciated it when a
