He refused to use his father’s last name, and he tended to avoid family gatherings at Charlotte’s Grove.
“Why are you here?” Matt asked.
“Invite me in and I’ll explain.”
Matt nodded and stepped away from the door. “The place is a mess, but…”
Jeff gave the apartment a quick inspection. “Not really. You should try living with Melissa for a while. Then you’ll know what a real mess is all about.” Just then, the kitten came bouncing in Jeff’s direction. “Hey, Porthos, wazzup?” Jeff scooped the cat into his arms, where Dr. Doom made an idiot of himself. A frisson of guilt worked its way down Matt’s back. Doom ought to be living across the hall with Courtney. He needed the cuddles and lap time more than Ghul did.
The thought of Courtney’s lap simultaneously aroused and depressed him.
“Can I get you something? I’ve got Cokes, water, beer,” Matt asked.
“Nothing, thanks.” Jeff sat down on the couch, and Matt sank into one of the side chairs. The moment his ass hit the leather, he wished he’d gotten himself a glass of water. “So?” he asked.
The cat had already curled up in Jeff’s lap. “Yesterday I made a cash offer to buy Dogwood Estates from GB Ventures. Considering the negative press in the Daily, the company agreed. Of course, I offered them twice what the property was worth. I thought you’d want to know.”
“You what?”
He shrugged. “My wife wanted this to happen. And I have a blind spot when it comes to her. Dogwood Estates is going to be a huge money loser. But hey, a guy needs tax deductions, right?”
“Right.” Matt frowned. “What the hell is going on?”
“A couple of things. First, Courtney is Melissa’s best friend. Second, Courtney had a couple of good reasons for wanting this to happen.” He ticked his reasons off on his fingers. “She didn’t want Sid and Leslie to move away. She didn’t want Rory Ahern to leave the county and take Arwen with him, especially since she’s not sure Rory and Arwen are a match made in heaven. And finally, she wanted to get you off the hook with Uncle Charles and Heather.”
“What?”
“I tried to explain to her how things work in the family, but she was adamant on that point in particular. It really didn’t matter to me because I’d already read the stuff in the paper. Nice job, Matt. Have you ever thought about becoming an investigative reporter?”
“No.”
“A candidate for office, maybe?”
“No. Absolutely not. Who would vote for me?”
Jeff settled back on the couch. “Uncle Mark has been pestering me for the last six months about running for the County Council. He thinks someone needs to challenge Bill Cummins this fall. The only problem is that the party doesn’t have anyone willing to run. Mark thinks this is great because I wouldn’t have to mess with a primary or anything. But the thing is, I have no desire to enter politics. Do you? I think you’d be good at it. Of course, it would mean staying here in Shenandoah Falls.”
“I wouldn’t know the first thing about—”
“We’re talking the County Council, Matt. And your name is Lyndon. Plus, you’ve single-handedly exposed some pretty rampant corruption—enough for someone to wonder if Cummins was getting kickbacks from GB Ventures. I don’t think you’d have any problems raising money.”
“I didn’t expose GB Ventures on my own. I had some help from inside the county government and from Arwen Jacobs.”
“Okay, so you’ve already assembled a team. That seems like a good start.”
Matt shook his head. “A team? What are you talking about? I mean, Heather took money from Jerry Beyer, the CEO of GB Ventures and—”
“Who hasn’t taken money from Jerry? He spreads his money around like manure, currying favor wherever he can. Heather’s an idiot if she continues to take his money now that your exposé has appeared in the paper. To tell you the truth, I’m surprised Brandon tried to intimidate you and Uncle Charles. I can’t imagine Heather knew he was doing that.”
“You think she’s going to be okay?”
“Of course she is. She didn’t do anything unlawful. And neither did Jerry Beyer, unless he made under-the-table payments to Bill Cummins. In which case, they are both going to jail.” He smiled.
“And who’s going to pursue that angle in this county?” Matt asked.
“You. If you ran against him, you’d have a lot of opportunity to raise questions. And those questions would interest any number of hungry journalists. If you want to finish the job, you need to run. And you’d be doing me a favor. It would get Uncle Mark off my back. He really wants a Lyndon on the council.”
“But would he be happy with me? I mean, I’m—”
“The guy who exposed Bill Cummins for the crook he probably is? Yeah, I think Uncle Mark would be delighted to have you. And so would Uncle Jamie. You do realize that several of his farmhands had to quit because they couldn’t find housing in the county. So get your ass in gear. Go take a shower and a couple of aspirins and make yourself presentable. We’re going to Charlotte’s Grove for the barbecue and a long conversation with Uncle Mark and Uncle Jamie.”
Courtney sat on the folded seat of the commode in her bathroom staring at the little plus sign on the early pregnancy test. Really? This was like some epically cosmic joke or something. How could she be pregnant?
Easy answer: They hadn’t used a condom that very first time. They’d lost control and…
Damn. Now what? A week had passed since her argument with Matt—a whirlwind week in which so many things had changed for the better, thanks to Jefferson Talbert’s incredibly big heart.
Courtney would be forever indebted to Jeff for rescuing the
