Page 8 of Take The Risk

​“Ah, yes. We heard Wade and some of the guys ran them off.” Louise stood, going to the table just behind us to grab some food. The setup was pretty awesome. The adults were all sitting around a wrought iron table with surprisingly comfortable chairs while the kids ran wild in the large backyard with its tire swing, tree fort, and jungle gym. I was relieved to see Lachlan was taking part for once. Given he was grinning widely, I knew he was enjoying himself, too. So far, I hadn’t heard a word about any “tools,” which I was profoundly grateful for.

​“It wasn’t them,” Cady-Jo said, grabbing a bottle of Miraval from the large cooler.

Louise returned, dropping a plate full of sandwiches, the mini-quiches I’d run home to grab, some tart-thing, and the brownies I promised myself I’d only eat one of—or should I say one more?—on the table.

​“What do you mean?” I reached for a brownie.

​“It wasn’t your ex,” Helen explained. “Your little visit was courtesy of our resident mean girl. Amber-Rae Denton.” She said her name while crossing herself, like she was afraid she’d summoned the devil.

​“Amber-Rae?” PTA Amber-Rae? Amber-Rae who got her son Rowdy to fix my leaky roof two weeks ago, Amber-Rae? Coffee tomorrow after the kids are in school, Amber-Rae?

​“The one and only.” Helen took the bottle of wine from Cady-Jo, pouring a liberal amount in my now empty glass. “That woman is a menace.”

​“I don’t understand. Why would she call on me?” I mean…really?

​“Oh, that’s right!” Louise nodded. “You don’t know.”

​Clearly.

​“It goes like this. Amber-Rae got it into her head that Winterbourne Manor should be hers. No one knows why,” Louise began.

​“It’s not like her house isn’t four times the size of it,” Cady-Jo muttered.

​“Exactly!” Louise continued. “Anyway, once Mr. Winterbourne put it on the market, she tried to buy it, but he has a long memory. He wasn’t about to sell his house to the woman who tormented his granddaughter in high school, so every offer she made, he refused.”

​“That’s terrible, but what does that have to do with me?”

​“Amber-Rae is vindictive. Cady-Jo and I grew up here.” Did I mention Louise and Cady-Jo were cousins? “We were even friends with Amber-Rae until—”

​“Until a certain New Yorker came to town and claimed them as her own,” Helen proclaimed theatrically.

​“Anyway, Helen also inadvertently claimed Mitch O’Brien’s heart that same year, unaware Amber-Rae had already claimed him for herself. And, well… you’ve seen Mean Girls, right?” Cady-Jo looked at me quizzically, waiting for my nod of confirmation. “Well, it was like that but worse. Not only did she try to get Helen expelled, but we were thrown in with her because of our supposed ‘betrayal’.”

​The next several minutes were spent with them telling me all the things Amber-Rae had done.

​“That’s crazy.” My jaw dropped. “But what does that have to do with me? I just met y’all today.” Was the woman some kind of clairvoyant? An I-know-you’re-going-to-be-friends-with-my-enemies-so-I’m-gonna-make-you-pay-in-advance psychic?

​Louise sighed. “That’s a question many have asked, and no answer has ever been found. We’d thought things would have settled by the time we came back from university, but she seemed to get worse, despite staying and marrying the mayor’s son. Even having the biggest property in town, she has some crazy obsession with owning other ones, and she doesn’t even rent them out. She just wants to own them. And if she doesn’t get what she wants? Another offer is accepted or the owner doesn’t want to sell to her because of stuff she’s done? Bam!” Louise snapped her fingers. “The city inspector is on your doorstep.”

​“Or bylaw,” Cady-Jo added.

​“Or the police,” Helen quipped in disgust. “You see, Old Mr. Winterbourne has no love for Amber-Rae and made it his business to make sure she didn’t get his house—”

​That explained the strange purchase requirement.

​“—she even put in an offer a hundred grand over his asking, which he refused only to turn around and sell it to you.”

​“And before you ask…” Louise picked up a mini quiche. “Our cousin works in the clerks’ office and took the ‘anonymous’ phone call.”

​Well, that changed things.

​“How can she get away with this?” I mean, surely there were laws that this broke? Wasn’t this some kind of harassment?

​“Because she’s married to the mayor’s son. No one has been able to conclusively tie her to it, and the city’s bylaws say all complaints are anonymous.” Louise lifted another brownie, offering it to me, which I took.

As I took a bite, my mind whirled. What the hell have I gotten myself into?

​“It’s usually not a problem unless your house is in violation…” Helen let that dangle, and I sighed.