my family about what happened yet. I’ve told them he didn’t cheat on me or steal from me or deliberately hurt me. We’ve publicly put out the story that Donovan had to go to Los Angeles to run his company until the end of the summer. That is also sort of true. And in the eyes of everyone outside our family, we had established that the relationship was real, so Murray didn’t seem too worried.
She takes another sip of wine and closes her eyes, letting it rest on her tongue before she swallows it. Then she opens her eyes and smiles at me. “At least you don’t have to jog anymore.”
I’ve explained to her about the couples’ relay, much to her scorn.
I manage a faint smile. “At least.”
“And the other thing that worries me is this property deal. The questions that you’ve raised… I think they’re good ones, and I don’t like that nobody has been able to give you answers. I shouldn’t have rushed into signing the agreement without knowing more about who we were selling to. I understand that we all need money, but what’s even more important is that this company doesn’t harm our land. I just have a bad feeling about this.”
I hate to say it, but when she has a bad feeling, she’s never wrong. “What could they possibly be up to, though?” I ask.
She shrugs. “I don’t know. But people will do terrible things for money There are many tens of millions of dollars involved in this property, right?”
“Many hundreds of millions. They’re building five hundred high-end homes, which will be selling for a million or more each.”
“And they are paying a very high price for our property. Much higher than anyone else offered.” She frowned in thought. “These houses will be close to our land. If they’re trying to do anything that hurts the environment, it will hurt us. What if they taint the river?”
“They’d go to prison.”
“Would they? Do bad people always go to prison?” She takes another sip of her wine. “I used to have more faith in the system. The longer I live, the more I think that a lot of the time, bad people don’t face any real punishment until the next life. Which leaves it to us, as stewards of the Earth, to look after things in this life.”
Well, Aunt Fernanda’s definitely back.
“What would you want me to do if I found out that they were up to something shady? Not that I necessarily think they are, but if I did.”
Aunt Fernanda just looks at me.
“Got it,” I say with a sigh. “Keep pursuing it until I get a satisfactory answer, and report anything bad that I find to the appropriate authorities.”
“That’s my girl,” she says. She holds up her wine glass and toasts me. “Now, go do your research and leave me to enjoy this beautiful day and this superior wine.”
She raises her voice as she says that, and casts a smirking gaze over at the Witlocke property. She just subtly insulted their wine, and I’m tempted to say something, but I have to acknowledge that fifty years of habits – since the day she met Uncle Nuccio – are going to be hard to break. At least she’s cast off her mantle of bitter self-pity. Baby steps.
So I settle down in the office and start doing my research. Numbers are my friend. Numbers don’t lie to you or make sneaky deals with your mother behind your back or–I shake my head. Donovan is gone. That part of my life is over.
So why can’t I get him out of my head? I can still smell him every night when I sleep in the loft. I’ve opened all the windows and sprayed air freshener and burned candles. I threw away the mattress that he used, and the pillows and sheets and blankets, and bought new ones. It doesn’t matter. The scent of him, his earthy manly smell mingled with the hint of bergamot and spice, lingers like a ghost. A taunting reminder of what I’ve lost.
Or maybe it doesn’t and I’m just imagining it.
I’d go sleep at someone else’s house, but I need to keep an eye on Aunt Fernanda, who’s still using a cane and sometimes a walker.
I’m starting to get an idea of what’s bothering me, though, so I leave the office and drive to the planning department, and ask for copies of the subdivision plans.
Randy Wilkins, the clerk, looks puzzled. “Why do you need that?”
I’m