a two-bedroom cottage with tiny rooms and big windows that invited the woods inside. On a breezy day, I could catch glimmers of the lake through the foliage. The best part was the lakeside trail that cut right through the property, making it convenient for my runs.
I thought about hosting a post-run cookout here for the trail running group I’d organized. Decided it wasn’t a terrible idea. Some beer, a grill, good times, and good people.
When I pulled around to the house, I realized I wasn’t alone. The front door was wide open, and there were two vehicles parked on the gravel circle by the porch. One of them was Scarlett’s pickup truck.
I pulled in behind her and got out just as she skipped down the steps of the front porch. She waved cheerfully. “Hey, Jonah! Was wondering when you’d get back.”
She pulled a box out of the bed of her truck, and I took it from her. “You moving in?” I asked.
“Not me. Although if Devlin thinks he can bring one more pair of shoes into the house, I might give him the boot until construction’s done.” She winked, and I knew there was nothing but love behind her teasing. I had a feeling she’d be ecstatic over that diamond he’d pocketed today.
She hadn’t answered the question I hadn’t asked directly.
“So what are you doing?” I asked, picking a box from the truck and following her up the porch steps with it.
“I’m helping your new roommate move in,” she said cheerfully.
I missed a step and smashed my shin on the porch. “My what?” I winced.
“Hey, Scarlett, do you want the security deposit now or—oh, hi, Jonah. Come on in.”
Shelby Thompson—or, according to Cassidy Tucker, sneaky-ass reporter Shelby Thompson—was standing in my doorway, smiling at me, inviting me inside my own damn place. She was short and curvy and always smiling. She had thick brown hair with a heavy fringe of bangs that framed out her wide eyes. Green and brown that made me think of the forest floor. Creamy skin, thick lashes. She was pretty in a girl-next-door kind of way.
Until she smiled, and then people tended to take notice of something that went deeper than pretty.
Of course, none of that made up for the fact that she was one of the horde of journalists that had descended like a biblical plague on Bootleg Springs to get a piece of the Bodine family over the whole Callie Kendall case. She’d flirted with me, and I’d flirted back. It pissed me off that she thought she could get to the rest of my family through me. That I was the weak link somehow.
It also pissed me off that she’d somehow wormed her way back into the town’s good graces, that we were all just supposed to forgive and forget.
“Now that you’re both here, we can talk arrangements,” Scarlett said, leading the way inside.
Shelby frowned. “Arrangements? I thought everything was settled.”
“What are you two doing in my house?” I demanded, dumping the box on the porch.
“Your house?” Shelby blinked and looked at Scarlett.
Scarlett grinned her diabolical Southern girl master of manipulations smile. “This is such good news for you both,” she said, clasping her hands in front of her.
I knew this was going to be bad.
“Jonah, remember when you signed your lease you agreed that, if I needed, I could rent out the second bedroom?”
I vaguely remembered something about that. But Scarlett had been pouring celebratory moonshine when she went over the documents, and things had gotten a little bit fuzzy. Fuzzy enough that Devlin had to drive me home.
“I don’t recall,” I hedged.
“I’ll email you a copy of the lease and highlight the pertinent section,” she promised. “In the meantime, say hey to your new roommate!”
“Wait, a minute,” Shelby began. “He lives here?”
“And now so do you,” Scarlett said, tossing her a key. “Isn’t that great?”
She bobbled the key and seemed slow to lean down to pick it up. “You didn’t say Jonah lived here,” Shelby began.
“I have a feelin’ you two are gonna get along like two pigs in a blanket.”
“What the hell are you talking about, Scarlett? Also I should have a say in who I share a house with,” I cut in.
“Well, you see pigs in a blanket are—”
“Scarlett Bodine, you’re up to something,” I said, pointing a finger at her.
She was immune to my sternness. “I thought you two would be pleased as punch. Now you’re only responsible for half the rent.”