Love to Hate You (Hope Valley #9) - Jessica Prince Page 0,28
the best thing ever.”
“Forget all those other suggestions, ladies,” Roxanne announced to the group. “Pretty sure we found the guy.”
I wasn’t sure what the hell that meant, but my gut was telling me shit was about to get really, really messy.
Chapter Nine
Micah
My plan to find a woman to help take my mind off all the stress in my life had been blown to hell the instant I’d laid eyes on a certain redheaded devil the night before. No other woman at The Tap Room held a candle to Red. None of them stirred something inside me that made me desperate to touch and taste. Only her. Goddamn woman.
This morning, I’d woken up alone after crawling into bed the night before and jerking my dick to the memory of Hayden’s smart mouth and flashing eyes until I came all over my stomach. I’d gotten up and gone for an extended run, pushing my normal five miles to eight in the hopes of working her out of my head and from beneath my skin.
None of that had worked, so now I was hauling my lawnmower out of the garage.
“Yoohoo. Mornin’, neighbor.”
I looked across the small picket fence through wild shrubbery into my neighbor’s yard. Sylvia was there in the garden like she was almost every morning, her yoga mat stretched out on the lush grass, bright teal leggings on beneath a long, flowy, multi-colored top. I’d lived next door to her for more than five years now, and she was, without a doubt, one of my favorite people in the world. For a woman in her eighties, she was constantly on the go and the life of whatever party she felt like attending. She spoke her mind and wasn’t afraid to give you her two cents’ worth. And more times than not, that came from a place of wisdom and experience. She’d lived each day of her long life to its fullest, and she had some incredible stories as proof.
Most people would probably be surprised, but one of my favorite things to do was chill with her in her crazy garden, sipping the Tom Collins she’d make me—even though I wasn’t a fan of gin at all—and listen to her tell me about the more adventurous things she’d done.
Moving to the fence, I tilted my chin and greeted, “Hey there, gorgeous. How’s your morning so far?”
“Well, I woke up, so I’d say it’s off to a pretty good start. How about you?”
My morning so far had been shit, but I wasn’t going to share that with her. She’d just dig into why, and it was bad enough I couldn’t get Hayden out of my head, the last thing I needed to do was talk about her as well.
“Darlin’, you’ll outlive us all, and you know it.”
She grinned and gave me a cheeky wink as she abandoned her mat and came closer to the fence line. “So, how have you been, dear? Haven’t seen you home much these past few weeks. It’s the case, isn’t it?”
I hadn’t gone into detail about the Callo investigation with Sylvia, or anyone else for that matter, but gossip spread in Hope Valley like a nasty stomach flu. Everyone in town knew Leo and I were working lead on that case.
“Had to pull some late nights and weekends, that’s all. Things will get back to normal as soon as we wrap up this investigation.”
Reaching over, she patted my cheek with her small hand. “And I have every confidence you and Leo are up to the task. But you better be takin’ care of yourself in the meantime. Don’t make me lecture you on the importance of self-care.”
Pretty sure self-care was what some might call what I’d done to myself in bed last night, but I wasn’t about to go there with an elderly woman, no matter how cool she was. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. I’m bein’ careful,” I assured her. “Now, enough about me. Tell me about you. Saw a new car has been in the driveway the past several nights. That mean your niece finally arrived?”
Sylvia’s face split into a huge smile that made the creases in her weathered skin carve even deeper. “That she did. Just over two weeks now. I tell you, it’s so nice to have her and her little one here. They’ve breathed life back into this old place.”
For months, all my neighbor had been able to talk about was her great-niece coming to live with her. I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen the