Animal Prints: Sweet Small Town Contemporary Romance (Michigan Moonlight Book 1) (22 page)

“I definitely will need your help. I’m no good at that sort of thing. I’m good with organic life, not boxes and angles. But you manage to put them together. Let me see the rest of the pictures,” she said, then exclaimed when he pulled the first one out of the box. It showed Colette hugging Connor on the deck of Lexy’s house. His small head rested against her pink shirt.

“I can’t take credit for that one. Melissa took it.”

“She did?” She squinted more closely at the picture. “You adjusted it with your magical program, no doubt.”

“A little,” he admitted, “but she framed the shot. I think we should hire her to take a picture of us. I’d like one.”

“Me too.” Colette flipped through more of the candid shots. “You have plenty of pictures of me, but I don’t have any of you.”

“After we eat that fancy dessert you’re going to make, we’ll set the timer on the camera and take some pictures of the two of us. How’s that sound?”

“I love it.” She kissed him softly on the lips. “And thanks for doing this for me. You don’t know how much it means to me.”

“I know your family means everything to you,” he said simply.

“They do,” she responded, studying his face. “I wish you were closer to yours.”

“Me too,” he said with a sense of longing. I’ll see my brother and his family soon. He and his wife are going to a convention up on Mackinac Island. I promised to keep the kids for a few days.”

“Seven-year-old twins, right? When are they coming?”

“In a week and a half.” He grimaced. “Hope I’m ready. Why?”

“Would they like to spend time here on the farm?”

“They’d love it, but I don’t expect you to…”

“It’ll be fun. I’ll get Lexy’s kids for the weekend so they have playmates. One of the twins is a girl, if I remember.”

“Ella and Nick.”

“Super. Melissa will be overjoyed to have a girl to play with and Lexy and Nate will worship us for giving them a kid-free weekend.” She headed for the kitchen. “I’m going to give Lexy a quick call so she can make plans while I start on dessert. Chocolate mousse good with you? It can chill while we eat.”

Chapter Thirteen

Colette waved goodbye to Ian early the next morning, checked on her animals in the barn, and headed for work. Through some magic of computers and printers, Ian took pictures of them together and printed copies on her home printer. Although he wasn’t satisfied with his work, she cherished the picture of them standing in front of her fireplace with Ian’s arms around her.
 

They’d shared a simple meal of pasta and vegetables, but a delicious dessert. After dinner they strolled around the farm, and Ian took photos of the cherry trees, barns, and her animals as the sun set. Later, in the house, he’d used a tripod and timer to take pictures of them together. Not as many as she would have liked, but it was obvious that he wasn’t content on the other side of the camera. Antsy and as if anguished, he’d only posed for a handful of shots.

When they went upstairs to her bedroom, without his camera, his attitude changed. Relaxing and focusing only on each other, they made love until exhausted, falling asleep a few hours before dawn. They woke with the first rays of the sun, knowing they had places to be, but lingering to love each other again.

Happy thoughts of their evening and night together accompanied her all the way to the back door of the clinic when she saw the strained expression on her mother’s face.
 

“What’s the matter, Mom?” Colette was immediately concerned that something had happened to one of the family.

“You’ve already had three calls this morning from a representative of Northfield Real Estate Investments,” Jade Peterson said in one breath. “I guess he couldn’t reach you on your cell.”

“Is that all?” Colette took in a shaky breath. “They’ve moved onto phone calls. So?”
 

“Not just phone calls. The man went to Adrien’s lab in Ann Arbor yesterday and harassed him about selling. Adrien finally had to call campus security to have the man removed.”
 

“Adrien’s a big boy. He can handle a real estate agent.” Colette tried to reason with her mother.

“The man waited for him outside his apartment building in the evening.” Jade gulped down a huge swallow of coffee.

“
That
sounds like harassment, yes, but,” Colette took the coffee cup from her mother’s hand. “Maybe you’ve had enough of this.”

“Can’t help it. That man is messing with my children and I don’t like it. He’s here in Petoskey now at Lexy’s café.”

“I guess he’s persistent. What’s his name?”

“Paul Brickner. He’s got me all stressed out and you should hear Lexy.” Jade’s usually neatly styled hair was a bit chaotic this morning.

“Relax, Mom. We don’t have to talk with him and no one can force us to sell our property.”

“I know, but Adrien was worried that they know something. Why would they offer so much money? There’s got to be more to it.”

“I can’t imagine what it is, and I’m not going to get worked up about it. Tell Lexy to call the police and have the guy removed from her café.”

“She’s already threatening to do that, but I think you and Lexy should meet with him. Listen to what he has to say.” At Colette’s doubtful expression, her mother continued to plead. “Maybe he’ll reveal something in the meeting. At least, you can say no to his face and that will end it.”
 

Her mother had a point there. A face-to-face confrontation might send Brickner and his offers away permanently. She just hated doing that sort of thing.

“What’s Dad say?” she asked, hoping for advice.

“Predictably, nothing, he just mutters and complains, but I know he’s worried.”

“Fine,” she conceded. “I’ll talk to Lexy about a meeting.”
 

“I think it’s the right thing to do.”

“I’ll set it up. You and I and Lexy need to talk about the fundraiser anyway. We’ll schedule the meetings on the same night.”

Colette waited with her sister at the café the next evening. Lexy closed at six on Thursdays, so the customers and staff were already gone. With nothing to do, Lexy was a bundle of displaced energy. Earlier in the day, she had decided she would serve nothing to eat or drink at the meeting. But, as it got closer, she changed her mind to tea and cookies. Lexy was pivoting back and forth behind the counter selecting a tray of cookies when the representative knocked on the door.
 

“That’s the guy.” Lexy looked toward the door. “Collie, you let him in. I’m too nervous.”

“There’s nothing to be upset about. We say no. He leaves.” Colette walked to the door to unlock it. “Let’s just get this over with.”
 

Colette unlocked the door for a middle-aged, dark-haired man. He had a burly chest that made him look more suited to playing football than negotiating deals. His eyes were shrewd and his nose hawk-like. Colette knew immediately he wouldn’t hesitate to threaten and harass. Lovely. Just what they needed on a perfect summer’s evening.

“I’m Paul Brickner from Northfield Real Estate Investments.” The man shook hands and listened to the introductions before taking his seat. “I don’t plan to take up more of your time than is necessary tonight. I just want to make my employer’s offer clear.”

“What’s the name of your employer?” Lexy questioned him.

“Northfield Investments.”

“No, who owns it?” Colette clarified her sister’s question.

“I’m not at liberty to say.”

“Why not?” Colette demanded. “The last letter said the owner is putting up the money personally. I guess that was meant to convince us to sell. Why would someone want to lay out that kind of money personally if he doesn’t want us to know who it is?”

“I’m not at liberty to say.”

“Ah,” Colette commented. “Is that your favorite expression?”

Mr. Brickner huffed out an impatient sigh. “I have been instructed by my employer to increase the offer to twelve million dollars. I assume that’s an acceptable offer as it far exceeds the property’s value.”

“No,” the sisters said together.

Mr. Brickner eyed each of them individually. “Very well. My employer has authorized me to use whatever means are necessary to secure the property.” He pulled several folders out of his briefcase. “I’ve carefully checked the deed, property taxes, and any documents pertaining to the property.”

“And found nothing,” Colette said. Pleased with herself that she’d checked all of this already.

“Correct. You are very careful people. But there is always something, so I’m still looking.”

“Mr. Brickner, it’s no use. You won’t find any dirt on us or the property and we are not selling. Please understand our refusal. Go back to Chicago and report it to your employer. We are just wasting each other’s time here.”

“Miss…”

“Doctor Peterson,” Colette corrected. She rarely pulled out her title, but today was a good use of it.

“My apologies, Doctor Peterson, I fail to understand why young people wish to hang on to a piece of property when you could profit so much by its sale.”

“What profit could I buy with that money that I don’t already have here? That property you would have us so callously discard has been in our family for generations. We have no desire to sell it, regardless of the price.”

He turned to Lexy. “You have children to provide for. Surely you must see the value in such a profitable transaction.”

“No. My husband and I are content with our finances. Cookie, Mr. Brickner?”

Colette rolled her eyes, shooting her sister a look to back off with the cookies. This wasn’t a social event. “If we’re done here, my sister and I have other things to discuss.” Colette stood, forcing Mr. Brickner to rise. She led the way to the door, all but pushed him through and locked it behind him. “You can come out of the kitchen now, Mom, he’s gone.”

Jade emerged from the other room, coming through the swinging doors and around a display case. “Do you think he’ll come back?”
 

Colette lifted the curtain on the front door and the three of them put their heads together to peep through. “Not tonight.” Colette dropped the curtain and stretched her neck, trying to relieve the tension in her shoulders. “Did you find out anything about the owner of Northfield, Mom?”

“No, I dug around on all sorts of sites today, but nothing. No name associated with the business, although I saw that one man is the primary owner. I asked Adrien to dig. He’s better at it than I am.”

“It probably doesn’t mean anything. I just wondered why the owner was so personally interested in our property. I thought maybe there was a connection of some sort. Someone we angered once?” Colette flipped open her agenda to find the long to-do list for the fundraiser. “I need cake, Lexy, before we tackle this list.”

“I’ve got a raspberry chocolate torte in the cooler. I’ll just be a minute.” Lexy disappeared into the back.

Jade came and sat at the table with Colette. “Maybe you should stay with your father and me for a few nights until Brickner goes back to Chicago. I don’t like the look of him.”

“Mom, I’m fine. The dogs will let me know if anyone comes around.”

“Is Ian spending, um…?”

“Ian is out of town until Saturday,” Colette cut her mother’s stuttering off, firmly. “I love having Ian with me, but I’ve lived on the farm for a long time without a man. I don’t need protection.”