Fostering Love (The Soul Sisters Series Book 1) (7 page)

The front of the property simply faces the long gravel drive, it has a set of large wooden double doors that welcome all.  My favorite feature of all the new additions is the wrap around deck and covered porch.  You can walk all round the ranch house completely under cover and see lots of different things.  There are also odd bits of sporadic placed furniture which means you can just stop and take in something that catches your eye when you see it.  Growing up with my camera here was amazing, whilst Chris was helping his dad on the ranch I would just do loops of the house and stop every so often to capture something great.  It would be mainly nature or the farm workers but also Chris and his family.  Chris used to worry I’d be bored when his mom roped him into helping his dad, but I was fine, she knew my passion for photography and would sometimes come and sit outside with me whilst I did my thing. 

I climb out of his huge dodge pickup and we head into the house and straight through to the kitchen.  I slump onto my elbows leaning on the island in the middle and place my head in my hands whilst Chris assembles coffee for us.  I’m still unsure and nervous about whether Jonas may appear and I have to keep that in the back of my mind, I must remain vigilant and after all, I have no idea why he chose to live on the ranch and what he does during the day.  He’s also still my family and I’ve just attacked his fuck buddy in the supermarket.

“Arrgghh, what the fuck got into me?” I say it out loud but it’s more of a rhetorical question.

“I was only there for a bit,” he says, “I didn’t see all of it, but I certainly heard the complete bullshit she was spouting at the end about you and the twins.”

“I still should have kept a grip on my shit; I just publicly slapped that cow.”

“I know and in all fairness she’s lucky it took this long, you should have done it years ago Dolly.”

“I won’t apologize, I may need to go out in disguise for a while around town to avoid the gossips, but I won’t apologize.”  This I feel strongly about.

“You’ll need the disguise to avoid the autograph hunters.  I’d suggest you go low key for a while, just to avoid the UFC promoters that will be looking for you.  You could be the next big thing, they’re always looking for hot girls to get into that.”  He pauses in contemplation, “I’ve got access to a
lot
of mud out back if you fancy really making a splash and trying your luck on the mud wrestling scene too.” At that I burst out laughing, he’s achieved what he wanted; he’s got me to calm down and have a giggle.

“Seriously, Dolls, everyone has a breaking point and you hit yours but you know how disappointed Barbara will be when she gets wind of this.”

“I know, damage control won’t help me this time, I’ll just take my verbal bollocking I suppose and hope for the best, but if the twins hear about what she was saying they won’t leave it alone until she pays.  Those young studs won’t want this reputation damaging crap flying around about them.  It could harm and limit the numbers of available girls in the
still to do
pool.”

We both know my younger brothers are studs.  They’ve got the looks, they play football and can be an effective tag team on unsuspecting girls.  I also wouldn’t put it past them to have been fully up in some sultry spit roast action in the past and I am hoping to God that Tits was not commenting from personal experience because one brother tapping that skank is vile enough.  Then I remember that she will make the most of this with Jonas and God forbid he actually likes that woman, this episode will not make him happy.

“Pfftt, well that’s that then...”  I mutter to myself.

“What Dolls?”

“Nothing, just having a little chat with myself.”

“Come on spill,” he says.

“Jonas is gonna be pissed, I’ve just walloped his bitch.”

He sniggers and has a funny look on his face but says no more as the door bell rings and Chris goes into the hall and shouts “Come in” to whoever is here.  The next thing I hear is someone beat boxing the drum intro from one of the Rocky films, it then morphs into a female voice singing the eye of the tiger. 

Neely. 

I look at Chris and see he’s trying to hold back his laughter, he doesn’t manage it for long before a huge laugh erupts from him.  My shoulders then start to shake too and I also start chuckling.

“Did you call her?”

“Yeah, when we were on the way here.” WOW, I really was stuck in my own head; I don’t remember him making that call as Neely comes to me and embraces me with a hug that tells me she wouldn’t be anywhere else right now.  “She’s your ride back to town, I knew you wouldn’t want to miss your meeting with Oli and she’s going back to the same place.”  He’s as thoughtful as ever.

“You really are wasting your talents by being a hook up guy whore.  That kind of consideration would have ladies flocking to your door and dropping at your feet,” I reply.  He ignores that comment and smiles shyly at Neely who sort of smiles just as awkwardly and blushes back.

“Dolly Deckster, do I need to ice your hand or get a mould made of it so we can display it in the town hall?  Taking that skank down a few pegs is like a public service, we should allow the public to celebrate in some way, see the weapon and honor it.”

“Neely, don’t, I lost it, totally and utterly, I exploded.  I’m still waiting for shame and feelings of remorse to hit me.”

“Don’t push it yet, the acting required for those kinds of emotions are a onetime thing...save that one time for the sheriff.”

“WHAT!” I shout and stand up.

“Well, she’s an evil spite filled super whore and she lost...in public.  If people don’t forget quickly she may exercise her right to have you put in chains and publicly flogged.”

“Jesus Christ... what have I done?” I ask no one in particular.

“Nothing you can do about it now apart from see how it plays out.  Of course in order to make that play she’ll need to sign a statement, I imagine she’s still using a pencil and has that cardboard finger they give kids when they’re five, you know the one that you use to put the correct spaces in between the words?  She’ll have modified hers and it’ll now have an evil painted talon.  That probably won’t be as fun as watching her string the words together for a sentence in the first place and then try and spell her own name.  The duty officer could be onto an internet winner if he films it.”  I’m really smiling now because she says all this shit with total seriousness and I know she’ll have my back if I do have to take a trip to the sheriff’s office.  “Anyway let’s hustle girl, I ran out like someone was burning alive and I need to get back, this chat isn’t over though, I want details.”

I wander over to Chris, kiss him on the cheek and wrap my arms around him as I feel his familiar big arms close me in.  Embracing him I quietly say “Thanks for rescuing me and getting me straight.”  I kiss him again and make my way out of his hug and as I turn back towards the kitchen entrance, there bolt upright in the doorway looking unhappy, is Jonas.  I wait for him to berate me over my supermarket smack down, but I get nothing but a glare.

“I almost forgot Chris, can I use your access to the lake and waterfall if I get this photo job with Oli?”

“Sure, whenever,” he says.

“Thanks again,” my tone is softer this time, there is hidden meaning in the way I say it so he knows I’m thanking him for the rescue too.  Neely and I walk towards the entrance, while she exchanges a normal greeting with Jonas he just grunts in return.  I say nothing to him and he says nothing to me, he just moves out of my way to let me past.  After shutting the front door behind me, I climb into Neely’s Hybrid and we head into town for my meeting with Oli.

The offices of Hart, Hart & Smythe are like any other respectable Attorneys’, they are clean, smart, sleek and full of shelves rammed with books.  As we progress through the reception I say a quick “Hi” to Sonny’s mom who is at the receptionist desk today.  She has worked here for years during the school day as a secretary but also covers as a receptionist and from what Neely tells me she is seriously capable in the legal field but decided raising Sonny and his sisters was more important.  Even though her qualifications lie in the legal secretarial area she does get involved in research and other trusted duties.  We head to Neely’s desk and when we get there she drops her purse in her drawer and jiggles the mouse to activate the computer screen and as she turns towards me to say bye, Steven Smythe appears.

“Neely good to see you’ve made it back; I see the beauty factor in here has just doubled.  You should go out and bring girls back more often.”  The way he says “girls” is creepy because Steven Smythe is a bit of a sleaze.  He is like a stereotypical lawyer from a bad movie.  He’s a guy you don’t feel comfortable having to trust, for anything, how he ended up in partnership with the Harts is beyond me.

“Steven, you remember my friend Dalton, she’s got an appointment with Oli.”

“Dalton and Lottie in one day, Oli is a lucky guy.” He throws back at her.  I’ve had enough references to threesomes for one day so I cut this short.

“Neely, thanks for today, catch you later.” I nod at Steven and move to the back of the building.  I also know that in doing this whilst he is still watching me gives him a perfect chance to be creepy and letch at my ass. It’s like I can feel him crawling over my skin.  Utterly disgusting.  I sometimes worry about Neely working with him, but then I remember Neely and her ways.  She knows he’d jump for a chance to get in there, so in her way of meeting shit head on, she shut that shit down early on after joining the firm.  Now he’s all innuendoes and lewd looks which she can cope with and if he tried anything else the Harts would have a front row seat to how she would physically deal with it.  Being small at 5’ 5” means she’s often underestimated but she can look after herself and when you add rage into that equation she’s a little ball of rage and fire all rolled into one.

Oli’s door is open, so I stick my head round whilst knocking and wander in.  As usual he is dressed in a sharp suit and looks well groomed; he is the perfect match for Lottie.  However, underneath the suit are muscles and rumors of rebellious tattoos.  Reminding myself of these possibilities makes me smile.  I wonder if he realizes just how perfect a match for her he is, Lottie underneath her well coordinated designer exterior hides a wild side that people don’t often see.  I don’t know if Oli knows about it.  Their fake dating enables them to avoid other match making attempts by both sets of parents.  Like Lottie, Oli has had a privileged upbringing and where Lottie’s parents look for a match to ensure the right suitor will bring happiness for their princess, Oli’s parents do it for reasons of breeding a future generation Hawsktown power couple.  Lottie assures me the fake bit means they get space; they have the odd dinner date with the parents, as well as random meetings at the country club and phone calls to each other.  Although the phone calls are usually short and frequent to tie each other’s stories together.  Oli gets up from his desk, comes round the corner of it to me and gives me a quick kiss on the cheek.  I drop my purse on the chair next to me and sit down.

“Coffee?”

“Sure, thanks,” more caffeine at this point can’t hurt.

“Not that I know specifics, but getting a phone call from Chris delaying our chat and then watching Neely run out like she did, like someone had been hurt,  leads me to believe you’ve had an eventful morning.”  Well someone had been hurt, Tits.  A victim of my unbelievable rage.

“Yeah, I had a small run in with Letitia Brunel, you know we’ve never seen eye to eye.  I guess it came to a head today.”  His body does a fake shudder letting me know he too thinks she’s unpleasant.

“Now that would have been worth seeing, she’s unpleasant at the best of times,” he says.

“Nah, not really, but it does mean I’ve got to try and do my grocery shopping again when I go back for my car, now that’s unpleasant.”  I’m trying to play it down, this meeting is about a job and not my wild temper.  “So the tourist brochure...”

“Yeah, a few new units are in for planning permission on the edge of town and some of the Main Street ones I already own will be coming up for lease renewals.  I thought that getting some new tourists in the town might open up some interest.  You know, tempt them here, keep them here.”

“OK, I’ve got a few ideas for locations of great shots.  Chesters Mountain and some walkers, The Hawkstown lake and waterfall would be lovely, The Mayor’s Day Festival is usually vibrant and fun.  Other local highlights will jump out at me as I get going.”

“Great, I like those ideas and with the festival coming up soon it means we can plan to use it in the brochure.  I was also thinking of some high school football shots too, if I want people to move here to start a business and a life, then they need to see the community and its school I think.”

“OK, I’ll add it to the list.”

“I’ll be handling the words and general blurb on the brochure and once we’ve selected the photos, I can get some specifics done at the end and tailor some of it around the photos we’ve included,” he says.

“Cool, I’ll get started then, how do you want to handle my fees?”

“Wally has already given me an idea of your rate, they’re fine.  Just keep a record of time worked and expenses incurred, that kind of thing and we’ll settle at the end.  I also understand that you’ll retain the copyright to the shots we use and will get a credit mention as the photographer in the brochure.”

“Good, thanks.  Talking of expenses, I’ll need to hire an assistant to help me with the lake and waterfall shoot, the location is tricky and I’ll need someone to help with my gear.  I usually ask Tommy Sevens, he’s worked with me before, so it’ll be quicker than getting someone else and his day rate is reasonable I promise.”