The House On Sugar Plum Lane. Judy Duarte

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СКАЧАТЬ wasn’t the kind to resort to games, especially in front of their child.

      She followed the gardener to the side yard, where a tree limb from the house next door hung over the wood fence. Or maybe leaned on it was more accurate.

      “This branch needs to be cut back. As you can see, it’s creating a problem. If we don’t do something about it, the fence will need to be repaired or replaced. But we can’t cut it without the neighbor’s permission. Do you know the people who live there?”

      “I just met her,” Amy said. “Her name is Maria. And I don’t think she’ll mind. Do you want me to talk to her about it?”

      “I’ll do it. We’ve got a release form I’d like for her to sign.” Eddie stepped closer to the fence and peered into Maria’s yard, checking out the tree that was causing the problem.

      Amy couldn’t imagine Maria having a problem with Eddie trimming her tree. After all, the fence was already starting to bow from the weight.

      “By the way,” Eddie added, “the sprinkling system is shot. I’m not sure if Mr. Davila will want to go to the expense of tearing it out and replacing it. If not, you’ll have to water the old-fashioned way.”

      It’s not that Amy didn’t like yard work, but she’d committed to a lot more than she’d planned already. And while she’d defend her actions to Brandon, she was getting drawn deeper and deeper into something she hadn’t thought completely through when she’d leased the house.

      “Well, I guess that’s it for now.” Eddie stepped away from the fence and turned, ready to head back to the front yard. “I don’t want to keep you from your work or your company.”

      “He’s not exactly company,” she said as they walked. “But while you’re here, can I ask you something?”

      “Shoot.”

      “Do you know anything about rosebushes?”

      “Quite a bit. Why?”

      “Like I mentioned earlier, the woman who lived here had a rose garden in back. It’s a scraggly mess now, but she clearly used to love it and care for it.”

      “I’d planned to trim and weed around it.”

      That wasn’t exactly what she meant. “I’m not sure how much work the Davilas want you to do, but I’d be happy to pay you extra to get those bushes healthy once more. It just seems that…” What? she asked herself. That she somehow owed it to Ellie Rucker to put things back to rights? “…well, let’s just say I’d like to see the roses bloom the way they should.”

      “You got it,” Eddie said as they returned to the front yard, where Brandon and Callie waited. “I’ll get some numbers to the Davilas, and we’ll take it from there.”

      Amy nodded as Eddie headed toward his pickup.

      When she returned her attention to Brandon, she said, “Why don’t I give you a call on your cell? I think it’s better if we talk privately about this.”

      “I don’t like not knowing what you’re up to,” Brandon said as he placed a hand on Callie’s shoulder.

      “I’m not ‘up to’ anything. There’s a perfectly good explanation.” Well, he might not consider it a good one. But Amy wasn’t moving to Fairbrook. And she wasn’t dating anyone.

      “Aren’t you going with us?” Callie asked.

      “Not today, honey. I’m afraid I can’t. But have fun.”

      “Should I bring her back here?” Brandon asked.

      “No.” Amy would have to figure out a Plan B, whatever that might be. “Tell me what time you’ll have her home, and I’ll be there.”

      “How about two?” he asked.

      She nodded, thinking she’d better get busy if she wanted to get any work—or any snooping—done.

      Brandon drove his black late-model Mercedes through the traffic on his way to Chuck E. Cheese’s, a place he’d only been to once and hadn’t appreciated as much as everyone else seemed to. He preferred to eat at restaurants that didn’t cater to kids.

      As he stopped at the intersection of Canyon and Main, he noticed a man in blue coveralls sweeping the sidewalk in front of a café. He didn’t give it much thought until he caught sight of the guy’s profile. From the side, he looked familiar.

      Brandon tried to check him out, but he pushed his broom around the corner, disappearing from view.

      His dad?

      No, it couldn’t be. His old man had probably drunk himself to death by now. Besides, what would he be doing in Fairbrook? He didn’t have any family or friends here.

      “Daddy?”

      Brandon glanced in the rearview mirror at Callie, who sat in her car seat in back. “Yes, honey?”

      “How come the light is green and you’re not going?”

      Oh, for Pete’s sake. Brandon glanced at the traffic light, saw that it wasn’t going to get any greener, and started across the street.

      “I can’t wait to go to Chuck E. Cheese’s,” Callie said. “It’s the funnest place in the world.”

      Ever since leaving Sugar Plum Lane, the little girl had been chattering up a storm. But it wasn’t the child he wanted to talk to right now; it was her mother, who was clearly up to something.

      The divorce had been an unexpected blow, but he’d gone along with it, thinking that a fight wasn’t in anyone’s best interest. Then Amy had insisted upon moving back to the townhome in Del Mar, which left him living alone in a sprawling four-bedroom executive house in La Jolla with a killer view, where he only returned at night to sleep.

      Of course, he’d been sleeping like crap ever since Amy and Callie moved out. What had gotten into the woman who’d once been so levelheaded and predictable? She’d morphed into a woman he no longer knew.

      “I’ll call and explain,” she’d told him.

      But when? Next week?

      He slipped on the Bluetooth, then called her cell instead. The phone rang several times before Amy finally answered.

      “Hello?”

      “Did you lose your phone? You were supposed to call me.”

      “No, I…”

      Brandon meant to be patient. He really did. But he couldn’t help pressing for an answer. “What’s going on, Amy?”

      She blew out a sigh, as though that simple explanation wasn’t so simple after all. “Remember how I told you that my mother had been searching for her biological family?”

      Vaguely, but he’d been pretty busy and hadn’t paid a lot of attention to things that hadn’t concerned him. He couldn’t admit that, though, so he said, СКАЧАТЬ