If I Didn't Know Better (The Callaways #9)(12)

"Thank you so much," she said. "I don't know why my mom's key didn't work."

"The lock was warped. This will work for tonight, but why don't I change all the locks for you tomorrow and give you a new set of keys?"

"That would be great."

"I'll come by in the morning, unless you're going to be out tonight and will need to get back in?"

"No, tomorrow is good for me. Thank you for coming out after hours."

"No problem. I'll see you soon. You all have a good night."

As the locksmith left, she stepped into the house. She turned on the lights, happy that her mom had made sure to keep the utilities paid until they could get the house cleaned out.

She took a deep breath as she walked through the entry and into the living room. It was more cluttered than she remembered. She could barely take it all in.

There wasn't an inch of wall space that wasn't covered by a painting or a decorative piece of artwork, and the tables were filled with vases, bowls, small statues, and framed photographs as well as numerous books and magazines on art and interior design. One armchair was filled with fabric swatches that made Mia wonder if her aunt had been planning to redecorate.

"You weren't kidding when you said your aunt had a lot of stuff," Jeremy commented.

She hadn't realized that he and Ashlyn had followed her inside. "I didn't think it would be this much," she confessed. "I remember the house being neater, although my aunt traveled a lot in recent years, and she always had some new project she was working on. I guess organizing and cleaning fell to the bottom of the list."

Ashlyn wandered over to an antique chair that held a beautiful doll with a porcelain face and a flowing white dress that had yellowed with age. But the doll's face was exquisitely pretty, with what appeared to be almost real lashes over the bright blue eyes. Ashlyn reached out to touch the doll, and then abruptly put her hand back into her pocket, flashing Mia a guilty look.

"It's okay," she said quickly, wondering if Ashlyn felt guilty for almost touching the doll or for forgetting that she wasn't supposed to be interested in anything. "My aunt used to tell me that dolls were meant to be played with." She walked across the room and picked up the doll. "And this doll needs a friend. She'll be lonely now that my aunt isn't here anymore. Could you keep her company?"

Ashlyn stared back at her with indecision in her eyes. Then she slowly took her hands out of her pockets and accepted the doll. She sat down in the chair and held it awkwardly in her lap, as if she wasn't sure what to do now that she had it.

Mia looked away, sensing Ashlyn was more uncomfortable with the attention she was getting from her and Jeremy than she was with the doll.

Jeremy mouthed, "Thank you."

She nodded and drew in a breath as she turned her gaze back to the room. "This is going to be a big job."

"I'll say," he agreed. "This one room alone will take you a dozen boxes and at least a few hours."

"I'm almost afraid to look at the rest of the house."

"Well, just remember what you said…"

"What's that?"

"What could be better than summer in Angel's Bay?"

She smiled. "Good point. I just have to take it one step at a time."

"Or one weird statue at a time." He picked up what appeared to be a goat with a hat on its head. "What on earth is this?"

"I'm not sure, but I'll find out. Aunt Carly knew the difference between valuable pieces and junk." At least, she hoped her aunt had known the difference.

"We should go and leave you to it."

"Okay." She was almost sorry to see them leave, but she'd come to Angel's Bay to sort out not only her aunt's house but also her life. She needed to focus on that and not the sexy man next door and his adorable and wounded daughter. She needed to fix her own life, not theirs. She walked them out the door, grabbed her suitcase out of her car and took it back into the house.

Bypassing the living room, she headed upstairs. Her aunt's bedroom was the first door on the left. She glanced inside but didn't feel ready to go in there yet. There would be a lot of emotions in that room, and she wasn't ready for those. She continued down the hall to the guest room she'd used as a teenager.

It was also crammed with stuff. She swept piles of clothes off the bed, changed the linens, and then put on her PJs and climbed under the covers with the odd feeling that she'd come home.



*



It was almost midnight when Jeremy turned off the television in the living room and got up with a yawn and a stretch of his stiff limbs. He'd felt both tired and restless since he'd left Mia's house. After Ashlyn had gone to bed, he'd tried to distract himself with a baseball game and surfing the Internet. Neither had really worked. His mind kept returning to the pretty blonde with the most amazing blue eyes and a smile that made him feel like he'd just come in from the cold.

Mia had blown into his life like a gust of refreshing wind. She talked a lot, but she was friendly, kind, and candid about her personal flaws, and he liked her down-to-earth, unpretentious attitude a little too much.

He was supposed to be focused on his daughter, on rehabbing his shoulder, on getting his life together. He couldn't allow himself to be derailed by a woman, no matter how attractive she was.