The Promise (Neighbor from Hell, #10)(68)

He already had the school board’s approval to let her finish out the rest of the year while he searched for a permanent replacement for Miss Dawson, but once summer came, she wouldn’t have anything to do for the last nine months of her sabbatical. Knowing Joey, she’d go crazy with nothing to do, which meant that he was going to have to figure something out and fast because he wasn’t ready to lose her yet.

“How much is it going to cost to fix the house?” Reed asked, glancing at Reese.

“With that historical designation restricting what we can do, it looks like it’s going to cost around three hundred grand,” Reese said, making Trevor groan with a muttered, “Shit!” because he was out.

“How much if you deduct labor from the equation?” he asked, watching Joey, who hadn’t said anything since Jackson told her that he had to get going over an hour ago. She’d wished him a safe trip, gave him a hug and a warm smile that turned sad, making him wonder about a few things.

“That was without labor,” Reese said, taking away his last hope because there was no way that she was going to be able to afford that even with his help.

“I can do it,” Matt said with a glance at Joey’s untouched plate and-

“Ow!”

“This family is really violent,” Mikey said with a sad shake of her head as she helped herself to a piece of bacon off Sebastian’s plate, who was busy reading a book that he’d helped himself to from one of the many stacks that Joey left around the house.

“What’s the property worth?” Sean asked, helping himself to the bowl of home fries as he glanced at Conner.

“Five acres and access to a private lake, it’s valued at four hundred thousand,” Conner said, which meant that they weren’t going to make much flipping the house once they were done. But that didn’t matter, not to them. They weren’t here to make a profit. They were here because they all wanted a chance to get their hands on one of their great-grandfather Noah’s houses and put it to rights.

“I’ll give you two hundred for the property,” Uncle Jared said, sighing heavily as he helped himself to the bowl of scrambled eggs.

“Two-fifty,” Rory said as she took a sip of her hot cocoa.

“Two-seventy-five,” Uncle Jared said with a glare.

“Two-ninety,” Connor said.

“Two-”

“I’ll give you four hundred thousand,” Garrett, who’d disappeared two hours ago, said evenly as he took the empty seat next to Joey and rubbed his hands roughly down his face, “and I’m moving in today.”

---

“This can’t be happening,” Joey said, worrying her bottom lip as she frantically searched through her backpack only to toss it aside when she didn’t find it there either.

“What are you looking for?” Julie asked from her spot on the stairs where the kitten that Joey really should figure out a name for at some point, attacked her shoelaces.

“My Eeyore keychain,” she said, checking her pockets, again, only to come up empty.

“Did you check your car?”

“Five times,” she said, sighing heavily as she pulled her cellphone out of her back pocket, hoping that Jackson found it only to shove it back in her pocket when she saw that he hadn’t responded yet.

“Any chance that you left it back at the campsite?” Julie asked as she reached down to scratch the kitten behind his ear.

“That’s what I’m afraid of,” Joey said, feeling her shoulders slump.

“You can probably order one online,” Julie suggested with a hopeful smile.

“I can’t,” she said, grabbing her bag and started the search all over again.

“Want some help?” Julie asked, giving the kitten one last scratch as she stood up.

“That’s okay. Jackson probably has it,” Joey said as she forced herself to drop her bag, knowing that it was pointless.

“You’re probably right,” Julie said as Joey glanced around the foyer, hoping against hope that she’d spot the small keychain lying around somewhere.

“Probably,” she mumbled sadly as she stood there, trying to figure out what she was going to do.

“How was the camping trip?”

“It was fine,” she said, glancing towards the stairs and wondering if she could have dropped it when she brought her bags upstairs.

“Anything interesting happen?” Julie asked as she returned her attention to the kitten.

“We all tried to kill Matt,” Joey said, pulling out her phone and—

No response.

“I’m honestly surprised that no one has succeeded yet,” Julie murmured.

“I think I’m going to call it a night. Thank you for taking care of him,” she said, forcing a smile.

“Anytime,” Julie said with an easy smile as she headed for the door while Joey glanced around the foyer one last time before heading upstairs for the night.

Along the way, she investigated every corner, shadow, and crevice with no luck. By the time she made it upstairs, she’d accepted the fact that it was probably long gone. She never should have put it with her car keys, she thought as she stepped into her room and closed the door behind her. She should have kept it beneath her pillow, but she liked having it with her and now it was gone, she thought with dread as she headed to the bathroom.