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He shifted his weight from one foot to the other, his cheeks brightening in a way that couldn’t be blamed on the direct sunlight they were standing in. Laughing, a nervous, awkward sound that was accompanied by an apparently itchy neck, he searched for words he couldn’t find.

“The job is very… well… unique I guess I would say—”

“I’m going to need you to get to a point here,” Lola prodded, trying to be patient but failing.

“Right,” he laughed again, face going from red to alarming. “It’s just… I’m not sure you saw the final plans for your new hedges.”

He flipped the cover on the tablet, which was tagged with his logo, and Lola started to wonder whether he also had the damn insignia tattooed on his chest.

“See?” He pointed at the design Lola had paid a landscape architect to create overnight. “It’s, well, I hate to say this to a young lady,” he laughed again, though this time it was more of a gurgle in his throat. “The way the topiaries are shaped, and where the small red topiaries are positioned… well… it’s just… they look something like male genitalia. And if you plant them at the border of your beautiful home,” he scanned the outdoor space, manicured and clean at present, “I don’t know—”

“I’ll pay you ten percent more if you finish before four o’clock,” Lola replied, knowing exactly what she wanted and refusing to let anything get in her way. It would be worth the jump in credit card debt.

“So this,” he pointed at his tablet again, “is definitely what you want us to do?”

Lola did her best to smile. “Absolutely.”

Her phone buzzed in her hand. The fact that her mother was calling in the middle of a work day was never a good sign. The only real question was how much it was going to cost Lola in time, money, or aggravation.

Stepping away from the man who’d finally stopped questioning her, Lola answered. Three seconds into the call, she was pinching the bridge of her nose and wishing an asteroid would fall out of the sky and vaporize the place where she was standing.

“Did you change the code on the door of your apartment?” Her mother asked, as if she didn’t already know the answer.

Heat crawled up Lola’s neck, followed immediately by a pounding in her ears. “Why are you trying to get into my apartment, Ma?”

“It’s such a nice day, and there’s nobody using the pool. It’s just sitting there, all crystal blue and empty.”

Her mother wasn’t the reason she’d changed the code on her door. Not exactly, or rather, not directly.

“And who do you want to use the pool with, ma?”

Silence. Long and cold and telling.

Around her, the team of landscapers descended into the yard like a swarm. Good. They were finally taking her seriously.

“I didn’t teach you to be selfish, Dolores.”

Lola rolled her eyes, but she didn’t say that her mother could be the most selfish person she’d ever met.

“Who’s with you?” Lola repeated, knowing the answer by her mother’s refusal to answer the question. “Andy?”

“He’s my friend, Lola.”

“He’s a married man who refuses to do anything but waste your time. Absolutely not.”

Deflecting her mother’s complaints interlaced with accusations of her being a brat, Lola held the phone away from her ear until the tide ebbed.

“Call me back when you’re by yourself, and I’ll be very happy to let you into the pool.”

When she hung up, the guy with the polo called her over. Lola strode over to him, her mood improving the closer she got to the realization of her design.

“So, this is what you want us to do? Around the entire perimeter? That’s over two hundred—”

“Yep,” Lola assured him with a grin that sprouted from her very soul. “That’s exactly what I want you to do,” she agreed, thinking about the hundreds of flowers Carmen sent to her office.

Satisfaction was as comforting as milk and cookies at the end of a long, hard day. Winning was the best feeling. An addictive high that carried Lola into a higher plane of existence.

Unlocking her phone, she let the euphoria of getting even cloud her better judgment. She found her mother’s contact in her recent texts and sent a message:The code is 108801. The key fob for the pool gate is in the dish by the front door. Beach towels in the hall closet.