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Maybe I would find my person soon.
But first, I had to decide on what to do with Levi’s proposal.
I didn’t like the idea of revenge, and as I walked home later, I was going back and forth on whether or not to say yes.
As I lay down and drifted off not long after, I asked the universe to give me a sign, something to tell me what to do. And whatever it gave me, I would follow it.
It wasan ungodly hour in the morning when the sound of an excavator backing up woke me up. I groaned and rubbed my eyes. In my neighborhood, we didn’t hearthatsound unless a house had been sold to be bulldozed or someone had something really bad happening. I wanted to know about either of those options.
As I slowly got up, I knew the chances of demolition were low. Though Nashville was rich with development, our neighborhood had an unspoken rule not to sell to investors. This was the one place where things felt like old Nashville, and all of us wanted to keep it that way.
Whatever happened in other neighborhoods was none of my business. I knew that we needed more homes to accommodate the influx of people, but seeing a perfectly good place get torn down in favor of cookie-cutter homes was hard. I’d rather expand instead of changing existing neighborhoods. There was no perfect solution, but removing history seemed harsh when people wanted to move here for the charm.
The excavator was pulling up to the house across the street. That property had been for sale for a while, and I wondered if they’d finally sold it and the new owners were making repairs.
I threw on a robe, curious as to what needed to be done. As far as I knew, it was in good shape.
But if some major thing went wrong in a nearby house that was the same age as mine, I needed to start to save money in case it happened to me.
I walked across the street, spotting a note on the door. The workers didn’t bother me as I walked closer, but then, when I saw what was on it, my jaw dropped.
Demolition scheduled.
No. No way. That house was perfectly livable! Why would it get demolished?
“It’s so frustrating when things don’t go your way,” a voice said. For a second, I thought I had to be dreaming, but then I turned and saw Calvin smirking at me from the road, and I quickly realized I was living in a nightmare.
“What the fuck are you doing here?”
“Like my new house?” He turned to the home. “Well,houseis a strong word. It’s an antique. But it’ll be a very nice new home once I’m done. I had to offer an extraordinary amount of money for the dump and fast-track the permits to get it torn down so quickly, but it was worth seeing your face.”
I had to stare at him to process all of thebullshithe’d just told me.
“My ... Calvin, what the hell? You’re tearing down a house for revenge?”
“I’m investing in real estate. The neighborhood could use some work.”
My jaw dropped. “Are you serious? Aren’t you busy enough being a CEO?”
“I am, but this is a personal project.”
“A personal—Calvin, get alife.Go hang out with your hundreds of friends.”
“Why would I do that when this is way more fun?”
I knew Calvin was a dick and threw fits to get his way, but I never knew it had gotten this bad. Apparently, gaining power had only added to his big head.
“So you didn’t get Gram’s house. It doesn’t mean you can ruin other things.”
“That house was mine, Amy. I know it, and so did you. I don’t know whose dick you sucked in the probate court?—”
“Calvin!” I hissed.
“But I won’t forget what you took from me. It took a bit for Dad to retire and for one of the losers in this neighborhood to put a house up for sale, but it’s all coming together. And when you can’t pay your bills, I’ll tear Gram’s down too.”
My chest heaved. I wasn’t going to let him get away with this, and I knew the one thing I could say to wipe that stupid smirk off of his face.
“I guess you’re not getting invited to my wedding, then.”