Hollis: I’m going to have to raise my rates.
Me: Probably smart. Going to check on Lex.
Hollis: Good luck. She’s quite irritated.
I put my phone away and walked to the side of the shop. As long as I had Lex in my life, I’d weather any storm with her.
Chapter Twelve
> Drake
The floodlight outside the shop had been turned on. Lex had a log up on the block and was mid-swing. As I watched, a piece of wood splintered off.
My Alaskan firecracker.
With each swing of the ax, Lex growled, “I hate her. I hate her. I hate her.”
This wasn’t good. We’d gone straight to hating whomever. I kept my distance and leaned against the wall. “Who do you hate?”
Lex swung again and broke off another piece of wood. “Raquel.”
Raquel most likely deserved it. “What’d she do?”
“Apparently, she called the Twiner sisters, probably to vindicate her name and take revenge on me for the dirty water. Then she proceeded to tell Elvira that it was her and Chazz’s idea to bring Hollis here. Stupid, stupid Chazz. I’ve never even met him, and I can’t stand the sound of his name.”
Whack!
Another piece of the log split off. Sylvia and Elvira must have struck gold with this newsletter. Lex loaded another piece of wood and swung, but this time she missed. “It was not her idea. At all. She told me I was an idiot when I left for New York with this idea. Ugh!” She gave the log another whack. “Then Sylvia chimed in and asked what it felt like to be Raquel’s sister. I tried to remain calm. I really did. But then, on top of that stupid-ass, ridiculous question, they asked me for a quote for their newsletter regarding my opinion of how wonderful Raquel and Chazz were for the community. How wonderful they were for finding Hollis Fritz.”
I was afraid to ask, but I did anyway. “And you said?”
She gave four more angry swings before she placed the ax down and turned to me. She put her hands on her hips, fury radiating from every pore of her body. “That Raquel had nothing to do with Hollis Fritz coming to town. Nothing. He doesn’t even know her. He’s my friend, and I asked him to come here. And then the sisters called Raquel, who said I was cheating on Hollis with you. My mother confirmed that I was dating Hollis. My mother! She knows I’m not.”
Now I was getting fucking pissed, too. These two were trying to make waves where there weren’t any. Which definitely made them letter-writer suspects.
“Drake, I have never, ever dated Hollis. I swear it.”
“I believe you.” I wanted to take the ax to a few logs myself. Motherfuckers. “What happened next?”
Lex began to pace. “They called me back and asked about us. What Hollis thought about me and you rekindling our romance. Would I break up with Hollis. I tried to calmly explain the situation. Then they said they needed to finish gathering the information and would let me know. This is my fucking life. I know who I’m seeing. I seriously want to—”
My phone rang, cutting off Lex. It was Sylvia, one of the Twiner sisters. I held up my finger. “You’re going to want me to take this. It’s Sylvia.”
Lex marched over and grabbed for the phone. “I’d like to finish where I left off.”
I tried to reason with Lex while barely keeping the phone out of reach. Going back and forth could take all night. I was fucking exhausted and just wanted to focus on us. “Let me talk to her.”
For a second, Lex looked like she wanted to argue, but she stepped back with her hands up. “Be my guest. So stupid. Stupid. Stupid.” She grabbed the ax and took another swing, muttering, “It’s been two freaking days, and I’ve been in three newsletters. Three. Three. That’s got to be a record.”
I pressed Accept on my phone, trying to hide my smile. “Sylvia, how are you?”
Lex stopped and watched me, her eyes narrowed, and I swore steam was coming out of her ears. She set another log on the stump and began to swing again.
“Hey, Drake. We’ve got a code red newsletter we want to get out to the people of Skagway, stat. Seems we may have uncovered a scandal. We’d like your side before we send it out.”
A scandal would put Lex in a fourth newsletter. A record, for sure. I chuckled. “What scandal would that be?”
“Does the name Hollis Fritz mean anything?”