“Hello, Selene. "Would you be able to find out who the owner of B&A LLC is?”
"Is everything all right?
"Yes. I love it here. I'm just curious about the previous owner."
"I can see what I can find out."
I could hear the concern in her voice. She was hoping I was going to make her sell it and then have to spend another year looking for a new home.
I decided to change the conversation from professional to friendly. Since Selene was single too, I figured maybe she would be interested in spending time with me and Kate since our group of single friends was dwindling. “I know our business together is finished, but maybe we can still get together sometime for drinks at the Sea Siren.”
"Sounds good. Just let me know when."
I had dinner, a wonderful salmon and a glass of expensive wine on the terrace. Later that night I finished unpacking my bedroom. I went to bed deciding that regardless of why or how Noel ended up next door, I wouldn’t let it get in the way of my enjoyment of my new home.
Besides, Noel was preoccupied with his son who clearly required a great deal of attention. Noel didn’t have time to keep an eye on me.
The next morning, I woke up, put on a pair of yoga pants and top, and went out onto the terrace. I stretched my arms overhead, inhaling the fresh ocean air. This was the life.
I rolled out my yoga mat and began working through the sun salutation. I suppose it was a cliché for a California woman to do yoga near the beach, but I didn't care. The sound of the waves added to the calm that came with breathing and moving my body.
When I finished, I went inside and got a glass of lemon water, returning to sit on the terrace. The house itself was perfect, but what really sold it was the terrace. The home could've been a shack and I probably still would have bought it as long as this terrace was here.
My phone rang and checking the caller ID, I saw it was Selene.
I poked the answer button. "Selene, good morning."
"I’ve got some information for you. What a wild goose chase it was. But I finally discovered that B&A LLC is a subsidiary of Erickson holdings."
"Son of a bitch." My calm vanished in a sea of anger.
"I take it that's the same Erickson that you're related to."
“I bought this home from Bran. How the hell did he know I'd want to buy it? That scheming bastard. He manipulated me again."
"Maybe it's a coincidence. Maybe they owned the home and decided to put it on the market, and we found it."
I shook my head. Where Bran was concerned, there was never any coincidence. "How long has B & A own this home?"
"Let me look." She was quiet for a moment and then came back on the line. "Two months, according to this. It went on the market last month after they did a few fixups.”
“I’m going to kill him.”
“If he wanted you to buy the home, wouldn’t he have mentioned it to you?” she asked.
“No.”
Bran wouldn’t tell me about the house because he knew I’d ignore him. I’d purposefully not see the house simply because he suggested it. Everything Bran did had an ulterior motive, so I went out of my way to pass up on anything that he offered me. I knew that sounded immature, so I didn’t answer Selene’s question.
I ended the call and sat to seethe. Now that I had this bit of information, everything was clicking into place. Bran knew that I would like this house and with Noel next-door, he figured I’d have someone keeping tabs on me.
Was Noel in on the scheme? How long did Noel say he was living there? A few months? That was around the time Bran bought this house. I'd walked right into Bran's little scheme to keep me protected.
The contrary person in me considered putting the house on the market and moving again, but I couldn't put Selene through that. My next thought was to call Bran and give him a piece of my mind, but I held off. Sometimes it was better that Bran didn't know that I was onto him.
I still hadn’t had my coffee this morning, so I went to the kitchen to make a cup. While I waited for the coffee to brew, I did a few more stretches and breathing exercises to deal with the stress and tension of Bran's actions. I hated how he would always manipulate and intrude in my life.
Breathe in.