This was one of the best meetings I had ever been in.
Good news all around. Except for the murder.
*
Chapter Three
Pie begone…
Bristol
“Thank God you are back.”
“Oh, yeah?” I called. I pulled a loaf of cherry almond bread from the oven and set it on the hot pad. “And why is that?” I asked.
Apollo sat on a chair at the bar and sighed. “Greer went back to Chicago after Meeks busted down the front entry, and I was left here by myself. I was in charge of the construction, and you weren’t here to cook. It was cold sandwiches and lame takeout from Rockton the whole time.”
I rolled my eyes and shut the oven. “I told Marco I could come and cook for whoever was staying here, but he said I could just take time off.” It was nice to have the time off, but I would have been more than willing to cook for Apollo.
“That’s because he was staying at the clubhouse where he had Meg cooking for him. He was in heaven with her manning the stove. He didn’t think about me for a second while he ate all the good shit she made.” Apollo grabbed an apple and polished it on his shirt.
“Well, it looks like you didn’t waste away.”
It was Sunday morning, and even though I had gotten a lot done yesterday, I still had a lot to accomplish today. Marco, Royal, and Kane were going to be back home tomorrow morning, and I wanted to make sure I had everything on hand that they could need.
“It was touch and go there for a little bit, Bristol.” He took a huge bite of the apple and smirked. “Greer did have some pizza shipped to me from Gino’s to help.”
“She had pizza from Chicago delivered?” I laughed. “You must have been pretty pathetic for her to think she needed to do that.”
Apollo shrugged. “She loves me.”
I rolled my eyes. I had to think that Apollo must have laid it on pretty thick to Greer. “I bet she just wanted to shut you up.”
Apollo chuckled. “You know Greer too well.”
I did. She was one of my favorite people. Granted, I didn’t get to see her too often, but she always spent a lot of her time in the kitchen with me when she was here.
Growing up, the kitchen had always been the heart of my home, and the same could be said for Wyndemere. Everyone always seemed to gather in the kitchen no matter if it was time to eat or not.
“Is she planning on visiting again soon?”
Apollo shrugged. “Possibly. Grace has a dance competition next weekend, and I promised her I would be there. I’m hoping after the competition, they’ll come back to Wyndemere.”
I smiled. “That would be great. I haven’t seen Grace in months.”
“You and me, both. With Leo out of town and Marco falling for Royal, I haven’t been home for longer than a couple of days at a time.” It was a shame that Apollo couldn’t be home more, but thankfully Greer and his kids were more than understanding about it.
“And I don’t think that is going to happen anytime soon since Marco and Royal are setting up their home here.”
Apollo scoffed. “Good for you, not so good for me.”
“I don’t know about that,” I laughed. “I was paid pretty good to work only a handful of days a month. Now I’m going to get paid the same and have to work every day.”
Apollo shook his head. “Nope. Marco already made arrangements for you to get a raise.”
“Shut up,” I gasped. “I don’t need a raise.” I really did make a lot of money for not actually doing much. I worked six to eight days a month, and then I basically did nothing but putter around the house waiting for someone to stay at Wyndemere.
“You just said yourself you are going to be working a lot more. It only makes sense that you work more, so you’ll get paid more.”