Love Next Door (Lakeside #1) by Helena Hunting

They give me a two-month severance package.

I toss my phone on the cushion beside me and press the heels of my hands against my eyes. “What the fuck is happening, Grammy Bee?”

The wind chimes on the front porch tinkle loudly.

“Sorry ’bout my language, but this is kinda messed up,” I mutter.

My phone rings for the third time in the past hour. I reluctantly glance at the screen. It’s my sister, Teagan. Mood-wise, I’m not in the best form, but I’m guessing that she’s probably heard the news, and now she’s going to be on the receiving end of the backlash. “Hey, Teag.”

“Have you talked to Dad?”

“Yeah. Just a few minutes ago.”

“I know it wasn’t you. I don’t care what proof they think they have. There’s no way you’d steal from Mom’s foundation.”

Her conviction makes me feel the tiniest bit better. But then I remember I’m also freshly unemployed, to go along with my new status of thief. “Dad is going to get his lawyer to look into it.”

“I know. I just talked to him. Is there anything I can do to help? Do you want me to come up to Pearl Lake? I could do that. If you need me to.”

I adore my sister. She’s my favorite sibling and one of the kindest, most giving people I know. But I don’t know if her coming up here on the heels of this scandal would be best. “I appreciate it, but I don’t honestly know what I need right now. Other than to find out what happened. There has to be some kind of mistake with the paperwork or signatures or something.” I need more details. Like how $3 million goes missing without any red flags being raised in the process.

“I’m sure that’s what it is, Donny. We’ll get to the bottom of it.” I cringe at the horrible nickname she can’t seem to give up, and then a buzz comes through the line. “Crap. That’s Troy. I bet he’s seen the freaking media coverage on this and wants to know what’s going on.”

Troy is my sister’s boyfriend. I’m not his biggest fan, but my sister loves him, so I tolerate him. “Wait. What media coverage?”

“Uh . . . it’s really nothing. You know how they like to blow everything out of proportion.”

“This has already made the news?” I find the remote for the TV and turn it on. Grammy Bee didn’t like to spend money on unnecessary things, but she did invest in cable and high-speed internet because she loved being able to FaceTime with me.

“Just the local stations.”

I’ve never been the subject of any kind of drama. Until now. Luckily I don’t find anything on the TV here and turn the TV off again. “Shit, Teag. This is bad.”

“It’ll be okay.” The reassurance sounds empty.

“I’m not sure about that. I just got fired before you called.”

“No. How? Why?”

I’m assuming the questions are mostly rhetorical. “Apparently my former employer doesn’t love it when people are accused of stealing millions from charity.”

“I’m so sorry, Donny. We’ll figure it out. Whoever did this won’t get away with it.”

I sincerely appreciate her vote of confidence. Especially since my father immediately believed it was true. She and I have always been close, she being only two years younger than me. We’re like minded, so we’ve always confided in one another.

“Three million dollars doesn’t grow legs and walk away,” she continues. “We will track that money down, and we’ll get your name cleared and your job back.” I tune back in as my sister finishes her we’re-going-to-fix-this spiel.

“Fingers crossed.” Even if I do get my job back, which I know is a long shot, I just want to know what happened to the money and how my name ended up being the one attached to the fact that it went missing in the first place.

“I promise we’ll get to the bottom of it.”

I know she’s running out of positive things to say, and frankly, hearing them makes me want to slam my head into a wall. “Thanks, Teag. I need to process, but we’ll talk soon, okay?”

“I’ll call you tomorrow?”

“Sure. Tomorrow works.” I end the call and blow out a breath.

What started as a great day has swiftly done a swirly down the toilet. Up until a few minutes ago, I had a fantastic job working at a prestigious company as an architectural engineer. I worked my ass off to get that job, and I had to deal with my dad’s moderate disapproval over the fact that I was his only child who decided not to come work with him, my brother, and my sister at Smith Financial, where my father is the CFO.

Teagan gets it. Losing our mom when we were young was hard on her, and she feels an extraordinary responsibility to be there for our dad and Bradley. And he, in turn, has showered her with gifts and a pampered lifestyle she’s become used to, even if she doesn’t necessarily want it. It’s a tough place for her to be in. She doesn’t want to say no, or make him feel like his gifts are unappreciated, but she’s become the child my dad puts the most energy into. Probably because she is the spitting image of our mother. It’s sort of a toxic relationship, one that’s cost my dad thousands in therapy, and still she’s under his thumb.

I’m not knocking him. He’s a good guy, and he basically raised us on his own after our mother passed away. Well, actually, it was nannies who raised us, since he buried himself in work to avoid being a single father. But he did the best he could, I guess.