Married to My Ex's Uncle novel · Chapter 7 of 32

Chapter 7: Open House

Greta didn't sleep.

She sat on the floor of the shop with her back against the sawhorse and the clip in her palm until the windows went gray.

Lukas sat a few feet away with the dog's head on his knee.

Around three he got up, made coffee, and set a mug beside her without a word.

It was terrible coffee.

She drank all of it.

"The scraping's already in Milwaukee," she said at dawn. "She bleached a boat for nothing."

"Who's she?"

Greta opened her hand and looked at the clip.

"My maid of honor," she said.

The open house sign was on a lawn in Fish Creek by eleven, in front of a white cottage with a cherry tree.

KRISTI ENGEL, REALTOR, with her photo, smiling.

There were six cars on the street.

Greta parked the yard truck behind a Lexus and went in through the front door in her work pants and canvas jacket.

The cottage smelled like baked cookies from a tube.

A couple in matching fleece vests were opening kitchen cabinets.

An older man was knocking on a wall.

Kristi stood by the fireplace in a cream blazer, mid-pitch.

"...and the owners just redid the whole..."

She saw Greta and her voice stopped.

Greta walked into the kitchen.

She set the pearl clip on the white marble island, in the middle, where the light from the window hit it.

The couple in the fleece vests looked at it, then at her.

Kristi came in fast, smiling with all her teeth.

"Hi! Can I help you?"

"You lost something," Greta said.

Kristi looked at the clip.

Something moved behind her eyes and then went flat.

"Those are all over the lodge," Kristi said lightly. "You bought six. Anybody could've picked one up."

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