“Whatchu looking at anyway?” Halo asked, joining Raven to peer out of the window.
“She’s looking at Silas. She’s been doing it all morning,” Libby, Halo’s fifteen-year-old daughter, said from her place at the front reception.
“What? No, I’ve been photocopying,” Raven said urgently, holding up the still-warm documents as proof.
But Libby scoffed. It was the teen’s second day accompanying her mother to work; she’d returned to Cedar Lake when typical teen rebellion had made remaining at her father’s home hours away impossible. She was now finishing online summer school at her mother’s.
“Okay, well, it’s lunchtime, Libby,” Halo said to her daughter. “Your food’s in the refrigerator.”
“Whoopee,” the teen said, getting up. “My second state-sanctioned meal of the day.”
The girl stalked off, headphones firmly in place, and Halo turned to Raven and asked, “How was she?”
Since Raven had been tasked with keeping an eye on Libby while Halo was teaching, she had gone from public enemy number one to charitable babysitter.
“Fine, she didn’t say much. She did her work and sketched.”
“Good. Good. Okay,” Halo said, appearing meek with her hands in her pockets.
“This might not be helpful or anything,” Raven said, “but I know it’s hard right now with her. I’m a daughter of a single mom, and I can tell you, she won’t be like that forever. The rules will make sense one day, and she’ll appreciate what you’ve done for her.”
Halo’s chin wobbled for a moment, but she quickly stiffened it and said, “Thank you.”
The older woman left for the break room, and Raven quickly checked her face in her compact mirror in preparation for an interaction with Silas.
Over the last few days, she’d failed to quash her growing attraction to him. However, she’d been maintaining professionalism and avoiding the flirtation that wanted to leap out whenever he was near.
When Silas finally entered the main office, his face peppered with sweat from the warm day, she called him over to talk business.
“What’s up?” he asked, joining her where she stood behind the front desk.
“I’ve been transferring our client list to the new program and noticed something strange with this account’s payment record,” she said, pointing to figures on the computer.
Silas bent over the table to look, and Raven found herself studying him.
Beautiful thick beard. Solid neck. Nice earlobes. Was there such a thing as nice earlobes?
“Don’t worry about that one,” he said, straightening.
“Wait, hold on. Why?”
“That’s the Crawleys’ account. We ignore any of their outstanding balances.”
“Why do we do that?” she asked. “Those are several high-amount invoices spanning the last three years.”
“The Crawleys are the richest family in Cedar,” Silas said, taking a seat on the edge of her desk. “They only live here part-time, but they own pretty much everything worth something in this town.”
“I’m still not hearing an explanation for why they’re not paying their bills.”
“They may be rich,” Silas said, “but they’re also entitled and don’t think they should pay for anything. They’ll book an expedition for their son’s bachelor party or business retreats without hesitation.”
“Do other businesses in town go along with this as well?”
Silas smiled before shouting, “Hey, Bodie!”
“Yes?” the brawny man replied, popping his head out of the break room.
“What are the two rules of Cedar?”
