Chapter 39
From my open doorway, I gave Derek an annoyed look. "For the tenth time, no."
"Oh, come on," he said, "I'm trying to make it up to you."
Ten minutes earlier, he'd shown up in a suit and tie, uninvited, to ask me out to dinner.
I gave him an annoyed look. Dinner with Derek was the last thing I wanted. Cripes, I didn't even want to be talking to him.
Ihadtold him that. Hadn't I?
Apparently, it was time to tell him again. "Seriously, just get in your car and leave, okay?"
He turned and looked out toward the driveway. Near the road, the brothers were laying a huge pipe in the massive trench they'd dug with the backhoe.
Derek said, "So you're having some work done, huh?"
I recognized this for what it was – a stalling tactic. Probably, under that cool façade of his, he was planning his next attack. Sadly for him, he'd chosen the worst possible topic.
I said, "Funny you should mention that."
He turned again to face me. "Oh yeah? Why?"
"Because it'syourfault."
"Why mine?"
"Remember that giant moving truck? The oneyousent?"
"Yeah. What about it?"
"It missed the driveway and crushed the main sewer line."
His eyebrows furrowed. "Like what? You saw it happen?"
I recalled what the brothers had showed me a few days earlier – a crushed pipe directly below deep ruts left in my lawn, courtesy of the wayward moving truck. "I didn'thaveto see. I've got the evidence, right there in my front yard."
"Sorry," Derek said, "but even if the truckdidcrush it,they'dbe liable, not me."
"I don’t care who's officially liable," I said. "It's your fault."
"What are you saying? You wantmeto pay for it?"
I knew the odds of that – just about zero. Still, it was worth a shot. "Well, the truck wouldn’t have been here if it weren't for you."
"Alright," he said. "How about this? I'll file suit, see if they pay up. Then we'll split the proceeds, okay?"
Well, that was attractive."I don't want you tosuethem," I said. "I want you to stop interfering with my life."
His jaw clenched. "In case you haven't noticed, we've backed off considerably."
I rolled my eyes. "You backed off for like five days. What do you want? A medal?"
"No," he said. "I want to take you to dinner. Is that too much to ask?"
"Yes. It is."
"Why?"
