Searching for Tomorrow (Tomorrows) by Katie Mac, Kathryn McNeill Crane Page B

lease renewal if folks continue to use my landscaping services.”
    Liam stands from the couch and starts pacing the floor in front of me. He runs his fingers through his hair, and I can’t help but feel his pain deep inside me. “Season isn’t even in full swing, Sis. I can’t afford to lose business this early on. She knows just how much every account means to me, to my future here. She’s threatening you by threatening my livelihood, my bread and butter. She knows that if I have to move somewhere else to find work, then I won’t be here to help you with the girls. Mom and Dad are getting too old to help as much as they’d like.”
    When Mother Tidwell moved to Highlands with Tripp, she had loads of money and too much time on her hands . If any of the local real estate came on the market, she didn’t hesitate to step in and buy it. She actually made some very smart decisions and before anyone knew it, she had control of fifteen various stores and restaurants, all in the downtown area. She then spent the next few years updating and outfitting her properties with the best that money could buy. Over the years, she has earned the reputation of a shrewd property owner who would not hesitate to kick a tenant out and replace them with someone else. She also doesn’t hesitate to hike the monthly rent at the end of the tenant’s yearly lease if they dare not follow her wishes to a T. Her power over this small town has only grown stronger as the years have passed. She has become a one-woman mafia, holding her control ruthlessly over our small town. Trust me when I say she yields that power a bully on the playground. No one—and I mean NO ONE—would dare stand up to her because it’s a battle that can’t be won.
    Sighing in frustration, I look at Liam and detect the anger in his eyes. What startles me most though is the fear that I also see. I know that Mother Tidwell hates me. This is something that I have known for years, something I have tried to accept. I just didn’t know that she would use her hatred for me against my family. In a way, it makes sense. In her eyes, Tripp chose all of us over her. She has never seen that Tripp wanted her to accept us, not punish us for loving and embracing him. She has never acknowledged the fact that because of our love for Tripp, we would have welcomed her and made her part of our family. Instead, she rejected us, and by doing that, she rejected Tripp.
    Her actions not only hurt Tripp, but also affected the decisions he made about his future, about our future. If Tripp were here to witness his mother’s treacherous behavior, I truly have no idea just how he would react. This would be the only time I can ever remember that I am glad that Tripp is not here. I know that some things can cause so much damage and hurt that it’s virtually impossible to recover. I know this, because I live it every day.
    I square my shoulders, stand, and go to Liam. Slipping my arms around his waist, I offer him the only comfort that I can. “You know that we will make it through this. This can be a bump in the road, or it can be a crater. What we have to do is decide if we can go around the bump or if we are just going to give up and fall into the crater.” I lean back and take his face in my hands. “I say we go around the bump, Liam. Together, we can do this. Together, we can do anything we need to do to get around her, over her, under her, or God help us, through her.”
    “Dang it , Wrynn. Why do I feel like I am just lying down in the road and she is constantly running over me? I haven’t mentioned it before now, but this isn’t the first time she’s pulled this stunt. I lost two other clients the morning that she stormed out of here. That’s five, Wrynn. Five separate contracts in just this last month.”
    Th is explains how my brother just happened to be at my house so early the morning of the spider incident. Mother Tidwell had threatened his clients, so he had no work to do for the