What Might Have Been: Daniels Brother #4 (Daniels Brothers) Read Free

knew that much from personal experience. The first time she’d met Lillian and her husband, Frank, she’d been peppered with questions from the woman. Even though Max had explained that he and Abby were merely friends, Lillian was convinced there had to be more to it. She wanted to make sure her nephew wasn’t having the wool pulled over his eyes.
    “You must be talking about another Mrs. Baxter. She’s always been quite pleasant to me.” He was teasing her and it brought back a lot of memories . . . memories she really wanted to keep buried.
    “Lucky you.” Abby smiled and picked up the paperwork on all the properties she’d brought with her, trying to ignore the churning in the pit of her stomach. “We have a lot of ground to cover today. Are you ready to get started?”
    He motioned toward the parking lot. “Ready when you are.”
    They made their way down the walkway to where he’d parked his vehicle—a silver pickup truck. It looked new, but when Abby climbed inside she noticed a few signs of wear on the interior. There were also several notebooks and a stack of papers on the seat between them.
    Trent put the key into the ignition, started the engine, and put the vehicle in gear. “Where to first?”
    Abby flipped open the folder in her lap. The first property on the list was another office building. It was as good a place to start as any. “Gavin’s Ridge. We’ll start there.”
    “Gavin’s Ridge it is.”
    He backed out and maneuvered his way through the parking lot and onto the main road. Abby told herself to stay calm. It would be okay. This was Trent. Her childhood friend.
    While that was true, a lot had changed since they’d sat on the steps outside his home and played I spy .
    She chanced a glance at him before looking away.
    Pressing her lips together, she ordered herself to breathe. It would be okay. She’d do her job, he’d do his, and then they’d go their separate ways.
    Yeah. Who was she trying to kid? There was no way Trent would leave it at that. Not with their history.
     

Chapter 2
    Abby.
    Trent was still trying to wrap his mind around the fact that she was standing only a few feet away from him. Seeing her again had been a shock to his system. It had been more than ten years, but she hadn’t changed all that much. Her hair was shorter and she had a few more curves than he remembered, but other than that, she looked the same. That is if you discounted the designer suit she was wearing. The Abby he knew preferred jeans and T-shirts.
    “What do you think?” she asked.
    He cleared his throat and put thoughts of the past out of his mind. There would be time for that later. “It needs a lot of work. I don’t know who was in charge of the landscaping before, but this is in worse shape than I expected. Some of this over here has seeded already. It’ll need to be removed and new sod put down. The mulch needs to be replaced. And I’m concerned about those trees over there. I’ll have my arborist look at them to be sure, but I think they’re going to have to come down.”
    In his head, he was going over the numbers. How long would it take to do what needed to be done based on the number of guys he could spare? As much as he wanted to make this work, he couldn’t sacrifice the needs of his other clients.
    Abby walked over to one of the bushes. It was out of control and would need to be cut back considerably. She plucked a leaf off and ran it between her thumb and forefinger. It made him recall sitting in the backyard with her years ago. She used to pick a blade of grass from the lawn and wind it around her finger over and over again.
    “Max was devastated when he saw it.” She looked around the property with sadness in her eyes. “His dad never would have let this happen if he’d been well.”
    Hearing her talk so casually of her boss made him wonder what kind of relationship they had. Was it purely professional? He knew he shouldn’t care either way, but this was Abby.