BooksBarbecue
Back As Seen on TV
Chapters (57)
  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright
  4. Dedication
  5. Chapter One
  6. Chapter Two
  7. Chapter Three
  8. Chapter Four
  9. Chapter Five
  10. Chapter Six
  11. Chapter Seven
  12. Chapter Eight
  13. Chapter Nine
  14. Chapter Ten
  15. Chapter Eleven
  16. Chapter Twelve
  17. Chapter Thirteen
  18. Chapter Fourteen
  19. Chapter Fifteen
  20. Chapter Sixteen
  21. Chapter Seventeen
  22. Chapter Eighteen
  23. Chapter Nineteen
  24. Chapter Twenty
  25. Chapter Twenty-One
  26. Chapter Twenty-Two
  27. Chapter Twenty-Three
  28. Chapter Twenty-Four
  29. Chapter Twenty-Five
  30. Chapter Twenty-Six
  31. Chapter Twenty-Seven
  32. Chapter Twenty-Eight
  33. Chapter Twenty-Nine
  34. Chapter Thirty
  35. Chapter Thirty-One
  36. Chapter Thirty-Two
  37. Chapter Thirty-Three
  38. Chapter Thirty-Four
  39. Chapter Thirty-Five
  40. Chapter Thirty-Six
  41. Chapter Thirty-Seven
  42. Chapter Thirty-Eight
  43. Chapter Thirty-Nine
  44. Chapter Forty
  45. Chapter Forty-One
  46. Chapter Forty-Two
  47. Chapter Forty-Three
  48. Chapter Forty-Four
  49. Chapter Forty-Five
  50. Chapter Forty-Six
  51. Chapter Forty-Seven
  52. Chapter Forty-Eight
  53. Chapter Forty-Nine
  54. Chapter Fifty
  55. Acknowledgments
  56. Discover More
  57. About the Author

“Why don’t you come with me to the building site first? You can talk to my staff for more impartial intel.” He flashed a lopsided smile.

“Give it a rest.”

“Come,” he said, tilting his head in the direction of the front door. “You might get something you can use.”

“Okay.” It was early, and I had nowhere else to be at the moment. “But just until my next interview.” Which, as of now, meant I had all the time in the world.

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Thirteen

You’re back.” The silver-fox construction worker from the day before wiped his hands along his dirt-stained blue jeans and greeted me with a smile.

“Vick, meet Adina,” Finn said by way of formal introduction. “She’s writing a story about Pleasant Hollow for…” His voice dropped off and he looked at me apologetically. “For where?”

“It’s called Tea.” I turned to Vick to clarify. “It’s a digital magazine focusing on pop culture and entertainment.”

Three more workers in our vicinity, two men and one woman, all wearing white hard hats, orange vests, and steel-toe boots, stopped stacking slabs of wood and turned their attention to us.

Against a backdrop of dump trucks and excavators making beep beep sounds, a tall and lanky thirtysomething guy covered head-to-toe in freckles said, “For a price, I can give you dirt for an exposé. Behind the Scenes: The Hollows.”

The female worker knocked twice on the side of his hard hat. “Yeah, photos of you falling ass first off the ladder yesterday would get millions of views, I’m sure.”

I gasped, but my initial reaction of concern was superseded by the laughter around me. The guy standing in front of me wasn’t on crutches, wasn’t wearing an orthopedic boot or even a Band-Aid, so obviously any injury resulting from his fall had been minor. But at least the nickname on his hard hat—“Clumsy Smurf”—made sense.

Finn smirked. “Don’t tempt her.” To me, he said, “I’ll be in my trailer, but stay as long as you like. These guys don’t need any excuse to take a break.” The fond looks he gave his staff belied his disparaging words. “Just be careful. Steer clear of the heavy equipment and any area that’s fenced off.”

“Worried I’ll sue you?” I joked.

“More like concerned you’ll lose a limb, but that too.”

“Noted.” His sincerity was both touching and irritating. The former because it was sweet. The latter because “sweet and touching” made the flame of my pesky crush burn hotter, when what I needed was to extinguish it before I got carried away.