She dropped Hazel at her friend Sienna’s house so they could work on their project together for a few hours. Sienna’s mom, Monique, was going to bring Hazel home later. Zoey stopped to pick up the mail from the box at the bottom of the drive and heard the crunch of tires behind her. She squelched a groan when she saw who it was—Karen Schiff. Her neighbor. And an annoying thorn in her side.

Karen thankfully didn’t get out of her mega-size black SUV, she just rolled down the window and gave Zoey a sour look. Or maybe she always looked like she’d just bitten into a lemon. Neighbor was a bit of a stretch, since you couldn’t even see the Schiff house in the summer. In the winter, once the leaves had fallen, you could barely glimpse the cement and glass monstrosity dug into the hilltop. Zoey’s dad had parceled off five four-acre lots along the road from the family’s original fifty acres years ago.

“Oh, hi, Karen!” Zoey beamed, silently praying this wasn’t another complaint about the farm. “How are you today?”

“I thought you said you were moving those things.” Karen’s eyes flickered toward Dad’s sculptures. She’d been grousing about the so-called eyesores since she and her husband moved in three years ago.

Here we go...

“Actually, what I said was that I was planning on relocating the sculptures eventually. I have a few other priorities, Karen.” She paused, biting her lip to keep from getting too snarky. “My father built them, and he’s been dead less than a year, so...”

“Well, you may want to make removing them more of a priority,” Karen sniffed. “I’d hate to have to go to the zoning board about you running a business here.”

What?

“My father’s run a business here for decades.”

“That doesn’t make it right. I’ve checked, and this entire stretch is zoned for residential use only.” She arched an eyebrow as if she’d hit a slam dunk, but Zoey had no idea what her point was.

“And my daughter and I reside here.”

Karen sat back, putting her vehicle in Drive. “That argument doesn’t help you. This is a residence, and you are operating a business here. Illegally. I’m willing to ignore that if you just tear down all this wreckage in your yard.” She gave Zoey a pointed look. “Immediately.”

“Yeah? Well, I think you need to leave...immediately.”

Zoey watched her drive away, barely resisting the urge to throw stones at the SUV. Had Karen just threatened her? Was she right about the shop being illegal? That couldn’t be true. Dad would have known. But Karen had made her father’s life miserable about his eclectic sculptures ever since she bought the place next door. He’d just ignored her, but then again, Karen had never seriously threatened legal action against him.