Artfully Yours Read Online Free Page A

as she could. You know Jenny. When that girl’s done, she is done .”
    It was a struggle, but Elle managed not to let the shock show. Divorce? Jenny was divorced?
    “Let me tell you, whoever puts an offer on this joint, I’m going to make sure they get a bargain.” She winked at Elle and, as if she had some kind of extra-sensory perception, turned to face her clients the exact moment they came into view in the doorway behind her. Eerie. “Be right with you,” she called. To Elle, she said, “Great to chat, but I’d better get over there, work my magic.”
    “Sure. Go ahead. Wait, Lila.”
    Lila glanced back. “Hmm?”
    “Once you’ve worked your magic and sold the place, how long do we have?”
    Lila grimaced. “You’re kind of supposed to be out already. Don’t worry, though. I’ve got some fantastic listings for you guys. We’ll catch up!”
    Right. Elle marched back to the kitchen.
    She couldn’t see Jenny through the window, knew even before she stepped outside that they’d disappeared. Still, she walked down to the bottom of the garden, peered up into the treehouse—she wouldn’t put it past Jenny to get up there even with a broken leg, considering the motivation—glanced over the fence into the neighbor’s garden in case they were hiding on the other side, and wandered back toward the house and along the side to the white-painted wooden side gate that had been left wide open. She closed and fastened it, then rested her folded arms along the top rail and stared down the street. Jenny must be able to really shift on those crutches, because they weren’t even in sight.
    Divorced?
    Elle was still outside when Lila ushered her clients out the front twenty minutes later. She watched Lila lock up behind her, stand chatting with the couple at their car, then wave them off with her big professional smile. As they reversed into the street and drove away, Lila swung to face Elle and picked her way over the lawn.
    “How’d it go?” Elle asked.
    “Eh, this couple, I’ve shown them a hundred places. They’re wafflers. They love the yard, though. Jenny’s got a gift. You know she did it all herself?”
    “I didn’t.”
    “Yup. She did. Shame she had to drop out of her landscape design courses, what with the divorce and the debts and the house and everything.”
    Jenny was taking landscape design courses?
    “Seeing as you’re here, Elle, you mind helping me out?”
    “Sure.”
    Lila trotted to her car, rummaged around in the trunk, and returned, sign in one hand and a mallet in the other. She thrust the sign at Elle. “You hold, I’ll whack it.”
    “You know what?” Elle reached out and took the mallet, leaving Lila with the board. “You hold it. I feel like smacking something right now.”
    “Okay.” Lila strode to a point on the lawn, lifted the board high with both hands, and jabbed it into the ground with practiced violence. “Just remember, this is my job, so hit the board, not me. Ready?”
    “Ready.”
    “Be gentle.”
    “No promises.”
     
    Hours later, Elle heard keys in the door. “Lila?” she shouted from the kitchen. “Is that you?”
    “Very funny.” Jenny hobbled in, Katie bouncing by her side, and tossed her keys on the countertop.
    Elle raised her eyebrows. Jenny sighed and sent Katie off to play in her room. Sighing again, she faced Elle.
    “Nice walk?” Elle asked.
    “Yeah. Leaves are turning. It’s beautiful.”
    “You’ve been gone awhile.” Most of the day. “Pretty sure your doctor must have told you not to walk about too much on the cast.”
    “I didn’t. Went to the library.”
    “Oh, yeah? Pick up any good books?” Jenny opened her mouth to answer, and Elle said, “Come on, Jenny! You’re divorced? Dean’s selling the house from under you? What on earth?”
    “Yes. Shouting. Let’s do it that way. Because Katie hasn’t heard enough shouting over the last year.”
    Elle controlled herself. It took effort. “You guys shouted a