Friends & Fortune Cookies: A Sudden Falls Romance Read Online Free Page B

enough to make me smile. Then David dropped the big bomb on me.
    “And if these articles are what they’re looking for, Grace Notes could become a nationally syndicated column.”
    I leaped to my feet as a yelp escaped my throat.
    David held out his hand to curb my enthusiasm. “I have to tell you what a big deal this is. Since the syndication would be through the Community Press, it would mean a huge stream of revenue for the paper. Which, I don’t have to tell you, we need. Desperately. ”
    The desperation with which he said the word “desperately” concerned me. “Is the paper in that much trouble?”
    “Not shut-down-tomorrow trouble,” he said. “But if they can’t find a way to get more money from advertising, circulation, or a syndication deal, it will happen eventually. So, it’s up to you, Grace. I feel confident you can do it.”
    Suddenly, it seemed like my career might be worthy of one of the Magnificent Mendozas.
    Even if it did require me to dip my toes back in the dating pool.

Chapter 6 — Joe
    The next morning started rough. I awoke from a dream where Gracie refused to see or speak to me. In it, I coughed and sniffled, and she refused to give me even so much as a Kleenex. Then I realized the coughing and sneezing weren’t actually the dream. I lay on my remarkably uncomfortable sofa-bed, in my remarkably depressing studio apartment, and tested swallowing, grimacing when I realized how much it hurt.
    Great. I didn’t have time for a cold. Or allergies. Or whatever the hell this was.
    After a shower, which didn’t do nearly enough to clear my head, I popped two cold tablets. Grabbing two more, I put them in my shirt pocket in case I needed them later in the day.
    I pulled up in front of our Rehab-a-rama house as Alex stepped out of his truck. “Do you have any idea what you’re getting us into?” he asked.
    “Have a little faith, cousin.” I tried summoning my own faith and confidence that this wasn’t the biggest mistake I’d ever made. The old Queen Anne had definitely seen better days. She looked to be one stiff breeze away from falling down. But the architecture of the old building had a lot of potential. A multi-gabled roof made it visually interesting, and an octagonal turret, which ran up the house to the right of the front door, would be a big draw to potential buyers. A deep front porch wrapped from the front of the house around the left side.
    The place was a behemoth. Two floors, plus a basement, and I’d guess an interesting attic space based on the position of the windows coming out of the roof. Easily thirty-five-hundred square feet of living space.
    The color was that of a weathered, unpainted barn. Was “dingy” a color? If so, that was what this house was. A couple of windows were boarded over, and the lack of landscaping on the corner lot screamed, “Neglected.”
    “I’m sure it’s in better shape on the inside,” I said with a level of optimism I only wished I could feel.
    “I’m sure you’re wrong,” Alex said.
    Jack chose that moment to pull into the driveway. He pried his enormous frame out of the driver’s seat of his truck, hands filled with paperwork.
    “Here’s the deed and copies of the contract you signed Saturday.” He handed me a clipboard with a stack of papers and a key dangling from a makeshift ring made from a paper clip.
    After depositing the clipboard into my truck, I slid the key onto the D-ring connected to my belt.
    “Still think this is a Hail Mary?” Jack asked.
    “Get ready to go long.”
    He laughed and shook his head. “You have six weeks, gentlemen. Good luck! You’re gonna need it.” The last sentence he muttered under his breath but still plenty loud enough for both Alex and I to hear him. My cousin swallowed hard.
    We both waved as Jack climbed back into his truck and pulled out of the driveway. “You ready to do this?” I asked.
    “Not really,” Alex answered.
    The steps of the porch groaned under our combined