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but…well—” Meg drew in a quick breath and smiled. “If you’re willing, of course, we could work for you, seeing as how you’ve inherited the place.” Meg shifted closer to Sean, her eyes hopeful. “It’s a lot to manage. You are planning to stay, right? That’s what Max told us, anyhow.”
    Max. Stirring up trouble for her yet again. Meredith did not need anyone else interfering with her plans. This couple, as helpful as they may be, could only cause complications. After they’d lived there for so many decades, surely they’d protest when they discovered the plantation’s fate. Yet the hope shining in their eyes gave her pause. They’d devoted most of their lives to working for her grandmother, and now they were on the street because of Max. Through no fault of their own, they found themselves out of a job and a livelihood. And a place to live to boot.
    “I suppose I could use your help to put things in order,” Meredith said slowly. “But I can’t promise for how long.”
    “Thank you, Meredith. I hoped you’d say that.” Meg beamed at her. “We appreciate your confidence in us. We won’t let you down.”
    “We’ll move our things back into the caretaker’s cottage this afternoon,” Sean said. He shook her hand again, hope in his level gaze.
    “Perfect.” Meredith mentally shrugged. They already knew their jobs, so how much trouble could they be? At a minimum, Meg could remove cobwebs and rid the joint of mildew. “I’ll see you later, and we’ll talk specifics.”
    They waved as they hurried away down the aisle, chatting to each other with happy animation. She watched them until they turned the corner, wondering how they’d talked her into hiring them back so easily. Shaking off the encounter, she pushed the buggy quickly after them. Finally tossing in several cans of cat food to complement the bag of dry she’d brought with her in the car, she wheeled the buggy to the checkout.
    She’d nearly made her escape when another female voice, one she hadn’t heard in at least a year, stopped her in her tracks. “My God, I can’t believe I’m seeing what I’m seeing. Little Meredith grocery shopping.”
    Meredith raised her eyes to confirm that the voice she’d heard was indeed that of Paulette. Crap, crap, crap . She had no idea her evil nemesis was anywhere near Tennessee. The last she heard, she was holed up with some bloke in Indiana, doing what she did best: bitch and cause trouble. Show no fear . She swallowed but held her gaze. “What are you doing here?”
    “Is that any way to greet me after all this time?” Paulette strutted over to stand next to the buggy, an alligator advancing on its breakfast. “I heard about your fortune, or at least your luck. What did you do to coerce Grandma into handing over her wealth to you?”
    Meredith forcibly stopped herself from retreating backward, away from the angry flash of Paulette’s tawny eyes. “Do? Nothing. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go.”
    “I’m coming with you.” Paulette laid a hand on Meredith’s arm to detain her. “That house should have been mine. As the oldest and all, if nothing else.”
    “Actually, it should have gone to our parents,” Meredith said, wanting but refusing to shake off the hand searing her arm. “Then we wouldn’t have this to argue about as well as all the other crap we’ve argued about most of our lives.”
    “We don’t argue. We discuss heatedly,” Paulette said with a wink. “I want to catch up with my little sister. Is there anything wrong with that?”
    “Yes. And no, you’re not staying with me,” Meredith said quickly. A bitter lump formed in her throat, and she forced it back down. Paulette had once been her closest friend, until she’d started shooting down all of Meredith’s actions with stinging remarks that reverberated in her head for years afterward. Cutting, hateful comments. Meredith didn’t understand what had changed between them, but something had. It was