Seventeen

J axson woke up feeling irritated. Days had passed since the process server situation. The memory still rankled. Genesis was upset, which meant he too had a problem. Something had happened to her that he couldn’t fix or control. After another half hour trying to reclaim the sleep that had already left him, he reached for the cell phone and texted his barber, then jumped into the shower. When he returned to the phone, there was a message. The barber could try to move up his standing 2:00 p.m. appointment if he could be there by nine. After filling his thermos with java, he headed into town.

Jaxson hopped out of the car, ready to enjoy a cut, a shave, a healthy dose of trash-talking and brotherly love. Greetings rang out as soon as the chimes went off. Jaxson greeted the patrons as he offered one-shoulder hugs and fist bumps before taking a chair by the window. He listened to the men debate one thing after another and scrolled his phone. While checking out renovations on a popular social media site, a video title caught his attention: Build Your Tiny Home for under 10K!

Jaxson was intrigued. For the next several minutes, he went down the tiny-home rabbit hole. Of course, he knew about them, but when it came to alternative living, he’d gravitated more toward container homes, some as luxurious as the homes in Paradise Valley. One video was especially inspiring. Two brothers in South Carolina had come together to form a tiny-house village. They set up plots with individual gas, electric and water hookups, then leased the plots to homeowners. Their plan had been immediately successful.

According to them, finding space to park tiny homes was a major challenge. The brothers had worked with the city for the proper permits and zoning. In less than a year, they’d leased all the spaces and were making a respectable profit. As he continued to scroll, an idea began to form in his head, one that could not only provide redemption from the fiasco in Arizona he’d unknowingly aided, but help Genesis make hers a profitable property. He loved helping Genesis and was prepared to support her. But he also respected her desire to be independent. A tiny-home village could help that happen. Perhaps they could even form a partnership and use some of his land as well.

He clicked on a few links to tiny-home articles. The more he learned, the more interested he became. He sent a text to his banker friend to request a phone meeting. If Genesis increased the loan to cover land preparations, or they created a separate loan as a joint venture, the groundwork needed to build such a village could get started right away.

There were also more personal reasons Jaxson found this project interesting. From the bits and pieces that Genesis had shared with him, and given her initial actions toward him, she hadn’t had a lot of positive male interaction. Cyrus Perry was the only man she constantly mentioned in a positive light. She didn’t talk about her biological father, and said her stepfather was kind but distant. Now her cousin was on her case to dishonor her great-uncle by going against his wishes and selling the farm. Genesis needed to see that not all men were jerks. That good, honest, solid men like Cyrus still existed, the kind who’d help her stand on her own and be self-sufficient until the right man came along. A man who deserved her.

Like you? asked the devil on his shoulder.

“Jax! Man, quit daydreaming. You’re up.”

Jax took the ribbing good-naturedly as he slid into the chair.

“What’s up, Ronnie?”

“I can’t complain. Wouldn’t do any good if I did.” Ronnie draped a cape over Jaxson’s clothes, then began arranging the tools of his handiwork.

“What are we doing today?”

“The usual. Take some off the top and shape it up.”

“What about this thing happening on your face?”

“I’m thinking about growing in a beard.”

Ronnie grunted. “Brother, you need to make a decision one way or the other, because the current situation is not a good look.”

Guys on both sides of where Jaxson sat heard Ronnie’s comment. The teasing began. For the next thirty minutes Jaxson enjoyed the special camaraderie only found in barbershops, where men felt safe to speak freely about anything. Where they could be who they were without judgment. Not much, anyway.

An older man sitting two chairs down leaned forward to catch Jaxson’s eye. “Heard you have a new neighbor.”

Jaxson turned toward the voice. “News travels fast.”

Ronnie squeezed his shoulder. “Keep your head still.”

“How’d you find out?” Jaxson asked, believing he already knew the answer.

“Ran into Granville at church last Sunday. Hadn’t been there in a while, since going down to Florida to help my brother recover.”

“How is Daniel?” one man asked.

“Ornery as ever, which means he’s feeling better.”

“Remind him to take care of himself. Those heart attacks are no joke.”

“Anyhow, that’s why I missed Cyrus’s funeral. Hate that I did. He was a decent man and a longtime friend. He told me it was a nice service, and that the niece who wrote and read the obituary now lives in his house.”

“When was the funeral?” the man sitting next to Jaxson asked.

Jaxson told him.

“That’s interesting. I could have sworn I saw Clarence just this morning.”

Jaxson’s head shot up in surprise.

“Dammit, Jax!”

“Sorry, man.”

“No, you’re going to be sorry when I have to carve a map of Tennessee in your hair to make up for these crooked lines happening.”

The men laughed again. Jaxson ignored them, relaxed back against the chair.

“I don’t think it was Clarence. His niece has been trying to reach him about coming down here to help handle his father’s...affairs. I’m sure if he were in town, he would have called her.”

“How much you want to bet?” asked a man sitting in the chair by the window Jaxson had vacated. “Looks like either him or his twin across the street right now.”

The man nodded toward the street corner, out of Jaxson’s view. He resisted the urge to jump out of the chair, yet pondered this development. Was he here about contesting the will? Clarence wouldn’t have had to fly from Phoenix to do that. Was the attorney he’d hired someone local? Jaxson knew a lot of the townspeople. Could it be a former classmate, one of their parents or someone else he knew? There were a lot of questions, but not a lot of answers. One way or another, he was definitely going to try to find out.

“We about done here?” he asked Ronnie.

“Except for the scruff on your face.”

Jaxson reached behind him and untied the cape. “Next time,” he said, already up and reaching for his money before Ronnie could stop him. “I just remembered something that I need to do.”

Jaxson acted purely on instinct. He went to his truck, grabbed the ball cap he’d left in the passenger seat and a pair of shades from the console, then headed down the sidewalk in the direction the barbershop patron had been looking when he spoke. At the end of the block was an office building that housed an insurance company, a real estate business, a mail service and at least two law firms. Fortunately for him, it also housed a mini-mart. He stepped into the cool confines of the convenience store and posted up next to a rack of magazines.

“Can I help you?” the owner asked, after Jaxson had been there for about ten minutes.

Jaxson reached into his pocket and handed the clerk a twenty. “I’m not loitering. Just trying to ditch a girl.” He winked in a show of camaraderie. “You know how it is.”

The young man laughed and half turned before spinning back around. “Hey, has anyone ever told you that you look like Jax King, the football player?”

Jaxson pulled his ball cap lower. “I get that all the time.”

After five more minutes went by, Jaxson decided to end the stakeout. He walked to the back of the store and nabbed a water, then went down the snack aisle for two large bags of the cheddar popcorn he knew both Hazel and Nipsey loved. He looked up just as a very familiar face stepped inside the store.

Clarence Perry, Genesis’s cousin, was definitely in the building.

“Would you happen to have those...what do you call them...burner phones?” Jaxson heard him ask the clerk. “The kind that can be purchased without an account?”

“No, we don’t carry those.”

“Okay, thanks. Hey, let me get one of those cigars.”

Jaxson kept his back turned until Clarence left the store, then went to the counter to finish his purchase. His first thought had been to let Clarence know he’d been spotted, but again, acting on instinct, he decided to remain hidden instead. When he thought the coast was clear, he exited the building and reached for his phone.

“Did you know Clarence was here, in Holy Mound?” he asked, when Genesis answered.

“Is that why he hasn’t returned my phone calls? Because he was here working with someone to get me served?”

“I thought the same thing but why fly all the way here to do that?”

“Good question.”

“He doesn’t know I saw him. But he’s up to something. He asked the clerk in the convenience store for a burner phone.”

“A burner phone?”

“Stay put. I’m coming over.”

Jaxson flew like a bat out of hell down the highway, ignoring the speed limit and damn near his life. He pulled into Cyrus’s drive like a man on a mission, not sure when the old man’s wishes to keep the farm had become his personal struggle. Probably the moment Genesis started creeping into his heart. On the way home he called a few of his connections, made a few inquiries, received some info. Before getting out of the car, he took a breath to calm himself. Genesis needed his rational, steady support, and she was going to get it.

“Gen!”

“Come in.”

Jaxson entered a quiet living room. “Where are you?”

“In here.”

Today she wore a striped cotton maxi, her natural curls loose and floating around her face. The only thing that would make her more beautiful to him than she appeared right now was a smile. Lucky for him he felt he had a way to make that happen.

“Hey, there, beautiful.”

He squeezed her shoulder, before sitting down beside her. She leaned into his arms.

“You okay?” he asked.

“Never better. I’m happy, delighted, just thrilled to know the cousin whose phone I’ve called and left messages on was quite possibly right here in town when I did it.”

“I hear you, sweetheart. That’s messed up.”

“Completely.”

“What do you want to do?”

Genesis picked up her phone. “Leave another message.”

She tapped her screen. Lifted her chin. Jaxson could feel her back straighten as she waited.

That’s my baby. Get ’em! They had no idea who they’d messed with .

“Clarence, it’s Genesis. I know you’re in town and why. I got served.

“I can understand you doing what you feel you’ve got to do, but ignoring me and continuing to blame me for something I had no part in is ridiculous. Since you’re here, I’m hoping you can be mature enough to come over tomorrow and have a civil conversation and help go through your father’s things. You know the address. I’ll wait until noon. After that I plan to make a few legal moves.”

She ended the call ready to box. “I can’t believe these people! I’ve tried everything to handle this family-friendly and they—”

“Shh.” Jaxson turned her away from him and massaged her tense shoulders. “I’m proud of how you handled yourself just now, the way you’ve dealt with this whole process.”

“Thanks.”

“The next move is on your cousin. Until you hear from him, I have an idea that would be a much more productive way to spend your energy. Want to hear it?”

She nodded, rolled her shoulders. “Um, that feels good.”

Jaxson told her what had happened while waiting for his haircut, then showed her the tiny-house village video, along with a couple of others.

“Imagine having sovereignty by creating a village. No mortgage. No debt. And a community of handpicked neighbors helping you live your best life.”

“It sounds good. Great, actually. Why are you going to these lengths to help me? What’s in it for you?”

“I know you’ve been mistreated, not only when it comes to the farm but in other ways. And there’s that part about me being a nice guy.”

“A nice guy. Nothing more.”

“There may be a little more to it. If you’re open, we could partner and use some of my land, too.”

“Aha! So the truth comes out.”

“Don’t you think we’d make good business partners?”

“I don’t know. Besides, I’m still trying to recoup money from the last time I ventured down that road.”

“I completely understand, Gen. I’ve been burned, too.”

The thought still brought a twinge of pain to Jaxson’s heart. His ignorance had been costly. And though he’d done what he could to help those who’d been affected, it hadn’t felt like enough. He didn’t know if he’d ever feel fully exonerated. But a thriving tiny-house village and a woman named Genesis might make him feel at peace.