The Billionaire's Favorite: A Homesburg Romance

by Elle Chance

  I pointed to a park bench close to the water. “Let’s put our names on that. The fun part of this park bench is when the river floods at all, our names will go under.” I took off without checking to see if she was coming.

  Sofie trotted after me. “Are you sure we’re allowed?”

  “That’s why we’ll use initials instead of our social security numbers. Besides, it looks like the graduating class has gotten to it already. Although watch out, apparently Alex has found their last three beaus here.” I pointed to where Alex + Joe was crossed out. Joe got replaced two other times before settling on Carlisle. Scrawls covered the bench. But Alex + Carlisle would be together 4ever.

  “So this isn’t a matchmaking bench then.” Sofie laughed at my find. “Are we carving our initials together? And do they have to be my initials?”

  “I give you free rein to carve whatever you want wherever you want.” I handed over the pocket knife. I was about to explain how to use it when she opened it like it was second nature.

  “I worked in a bookstore in college. This is more useful than a Xacto knife. And it feels good.” She weighed it thoughtfully. I made a mental note that I could put “pen complimented by a billionaire” into my memoirs.

  I settled into eye Sofie as she picked a spot on the bench. She’d tucked her long blond hair back behind her ears and was looking for clear spaces. She settled at the back, where I wouldn’t see what she wrote and set to carving.

  The bench was squishier than I would have liked. It would have been a better idea to put a metal bench in the flood zone, and I wondered how long our initials would last.

  When I was a kid, I always had dreams about the river flooding up to Main Street and then steadily chugging the half-mile up to my childhood home. They weren’t nightmares since usually, my grandfather would appear in a family canoe. But I couldn’t hear the river downtown without thinking of that dream and his cheerful wave to me from the porch where he’d come pick me up.

  “Penny for your thoughts.” Sofie’s voice came from beside me. She’d perched up next to me on the bench, the knife folded into one hand.

  I told her about the dream. “Unfortunately, that could never happen. The river doesn’t even fully reach the staircase thirty feet from the water.”

  “What do you think it means?” Sofie asked.

  She handed over the knife while I thought about my answer. I was unadventurous and stole a little space on the arm of the bench I was sitting by. “I think it’s about how my grandfather took us out when it was flooding sometimes. Not very deep, but nothing ever consistently happened after I had the dream. They weren’t a sign of anything.”

  I had a cheerful little JC on the bench soon.

  “You’re so fast at that.” Sofie leaned over to take in the look. “Man, mine is all messed up, and yours doesn’t have any straight lines in it at all.”

  I shrugged. “I’ve been preparing for this for years. I guess the dream tells me one thing though.”

  “Oh, yeah, what’s that?” Sofie asked, looking up at me. She was closer than I’d realized, and it took me a moment to collect my thoughts after the intensity of her eye contact.

  “You believe in dreams meaning things. Which is worse than ghosts.”

  Sofie’s smile widened a little, but she gave me a shove with her elbow. “We have proof dreams exist, at least. And there famous psychologists who believed in studying them.” She huffed and sat by me to look across the river, but I could still feel the warmth of her body next to me.

  I put an arm behind her in a practiced gesture. Usually, this was when I’d be contacting the woman if I was trying to get with her. More flirting, more teasing.

  But Sofie still hadn’t told me her real name, and I didn’t want to scare her off. So I left my arm across the bench instead, and just enjoyed the water going by next to a pretty girl for a while.

  SOFIE

  IT OCCURRED TO me that Josh could have us sit by the water for the rest of the day. And that worried me, because it would be boring. But also because part of me liked that. The thought of us sitting together so long it would be natural for my head to drop to his shoulder. And then, maybe, finally, we could kiss. I could get him and his dreams and this town out of my system.

  But Josh didn’t touch me, and after a few moments of contemplation he stretched and stood up. “This may have been the most exciting part of the day, but there is more to see in Homesburg. We should get a move on.”

  The rest of his tour was a quick montage of a cute New York town.

  “These train tracks are where the first coal train ran.” Josh stood off to one side of them “They’re used for special events and tours around Christmas now. Spiked eggnog for the parents, hot cocoa for the kids.”

  “So were deliveries made along here?” I remained on the safety of a modern sidewalk. Who knew I could be so happy about concrete?

  “No, it was a trial run and then never used after that.” Josh put his hands on his hips and squinted at me through the sunlight. “This is the second most impressive thing here. You could show more enthusiasm.”

  “Yeah, I’m sure I’m the right level of impressed here.” I crossed my arms and tilted my head to show my utter chill about the whole train tracks situation.

  Josh gingerly walked across the crumbling wood to get back to me. “I agree! Well, let’s keep moving.”

  Josh showed me the oldest building in town, which was a dilapidated looking post office now.

  Then we toured the best pizza in town for a slice — a soggy take on the New York slice.

  Finally, we rounded out poking through the remains of the Farmer’s Market in the parking lot of the grocery store at the other end of town from the stairs.

  “Is this competitive to their business? It makes little sense why this would be here.”

  Josh shrugged. “It’s pretty much all pumpkins this time of year. Our grocery stores are less cut through than the city ones I guess. ”

  Josh insisted on buying us some warm cider and wheedled his way into some cinnamon liquor to go in them. He steered me towards where a small live band was playing. Josh seemed to know everyone in town. It started off cute but ended up being surprising when we’d seen over fifty people.

  Josh introduced me as Cleo to a couple standing near us for the performance. Guilt for lying about my name got the best of me. “Cleo’s actually more of a nickname. You can call me Sofie,” I said in a rush to Jess and Andrew.

  Josh hid a smile in a swallow of his cider then. We listened to a couple songs from the live band before he swayed his shoulder into me for part of the next song. “So are you a spy? Multiple identities and all?”

  “Cleo was a nickname my dad had for me when I was a kid.” Which was true. Short for Cleopatra, not that I’d be confessing that to Josh soon. I could imagine him greeting me with the walk like an Egyptian dance already.

  “Intriguing.” Josh’s breath warm and cinnamon-scented as he leaned in to tease me. “My nickname was boo boo, but you can probably skip that.”

  I gave him a nudge back with my shoulder, partially to scare him off, partially to lean into him again. Everyone was so friendly with me here, and it was easy to pretend for a moment that I was visiting a friend. That tomorrow wouldn’t be full of video meetings for the Foundation and visiting my dad again.

  It was nice to be outside as the sky went dark blue velvet and not have to be Sofie Barlow, the billionaire’s daughter. But to just be Josh’s friend from the city and getting tipsy off of apple cider.

  The next morning, Patty dove into a full tactical launch on an upcoming fundraiser we had going on for the American Cancer Society. The meetings we had dragged on but I could at least shelve my concern that I’d be useless while we were out here. Patty would die before losing another full day of productivity.

  Then we were off to visit my father. I felt like a piece of pottery left in a kiln too long when we got back to the Lodge. Yesterday afternoon already felt a million miles away
.

  But we found Josh behind the desk in the lobby, glaring down a tablet computer. “Hello, hello.” His handsome smile warmed at the sight of me and made me feel like the day hadn’t been entirely for nothing. “I’m happy to tell you all I’ll be your concierge for the week. And also I.T., at least today.”

  “That’s great news, the wi-fi is working, but it’s terrible,” Patty said. I could see her adding up a few tasks she could assign to Josh that she’d been doing the last couple of days. “I’m Patricia. And where can we get dinner from around here?”

  “Yeah, the whole town specializes in questionable internet, unfortunately. Well, there’s some good pasta, great burgers, and questionable seafood on Main Street. That and the pizza from the tavern.” Josh grabbed for a pen. “I could call and order something if you have food in mind.”

  “I truly wish we hadn’t stayed somewhere that was reopening,” Patty said with a sigh. “Do you have a menu?”

  Josh tapped the pen on the desk. “We will when I come back with food.” He shot me a look of concern when Patty sighed and had to turn away. “The burgers are great, really.”

  “Fine, fine. Just make sure you’re back here for the bar.” Patty listed off ingredients and wandered away.

  Rocco introduced himself, put in an order for two burgers, and warned Josh the gym was running low on cleaning supplies.

  Josh turned to me, his grin almost mischievous, and I could feel myself blushing under his sincere gaze. “And what for you, Miss Cleo?”

  “Can you just get me buttered pasta?” I asked. “And I’ll have a carafe of wine to myself tonight.”

  “We keep them in buckets, but it’ll do the same thing. The food should be ready in less than an hour. Rough day?”

  “We’re just hitting our stride here.” I sighed. “I wish every day could be just sitting by the river.”

  Josh nodded, his face sympathetic. “Me too. It was a good day. But that wasn’t even my favorite part.”

  The heat between us that had been there from the beginning felt like it was warming even more. And not because Josh was hitting on me or even near me. Just because he was already who I wanted to see at the end of a long, annoying day.

  Josh cleared his throat and stood up. “I’ll grab that food. Why don’t you head in and I’ll meet you soon?”

  I stood up straight myself and nodded. I felt like a schoolgirl with a crush, and I was oddly okay with it.

  JOSH

  CORY FOUND ME just before I headed out for our food.

  “How do you feel about staying in the Lodge for the week instead of back home? Could you resist the urge to jump in bed with my only client?”

  “Walk with me to Cortado’s and we can talk.” I grabbed Cory’s old coat as we headed out the door.

  I spent a moment just taking in the calm evening of our hometown as we headed down the stairs and toward the sidewalk. It was only two blocks downhill to Main Street. The air smelled like crisp autumn leaves. It almost made me for that Cory was peeved I was gunning for his richest current lodger. And oh yeah, his only lodger.

  “Look, I’ll stay, but I want to run it by the big guy. I like Sofie, and I don’t want it to be creepy I’m suddenly living with her.”

  Cory’s grumbled wordlessly a bit as we headed down the hill, his stride lengthening with his annoyance. Finally, he bit out, “I told you not to bother her. And she gave you a fake name.”

  “True, but Sofie doesn’t seem bothered that I’m hanging around now. She enjoys having the bar open, and now I can charge her for drinks.” I dodged his angry glare as best I could.

  “You’re not allowed to just get in bed with her to find out why she’s here.” 2Cory was ramping up to a good, long older brother’s speech about the perilous ways of my womanizing.

  “That’s not what I’m doing. I’ve dropped writing about her. I just want to explore things.” We stopped to wave to the Graves sisters before crossing Main Street. “Besides, I like her.”

  Cory was quiet again throughout picking up our orders. I was happy for his extra set of hands. But my brother is quiet, not stupid. I knew he was trying to keep a lid on his temper when he took his time choosing his words.

  Cory broke his silence as we trudged back uphill. “If this goes well, she tells her friends there’s this great little getaway just outside the city. That could be a lot of money for me.”

  I resisted the urge to fill in the quiet with a conversation, even though I had about eight things I wanted to say. Including, what about my friends I’d told about the Lodge? Then again, my friends’ net worth was in the thousands, not the billions.

  Finally, Cory sighed as we got to the lodge front door. “Has she told you why she’s in town?” he asked reluctantly.

  “She’s here for her the family.” I rummaged through the bag of takeout she handed me.

  It surprised Cory when I handed him one of the takeout containers. I tapped on it in his hands. “Extra rare, tomato, lettuce, no condiments. And should I charge extra for these meals? Five dollars for delivery?”

  I could tell I’d won Cory over a bit with the food. He sighed again. “Just charge them flat whatever you got them for. And just do nothing lightly here, okay? Her bodyguard will kill you.”

  “Yeah, I got that.” I rearranged the food back into my arms. “Anything else?”

  Cory ran a hand through his renovation beard before shaking his head. He was freaking me out with all these warnings. “Just don’t get your heartbroken, all right?”

  “Well, it hasn’t happened yet,” I said flippantly.

  Then, about thirty seconds behind my mouth, my brain kicked in. Cory had a fiance who’d really wrecked him about five years ago. Alice Harcourt, who’d run away to Seattle for college. That was right around the time he’d gotten obsessed with this heap, coincidentally. And her parents, the Harcourts, happened to the owners of the Homesburg Lodge.

  “All right.” Cory’s mouth thinned and then headed off to his truck.

  I put Cory out of my mind and headed in with my food. Patricia the assistant and Rocco the muscle headed upstairs. She went with a couple glasses of wine in a beer glass. He took our stock of embarrassing light beer that Cory kept on hand.

  “I’m losing my touch as a bartender,” I told Sofie after they’d left. “Tell me you want something more challenging than a pour.”

  “I’ll have whatever’s your fancy.” Sofie got us set up by the fireplace and figured out the remote by the time I showed up with my twist on a Manhattan for us.

  We ate and settled comfortably into small talk. I was regaling her with the story of the basketball game the night before, which had included a thrilling fight between a referee and coach.

  “You seem to like the drama just as much as the sport itself,” Sofie observed, making her way through the buttered pasta I’d brought.

  “Big talk from the girl who eats her pasta like a little kid.” I had to fend her off from stealing my fries. “And I liked the game too, thank you. Stuff like that is even more fun for fans who know the history of the referee.”

  “So you just live-tweet the game? I guess that explains how you’re working from here this week. Do you do that often?” Sofie’s eyes were bright on my face.

  I had to admit I felt a little cooler when explaining my job to a rich girl who was hanging onto my every word. “Not usually, but Cory could use my help around here. Speaking of him, he asked me to stay at the Lodge for a bit and just be on hand, be helpful.”

  Sofie nodded. “That’s nice.”

  “Yeah, I just wanted to make sure that was cool with you and Rocco,” I said.

  “Why would it be?” Sofie asked, her voice innocent.

  I ignored the feeling of my heart dropping into my stomach. “Oh, I just didn’t want that to be weird for you.”

  Sofie laughed, suddenly awkward with me. “Well, it’s a big place.” Then she chewed on one cute lip for a moment before saying, “I hope I didn’t give you the wrong impres
sion here, Josh.”

  I cut her off before she could continue to let me down gently. “Yeah, I think I may have made it weird. But anyway, I’ll be around if you need anything.”

  Sofie smiled as I tried to recover smoothly. “Oh my gosh, are you not used to getting turned down? Is it because you usually kill with the ladies?”

  I’d kill my brother for telling her about that. “No, I like friends. And you’re great. And I take my historical touring side gig seriously, thank you. Can’t be getting down with any old tourists.”

  As much as I believed what she was saying, I couldn’t think back to yesterday and imagine she was seeing it purely platonically.

  But she’d given me a fake name like Cory kept reminding me.

  Best to just take her at her word and assume that I’d be misreading the way her eyes drifted to my mouth. How she leaned into my shoulders at the Farmer’s Market the night before.

  And Sofie still hadn’t told me why she was in my hometown. And I had been secretly planning on using her to write a serious article that got me out of the business of live-tweeting.

  When I thought about it that way, I should have known she wouldn’t be interested. I drowned my sorrows in my Manhattan and food. I told myself that it was more about the rejection than it was about Sofie herself, but I wasn’t sure that was true. Something in her really got to me, and it wasn’t just her bank account.

  The rest of the night, I couldn’t shake the feeling of her next to me the night before at the Farmer’s Market, her laughing at me as showed her my hometown.

  “Didn’t you say you did a whole paper on the town history in high school?” Sofie asked when we were finishing our second drinks.

  “Yeah, it turns out that it was a lot more interesting if your last name is Chase,” I said with a laugh. “My grandfather, the one from the dream, was a doctor at a local hospital, so I wrote about that a lot.”

  “Oh, Straubing?” Sofie asked. She made a face after she said the name. Weird, but whatever.