“That pink in your cheeks answers that.” Becky laughed. “A man that can do that to you is a good man to have around. Gets cold around here come winter.”
She picked up the basket and handed it to Lily. Becky toted a tray of drinks and used her bottom to push open the door. In the enclosed, four-season porch, they set the basket and tray on a small table surrounded by a wooden bench and two wooden Adirondack chairs. Poe settled down at Lily’s feet like a rug.
“Ted make this set too?” Lily asked as she sat on the bench so she could face Rick and still watch him.
“Yes, he did. He’s great at furniture, but the barn project completely baffled him. Plus, we don’t have the equipment to get rid of the old one and erect a new one, but Rick does.”
What equipment was needed, and where did Rick keep it? Lily didn’t remember seeing another building besides his cabin, the sugarhouse, and the store. But then again, she hadn’t seen the barn on her grandmother’s property either.
Rick and Ted walked across the field and up the steps to the porch. Ted walked through the door first and gave Lily a friendly smile.
“Afternoon, miss,” he said. “I’m Ted.”
“Lily.” She shook his hand then pulled back when the Great Dane sloshed his tongue across her forearm.
“Oh, Brom.” Becky popped up from her seat and searched the two trays on the table. “I forgot napkins. Be right back.”
Lily stared at the wet strip on her arm. Rick stepped over to her and pulled the sleeve of his sweatshirt down then back up.
“There, all set. I’ve wiped way worse on that sweatshirt.” Rick grinned as he sat in one of the Adirondack chairs.
“Wonderful.” Somehow Lily didn’t care what Rick had wiped on the sweatshirt. Who was she right now?
Becky came back and dropped the napkins on the table. “Let’s see what all the fuss over these muffins is about.” She handed out paper plates and offered muffins to everyone. Moments of silence followed as everyone took bites.
“Well, she’s done it again,” Ted said. “Joy could mix mortar, cow manure, and cat litter into her muffins and the darn things would still taste heavenly.”
“That’s the truth.” Becky nodded. “Woman’s got a gift for coffee and pastry. Can’t deny it.”
“You’re going to supply us with cider again, right?” Rick asked after drinking some.
Lily took a swig, and it was as if she were drinking liquid apple pie. So tasty. Not a great deal of cider being served in La Jolla.
“You want cider, you got cider, Rick,” Ted said.
Lily thought of the business meetings she had back in California. Conference tables, fluorescent lighting, slideshow presentations, paperwork, and sometimes three hundred dollar meals at fancy restaurants. But Rick and Ted had accomplished the same thing over cider and muffins on a back porch. No legal consultations, no signatures. Just neighbors trusting neighbors.
Utopia Resorts would never understand a thing like that.
“So what’s the plan for the barn?” Becky dusted muffin crumbs off her lap.
Rick grabbed his notebook and slid out copies of the blueprints Lily had seen earlier. He had views of the outside and the oculus in the roof.
Becky took the papers and studied them. She nodded at each one and set them on the table for Ted to look at. “Mighty fine, Rick. Just what we wanted.”
“Good. I have questions now on the interior. How many stalls you want, what size tack room, loft or no loft, that sort of stuff?” Rick fished a pencil out of the binding of the notebook.
His strong fingers curled around his pencil. Those fingers had brought Lily such pleasure earlier today. She had to bite her bottom lip to keep from sighing aloud.
“Twelve by twelve tack room ought to do it,” Ted said. “Would love a loft, but won’t that cut down on the natural light we got coming in through the top?”
“Don’t make it a full loft.” Lily tore her gaze from Rick’s hands and focused on the blueprints. “If you make it so it lines the inside perimeter of the barn, but only juts out maybe three-fourths of the width of the stalls beneath, you’ll still get plenty of light.”
“I like that,” Ted said. “Gives me extra storage above the stalls too.”
Rick scribbled the idea into the notebook and looked up at Lily.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I shouldn’t have butted in like that.” She put a hand over her mouth. This wasn’t her meeting.
“I’m all for butting in when the idea is good,” Rick said. “And this is a good one. Easy enough to do.” He gave her a half-smile.
“You two make a nice team,” Becky said. “Don’t they, Ted?”
“Sure enough do. Two heads are usually better than one.” Ted went back to studying Rick’s designs.
“Especially when one of those heads is as pretty as Lily’s here.” Becky elbowed Lily and winked at Rick.
“Can’t argue with you there, Becky.” Rick tapped his pencil on Lily’s knee then continued writing in the notebook. “How many stalls?”
“Eight, right, Becky?” Ted looked to his wife.
“Eight ought to do it.” Becky nodded and refilled Lily’s cider glass.
As Lily drank, she marveled over how in sync Becky and Ted were. Rick asked them about other little details, and they agreed on everything. Shared the same vision. Wanted the same end product. Lily had never been so completely on the same wavelength with anyone like that. What was it like?
Rick walked his customers through the process expertly. He recorded all their wishes, re-sketched a few parts of the barn on the copies until the Tramtons were happy, and made a plan to come back to demolish the old barn. He may have claimed to live a simple life, but he had a deep understanding of business. He knew what needed to be done, how to do it, and how to cater to his customers’ needs.
Is he that different from me? Didn’t Lily do the same thing for Utopia? Maybe her world was faster-paced, more technologically advanced, and rang up a bigger bill, but in the end, weren’t the basic facets the same?
Rick built barns. She built hotels. The space between their worlds wasn’t that big.
Lily finished her cider and wished it had included alcohol, because now her thoughts were all over the place. She couldn’t let Vermont suck her in. She had a successful life in California. One she needed to get back to even if it meant facing Drew.
Drew. Lily checked the clock on the wall to her left. 4:00 p.m. Drew should be on a plane back to California by now. She should check her phone for messages from him or Tam. Lily put her hand into the pocket of Rick’s sweatshirt, forgetting for a moment her phone was in the truck. She couldn’t remember the last time her phone had been more than a foot away from her person for any length of time. She had to get back into the swing of things. Had to focus on selling her grandmother’s property to Rick, cleaning the house out, and getting back to California. She’d spent enough time flubbering about in Vermont.
She purposely tried not to look at Rick as he finished up with the Tramtons. The more she looked at him, the more she wanted the ridiculous. Instead, she turned her attention to Poe still resting by her feet. Part of the coyote’s front paw was on her boot, and when Lily moved her foot, Poe raised her head and let out a puff of air. She rose to all fours and stretched out her legs. First the back then the front. Lily expected the animal to head over to Rick or the Great Dane sleeping at the other end of the porch, but Poe didn’t do either of those things.
The coyote sat on her haunches and pawed at Lily’s knee instead. Lily scratched Poe’s neck as the animal looked up at the porch roof. When the coyote lowered her head, she angled her face at Lily, giving the distinct impression she was thinking something pretty heavy. Poe’s big ears twitched toward Rick as he spoke with Ted, then twitched back toward Lily. With a big coyote yawn, Poe rested her head in Lily’s lap and closed her eyes.
“Bet you never had a coyote in your lap in the city.” Becky reached over and rubbed Poe’s muzzle.
Lily shook her head. “Can’t say I have.” Against her leg, a contented hum vibrated in the coyote’s throat, sending an odd comfort throughout her body.
“She bothering you?” Rick asked.
Lily made the mistake of looking at Rick. Between his pale blue eyes wondering if she was okay and the warm fur of Poe in her lap, Lily couldn’t help but think this was all a girl needed. Fancy galas, penthouses, even her precious movies didn’t fill her like sitting on this porch was right now.
What am I going to do?
“Lily?” Rick reached over the table and touched the knee not covered by Poe’s head.
“Yeah.” She looked at Rick again, then at Becky and Ted, all three of them studying her with concerned looks on their faces. “I’m fine, but I think I’m going to head to the truck and check my messages while you finish up here.” She stood, and Poe whined a little.
“Come here, Poe.” Rick patted the armrest of the Adirondack chair he sat in, and the coyote whimpered at Lily, but did as Rick asked. She sat by his chair then lowered to her belly.
“Thank you, Becky, Ted,” Lily said. “Nice meeting you. Wonderful cider. Good luck with your barn.”
She didn’t wait for them to answer. Instead she opened the porch door and stepped into the house. She didn’t stop until she was at the passenger side of Rick’s truck. She leaned against the door. The sun was a fading ball of orange in the sky. A small chill rattled Lily’s spine as dusky gray crept through the woods. Everything was still. Quiet.
She needed noise and right now. Lily climbed into the truck and closed the door. She fished around in her purse until her hand closed around her cell phone. God, it had been off for hours. She turned it on and waited for the screen to announce an insane number of messages.
“Shit, ninety-seven.” Lily hung her head. She scrolled through them, responding and deleting accordingly, until she only had two messages left. The first was a text message from Tam.
Got presentation + designs. Look great. Don’t know if Utopia will bite. Sent sale docs. When r u coming back? Marilyn Monroe has no one to talk to in office.
Marilyn wouldn’t even recognize Lily in her current ensemble. She’d roll her eyes from that poster that hung in her office, and Lily would feel the need to don some pearls.
And Tam feared the same—a presentation and new designs weren’t enough to stop the hotel plans. Damn. Lily texted back she needed the sale documents again, but sent to Rick’s email instead. She told Tam she’d explain why later and conveniently left out when she would be returning.
The final message was from Drew. A voice mail. Lily hesitated over whether to listen to it or not. Curiosity won and she played the message.
Lily, I’m so sorry for the way I behaved this morning. I think I saw you with that Stannard guy and lost my mind or something. I don’t know. I’ve always pictured you with me and no one else. No excuse for acting like I did. I understand if it’s over this time, but I hope you can at least forgive me, and we can work together and be friends. I’m leaving your grandmother’s house now. I’ll see you when you get back to California.
Lily checked the time on the message. 9:30 a.m. Not too long after she’d left for Rick’s. Good. She hadn’t wanted Drew to hang around at her grandmother’s while she wasn’t there, especially while he was in the mood for smashing things.
She rolled her shoulders, glad that one problem had flown back to California. Now she just had to solve the resort problem and the falling for Rick problem.
Lily left her phone on and dropped it into her bag as Rick appeared on the front steps of the Tramtons’ house. He gave them a wave and headed to the truck with Poe running circles around him. When he reached the driver side, he opened the door and let Poe jump in. The coyote immediately licked Lily’s ear.
“She missed you.” Rick slipped in behind the wheel. He nudged Poe so she slithered into the back of the cab behind the front seats. “I missed you.”
“Sorry,” Lily said. “I had to get out of there. I was feeling a little too… too…”
“Comfortable?” Rick put his notebook under the armrest and slid his key into the ignition. He rested his hands on the steering wheel and looked out the front window.
“I shouldn’t be this comfortable, Rick. I don’t belong here. This isn’t my world.” Lily threw a hand out to indicate the farmhouse and fields.
“Well, if it’s any consolation, I haven’t been acting like myself either.” He ran a hand through his hair, and the strands fell back into place. Lily had an immediate desire to touch that golden hair. To feel it between her fingers.
Rick angled himself against the door and pointed at Lily. “I blame you for all this.”
“Me?” Lily shook her head. “No, I definitely didn’t want this to happen.”
“Well, what’s more believable?” Rick asked. “That me, a hermit with limited social skills, seduced you, or you, coming from a family of people known by the world for their charm, seduced me? Hmmm?”
“Let’s call it even,” Lily said, unable to hide a smile. “There are obviously forces at work beyond our control.”
“Control. That’s it right there.” Rick started the truck. “Both of us are letting go of the control we usually cling to. I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing, Lily.”
“I don’t either, and that’s what has scared the designer boots right off me.”
Rick laughed, and Lily closed her eyes as the sound massaged her body. Did she have any sounds that did that back home? No. And she’d filled the silence with stupid parties and movie lines. And work.
“Come home with me, Lily,” Rick said before backing out of the Tramtons’ driveway. He tugged on the sleeve of her sweatshirt. His sweatshirt, technically.
How could she say no? She didn’t want to. Lily wasn’t in a rush to go back to her grandmother’s house where she’d do nothing but remember the fury on Drew’s face or start boxing up her grandmother’s possessions. Neither activity held any optimism.
She huffed out a breath of defeat and said, “Oh, okay.” She folded her arms across her chest as Rick eased the truck onto the main road. A light snow had started to fall, dusting the muddy road in a speckled whiteness.
“I’m not happy about it either,” he said, pulling at her arm until the left one came free. He flattened her hand against his thigh. “I know we’re both being stupid right now. This has nowhere to go besides down the shitter, but for once, I just don’t care.”
“Me neither,” Lily said, “but somebody ought to.”
Chapter Seventeen
Rick followed Lily and Poe into his cabin. He turned on the lights in the kitchen and gave the answering machine a quick glance. No messages.
Good, that means Avaline didn’t call, and Drew is on his way back to California.
Lily had told him about the voice mail Drew had left her, but Rick liked knowing the police had checked it out as well. He let out a breath as Poe stood right by Lily and barked.
“Why is she doing this, Rick?” Lily thrust a hand down to the coyote. “She’s glued to me.”
Poe barked again.
“Hush, Poe.” Rick tapped Poe on the nose, and she sat in the middle of the kitchen. When Lily walked to the counter to put her purse down, the coyote got up and escorted her. Rick stepped in front of Poe and kneeled down. “What’s with you, girl? Give Lily some space, okay?”
He stood and filled Poe’s food bowl. That distracted the coyote enough to allow Rick to take her place in front of Lily.
“Now you’re in my space.” Lily pressed her hands against Rick’s chest but didn’t push.
“Yes, I am, and I plan to be in it for the rest of the evening and well into tomorrow morning.” He dropped a few short kisses, teases, on Lily’s lips. When she leaned her body into his, a rumble escaped from his throat. “It was getting increasingly hard not to touch you at the Tramtons’ house.” He ran his lips along her cheek to her ear.
“I felt the same. You’r
e hot whether you’re playing the guitar or scribbling on graph paper.” She grabbed a fistful of Rick’s sweater and backed them both into the dark living room.
Rick lowered her onto the couch and wished he could snap his fingers to start a fire in the fireplace. Doing it the old fashioned way would involve him having to leave Lily unattended for a spell, and he couldn’t fathom doing that when her hands roamed down his back, tugged off his sweater. She arched up, pressing harder against him, as she trailed hot kisses down his neck. She slid her hands under his T-shirt and removed that too.
He kneeled back, one leg bent on the cushion underneath her, the casted one still trying to support him, but shaking at the strain.
“You’re in no condition to have the top.” She arched a devilish eyebrow at him and grinned.
“You want the top?” Sensitive areas tightened in Rick’s body as he thought about Lily hovering over him.
“I’d like to give it a go, yes.” She wiggled up to a sitting position.
“By all means.” He grabbed her around the waist, pulled her to him, and gently turned around so they switched places. He leaned back on an elbow and watched her unzip his sweatshirt she still wore. She pulled the zipper down an inch at a time, slowly revealing the green, long-sleeved T-shirt she had on underneath as if unwrapping a gift, only it wasn’t Christmas or his birthday. It was an entirely new special occasion. One he wanted to celebrate daily.
The sweatshirt dropped to the ground, and Rick made quick work of ridding Lily of her T-shirt. They slid off everything else until she wore only a pair of diamond stud earrings, and he just the cast. He was so glad he hadn’t hurt his back on his snowshoeing blunder. That would have made all this fun impossible.
And, shit, he was having fun. More fun than he’d ever allowed himself to have. Even before New York and the heart attack, he’d always played it slow and careful. When you had lost your parents and learned about death at age eleven and your heart had thrown in the towel at thirty-one, life appeared to need a helmet. Danger was around every corner and waiting to take away what you loved most. Rick had forgotten, however, that life was also about taking risks and letting go. It was about following a path to see where it would lead. He liked this path he was blazing with Lily. It would no doubt lead him in a big circle, but what a ride on the carousel.
More Than Pancakes (The Maple Leaf Series Book 1) Page 21