Starting Over (Nugget Romance 4)

by Stacy Finz

  “You mean this hellhole?”

  He chuckled and drew his thumb down her face. “Why are you crying, Sam?”

  “Because you were a complete ogre down there. You embarrassed me in front of my employer and my friends. Yet, I’m still so, so happy to see you.” And for the second time that morning she burst into tears. Then she clung to her father like she was that ten-year-old girl who used to stand on his feet while he waltzed her around the terrace.

  In return, he squeezed her tight as a boa constrictor.

  “Why didn’t you call, Daddy? I could’ve picked you up at the airport.”

  “I wanted to surprise you.”

  She wiggled free, sat on the loveseat, and patted the space next to her. “You rented a car and got a flat?”

  He sighed. “Yes. Then that Lucky fellow came along. I’m pretty sure his sheep ate my luggage.” George glanced around the room like he was seeing it for the first time. Pushing to his feet, he wandered over to the window and lifted the lace panel.

  She joined him and pointed. “Those are the Sierra mountains.” Even in July, the highest ones were still capped in white. “Down there is the square, Nugget’s main business district. And that crowd of people over there are at the farmers’ market. They hold two every week in summer.”

  He lifted a snowy brow. “It doesn’t look like much.”

  She ignored him. “See over there.” Sam pointed to the trestle bridge. “That’s the Feather River.”

  “So that young man from earlier, he’s Breyer?”

  “Mm-hmm.”

  “Seems to have a good head on his shoulders.”

  Why, because he kissed your ass? “Yes. He’s very successful,” she said, and motioned toward the Ponderosa. “We’ll eat there tonight. It’s a restaurant, Western saloon, and bowling alley all in one. You’ll get a kick out of it.” Or maybe not. “The women who own it are originally from San Francisco.”

  “Good-looking fellow, that Breyer. Married?”

  “No, Daddy, he’s not. Don’t you want your scotch?”

  “I’ll have it later. Where do you live?”

  “It’s just a few miles from here. We’ll go after dinner. You’ll stay in my guest room.”

  “You don’t want me to stay here?” he asked, surprised.

  “I got the distinct impression you didn’t like it here. But, no, I want you to stay with me.” She wanted to spend time with him, make him see how wonderful Nugget was.

  “I’d enjoy that, Sam. But for the record, I never said I didn’t like the inn.”

  “You want to see the rest of it?” She looked at her watch and pulled him by the arm. “If we hurry, there may be leftovers in the kitchen.”

  Sam showed him the downstairs, including all the common rooms and then the kitchen, where she found plenty of Brady’s fried chicken in the refrigerator. She made them up two plates—unexpectedly, she had an appetite.

  “You just help yourself?” George asked, scanning the walls of white cabinets and stainless-steel counters.

  “Usually Brady, he’s our chef, is here, but he’s probably at the farmers’ market getting ingredients for tomorrow. These people down the road who own a motor lodge keep accusing us of running a restaurant. Our permits are strictly for a B & B. They’re putting in a pool shaped like a bear or something crazy like that, since they’re called the Beary Quaint. Beary”—she spelled it—“Get it? So to retaliate, Nate told the mayor that they’re putting in a water park.” Sam laughed.

  “Are you running a restaurant?”

  “No. Of course not. Although if we were, we’d make a killing, ’cause Brady can cook.” She took their lunches and a couple of lemonades to the veranda. It was probably eighty degrees out, but under the porch fans, it didn’t feel so hot. “Sit, Daddy.”

  He made himself comfortable in one of Colin’s rockers. “Nice chair.”

  “A local guy makes them. I’ll take you over to his studio later so you can see his work. He and his fiancée are getting married at the inn next month. I’m planning the reception.”

  Together, they ate the fried chicken and potato salad Brady had made for the staff and watched people shop at what was left of the farmers’ market. A few passersby, including Harlee and Darla, who were eating ice cream on the green, waved.

  “You know them?” George asked.

  “Everyone here knows everyone. But those two are my good friends. Harlee is the fiancée of the furniture builder I told you about. She owns the Nugget Tribune. And Darla and her father have the barbershop.”

  “Can a person make a living in this town?” George seemed to be enjoying his chicken, so Sam gave him a piece of hers.

  “Yes. A lot of small business owners, ranchers, and railroad workers. A number of people commute to Reno, though.”

  George blinked. “That’s an hour’s drive.”

  “About fifty minutes when there’s no snow.”

  “And this Breyer fellow, he owns another nine hotels in San Francisco?”

  “Mm-hmm. The Theodore is his flagship and it’s spectacular. And he just bought a bungalow colony fifteen minutes from here. It’s next to a touristy town with lots of ski resorts.”

  “Why does he bother with this?” He waved his hand at the inn. “I mean, it’s handsome enough, but it can’t bring in that much revenue.”

  “I don’t know whether it does or not,” Sam said. “But he and his sister Maddy bought it when it was practically falling down, and restored it. Maddy lives here full-time—she’s married to the police chief—and runs it, but is on maternity leave. They love the inn.”

  She told him about the Landon Lowery family reunion. He’d never heard of Lowery, but Sam explained that in the tech world he was a god. Later, after she’d gotten most of her work done, she took her father on a tour of the town, introduced him to some of the town’s characters, including Owen and Donna, and bought a soft-serve at the Bun Boy. Tomorrow, when he’d had time to settle in, Sam wanted to show him McCreedy Ranch and Lucky’s fledgling cowboy camp.

  Griffin dropped George’s rental car at the Lumber Baron and Andy gave Griff a lift back to the Gas and Go. George begrudgingly admitted that folks here were pretty accommodating.

  “We all help one another out,” Sam said. “It’s nice.”

  That evening she treated George to a steak dinner and martinis at the Ponderosa, which he seemed to enjoy.

  “Is it always this full?” he wanted to know, as pins crashed in the adjoining bowling alley.

  “Yep. It’s the only sit-down restaurant in town.”

  “They should charge more.” George scanned the menu.

  “Then it wouldn’t be so crowded,” Sam said. “This is a modest town, Daddy.”

  “I can see that.”

  After dinner George followed her back to her house in Sierra Heights.

  “Interesting place,” he said, standing on her back porch, taking in the big log homes. “You say that young man, Griffin, owns the development?”

  “Until he can sell all the houses, he does. He bought it while it was in bankruptcy, as an investment. And I think he’s having a hard time selling homes. They’re expensive. But the place has beautiful amenities. I thought that tomorrow, while I’m at work, you could hang out at the pool.”

  “Sounds good.” He looked longingly at the golf course. “Anyone use it?”

  “Of course. It’s open to the public and it’s Griffin’s bread and butter as far as Sierra Heights is concerned. There’s a driving range if you want to hit balls tomorrow. I don’t have any clubs, though.”

  “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.”

  In the morning, George was still sleeping when Sam slipped out of the house. She left a note telling him how to find the pool and that she would call him later. If it weren’t for the Lowery reunion she would’ve taken time off to spend with her dad, but Landon’s family would start streaming in tomorrow and she wanted to make sure there were no glitches.

  “How’s
it going with your dad?” Brady said when she strolled into the Lumber Baron kitchen to get a cup of coffee.

  Sam wondered if the whole town was talking about George’s rude entrance. “So far, so good.”

  “Parents can be a real pain in the ass, but you’ve got to love ’em.” Brady grinned.

  Yep, she thought, and her father in particular. She grabbed her coffee mug and hunkered down in her office, where she spent the day confirming each and every event planned for the Lowerys, including a bus that would shuttle them to and from the rodeo. Before leaving, Sam checked every vacant room to ensure that it was spotless. The occupied rooms would undergo thorough cleanings tomorrow at check-out time, when the entire inn would be turned over to Landon’s family reunion.

  On her way out she snuck a peek inside Nate’s office. He’d been there earlier, but she’d seen neither hide nor hair of him all day, which seemed odd given their big event tomorrow. When she got home her dad’s rental car sat in the same spot he’d left it the night before. Perhaps he’d walked to the pool.

  “Daddy?” She walked around the house looking for him, only to find a note on the kitchen island.

  I went golfing with Breyer. Afterward,

  your young man is taking me to see

  that new development he bought with

  his sister, but I’ll be home in time for

  dinner.

  Nate sat in his car outside Sophie and Mariah’s house. He’d played nine holes of golf with Sam’s old man, then taken him to see Gold Mountain, had dinner at Rhys and Maddy’s, then driven here, where he camped, trying to get his head straight.

  After ten minutes of working up the nerve, he finally got out of the Jag and knocked on their door.

  “Nate,” Mariah said. “Come on in.”

  “Hey, you.” Sophie came out of the kitchen, a dishrag in her hand. “We just put Lilly down for the night. You want a glass of wine?”

  “A glass of wine sounds good.” He gazed around the room.

  No matter how many times he saw it, the house never ceased to impress him. Not just the architecture, but there was love here. He could feel it oozing out of the walls, floating off the ceiling, and radiating up through the floors. Everywhere he looked he saw happy family.

  “You okay, Nate?” Sophie held out a glass of wine and he followed her into the front room with Mariah.

  “Yeah, but I wanted to talk to the two of you about something.”

  “Okay.” Mariah patted the sofa next to her and Nate took a seat.

  “It’s about Lilly.” He instantly saw the fear in both women’s eyes.

  “Oh God, Nate.” Sophie moved closer to Mariah. A show of solidarity. “You promised.”

  “I know.” He held up a hand. “I’m not going back on my word. That’s not what this is about.” Lilly was as much a part of them biologically as she was Nate. He just needed to know where he stood in their family, because he was so unsure. “What do we do when she’s old enough to understand? I don’t want her to think I turned my back on her.”

  “Of course not,” Sophie said. “Why would she think that?”

  “Because some day she’ll want to know why her father isn’t a bigger part of her life.”

  “But you are a big part of her life,” Mariah said, and for emphasis added, “You gave her life.”

  “What’s going on here, Nate?” Sophie asked. “Why would Lilly ever think that you’re not a big part of her life? Unless you’re planning not to be.”

  “That’s the problem, Soph, I don’t know how much I’m allowed to be involved. From the beginning you made it clear that you and Mariah would raise Lilly. So where do I fit in? How close am I allowed to get to Lilly without usurping you and Mariah as parents? What if I have my own kids? . . . I mean more kids . . . You see, I don’t even know what I mean, because I don’t know what the hell I’m supposed to be to Lilly. An anonymous sperm donor?”

  “Of course not, Nate.” Sophie sat on the floor in front of him and took his hands. “Have we made you feel that left out? You’ll always be Lilly’s biological father. Nothing will ever change that fact. And as soon as she’s old enough to understand, we will explain it to her. It has always been the plan that she know exactly who you are, Nate. Is there something we should know? Are you expecting?”

  “Don’t make a joke out of this,” Nate said.

  “I’m not, nor would I ever make a joke out of this. I’m just trying to understand where this is suddenly coming from. I thought we had worked all this out in the beginning.”

  “I don’t want Lilly to think that I gave her away,” Nate blurted, and he could feel his eyes well with tears.

  Mariah jerked her head back. “She won’t ever think that, because you’ll always be there for her. And when you have children, they’ll be her half siblings, just like all the other blended families out there.”

  “You won’t have a problem with that?” Nate asked.

  “Of course not,” both women said in unison.

  “Nate, you’ve been a huge part of Lilly’s life from the day she was born,” Sophie said. “Haven’t we made you feel welcome?”

  They had. It had always been he who felt like he was walking on eggshells, trying so hard not to impose on their family. Not to overstep his bounds. “You have. I guess I just need my position defined. Am I allowed to hang pictures of her in my house, to talk about her like she’s my daughter, to establish a college fund for her? Where am I supposed to draw the line? Because it’s all pretty damned blurry to me right now, and the last thing I want to do is go back on my promise.”

  “Of course you’re allowed,” Mariah said. “You’re Lilly’s biological father. We’re the parents raising her. In other words, we’re the ones stuck being the heavies and you’re the guy who gets to take her to Disneyland. And there is always room for another college fund. But seriously, Nate, you’re in this with us. We want you to be an integral part of Lilly’s life. Always.”

  He swallowed hard. “So you don’t mind that I come around so much?”

  “Never,” Mariah said. “Look, I know in the beginning I was the one least in favor of you being Lilly’s birth father, concerned that this could cause problems in our friendship. But Lilly loves you, Nate. We would never deprive our daughter of her father. Does that mean there won’t be bumps along the road? Hell no. But we’ll learn as we go. All that matters is that Lilly is loved.”

  Nate wasn’t the best at expressing his feelings and hadn’t wanted Sophie and Mariah to fear that he was reneging on their pact. But he felt like an enormous weight had been lifted just by finally talking about it.

  Mariah was right. There was no playbook for their situation. They would make mistakes and at times Nate would feel left out—and probably a little lost. But their baby’s wellbeing was most important.

  And from where Nate sat, no child could be loved more than Lilly.

  Chapter 22

  When Nate arrived at the Lumber Baron the next morning, the place was in chaos. Andy was up on a ladder, hanging the Lowerys’ family crest—who the hell had a family crest? Emily had volunteered to help Brady in the kitchen. Apparently as far as the food was concerned it was all hands on deck. Even Maddy had come in for a few hours to be part of the welcome wagon.

  “Nice of you to show up,” she told Nate, looking at her watch. “Nine o’clock, really? There’s like a million things to do.”

  “You’ve been gone how long and already you’re bossing me around? For your information, I had to put out fires in San Francisco.”

  “Nothing with Fifi Reinhardt?” Sam asked, lugging a small card table into the parlor, draping it with a lace cloth, and stacking it with itinerary packets.

  “No, not Fifi,” he said. “What do you want me to do?”

  “Uh, could you tell Brady to start putting out the appetizers?” It was the most she’d said to him in a week except when they’d squabbled about George.

  Just the sound of her voice caused a tightness in his ch
est.

  “By the way, thanks for keeping my dad company yesterday. He said he had a lovely time.”

  “No problem,” he said to her back. Okay, she was clearly done talking.

  “What’s he doing today?” Nate asked, just to force her back into a conversation.

  “Hanging out at the pool. He may come over later, when things settle down.” She brushed past him and for a second he was tempted to pull her into a corner and tell her that he’d made the wrong decision by breaking up with her. Breaking up? They hadn’t even been a couple. Not really. They’d only fought like one since the day she’d gotten here.

  Instead, Nate went to the kitchen to deliver Sam’s message to Brady. Not necessary, since Brady had already started bringing out trays and arranging them on the antique sideboard. With Sam at the helm, Operation Lowery ran like a well-oiled machine. Nate snagged a cheese puff and went in search of his next task.

  All around him the place buzzed with activity, everyone taking their directions from Sam.

  “I think it should go more to the left,” she told Andy, who had moved on to hanging a welcome banner in the lobby.

  Maddy looked over at Nate and gave him a thumbs-up.

  “Could one of you turn on the music, please?” Sam called.

  Maddy went off to do Sam’s bidding and a short time later classical music wafted softly from the sound system. Sam had moved on from the placement of the banner to fussing with a gigantic floral arrangement at the front desk. It reminded him of the types of arrangements they had at the Theodore. Elegant.

  Nate crept up alongside her. “It looks great, Sam. You’ve done a great—”

  “You’re welcome,” she finished, and gazed at her watch. “He should be here any time now.”

  When Landon Lowery finally made his entrance, Sam was there to greet him. He embraced her like an old friend. Nate supposed they’d spent a lot of time on the phone planning the reunion.

  He got lost in watching her. She was so poised and adept at putting people at ease. And when she smiled it was like the sky shooting sun rays. Seeing her that way made his throat constrict and he had to leave the room. On his way out, he backed into George.