“That’s me. I’m sure I’ve been the most annoying neighbor in history.” Autumn smiled.
“Not if you hear Joel describe you as a neighbor.” She ushered Autumn in and shut the door. “I’m Beth Livingston.”
Joel’s home was gorgeous, with thick wood-wrapped windows and rustic beams framed the ceiling alcove. A matching grand bannister swooped to the second story, and she imagined Oscar and Joel bounding up the stairs. Even though the home was large, the place felt cozy and warm.
Autumn caught a library right off the foyer and a living room on the other side. A beautiful ivory and grey runner down the hallway helped to offset the dark wood floors and built-ins.
“We’re out back. I’m glad I popped in to check my phone, or I probably wouldn’t have heard your knock on the door.”
Still clutching the article, Autumn followed Beth down the hall toward the kitchen and great room. The space was breathtaking. She noticed hallways leading in opposite directions. She’d imagine this home had as many rooms as hers did, but unlike hers, they’d been impeccably remodeled over the years.
“Help yourself to a glass of wine or beer.” Beth pointed toward the quartz countertop with a bucket of ice and beer and then a bottle of red wine right next to it.
“Oh, I don’t plan on staying. I was only going to—”
“Nonsense.” She grinned and reached toward the glasses. “What should I grab? A wineglass or a regular glass?”
Autumn glanced at the apricot ale. “I’ll take the apricot ale, but honestly, the bottle is fine.”
“A woman after my own heart.” Beth reached for the bottle opener and flipped off the lid before handing the ale to Autumn. “So, do you like Silver Ridge?”
“Love it.” Autumn took a sip of the ale, thinking it was funny she’d already helped herself to a beer and introduced herself to Joel’s guest, and she hadn’t even seen Joel. Hopefully, he wouldn’t mind. “I can’t even imagine how pretty the place is with snow on the ground.”
“It’s magical.” Beth nodded and glanced out the French doors.
Autumn followed her gaze to see Joel coming inside. Despite his smile, he looked tense until his eyes found hers. His smile widened as he came into the house.
“Well, this is a surprise.” He walked into his kitchen, placing an empty beer bottle on the counter. “A really pleasant surprise.”
“I thought that rather than hear about her nonstop, I’d let her inside.” Beth slapped his shoulder and went out back, leaving Autumn and Joel standing in the kitchen staring at one another.
“Hear about me?” Autumn asked, thoroughly enjoying the revelation.
“I might have mentioned you’d moved into the B&B,” he said matter-of-factly, moving closer to her.
“Did you happen to mention anything else?” she asked, looking up into his blue eyes. She swore they’d gotten bluer since the last time she saw him. His gaze settled on her with a contemplative reserve.
“I might have mentioned that you’ve put me in an awkward position.” His lip twitched slightly.
“How so?” Autumn put both hands on her hips.
“You’re my neighbor.”
“Last I checked.” She nodded her head in agreement.
“And you’ve recently gotten out of a rocky relationship.”
“I got out of something rocky, but I wouldn’t call it a relationship.” She smirked.
His grin widened. “I’ve been trying to give you your space.”
“I noticed.” Autumn glanced out on the patio and saw Oscar sleeping on an outdoor rug.
“Would you like to join us on the patio? I’ve got smoked salmon out there from my brother.” Without waiting for an answer, he slid his arm around Autumn’s waist.
“I feel bad for intruding,” she stammered, feeling him gently nudge her to the door. “I actually came over because I found this in the basement, and I thought you might know more.” She held up the photocopy in front of him.
His eyes fell to the page. “You don’t have any gasoline or matches, do you?”
“Ahh. So, not wanting to date me has nothing to do with being a neighbor and everything to do with my pyromaniac heritage.” She playfully groaned, and the sound made Joel imagine what he’d like to be doing to her right now. “Does that mean you know what happened? Did a Tucker really set fire to a building?”
He’d already led her to the outside patio by the time she’d finished asking her questions.
“Did I miss something?” Beth asked, sliding her hand to her knee. “Is everything okay in town?”
“Oh, yeah. Everything is fine. This is merely gossip from the nineteenth century.” Joel smiled warmly at Beth, and a man stood and stretched out his hand toward Autumn, which she eagerly took.
“I’m Josh, Beth’s husband.”
“Nice to meet you.”
“You as well. It’s so good to put a face with a name.” He glanced at Joel before returning his eyes to hers. He seemed genuinely kind and quite interested in Autumn, which only piqued her interest more. Had Joel been talking about her?
She didn’t want to get her hopes up, but not hearing from him made her wonder. She let go of Josh’s hand, and he sat back down next to his wife.
“So what kind of gossip?” Beth asked.
“I found this article in the basement of my uncle’s house, and I was curious whether the man was found guilty. Basically, I’m curious if Joel has any dirt on my distant relatives.” She handed the article to Beth.
Joel laughed and shook his head. “I actually know a little bit about that, but the library has more details.”
“Yep.” Beth clapped her hands and looked thrilled at the thought. “Margaret, who also happens to be my mom, has done a fabulous job curating so much about this town. She’d love to hunt down the info.”
“That sounds like fun, especially if it turns out he wasn’t guilty.” Autumn chuckled and eyed the spread Joel had mentioned.
“Well, the story goes that he was let off.” Joel’s arm fell from her waist and she immediately missed his touch
“So, he didn’t set the fire?” Autumn felt ten times better finding that out. “What a relief.”
“Well, that’s not exactly the case.” Joel grimaced and chuckled nervously.
“What do you mean?” Autumn’s eyes widened.
“He did set the fire.”
“Are you serious? On purpose?”
“So the story goes.” Joel scratched his chin. “Apparently, the Norths opened up a company store, which much of the town thought was thievery because all the miners working for the Norths were paid partially in credits to use at the store, but the prices were hellacious compared to the grocery store the Tuckers owned. So the miners were stuck using the credits that their employers gave them, even though it was highway robbery. Anyway, the owner of the general mercantile—”
“A Tucker?” Autumn interrupted, and Joel nodded.
“The guy in the paper took matters into his own hands. His sales plummeted when so much of the town was forced to use credits, and his own store was on the verge of collapsing, so he lit a match.”
“That’s awful.” Autumn shuddered, shocked that someone would think that was okay to do, especially someone related to her.
“Yes and no. From what I read about it, as mine owners, the Norths were really taking advantage of the miners, paying them almost nothing on the ounce, working them long hours, keeping most of the silver and gold, and then forcing them to buy all their food and necessities through their own company store. He was kind of looked upon as a hero in the town. They didn’t rebuild the company store, and it forced a lot of change in how the mining operations were conducted.”
Autumn looked at Joel, somewhat astonished, as she absorbed everything. “I guess that’s one way of looking at it.”
Beth laughed. “Hey, have you shown her Tucker Park?”
“Not yet.” Joel smiled, and Autumn noticed amusement speckled throughout his gaze.
“Know what?” Autumn looked between Joel and Beth.
“The Tucker General Store is actually inside the park. It’s on the historical register and the park service maintains it,” she continued. “They turned it into a museum.”
“That’s pretty incredible. I had no idea.” Chills went through Autumn, and a smile crept along her face as she thought about this little mountain town and all of the surprises it had in store for her. She knew all of these stories from more than a century ago didn’t define who she was, but with the loss of her parents, she felt a strong connection to her past, and finding out little things about Silver Ridge somehow made her feel closer to her parents.
“Well, you two will have to make it a date then.” Beth beamed as if she’d made the perfect match.
Chapter Twelve
“I think I’d like to start with the porch first. That seems the most dangerous, and I’ve already had one person go down.” Autumn chuckled nervously and glanced at Mason Rhodes.
Mason was the contractor whom Joel recommended, and she was glad she’d taken his advice. Mason seemed fair, honest, and genuinely interested in helping her get the most bang for her buck. Not that it mattered, but he was also attractive, with dark blond hair and bright blue eyes.
“So that’s why there’s a hole in the middle of it?” Mason laughed and shook his head. “Better him than you or me.”
“That’s what I said.” Autumn smiled and felt completely at ease with him. “Actually, it was a mismatched online dating fiasco, so I think that was only one of the many danger signs.”
“Even better.” Mason grinned as someone knocked on her door.
She glanced out the kitchen window to see Joel looking back at her, and her insides immediately lit up.
“Mind if I wander upstairs again? I saw some items I wanted to get a closer look at.”
“Not at all.” She flashed a smile and opened the door as Mason wandered away.
“Well, look who’s here.” Autumn motioned for Joel to come inside, and she shut the door behind him and leaned on the counter.
It was a warm day and the house was starting to get stuffy. One thing she might splurge on was an air-conditioning unit.
“How’s it going with Mason?” he asked, glancing in the direction Mason went. “I saw his company truck out front.”
“Great. He’s given me a lot of tips that I can do myself. I think he’s going to have his guys start on the porch first though. I’d feel better about getting that out of the way. All I’d need is one big windstorm and my yellow caution tape might fly away.”
“We certainly don’t need another Ronald situation.”
“No, we don’t.” Autumn grabbed a pitcher of fresh lemonade from the fridge. “Would you like a glass? It’s made from scratch.”
“Fresh lemonade? I can’t turn that down.”
“I’ve been thinking about that whole general store situation . . .” Her voice trailed off as she poured the lemonade.
“Oh, that little incident from the 1800s?” He laughed.
“That’s the one.” She handed him the glass and their fingers touched. A current ran through her and she hid a smile. Autumn was never boy crazy growing up, but suddenly, she understood what that sensation was all about. Except in this instance, it was only one particular person who made her feel that way, and his name was Joel. “I think it would be really fun to go take a look at the museum.”
“I haven’t actually been since a sixth grade field trip.” Joel took the glass from her and took a sip. It was sweetened perfectly with a hint of tartness. “Really good lemonade.”
“Thanks. It’s my mom’s recipe. The secret is honey.”
Joel watched Autumn light up when she talked about her mom. He’d seen it a few times before whenever her parents were brought up, no matter how briefly.
“Did your mom like to cook?”
“She loved to cook. My dad was always blaming her for his waistline, but he would have been devastated if she didn’t spoil us.” Autumn had a dreamy look on her face just as Mason came back into the kitchen.
“Hey there,” Mason said, shaking Joel’s hand. “Good to see you again.”
“You too.” Joel gave a quick nod and saw by the look on Mason’s face that he was about to break some bad news.
“So,” Mason began.
“I’ve got some good news and some bad news.”
“Let’s hear the good news first.” Autumn glanced at Joel, who seemed to agree with that approach.
“The cracks in the walls on the lower floors are superficial, so they aren’t structural.”
Autumn let out a big sigh of relief. She’d been fretting about those since she moved in.
“The bad news is that the ceiling that was bowed down slightly in one of the guest rooms is because of a roof leak. I crawled through the attic, and there’s definitely water damage.”
“Ooh.” Joel sucked in a breath.
“The roof doesn’t look to be in that bad of shape, so I’m thinking there’s a leak near one of the fireplaces, but I won’t know until I go up top to check it out. It could be a few missing shingles or something simple.”
“Let’s hope for that.” Autumn’s heart plummeted.
While there was some cash left to her along with the home, there certainly wasn’t enough to cover a roof on top of everything else that needed to be fixed up. She might need to find a temporary job until she was able to start bringing in revenue, but one step at a time.
“I’m going to grab my ladder from the truck, and I’ll be able to give you a better idea about the roof.”
“Thank you.” Autumn felt like pouting, but instead, she smiled and took a sip of lemonade. She glanced around the kitchen she’d been dying to remodel, but that project might need to go on hold if she needed a new roof.
Mason let himself out the side door, and she brought herself out of despair.
“You okay?” Joel asked, touching Autumn’s chin to bring her gaze to his.
“Yeah.” She pressed her lips together. “I’m really hoping the roof doesn’t need to be fixed.”
“Those kind of budget hits are never fun.” Joel’s eyes were kind and very understanding, which made Autumn wonder if he’d encountered them a lot.
“No. It wouldn’t be. It would be more like a budget ender.”
His eyes steadied on Autumn. He wanted to help, but he wasn’t quite sure how to offer without offending her.
“I’ve installed kitchen cabinets before.”
The sound of Mason’s metal ladder clanging and banging against the home did very little to calm Autumn’s fears, but her gaze snapped to Joel’s.
“Really?”
“And countertops and floors. I’d love to help. I can teach you.” His mouth curved into one of his sexy smiles, and she wanted to kiss him on the spot.
It was amazing how much hope she was putting into this home. Every wish and dream for her future was riding on getting this B&B up and running. If she failed at this, she honestly didn’t have any plan B.
“I think I might like that.” Autumn’s eyes filled with the spark Joel absolutely adored, and he took a step closer.
“You know, sometimes, it’s the most challenging things in life that bring the greatest rewards.” Joel wanted to wave a magic wand and have everything fall into place for Autumn. He knew what owning this house entailed, and it would overwhelm even seasoned investors.
The sound of the ladder scraping along the house came to a stop and was replaced by Mason’s footsteps quickly scaling the metal steps.
“I do believe that.” Autumn nodded and took a nervous breath as she thought about whether she’d bitten off more than she could chew.
A lot of her friends in California told her she should have sold the property, but there was something inside her that couldn’t bear the thought. She hadn’t even met Uncle Fred—at least at an age when she could remember him—but she was feeling
more and more connected to him each day.
It really made her wonder what went so terribly wrong that her father had left Silver Ridge, never to return to a place with so much family history. In her bones, she knew this was where she wanted to be. Never before had she imagined a future for herself where she could so fully envision to the tiniest detail how she wanted to spend each day.
“But the realistic part of me is hoping I didn’t get myself into something I can’t get out of.” Her eyes stayed on Joel’s, and he tried to read the curious expression now resting on her delicate features.
There was a vulnerability about Autumn that brought out Joel’s protective side. He couldn’t imagine having no family. He had enough brothers to keep him in trouble, a meddling grandmother with a heart of gold, a mother who took after her, and a never-ending parade of cousins who’d show up at the resort to keep them all on their toes.
If all those lives were taken away, Joel didn’t know how he’d function—if he’d want to function—and yet, here was Autumn, full of determination and hope, trying to create a full life here in Silver Ridge.
“You’re going to be okay,” Joel said softly. “We’ll get through this whether you need a new roof or a remodeled bathroom.”
“Try seven.” She smiled, but surprise flashed through her gaze when she heard him say we’ll get through this.
For so long, she’d thought in terms of I, not we, and that plural definition of existing brought with it a mixture of pure terror but also intrigue. She couldn’t imagine the relief that would come if she had someone else to bounce ideas off, but she wasn’t sure she’d be able to let go.
“As with anything in life, just remember—one step at a time.” He smiled, and her heart fluttered as it had done many times before when he was so near.
She wanted to believe that the connection she felt with him was beyond the physical. The way he looked at her when he thought she wasn’t watching or helped introduce her to some places in town made her wonder if there could be more. Her eyes fell to his lips and her breath caught in her throat.
Joel moved forward to kiss Autumn, and her heart nearly jumped out of her chest. She’d been dreaming about their last kiss since it happened and wondered if it was going to be a one-off, and now she hoped it wasn’t.
Happy Truth About Love: Island County Spinoff Series (Silver Ridge Series Book 1) Page 11