by Law, Kim
“You’re beautiful in the morning,” he told her.
“And you remain a charmer even in the wee hours.” She blew him a kiss and then rolled off his body, but she didn’t go anywhere. Instead, she remained tucked in the crook of his shoulder. “I’ve been thinking,” she said, and his initial thought was uh-oh. But then he heard the excitement in her voice.
“Do you normally do a lot of thinking before the sun comes up?”
“It’s often when I do my best thinking.” She picked up his hand and pressed her palm flat to it, showcasing the vast difference in their sizes. “The barn,” she said and looked at him. “It would be the perfect venue for weddings.”
She was lying there thinking about business after riding him like a bull?
“Weddings?” He hadn’t quite caught up with her yet.
“It would need to be renovated, of course, but brides love the rustic touch. You could do destinations weddings where the bridal party or guests rent out the cabins, and then weddings could be performed in the barn. Or possibly outdoor weddings, with receptions held in the barn. Or both.” She rolled to her stomach and pushed up to her elbows, and all romance disappeared. “Can’t you see it? Lights strung from the rafters, tulle everywhere. There are a couple of great caterers in town you could contract with. And you could even close up some of the space in the barn and create meeting rooms, too. Then you could host events that need meeting space.”
The woman had good ideas. He reoriented himself so that he was propped up, as well. “What kind of events are you thinking?”
“Well, for one, Arsula could use it.”
He didn’t follow. “How?”
“We got her intuitive coaching website kicked off in April, and business is starting to pick up. In fact, so much so that she’ll probably quit working for Dani within a couple of months. She’s got clients now from all over the country, and even a few in other parts of the world, and what she hopes to eventually do is host a retreat or two every year. But she needs the right location for something like that. A space with lodging and meeting space. And if it happened to be in a peaceful locale with lake and mountain views . . .”
He’d never thought about anything like that. He’d only ever imagined lodging and excursions. But the idea was solid. Very. The potential revenue would be great.
He sat up and crossed his legs. “Something like that couldn’t happen this year. At least not initially. We won’t get the cabins open until July, so we couldn’t start on that phase until then. But at the same time, we also wouldn’t want to be doing noisy renovations while our guests are getting their very first looks. It might garner bad reviews for people to come into a brand-new place with the sound of hammering and sawing still going on.”
“True,” she agreed. “Maybe phase two happens in the fall before tourism picks back up for winter activities, but we could have sketches done for this season so visitors could see what’ll be coming next year.”
He smiled at the fact she’d said “we.” She seemed to be taking as much ownership as he was. And he was okay with that.
“Any chance you might be able to bring some of the same guys back in for phase two?” she asked. “Not that there aren’t people around here willing to work, but your guys are good. They get the job done.”
He nodded. “Chances are excellent.”
She looked at him then, her mind obviously coming back from visions of taking over the hospitality world, and a tiny line formed between her eyes. “How is it that so many guys were willing to drop everything and come help you out like they did, anyway?”
He gave a small shrug. “You know . . . good money buys beer.”
“Oh, come on.” She sat up like he had. “I might have only really spent time with a couple of them, but they admire you. I can tell. They’re happy to be here. Pleased to be working for you.”
“It’s nothing.”
“It’s obviously something, Nate.” She took his hands. “Tell me,” she pleaded, and he let out an exaggerated sigh.
“Fine.” He might have known she’d get this out of him. “Most of them have worked for me before, okay?”
“What do you mean worked for you?”
“In the off-season. I have contracting businesses set up in a few different parts of the country, each run by a local manager, and these are some of the guys who’ve—”
“Wait.” She held up a hand to stop him. “You own several businesses? How did you . . . what . . .” Her words dried up, and she just sat there staring at him.
He knew she’d make a bigger deal of it than it was. “It’s actually all under one umbrella,” he told her. “And they’re small businesses in each location. They’re in places where I’ve lived or spent time in, and most have done really well.”
“And how long have you been doing this?”
“For a few years.”
She still seemed as poleaxed as when the conversation began. “You just decided to start a business one day?”
“I did.” He didn’t see what the big deal was. “I actually earned a business degree several years ago, and since the idea of a nine-to-five and four walls has never appealed to me, I started bidding on some construction jobs here and there. I’d always done that kind of work when not out on a crab boat, anyway, so it was the natural thing to do. One thing led to another, I filed for a tax ID, and now I have a business.”
She sat there, totally naked, gaping at him. “Nate.”
“What?”
“This is amazing. I had no idea. Does your family know about this?”
“No. Well, Nick knows that I got the degree. The rest just think I took a class or two.”
Her mouth continued to hang open. “A class or two?”
“Right.”
“Why didn’t you tell them that you finished the degree? That you started a successful business?”
“Because it’s not important, Meg. It’s not what I want to do with my life.”
“Well, what do you want to do with your life?”
He wasn’t really sure.
He wanted to come home.
“I guess I’ll know it when I see it.”
* * *
“I can’t wait to get a good look at this man I’ve supposedly been having a fling with for the last two weeks.” Brooke grinned like she had a secret no one else did, and Megan rolled her eyes as she drove down the road.
“Please don’t say anything like that while we’re out here.”
“But what if someone asks?”
Megan shot her friend a look. “Then change the subject.”
It was Monday morning. Brooke had no summer classes to teach and The Cherry Basket wasn’t open, so the two of them were heading to Wilde Cherry Orchard—soon to also be Wilde Cabins and Adventures—so Brooke could meet Nate in person. She’d “met” his truck several times over the last couple of weeks. In order to keep Megan’s and Nate’s relationship quiet, they’d often parked his truck at Brooke’s place, and then she’d snuck him into her apartment for the night.
The whole thing was silly to some extent. They were grown adults, and there was no reason for them to be sneaking around. But at the same time, she was also fine with it. She knew that he needed time to come to grips with having a relationship with his brother’s ex, and to be truthful, she wasn’t exactly ready to share with everyone that they were spending time together, anyway. It was kind of special as it was. No one could judge them or get in their way. And that had given them plenty of time just to continue getting to know each other.
He hadn’t wanted to be away from the house every night, of course. He liked being there to help out with his dad when needed. But for the most part, Gloria and Max were fine on their own. And when Nate had stayed over at Megan’s, he’d been sure to keep his phone on him at all times. Gloria knew he was just a phone call away, and he’d taken that responsibility seriously.
Megan did suspect that Gloria and Max might have figured out where he was spending his time, th
ough. After all, her car had stayed at their house all night that first night. She’d also stopped by the house several times over the last two weeks, and though neither Max nor Gloria had said anything, she’d seen the looks pass between them.
Arsula hadn’t said anything else to her, either. She neither asked about it nor guessed out loud again that Megan was dating Nate. But every time she’d seen Megan, she did watch her with a gleam in her eyes similar to the one Gloria wore.
“We’re really going to run the wood chipper today?” Brooke asked as Megan turned off the main road and headed up the driveway.
“He promised he’d saved us some trees.” There’d been a couple of areas where the dead trees hadn’t been taken down yet, but since they’d hired a guy to mow and weed around the remaining good trees, they’d also gotten him to finish taking down the dead ones. “And he’d better have saved some trees,” she added. “He knows how badly I’ve been wanting to get ahold of that machine.”
As they proceeded up the driveway, she could make out fat, plump green cherries now hanging off all the trees still in sight. At least the place hadn’t been a total loss. She couldn’t imagine this land with no cherry trees at all.
Sprinklers kicked on to their right, causing Brooke to jump in surprise, then she laughed out loud. “You know, I can’t believe I’ve never been out here,” she said. “Everyone in town has always known the Wildes. Or, at least known of them. I was young when their mom died, of course, but I remember her, too. She’d come into Mom and Dad’s meat market every week.”
Megan glanced over. “Was Nate ever with her?”
“Who knows? Often at least one of the kids was, but since he was a twin, when one of them was there, I never knew who I was looking at. They were hot even back then, though.”
“I can only imagine. Poor little pre-teenage girls.”
“You got that right.” Brooke fanned herself with her hand, smiling as if one of the Wilde brothers were right there in the car with her. “We’re going out to get a look at the cabins before we start working, right?”
Megan followed her train of thought perfectly, even though Brooke hadn’t expressly stated it. “You mean are we going to get a look at the eleven good-looking guys working for Nate before you get all dirty and sweaty?”
“Well, yeah. That too.”
Megan chuckled. “He said the pile of trees has been moved out there.”
They pulled up to the house, and Brooke whistled under her breath. “Man . . . the way that man looks at you.”
Nate was standing in front of the barn and had turned their way when she’d pulled up. “You can tell that from this distance?”
“I can. As well as every time I peek out when you two are leaving his truck at my place.”
Megan smirked, imagining her friend hiding behind a curtain and peeking out at the two of them. “I suppose you could have just stepped out and said hello.”
“What? And ruin the fun of spying?” She made a face. “Never.”
They both stayed in the car as Nate made his way to them, and as he approached, Megan rolled down her window. She inhaled a deep breath, wanting to pull his scent into her lungs, and as she did, she heard Brooke snort in disgust. Her friend knew exactly what she was doing.
“You’re pathetic,” Brooke mumbled. She then leaned over and reached a hand out to Nate. “Hi. You must be the man whose truck I’m having an affair with.”
Nate tossed a quick look Megan’s way, humor filling his eyes as he captured Brooke’s hand. “And you must be the friend who needs to check up on her friend’s boyfriend.”
Megan swooned inside at the term boyfriend.
“Good start.” Brooke acknowledged. “He calls them like he sees them.”
“I wouldn’t want it any other way.”
Nate squatted to bring his face eye level with them, and Megan thought for a minute that he was going to lean in and kiss her. They were sitting just outside the house, though, and anyone could see.
“Don’t mind me.” Brooke waved them on. “I’ll just look out this window over here.”
Both corners of Nate’s mouth hitched up, but he didn’t kiss her. Instead, he just looked her over, as if reminding himself exactly what every part of her tasted like—and silently promising that he would be tasting all those parts again—and dang, if that wasn’t as hot as a kiss.
“You’re evil,” she whispered.
“I’m horny,” he replied. “I haven’t seen you in four hours.”
“Well, geez, people.” Brooke fanned herself again. “Let me out of the car first.”
Nate laughed along with Brooke, while Megan rolled her eyes yet again, and then he headed for his truck with her promise to follow. She put her car back into gear and took off down the path behind him, and Brooke let out a long sigh.
“He really does have it bad for you, doesn’t he?”
Megan looked over. “You think?”
“Sweetie.” Brooke stared at her. “You’re not stupid. You see what I see.”
Yeah, she saw it. She just didn’t know if him having it bad meant he’d seriously given thought to staying or not. They hadn’t talked about it since they’d started going out, but there had been the occasional mention of “future” things that might happen here at the farm. And the whole family had loved the idea of the barn as a wedding venue, so plans for that were already in the works. But would that be enough to keep him here for good?
He’d said he didn’t know what he wanted to do with his life. Could she convince him that whatever it was, he could do it here?
They made it out to the construction site, and as she turned off her car, she looked over at her friend again. “Fair warning,” she said. “These cabins are scheduled to be finished in three weeks, and at that time, I’m going to drag you back out here to help me load in the décor. I’ve got a storage room full of stuff waiting at this point.”
“Just tell me when and where, and I’ll be there. But for the record, I still find it kind of hilarious that you volunteered to do that.”
“Why?” Megan asked. They climbed from her car. “I’m loving it.”
“Well . . . the way I see it, you quit a high-paying, one-hundred-percent work-from-home position with a Fortune 500 company to hire on as a manager of a local retail store. Then you get into interior design, and you’ve offered to handle registrations until they hire a full-time person. While also still doing the occasional website, of course.”
“Don’t forget that I also wrote a new app just last week.” The app writing was a hobby, though, and it was a good way to pass the time instead of just sitting around thinking about Nate.
“I’m just saying that you’re all over the place,” Brooke went on. “And it seems a little odd to me. That’s all.”
“I guess I just don’t want to get tied down to one thing.” She’d never really thought about it the way Brooke laid it out. It did seem sort of like she was all over the place.
“Or maybe you haven’t yet found ‘the thing’ that you need to truly tie you down.”
She stopped walking and looked at her friend. Because that was an interesting idea. She was very happy as things were. She loved Birch Bay, and she loved managing the store. But as her assistant had taken on more responsibility, she’d found herself doing mostly backend tasks and not handling the day-to-day as much. And she certainly didn’t want to go back to a tech job—no matter what her dad might think. But was it possible she hadn’t found who she wanted to be yet? To this point, she’d just been focusing mostly on staying in Birch Bay. But maybe her focus needed to be more on her.
That was certainly something to give consideration to.
“Well, hello, ladies,” Cade called out from an open window in one of the cabins, and suddenly all construction noise ceased. The men were now aware there were women on the premises.
Brooke grinned beside her. “Well, hello, construction boys.”
“God, you’re such a flirt,” Megan muttered.
<
br /> “Hey. I’m not the one in a relationship. I can flirt with all eleven of them if I want to.”
Megan waved her on. “Then have at it, lady. Enjoy yourself.”
Megan and Brooke were led through the almost-finished cabins, as well as getting a good look at the areas where the fire pits and any outdoor games would be set up. And all in all, it was impressive. Even without seeing the finished product. And Brooke agreed. This had been an excellent idea on Nate’s part, and once the wedding venue was in place, the whole setup would only get better.
After they saw the cabins, Megan finally got her turn at running the wood chipper. And as she and Brooke squealed and laughed each time one of them fed a tree into the hopper, Megan also caught sight of way more than Nate watching them. They seemed to be disrupting work a fair amount today. Therefore, she decided the two of them needed to leave. She didn’t want Nate and his guys getting behind.
Dusting tree bits from her jeans, she headed for her car and watched as Brooke breezed between Chris and Conner, a teasing smile on her face. Then she offered Dre a smile as he came over to her.
“How are you?” Megan asked.
“Staying busy.” He cocked his head, taking her in, then tossed a quick look over his shoulder. “That’s what I thought,” he said as he turned back. “You and Nate.”
“No.” She shook her head, but she knew she’d failed to pull it off. Her denial had been too quick, and the deer-in-the-headlights look clearly indicated she’d been lying. She didn’t give in, though. “You’re mistaken, Dre. We’re just friends.”
“I don’t think so, cutie.” He took her hand in his, and over his shoulder, she caught Nate stand up from where he’d had a hip hitched against a wooden sawhorse. Dre tugged her in closer and whispered in her ear. “Good luck with him,” he said. “He’s a good man, and he’s totally worth the trouble.”
Happiness swelled in her chest. She loved that Nate’s friend had his back. Everyone needed that kind of support in their life.