The Home They Built

by Shannon Stacey

  “Simmer down. You can put it on yourself if it makes you feel better.”

  While doing it himself was certainly a better option than his grandmother doing it, he had no intention of coating his body in fake sweat to appease a camera.

  “And do it fast,” Gram told him, “because they’re going to arrive anytime now.”

  * * *

  “Well, this is certainly quaint.”

  Anna Beckett tore her gaze from the rural scenery passing outside the window to look over at her assistant. They would both consider themselves city girls if asked, but where Anna was entranced by the woods and the charming homes and the glimpses of a lake, Eryn Landsperger’s voice was droll.

  “No more than the last town,” Anna said.

  Eryn shook her head, her blond ponytail swinging. “This one feels different.”

  Turning back to her window, Anna shivered. This one feels different. Because this town was different, though she was absolutely the only person who knew why. And she intended to keep it that way.

  “Home sweet home for the next six to eight weeks,” Eryn said, and then she sighed. “Or more, probably.”

  The Bayview Inn was going to be their anchor project—the two-part finale that would wrap up a season of smaller projects, even though it was filmed first to take advantage of as much of a guarantee of good weather that New England offered. The final projects were always the biggest of the year in terms of cost, square footage and historical value.

  The Bayview Inn only checked off two of those boxes, and the old Victorian in Blackberry Bay would definitely be Anna’s most challenging project ever. It had been since the day they met to go through the latest crop of applications submitted through the website and she’d seen the name of the town. The team had dismissed the application because the paperwork proving the provenance of the inn was sparse, but she’d made a joke about how small towns didn’t always do things the way they were supposed to and urged them to focus on the beautiful old house.

  And she hammered home the fact that according to Tess’s application, her son and his wife, as well as her grandson, lived locally and would be part of the renovation. While their project owners varied, the ratings were always highest when there was a family group involved with the filming.

  The Bayview Inn was a project she really wanted—a fact she’d made known to executive producer Duncan Forrest, though she hadn’t told him why. If she played her cards right, nobody from the show ever needed to know she’d taken on this project for personal reasons.

  “We’re running late,” Eryn said after checking the time on her smartwatch. They always allowed for traffic, but nobody could predict a truck hauling a fifth-wheel trailer rolling and ending up across all three lanes of traffic in southern New Hampshire. “We’ll barely have time to park the RVs and get to the inn, never mind getting them set up and exploring the town.”

  “The town’s been here over two hundred and fifty years. It’ll probably still be here after we meet Mrs. Weaver and see the inn.” She snorted when Eryn rapped her knuckles on the fake wood door trim. “But you’re right. We’ll definitely have to dump the RVs and run.”

  When the drivers pulled the RVs into the lakefront campground they’d be calling home for a while, Anna wished she had the time to explore, but as soon as they got the compact car unhooked from its tow bar, she and Eryn had to go. They’d leave the large SUV driven by Mike, the senior cameraman, at the end of the convoy of vehicles for the crew to use.

  They had no trouble finding the house, and while she was familiar with it thanks to the extensive video and numerous photos she’d reviewed, she always felt a rush of anticipation when she first set eyes on a new project.

  An elderly woman wearing a floral dress and an apron opened the front door for them. After giving them a huge smile, she stepped back and welcomed them in with a theatrical sweep of her arm. “Welcome to the Bayview Inn. I’m your hostess, Tess Weaver.”

  “I’m Anna,” she managed to say with a straight face. If she hadn’t already guessed Tess’s story was largely fabricated, the exaggerated performance would have tipped her off. “And this is my assistant, Eryn. We’re so excited to be here, Mrs. Weaver.”

  “I’m excited to have you here. Do you want a tour?”

  “Honestly, I’d rather just sit and talk to you for a few minutes,” Anna replied. “We watched the video tour several times, and we’ve been traveling all morning, so the rest of production is busy right now, setting up.”

  “Come into the kitchen and I’ll get you some lemonade.”

  She saw Eryn’s wince and knew the first thing they did after leaving here would be finding a local coffee shop. “Actually, we’d love some water if you don’t mind.”

  While Tess poured them each a glass of ice water, Anna looked over the kitchen. The place was definitely overdue for a renovation. By several decades.

  “How did the town get its name?” she asked, taking the glass she was offered. She found small talk about familiar subjects put people at ease faster than jumping right into production talk.

  Tess chuckled. “It’s quite a story.”

  “We love to sprinkle local flavor throughout the episodes, so I’m always up for a good story.”

  “Well, as legend has it, the founders of Blackberry Bay were exploring the area and they found this beautiful bay off the big lake, and the entire area had been overrun by wild blackberry bushes.”

  After a few seconds of silence, Anna realized that was the entirety of the story, but she couldn’t tell by Tess’s expression if she was trying to be funny or if she really believed that was quite a story. Anna didn’t bother to ask how the Bayview Inn got its name. Being literal seemed to be a theme around here. “I guess we should all be thankful it wasn’t overrun by poison ivy, then.”

  Tess’s laugh covered Eryn’s groan, and Anna smiled. “So your application essay said your husband passed away and business has declined due to guests choosing more updated lodging. And you’ve been running the inn by yourself?”

  “For the most part. My son and his wife disappeared somewhere, unfortunately, but let me introduce you to my grandson. He’s such a good boy, doing his best to take care of me and this old house...inn. Taking care of his grandma and this inn. Finn, honey,” she said to somebody behind Anna, “come say hello.”

  Anna turned, expecting to see a young man—maybe even a teenager—blushing awkwardly at his grandmother’s praise.

  The man was not a teenager and there was nothing awkward about him. And she could only hope she wasn’t blushing when he put out his hand for her to shake.

  “Finn Weaver,” he said in a voice she might have been tempted to pay $2.99 per minute to hear saying naughty things over the phone.

  He was tall, with short brown hair shot through with natural highlights, and dark eyes that looked at her intently as she shook his hand. The jeans that were so soft and well-worn they practically hugged his body and the tight navy T-shirt fit the job description, but as she shook his hand, something felt not quite right.

  This guy was who Tess was passing off as her handyman? The softness of his hands and the well-kept nails would explain the sorry condition of the inn—if it actually was one. Hell, she probably had more calluses than he did, and she didn’t skimp on hand lotion.

  She might have her doubts about him doing physical labor, but it was obvious he was no stranger to working out. In a gym. Probably an expensive one, too. There was just something about his strong body and impeccable grooming that smacked of money. Finn Weaver looked like a high-maintenance kind of man.

  Anna did her best to focus on Tess’s chatter—she was talking about her ancestors now, or maybe her husband’s—but Finn moving around the kitchen and pouring himself a glass of lemonade was distracting her. He not only looked good, but he smelled good, too. Even his scent was tantalizing and expensive.


  She wasn’t sure exactly what was going on in the Bayview Inn, but she knew one thing for sure. Anna and Tess weren’t the only people in the room who were hiding something.

  Chapter Two

  Finn hadn’t had time between being informed of Gram’s plan and this moment to run a Google search on Relic Rehab, so he’d been expecting a couple of guys in fake work clothes—the designer label T-shirts and jeans sprinkled with a little Sheetrock dust.

  “I’m Anna Beckett, the host of Relic Rehab,” the woman had told him as he’d somewhat reluctantly released her hand.

  The stunning brunette with the big, dark eyes and warm smile threw him for a loop. She was wearing navy capri pants and a navy-and-white striped top with a wide neck that made him want to hook his finger under it and stroke her collarbone.

  It had been a long time since he’d felt an instant attraction this potent, and of course it had to be for a woman he absolutely, under no circumstances, could make a pass at. Not when he was lying to her and she held his grandmother’s financial welfare in her hands.

  He couldn’t let his guard down for even a moment when it came to remembering Anna was very much off-limits to him.

  “It’s nice to meet you,” he had said in as casual a voice as he could muster.

  “It’s nice to meet you, too,” she’d responded, looking him in the eye.

  Now Anna’s gaze locked with his again for a few seconds, and then she glanced at her smartwatch before smiling at Gram. “The crew is here, so Eryn and I are going to go meet them so we can look around and figure out where we want to start, if you don’t mind.”

  Finn tried not to watch her leave, but he couldn’t stop himself. She was talking to her assistant, who punctuated everything her boss said with a sharp nod, and he liked the way Anna’s entire body seemed to move with purpose. A real firecracker, his grandfather would have said.

  Then he looked—really looked—at his grandmother and thoughts of the unexpectedly sexy show host flew out of his mind. Apparently she’d taken the time before the crew’s arrival to change her clothes. And her hair. And pretty much everything. “Gram, what is wrong with you?”

  “Not a darn thing. What’s wrong with you?”

  “Why do you look like...that?” He waved a hand over her, from her hair put up in a bun to the polyester pants to the orthopedic sneakers on her feet. And she was bent over a little, one hand on her hip. “And why are you walking like that? Did you hurt yourself?”

  “Lower your voice,” she said in a hard whisper. “I’m fine. I did it for the application video so they’d take pity on an old widow, so now I have to keep doing it.”

  Finn sighed and dropped his head. A few seconds with his eyes closed didn’t do a lot to center him, though, and he wasn’t sure if he was mad at her or about to laugh.

  When it came to Gram, the answer was usually a little of both.

  “There’s no way you’re going to be able to do this for weeks,” he told her. “Not only do you have the energy of a six-month-old puppy, but walking like that is going to make your muscles sore. Or worse.”

  “Don’t worry about me, Finn. You just focus on looking handy. And hush now, because they’re coming back.”

  He’d always been a social drinker at best, but right now Finn was sorely tempted to hide in the barn with one of the bottles of bourbon very few people knew his grandfather had kept in a wooden crate bearing the logo of a motor oil company that had gone out of business decades ago. His grandfather’s stinginess with money had extended to his liquor, so the surviving bottles might lose in a blind taste test to turpentine, but he’d probably have a better chance of getting through this if he wasn’t entirely sober.

  On the other hand, he thought as Anna and one of the cameramen rounded the corner, having his wits about him might not be a bad thing as long as this woman was here. There was something about her that made him feel like an awkward teenage boy again, and he couldn’t take the chance of stupid crap flying out of his mouth as it had when he’d actually been that age.

  “Your electrical system isn’t in bad shape,” Anna said to Gram when she reached them. “Quite a bit of it’s been updated, so we have more outlets than we’re used to finding in old homes like this.”

  “One of my oldest friends is an electrician,” Finn told her, drawing those pretty eyes his way again. “Gram has an affinity for extension cords older than me and he’s rather fond of her, so he’s done some work around the place to keep her from accidentally burning it down.”

  “Would have been nice if you were friends with a plumber and an HVAC guy, too,” Gram muttered.

  “Or a family therapist,” he muttered back.

  “Well, we’re here now,” Anna said in a chipper voice. “We’re not only going to help you restore the Bayview Inn to her former glory, but bring her up to code, too. Tess, Eryn’s in the living room working on my introduction. She’s hoping you might have a few minutes to confirm the details about the inn that she’s included.”

  “Sure thing,” Gram said before hobbling out of the room. It took everything Finn had not to roll his eyes.

  “I’ll go get set up so we can do a run-through for the opening walk-and-talk,” the cameraman said.

  Anna nodded and the guy walked away, leaving them alone in the room. When Finn gave her a questioning look, she smiled. “It’s literally what it sounds like. They’re going to film me walking toward the camera while I give a quick intro about the house in the background.”

  “Tough job.”

  “It’s not as easy as it sounds, you know.”

  He liked the way the tops of her cheeks and that little patch of skin just above her top button turned a light pink when she was annoyed. “You might want to hurry, since it’s going to rain soon.”

  “Oh, really?” She arched her eyebrow and the look she gave him was pure snark. “Can you smell it in the air? Feel an ache in your bones?”

  He had an ache in his bone all right, but it had nothing to do with the impending rain. “I watched the weather forecast this morning.”

  “Oh.” She chuckled, and then, after a glance at her watch, rolled her eyes. “And, of course, there’s my notification that precipitation will be starting soon.”

  “I’ll get out of your way, then.”

  “You’re free to watch, if you want, but I should warn you that this part’s pretty boring.”

  “I doubt that.” He was pretty confident that watching Anna Beckett work would be anything but boring.

  * * *

  Anna very rarely flubbed a line, especially in the opening walk-and-talk when walking in a straight line and introducing the project were literally all she had to do, but she was on her fourth take and even Eryn was beginning to look concerned.

  “It’s Bayview, not Bayside,” her assistant reminded her for the second time, making Anna wish that Tess had kept it simple while coming up with a name for her fake inn. The Weaver Inn would have been easier to remember.

  She nodded at Eryn, but all the reminders in the world weren’t going to help as long as Finn Weaver was leaned up against a tree, arms folded across his chest, watching her. She’d meant it when she told him he was welcome to watch, but she hadn’t anticipated how much trouble she was going to have concentrating while his gaze was following her every step.

  She was a professional, dammit. And even if she’d engineered this visit to Blackberry Bay under slightly sketchy circumstances, this was her job and she was good at it. Usually.

  It didn’t matter if Finn was watching her. Or that she liked that he wanted to watch her. What mattered was producing a great show for her viewers and, during her downtime, finding answers to the questions that had been haunting her since her parents divorced when she was sixteen and she found out the woman she believed was her mother was, in fact, her stepmother.

  “Anna, do you need a minute?” />
  Eryn’s concern cut through the turmoil in her head and Anna nodded. “Yeah. Sorry, but I need a quick break.”

  She’d known coming to this town would be hard, but she’d foolishly believed she could keep the two reasons for being in Blackberry Bay separated. One was business. One was personal. But they were so intertwined she wasn’t going to be able to compartmentalize. And the enormity of what she was doing in this town was starting to hit her and it couldn’t have picked a worse time.

  “I am literally watching the clouds roll in right now,” Mike said. He was not only the senior of the two cameramen, but he’d been with her since the very beginning, when it was just the two of them making their own show for YouTube. He was never shy about speaking up.

  “It’s just a run-through,” Eryn replied, her voice a little sharp. “It’s not that big a deal if we don’t get it today.”

  It was a little bit of a big deal, Anna thought, since they always filmed the walk-and-talk first, to get it out of the way. Especially if they were going to do any construction on the exterior of the property. Mike liked to do a full practice run-through so he could check the angles and make any adjustments that might be needed. The inn’s front lawn and walkway had a slight downward slope to it, and until Anna got through the entire opening bit, he wouldn’t know if he needed to elevate the camera to compensate. It also let him ensure nothing got into the periphery of the shot, like a lawn mower or a stray garbage bin. It was a lot easier to get it done before they started tearing a property apart.

  “One more minute,” she told Mike, and then she closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths.

  “Are you sure you’re okay?” Eryn asked in a low voice meant only for her ears.

  Anna nodded but didn’t open her eyes. Even though this project had been in the planning stages for a while, it had been just theoretical. But the familiar physical action of filming the opening walk-and-talk had triggered the awareness this was very, very real. It was happening.