“And I’m happy for them, but I’m doing just fine on my own.”
She wrinkled her nose. “You’re dating girls far too young for you. Don’t think I haven’t noticed. Twenty-three-year-old girls are not ready for marriage.”
At thirty, he felt like they were often at the same level in terms of their expectations about relationships. Fun. No strings. Sounded good to him. “Don’t worry about me. I’m good. Better than good, in fact. I’m happy.”
She sank into her tweed swivel chair with a heavy sigh. “You’re like my own son, you know. I just want to see you find a nice girl and—”
“I will eventually.” He tapped the surface of the wraparound wood desk he’d rebuilt last year. “But for now, this is my baby and I’m good with that. Now, I promised Claudia I’d drop this off before she turns in for the night.”
“But it’s barely nine o’clock,” Dana said, checking her watch. “It’s too early to turn in. You should invite her to join you for a glass of wine, get to know her a little better.” She shrugged when Brady frowned at her. “What? As long as she’s going to be working for you, there’s nothing wrong with a little drink to welcome her to the team, is there?”
“I’ll say it again—she’s married. That’s all I need to know about her.”
She pursed her lips before reaching for the phone. “In my experience, happily married women don’t run off to have an adventure by themselves. And if they have car trouble, they call their husband to come and rescue them, not some handsome innkeeper.”
He rolled his eyes. Dana was worse than his mother when it came to matchmaking. No wonder the two ladies were life-long friends. “I’m sure there’s a good reason she didn’t call her husband to come get her. Maybe he’s out of town on business. Ever think of that?”
“There’s one way to find out,” Dana said, pressing the buttons on the phone. “Ask her.”
“Are you calling Charlie to come get you now?” Since Dana didn’t drive, it was up to her retired husband to serve as her chauffeur.
“Why?” she asked, pausing with her fingers over the keypad. “Are you trying to get rid of me? Maybe so you can get a little one-on-one time with your new waitress without me hovering?”
“For the love of—”
“Don’t take the Lord’s name in vain, young man,” Dana warned, wagging her finger. “I’ll tell your mama. Not to mention the reverend.”
Brady smirked, thinking that would have marked the least of his sins. “Wouldn’t think of it. You have a good night and say hi to Charlie for me.”
“I will. Oh, I’ll be back early in the morning. It’s the end of the month, remember. Time to balance the books.”
“Ugh.” Brady hated that part of the job. Thankfully he’d inherited Dana with the inn, and she was a Jill of all trades who kept him on task. “Fine. I’ll see you in the morning, but I’ve got to help with the dock for a bit.” They were rebuilding the last of the private docks for the six small cabins he’d built on the property, for those guests who wanted a little more privacy than the inn provided.
“You can’t get out of it,” she said, holding the phone to her ear. “Wherever you try to hide, I’ll come find you.”
“I’m sure you will,” he muttered, walking down the hall toward Claudia’s room.
Chapter Two
When Claudia didn’t answer her door, Brady got a little concerned, so he walked around the property looking for her. Given the bears they’d been dealing with lately, he didn’t like the idea of her being out all alone at night without a weapon or bear spray for protection.
He told himself he would have been as concerned about any employee or guest. His interest in her had nothing to do with her beauty. Just his luck though, the most attractive woman he’d met in years would be wearing a wedding ring.
“There you are,” he said when he spotted her sitting at a picnic table by the lake.
She looked up at him with a smile. “Oh, sorry. Were you looking for me?”
“Yeah, I wanted to give you this.” He handed her the uniform. “Remember I said I’d drop it off?”
She seemed distracted, as if the last thing on her mind was her temporary waitressing gig. “Sorry, I just assumed you’d leave it at the door if I wasn’t there.”
He gestured at the long, thick stick leaning against the table. “What’s that for?”
“I remember you saying something about nuisance bears.” She shrugged. “I didn’t have any pepper spray in my purse, so I figured this would be the next best thing.”
“Huh, so you’re not a city girl then?”
“What makes you say that?”
“Just a hunch.” He pointed at the bench seat across from her. “You mind if I join you, or would you rather be alone?”
“Feel free. It is your place, after all.” When he sat down, she said softly, “It sure is pretty out here. Have you owned this place long?”
“About seven years,” he said, tipping his head back to look at the stars.
“But you said you started working here as a kid?”
“Yep, started when I was about fifteen. The previous owners are like my second family. When it was time for them to retire, they wanted me to take over, but I wouldn’t agree unless we could work out some way for me to buy it from them. They’d worked too hard on this place just to hand it over to me.”
“They didn’t have any children to pass it on to?” she asked, her voice suddenly sounding a little raspier.
“They had one son, but they lost him over in Iraq.”
“Oh.” She dipped her head, letting her long hair conceal her face. “I’m sorry to hear that. It must have been terrible for them to lose their only child that way.”
“It was. I guess you never really get over something like that.”
“No,” she whispered. “I don’t imagine you do.”
“Claudia, I hope I’m not overstepping…” He blamed his curiosity on Dana, and if Claudia shot him down, he reasoned he could chalk it up to his meddling employee. “But I noticed you’re wearing a wedding ring. Won’t your husband be worried about you? Or have you called to let him know—”
“I don’t have to call,” she said then swallowed. “He’s, um, no longer with me.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.” Brady couldn’t imagine a man being stupid enough to leave a woman as beautiful as Claudia, but as his mother kept telling him, beauty is only skin deep. Maybe she was difficult to get along with, or demanding or pessimistic, though he hadn’t seen any of those characteristics in the brief time he’d known her.
“Do you live here?” she asked, obviously anxious to change the subject.
“Yeah.” He pointed at the largest cabin on the grounds. “I built that place for myself a few years back. I needed some degree of separation from work, otherwise I’d be working twenty-four, seven.”
“You love what you do,” she said, her gaze drifting to the water. “You’re lucky. There’s nothing better than being passionate about your job.”
“So waitressing obviously isn’t your thing. What is? I mean, do you have a career or—”
“I was a first grade teacher.” She licked her lips. “I just left last month, at the end of the school year.”
“Oh.” He wanted to know why she’d left, but he could tell she wasn’t interested in answering any more questions about her job. “So, um, where were you headed when your car started giving you trouble?”
“Honestly?” Her eyes drifted from him to the chipmunk scurrying up the tree behind him. “I don’t know. I just decided to pack up the bare necessities and hop in my car. I’ve got enough money for gas and takeout for a little while. I figured I’d just get minimum wage jobs along the way until I figure out where I want to end up.”
She didn’t strike him as a drifter, so something must have happened to make her want to leave her home and the people who loved her behind. The breakdown of her marriage, maybe? “When you get settled, will you be looking for another teaching positi
on?”
She shook her head slowly. “I loved teaching, but I think I’ll look for something different next time.”
“Tired of working with little rug rats?” he joked, thinking about how stressful that must have been at times.
“I could never tire of children,” she said, looking shocked that he would even suggest such a thing. “I love kids. Don’t you?”
Feeling as though he’d just kicked her puppy, Brady tried to backpedal. “Uh, sure, kids are great. Not that I’ve had a lot of experience with them.”
“No younger siblings?”
“Yeah, I have a younger sister, but she’s just a couple of years younger than me.”
“It’s just the two of you?”
“No, I have an older brother too.”
“That’s nice. Your whole family lives in Landon?”
“My brother does now,” Brady explained. “He moved back from Houston a while back. And there’s my mom. My sister’s finishing up her master’s in California.”
“How about your dad? Is he in the picture?”
“He passed away a couple of years ago.”
She must have heard the sadness in his voice because she covered his hand with hers. “I’m so sorry, Brady. I know how difficult it can be to lose someone you love.”
He wanted to know so much more about her, but he got the impression she’d already opened up to him more than she’d intended to. “I was going to have a drink before I turn in for the night. Care to join me?”
She gestured to his cabin. “You mean at your place?”
He smiled, trying to put her at ease. “That is where I keep the good stuff. Don’t worry, I’ll walk you back to your room when you’re ready to turn in.”
“Okay.” She stood. “It’s been a while since…”
“Since what?” Brady asked, falling into step beside her.
“Since I made a new friend.” She looked at him, and he was awestruck by how gorgeous she was in the moonlight. “I’ve been kind of keeping to myself for a while now.”
Everything she said made him want to follow it up with a question, but his instincts told him to let her open up to him when and if she was ready. “I know what you mean. I’ve grown up here. I’ve basically had the same friends since grade school. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with that. But sometimes it’s nice to get to know someone new.”
“It sure is. Someone who doesn’t know anything about you.”
He bit his tongue to prevent himself from asking how she’d met her husband and what had caused the rift in her marriage. “Sometimes I head into the city just to be incognito for a while. It’s nice to go somewhere where no one knows your name.”
She laughed, and he couldn’t explain why he got the impression she didn’t do that enough.
“Why do I get the feeling you go to the city in search of women?”
“How’d you know?” he teased, nudging her with his elbow. “Promise me if you ever meet my mama, you’ll keep that a secret, okay?”
“You have my word.” She drew closed the denim shirt she’d thrown on over her long cotton tank top and leggings while clasping the uniform he’d given her in her other hand. “So the girls around here bore you, or what?”
“If you grew up in a small town”—which he suspected she had—“you’ll know what I’m talking about. I’ve known most of these women since we were toddlers. I think of them more as sisters than romantic prospects.”
“I get that. So no new girls ever move to town?”
“Every once in a while,” Brady said, thinking it had been a long time since he’d seen a pretty face he didn’t recognize. “But they usually don’t stick around too long. There aren’t a lot of job prospects in a town this size.”
“I can imagine.” She smiled. “So I guess I should be glad I ran into you then. You really saved me, by the way, giving me this job ‘til I can get my car fixed.”
“It’s my pleasure.” He’d never expected them to become friends, but the more time he spent with her, the more he considered it a possibility. Maybe she’d even keep in touch with him when she moved on. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but are you sure your car is worth fixing? It looks like it might be time for a new one soon.”
“If only,” she said, rolling her eyes. “I’m afraid a new car won’t be in the budget for a long time. I have to save up money for an apartment first, then there’s the business of eating.”
“You didn’t save some money from your teaching job for this little road trip?”
“It was kind of a last-minute decision,” she said, stepping over a rutted tree, and Brady grabbed her upper arm to make sure she didn’t stumble over it. “Thanks.”
When they got to his cabin, Brady turned the knob, gesturing for her to enter ahead of him.
“You don’t lock up?” she asked, standing in the foyer, which led to the great room. She looked up, admiring the skylights carved into the eighteen-foot pitched log ceiling.
“I’m in and out of here all day,” Brady explained. “Besides, we don’t waste too much time worrying about crime around here. One of my best friends is the sheriff in town, and he keeps telling me he’d be out of a job if not for the occasional domestic dispute when someone gets liquored up.”
“Small town life,” she said with a smile. “There’s nothing quite like it, is there?”
“No, there isn’t.” Again, he wanted to ask where she was from, but he didn’t want to lose the friendly rapport they were starting to build.
“This is a really nice place,” she said, turning in a slow circle as she took in the saltbox-style house. “Did you build it yourself?”
“With a little help from my friends.” He smirked before leading her into the kitchen tucked behind the great room. “What’s your pleasure? Water, soft drink, whiskey, wine… something else?”
She stood at the granite counter, watching him retrieve a bottle before reaching for glasses in a cabinet overhead. “Actually, whiskey sounds perfect. My dad used to cap off the night with a whiskey when I was a kid.” She smiled. “I used to sneak a sip sometimes when he wasn’t looking.”
“So you’re not afraid of a little burn? You’re my kind of woman.” He hadn’t intended to say that, but it was true. She was the kind of woman he could see himself falling for, if he wasn’t careful.
She reached for the glass he offered, whispering, “Thanks,” as their eyes met briefly.
“Here’s to new friends,” he said, tapping his glass against hers.
“And chivalry,” she said, inclining her head. “Nice to know it’s not dead after all.”
“Let’s head outside,” he said, gesturing to the walk-out off of the kitchen. “It’s way too nice to be cooped up inside. I can build a fire, if you like?”
“You don’t have to go to any trouble.” She held up her glass. “I’ll probably be ready to turn in after this. At least I hope this’ll do the trick.” When he raised an eyebrow, she explained, “I’ve been battling insomnia for a while now. As tired as I am most of the time, I just can’t seem to sleep.”
“Are you taking anything for that?” he asked, holding the door open for her to precede him onto the deck facing the lake.
“The doctor gave me something a while back, but I try not to take it unless I’m desperate. I’m afraid it would be too easy to become dependent.”
“You’re probably right about that,” he said, claiming the Adirondack chair next to hers. “This is my favorite time of day.” He tipped his head back with a contented sigh. “After a long day’s work, there’s nothing better than kicking back, listening to the waves rolling in, admiring the stars…”
He felt self-conscious when he caught her looking at him, and he realized he’d revealed more than he’d intended: the essence of his happiness. This land. His job. Having a purpose.
“You really love it, don’t you?” she asked, bringing the glass to her lips. “This place? What you do?”
“I can’t imagi
ne doing anything else. When I was a kid, I used to tell my parents I was going to live off the land. I wanted to be totally self-sufficient.” He chuckled. “Hunting, fishing, gardening, that kind of thing. I even imagined living off the grid for a while, until I realized that might mean giving up sports on TV. I wasn’t quite ready for that.”
She smiled. “So you’re a sports fan, huh? Me too.”
“Really?” He didn’t know why that surprised him. Maybe because every girl he’d ever dated had given him a hard time about being glued to the set during a big game. “Which sports do you follow?”
“Which sports don’t I follow? Hockey, baseball, basketball, football.” She shrugged. “Living with boys, you get used to…”
He waited for her to continue, hoping to catch a glimpse into the life she’d left behind. “You mean growing up? You had brothers?”
“No, I was an only child.”
“Oh.” He waited for her to explain, but when she didn’t, he said, “You said you’re a baseball fan?”
“I am.”
“There’s a ball game on tomorrow afternoon. I plan to take a little time off to watch it. You should join me. Your shift will be over by then.”
“I’d like that. It’s been a while since I’ve watched a game.” At his curious expression, she said, “I’ve been pretty busy getting ready to make this move.”
Since she’d only had one suitcase in her trunk and very little money, he wondered if she’d put everything else in storage while trying to sell the house she shared with her husband, assuming he wasn’t still living there. The more he talked to her, the more questions he had.
“So you said you have a brother. Is he married?”
“Getting married,” Brady said, stretching his legs out on the foot stool in front of him while Claudia did the same. “To his high school sweetheart, as a matter of fact. They were apart a long time, but they finally got it together a while back and they’re getting married.”
“That’s nice.” She tipped her glass back, wincing only slightly after swallowing.
Small Town Boss Page 2
