“Great, winter is always tricky with the animals, but we’re keeping them warm and safe.” My dad and brother run their own ranch, raising cattle, sheep, and horses. It’s long hours of hard, strenuous work, but they love it.
Living in Everton, there’s at least one rancher in each family. It’s weird to know someone who doesn’t have any type of ranch or animals—for work or hobby. It’s in our blood, raised with the cowboy mentality.
“You’ll have to come for a ride soon,” Finn lifts his brows and smiles. He keeps pestering me about relaxing and not obsessing over the bed and breakfast.
“In this snow?” My voice comes out more high pitched than I intended.
“Yeah, it’s beautiful riding when the snow’s falling. We used to do it all the time when we were kids.”
“We did,” I sigh. There’s nothing like taking a slow ride through these grounds. “Maybe this weekend,” I nod.
“That would be lovely,” my mom adds. “I’m sure it will help inspire you for work.” She pats my hand. I nod and take a bite of the pasta casserole.
It could help me figure out how I want to do the barn in the bed and breakfast. I’m sure I can talk to Finn about that and get his opinion on acquiring a good horse or two that guests can ride.
The more I think about everything I have to do, the more I realize I’m going to need to hire more staff members. For now, I’ll be cooking breakfast for guests and serving it buffet style, but I need one person to do housekeeping, someone to be responsible for the barn and the grounds.
Little by little, I remind myself. There’s no point in hiring people yet when there’s still six months left of construction. No one is going to quit their job or sit at home and wait for me to open. I just have to follow my timeline and not get ahead of myself. Everything will work out just as I’ve planned.
…
“Oh my God,” I shriek as I step into the kitchen area of The Farm House, part of the ceiling caved in and drywall all around the floor and island. My hands cover my mouth as my wide eyes take in the disaster around me.
What happened? I look up, seeing the huge opening in the ceiling giving me a peek into the upstairs.
“I told you that column was a support beam.” I take a deep breath and close my eyes to rein in my emotions.
I turn around, nostrils flared and eyes narrowed. “Eli Hastings, fix this,” I seethe, waving my hand around the kitchen. Eli stands in front of me with his arms crossed over his chest and a knowing look on those stupid, hazel eyes of his. I clench my teeth and hold in my tears as I survey the mess around me.
My heart races as I try to catch my breath and not allow a panic attack to consume me. I run my fingers over my forehead, inhaling the dust from the fallen ceiling.
“We can fix it, but…” Eli’s words fade away as I turn to face him again.
“How much is this going to set me back?” My fingers continue to rub paths over my forehead.
“I’ll have to crunch numbers.”
“Crunch them fast,” I bite out.
“We’re looking at a few thousand.”
“A few thousand?” I scream. “A few thousand can be two or thirty. Which is it, Eli?” I demand as my heart rate spikes.
“Actually, two thousand would be a couple, not a few.” His lips quirk in that cocky grin I can’t stand.
“Of all days, Eli, today is not one I want to get into it with you,” my voice breaks.
“I told you not to knock that beam down.” His face turns serious as his eyes assess the situation behind me.
“I swear, if you give me an I-told-you-so speech right now, I’m going to knock something else, and it won’t be a part of this house,” I glare at him, eyeing the hammer in his hand.
“Besides, why did you agree to it if you knew it would do this,” my hand flaps in the direction of the disaster. If I weren’t on the verge of tears, I’d laugh at the way my hand moves like some rubber chicken.
“You threatened me! Your words were, ‘Either you make this a completely open kitchen, or I will,’ and I figured it would be best if my guys worked on it since they know what they’re doing than for you to go crazy knocking it down and getting hurt.”
“I wouldn’t have gotten hurt,” I cross my arms.
“Oh my God,” Eli says under his breath. “Imagine if this would’ve fallen on you. Hell, we’re lucky no one was here when it happened.”
I drop my arms and sigh. He’s right. Someone could’ve gotten seriously hurt had they been standing here or upstairs.
I shake my head. “Sorry.” I take another glance, grateful that we aren’t further into the renovations. It would be a lot worse had the upstairs been furnished and the kitchen been completed with cabinets and furniture.
“Excuse me? Did you just apologize?” My eyes find Eli’s mocking ones, and I roll them.
“Get me that estimate by the end of the day.” I turn on my heel and walk away from him and his not-so-subtle snicker.
Eli Hastings will be the death of me. He’s cocky, a player, and full of himself. A combination I don’t need in my life—professionally or intimately. If there was anyone else in this town I could hire for the job, I would have.
As soon as the cold air hits me, I stumble on my feet and take a seat on the porch steps. My head drops into my hands, but the cold air does nothing to freeze my emotions or the tears that begin to slide down my face.
I can’t afford a setback like this. I’m set to open in May, but despite that, my bank account can’t take it. I’m budgeted down to the penny, my loan an exact amount of the estimate Eli gave me. Sure, he suggested a more abundant loan for unexpected issues, but I had reached my limit with the amount I requested.
Every ounce of control I’ve had the last couple of months cracks. I rub my eyes with the heels of my hands, but the tears continue to fall. My breath falters. My lips tremble. My chest feels tight. I fold my arms over my knees and dig my head into the nook, my body shuddering as I cry.
“Whoa.” Someone calls from behind me, and I gasp quickly.
“You just gonna sit there?” Eli snaps.
I shake my head and stand, keeping my back to him. I swipe the tears from my face before anyone can see.
“Sorry,” I mumble and take the steps down.
I hear whispering behind me but ignore it, not able to get to my car fast enough.
“Averly,” Eli calls out. “Hold on.” Heavy steps stomp behind me.
“Are you okay?” His hand lands on my shoulder, and it takes everything in me not to shake it off.
“Yeah.” Even I hear the hoarseness in my voice. I take a deep breath, but Eli steps around to face me regardless.
His eyes narrow, his brows scrunching in the process. “Hey, I’ll fix it,” his voice is soft, soothing, and it makes me want to cry even more. If Eli Hastings is being kind to me, I must look worse than I thought.
“It’s fine.” I shake my head, keeping my eyes on the floor.
“Averly, look at me.”
I close my eyes, my chest rising with the intensity of my breath, and lift my gaze to his, an eyebrow arched in an attempt to mask my emotions. It’s a failed attempt, obviously, but in case I wasn’t sure, Eli frowns when he inspects my face.
“I’m your contractor, I need you to trust me. This won’t work unless we both put our stubbornness aside and cooperate with each other. You want this job to come out perfect, and believe me, so do I. My reputation lies in this project. I don’t want guests to stay here and criticize my work. I’m not out to sabotage you, it wouldn’t be in my best interest to do so. With that said, you need to understand that the decisions I make are to keep this place standing.”
“And your constant rejection of any idea I bring on?” I cross my arms, sniffling to prevent making a bigger mess of myself.
“I’ll stop. I’ll listen to what you have to say before I pass judgment. If it can happen within budget and our current plans, I’ll add it in. If not, you have to believe it’s
because we just can’t make it happen at the moment.”
“Fine.” I pinch my lips.
“Truce?”
I nod. “Yeah.”
“I’ll fix the kitchen,” he promises. “But you’re going to have to trust me and let me fix it my way. You won’t be disappointed.”
“Sure, but send me the numbers before doing anything. I may need to cut out some other things in order to fix this, and I want to know before you start.”
“I’ll send them, but we’ll stay in budget,” he says with confidence.
“There’s no way.”
“Just trust me, okay?” His eyes are sincere as he looks at me, and I’m left with no choice but to do as he asks.
“Okay. I’ll be gone for the weekend, but I’ll have my phone on me. Call or text if you need anything,” I plead.
“Will do. See you on Monday, then.”
I walk away, leaving the fate of my dream in the hands of someone I’m dead-set on hating. However, hearing him speak to me now, using maturity and dare I say, compassion and kindness make me question if there’s more to Eli Hastings than I had judged.
Eli
I throw away the piece of drywall one of my guys and I were carrying to the trash as Averly drives away. The last thing I expected to see when we came out here was for her to be sitting there, resigned and crying. She looked smaller, much more vulnerable than her usual force.
Averly is a confident woman. She’s intelligent, strong-willed, opinionated…and beautiful, but that’s beside the point. She knows what she’s doing when it comes to this business, but she doesn’t know shit about construction. Regardless of that, I should’ve stood my ground when I told her that the support beam had to stay. I shouldn’t have instructed Tim to knock it down when he argued all the reasons we shouldn’t. This is on me. I knew something like that was likely to happen.
I can’t let my frustrations get in the way of this job. It’s too big to screw up. Once people see our work displayed in this place, we’ll get more commercial work. I need this to go smoothly, and I need Averly to recommend me to others in her field.
When I walked in this morning and saw the ceiling caved in, I almost lost my shit. It didn’t help that Averly showed up early before I could call her and tell her about the situation. That’s never the way you want a client to find out about a mistake you made.
A few of the guys clean up the kitchen while I look for Tim.
“Hey,” I say as I find him sanding a door frame.
“She freaked, huh?” Tim doesn’t try to hide his disapproval.
“Yeah, with reason.” I scrub my face, my normally five o’clock shadow is now a ten-day beard, and the usual scratching on my palm is more of a tickle.
“Remember that kitchen we did for the Davis house?” I ask Tim.
“Yeah,” he stops sanding and focuses on me.
“Let’s try something like that here. Since we have to create a new support, we have the flexibility to space it out or create two like we did for that house. It will still give it the open feel, and it won’t be a random standing column.”
“I like that idea. Want me to work on the estimate?” Tim asks, frowning. He’s been working with me since I started my company, and we both know Averly’s budget was at its limit with the current plans.
“Yeah, but give me the invoice. This was my mistake, so I’ll pay for the damage.”
“Are you sure?” His eyebrows shoot up.
“Positive.” I shake my head and sigh.
“Whatever you say, boss.” He goes back to sanding the frame.
“Don’t call me that, I hate it.”
“I know,” he smiles.
“Jackass,” I deadpan. “Finish what you’re doing and meet me in the kitchen, we need to work on that before we can even think about going upstairs again. I don’t need more of that ceiling falling.”
“Be there in a few,” he throws over his shoulder.
I head into the almost empty kitchen and begin creating a plan in my mind. I’ll fix this, I have to.
…
“Hey, man,” Knox slaps my back as he takes a seat next to me at the bar in Clarke’s.
“What’s up?” I jut my chin toward him before taking a sip of my beer.
“Not much.” Knox lifts a hand to get the bartender’s attention. “How about you?” He turns in his stool to look at me.
“Long day,” my beer bottle clanks on the bar-top.
“I figured when you called to ask if I wanted to meet up here.”
“I shouldn’t have. Where’s Ainsley?” Ever since Knox met Ainsley, they’ve been a tight unit.
“She was going out with Lia,” Knox shrugs. “You okay?” He tilts his head to study me.
“Yup. Peachy.”
“Uh oh, this sounds like an issue with a woman.” I want to punch that stupid smirk off his face.
I scowl. “I liked you better when you were married and unhappy.”
“Well, I much prefer being with Ainsley,” he throws back.
“Yeah, yeah.”
“You gonna tell me what’s goin’ on?”
I look at my oldest friend. We grew up together, ran around this town like two scoundrels, and always included each other in our lives.
“I fucked up at work.” I run a hand down my face.
“Why?” Knox’s eyebrows pull in together as he studies me.
I explain what happened with the support beam, trying to hide my frustration toward Averly, but it’s obvious to anyone who can add one plus one.
“Crap, sorry about that, buddy. How much is it gonna cost you?” Knox presses his lips in a straight line.
“I’ll do the work myself, so the labor will be on me, and I’ll pay for the material at wholesale cost. It isn’t that bad, I’m more upset at my stupidity than anything else. This job needs to go perfect.” I tap the countertop.
“It will, but I won’t lie and say I didn’t notice you checking out Averly on Friday when we were here.” Knox lifts his brows.
“You’re insane.”
“She’s pretty, and you never could resist a pretty thing.” He eyes me knowingly.
“Asshat.” I cradle my beer and take a swig.
Knox laughs at my poor insult. “Happens to the best of us,” he claps my shoulder and shakes his head. “Besides that setback, everything else is okay?”
“Yeah. How’s the wedding prep coming along?”
Knox and Ainsley are getting married in two weeks, and I’m happy he found someone he truly loves to spend his life with.
“All done. These next couple of weeks are for us to relax.”
“Really?” My eyebrows shoot up.
“Yup,” he leans back on his stool. “It’s a small wedding, just family and close friends.”
“Sounds perfect.” I tip the beer between my lips, taking a drink. I’ve never put much thought into finding someone to settle down with. I’ve always been working, enjoying drinks with friends, dating women I know will lead to nowhere but guarantee a good time.
Now, in my mid-thirties, I’m starting to slow down a bit, enjoy nights like this with my friends, but that also means I notice everyone around me happy with their partner, and I go home to an empty house. Sure, I’ve got my own ranch at home that I tend to as a hobby, but that doesn’t keep my bed warm at night and my house full of laughter.
I don’t remember the last time I went out with a woman and actually laughed, now that I think about it. Flirt? Sure. End the night in bed? Definitely. But actually sat back and laughed, enjoyed myself? It’s been a while. And Everton is small. Chances are I’ve dated a good number of the women from here, and I wouldn’t jump at the opportunity to have something serious with any of them.
Knox and I continue to catch up. It’s been nice having him around more since he moved back to Everton. With our busy schedules, we could never get together much when he was living in Los Angeles.
As Knox tells me about the songs he’s working on, my eyes swe
ep over his shoulder around Clarke’s. The dinner crowd is coming in, making the space noisier. Before I look at Knox again, I see Averly sitting in a booth, a man sitting across from her.
My eyebrows furrow as I try to figure out if she’s in a relationship. She hasn’t been with anyone the last few times I’ve seen her out, and in this town, new romances spread like wildfire. It feels like a brick falls into the pit of my stomach, but I continue to watch her.
She’s leaned forward, talking in a whisper it seems. The highlights in her hair shine under the lights, the long waves moving around her shoulders as she shakes her head.
“What’s got your attention?” Knox turns around in his seat and smirks. “Deny it all you want, you’ve got a thing for her.” He shakes his head.
“I can’t stand her half the time,” I cross my arms and look at Knox. “Is she on a date?” I say under my breath, but Knox catches it.
His laughter booms, his head tipping back. People around us turn their attention toward us, as does Averly. That’s when I realize the man is Finn, not a date. I exhale in relief, although I shouldn’t. Nothing should make me feel relieved about knowing Averly is available, and I want to change that.
Averly
I’m updating Finn on The Farm House situation when a loud cackle interrupts our conversation. I look toward the bar and see Eli sitting with Knox. My heart halts when I lock eyes with Eli. If only I could go a few days without seeing him after today’s incident. All I ask is for space, time to gather my emotions.
“Don’t wave,” I whine when Finn lifts his hand in their direction.
“They’re friends, Averly.”
“But I want to finish this conversation, and I honestly don’t want to do that in front of Eli.” I lean back in the booth and sigh. I called Finn earlier after panicking about the disaster I found at the bed and breakfast. If anyone can help calm me down, it’s my brother.
He’s always had a way of making me see things from a different perspective, and I am hoping tonight’s no different.
I had gotten home from The Farm House and broke down as soon as the door to my apartment closed.
Make You Mine Page 3
