by Jen Talty
“We appreciate that,” Jim said, “but feel free to look around. We won’t take it personally.”
“We can also sell you my designs,” Doug said, “if you decide to go with someone else.”
“I’ve seen your work on Harmon Hill, and I’ve heard from others that locally, you are the best in the business.”
“If you really want to hire us, then you should include these plans in the offer,” Doug said as he snagged a couple of cookies. “I’ll get you copies, but we can make it all contingent on the sale.”
“I’m meeting the realtor tonight.”
“We’ll get you these plans by morning. Let the realtor know that,” Jim said.
Reese took a cookie then nibbled on it while he considered what his Nana would say about hasty decisions, but if someone else was interested in that land, he knew he should move quick. “Do I get the friends and family discount?”
“Yes,” Jim said. “That said, its going to take me a day or so to prepare an estimate.”
“I appreciate that,” Reese said. He finished his cookie, which he had to admit was the best damn cookie he’d ever had. “Do you need a deposit?”
“If we are filing the plans for you in the morning, that will cost five hundred, so if you can give that to us now, while we prepare a contract, we’d appreciate it. The final estimate will include a two-year, three-phase working plan that puts the Heritage Inn as a full rental facility starting next spring. Maybe even earlier. That’s based on the work we’ve already put into it on our own.”
“I’m looking forward to working with you,” Reese said.
“We’ve wanted to work on that place for years,” Jim said. “It’s going to be a pleasure.”
“Reese enjoyed another cookie. All in all, it been an interesting and productive evening. Now he just had to tell Patty.
Chapter Four
PATTY WAITED NERVOUSLY in the front seat of her car in the parking lot of the Heritage Inn. Being Reese’s casual fling had been easy, but the idea of dating him seemed more bizarre than the fact that she was pregnant with his child. Meeting at the Heritage Inn? That was just weird. The property had been abandoned when the owners could no longer take care of it themselves. Last Patty heard, they’d been placed in assisted living. A run-down property seemed like a very odd place to meet indeed. She thought about suggesting the little café with the great chocolate cake, but curiosity got the better of her. She was seeing a new side to Reese. It was both delightful and terrifying.
Memories of her childhood made her heart flutter. As girls, she and LuAnn Riley, daughter of the owners of the Inn, were inseparable. A fair amount of private land, owned by the Harmons, separated her from the Heritage Inn, but could still walk through the lush trees to the Heritage family home, as she had so often done. At one point, the girls had made a path lined with reflectors. Once, they’d even pitched a tent in a small clearing and spent the night, until a group of raccoons scared them away. Later, they found that Frank and his friends had put food around the tent to draw them. She and LuAnn plotted for months on how to get the boys back, but they were nowhere near as devious.
Headlights flickered in her rearview mirror. Reese, and someone she didn’t recognize followed behind him. She shut off the engine, then stepped from her car. Reese greeted her with a huge grin on his face and a playful twinkle in his eyes. It was a look she hadn’t seen often on him, if ever. He looked light, carefree. Happy.
“Hey, there,” he said. “I’ve got a surprise for you.” He kissed her check.
She tilted her head so his lips landed in just the right place. They lingered on her skin, sending tingles to the rest of her body. “What are we doing here?” she asked, trying desperately to keep her cool. This was all about becoming friends so they could co-parent. That was it. Nothing more. Nothing less.
The stranger he’d brought with him got out of his car and waved. He was older, most likely in his late fifties, wearing blue pants and a North Face coat. She recognized him then, from realty signs plastered all over town. Charlie Vicor, of Vicor Commercial Reality.
“Charlie, I’d like you to meet Patty Harmon.”
“I’ve met your father a few times,” Charlie said. “He’s a good man.”
“Yes, he is,” Patty agreed. Drunk and depressed, but pretty good at putting on a show for the people outside the family until about a year ago.
“Let me show you around,” Charlie said.
“Why are we looking at this place with a realtor?” she whispered to Reese.
“Humor me.” Reese took her by the arm, and they followed Charlie into the main lobby of the Heritage Inn. The furniture and wallpaper were dated and it smelled a bit musty, but the view of the lake was breathtaking, just as she remembered.
“I was devastated when the Riley’s closed the place,” Charlie said. “My children loved to stay here when they came to visit, but neither of the Riley children wanted to take it over, and it was just too much for Harold. Then his wife got sick. What a shame. Sweet lady.”
“I was close to LuAnn once,” Patty said. “I lost touch with her after high school.”
“She’s some big designer in New York City,” Charlie said proudly. “She’s paying for her parents’ living arrangements now. She really wanted to keep the property, but it just wasn’t in the cards.”
“Could we see the residential living quarters?” Reese asked.
Nostalgia overwhelmed Patty as she pictured herself as a smile child racing between the Heritage Inn property with LuAnn, giggling without a care in the world
“Sure thing,” Charlie said.
Reese’s hand rested on her elbow, his thumb caressing ever so slightly, a gesture that could be seen as love, or simply a man who understood and respected other human beings.
Reese was the latter, never the former.
“LuAnn and I spent a lot of time on this front patio. Not to mention jumping off the huge sundeck over the boathouse as boats passed by.” Patty left out that both girls had their first kiss on top of that boathouse.
The house sat on the north side of the property, tucked up tight to the trees lining Harmon Hill. It had a separate driveway on the other side of the Inn. The hotel and house stood next to each other, with only some overgrown trees and the driveway to separate them. A long path wound from the hotel to the house. The front lawn was massive, looping along a large stretch of the lakeshore. To the south side, the cottages sat closer to the water, with a small grassy parking area in back, and lots of land between them and Route 9. All the property needed was a little TLC and maybe some upgrades to attract more seasonal renters. They really were the bread and butter of the village, not the people who lived here year-round.
Charlie flicked on the back porch light, and they entered through the kitchen. It was as big as she remembered, furnished with new appliances, but the big butcher-block kitchen table was as exactly as she remembered.
“Six bedrooms,” Charlie said. “Three stories, at a total of four thousand square feet.”
“This is what we talked about.” Reese handed Charlie an envelope. “They have until tomorrow at five to counter. The construction company will be filing the plans in the morning. I’m sure we can come to an agreement.”
What agreement, Patty thought, but didn’t ask because she was too busy remembering her favorite Barbie doll and how she and LuAnn would talk about what it would be like to be grown up, married, with a family…
“Excellent. Which company, so I can make sure everything is in order?”
“Sutten & Tanner.”
“Excellent choice,” Charlie said.
“Now, do you mind if we check the place out alone?”
Charlie nodded. “I’ll be waiting in the car. Take your time.”
Patty was so caught up in remembering that she ignored the two men talking, though she made a mental note to ask Reese about Sutten & Tanner. “LuAnn and I used to sit under this table with our Barbie dolls on rainy days when we were in grade
school.” Patty lost herself in the moment, gliding her fingers across the uneven wood. “When my parents would fight, I came here. LuAnn and her parents were like a second family to me.”
“So, you have fond memories of this place?”
“Oh, yes,” Patty said. “Why did you bring me here?”
“I just put in an offer.”
“Huh…what? Offer? As in ‘buy?’” Her heart beat so fast it hurt. Reese’s conversation with the realtor pulled together. “You want to buy a hotel?”
“I do.”
“How? The asking price on this place is like, what, over six million? How on earth can you afford that on your current salary? How can you run a hotel and be a trooper?”
“Let’s just say we need to talk. About a lot of things.”
“I have no idea what to say.” Her mind raced with a million questions, but she couldn’t bring a single one to her mouth. She blinked a few times, wondering if she was having a bizarre dream, because no way was Reese McGinn planning on buying a hotel. “I think I need to sit down.”
“Why don’t we just go back to your place? You can sit down, put your feet up. You’re still limping. And we can talk about this and my plans to buy the hotel.”
She pulled her coat tight around her middle and adjusted her purse strap. “This is all so sudden. I can’t… I can’t even process the idea that you would… could buy this place.” The very idea that Reese would buy a house was unnerving. This was over the top.
“I know it’s sudden, but it feels so right,” he said.
She wanted to trust his intentions. His big school-boy grin. The excitement laced in his voice. His blue eyes danced with something she couldn’t quite put her finger on, and it made her want to leap into his arms. Instead, she held on to what she didn’t know about Reese and the fact he could rip her heart into tiny little pieces “I’ve got a lot of questions.” But first, she’d have to sort them all out in her head. “I expect honest answers. You can’t dodge a single one or redirect me, like you always did when I asked you about your family, the military, where you lived...”
“I can do that,” he said. “You good to drive? You look a little…a little—”
“I’m okay,” she said. “I’ll see you at my place in a few.”
Patty drove the half-mile up the hill from the parking lot of the Heritage Inn, then right on Route 9, and another half-mile to the turn on Harmon Hill. All the while, Reese followed close behind. Reality started to sink in: he was going to stick around. She was just getting used to the idea that maybe they could nail this co-parenting thing. She held her breath on any thought of a relationship, unsure that the Reese she knew was capable of a totally honest, fully committed, relationship.
How could she process this new Reese?
The cool evening air hit her face as she opened her car door. It had dropped to below freezing, and the weatherman was calling for flurries. She let Reese take her hand as they walked in silence up to her apartment. “Are you hungry?”
“I could eat something,” he said. “Why don’t I open a bottle of wine and get some cheese and crackers? You do have cheese and crackers?”
“I do,” she said, “but no wine for me.”
“Oh, yeah. Pregnant women probably shouldn’t drink. So, what do you want instead?”
“There is some sparkling water in the fridge. I’ll take a bottle of that. Any flavor is fine.”
She sat in the family room, next to the window, trying to picture Reese running a hotel and being a Trooper. No way could he manage that. Even if he could, there would be no room for quality time with his child, much less any time with her. God, she wished she could read minds. He’d been giving her mixed signals since they broke up. Then again, she’d probably been doing the same thing.
Reese put a tray of goodies on the coffee table then set her drink on a coaster. He left the room, but returned with a bottle of red wine and one glass. He poured himself what most would consider two glasses.
“Seriously, how are you going to find the money to buy the Heritage Inn, much less run it?”
“There are a few things you don’t know…that no one knows about me.”
“That doesn’t answer my question.”
“My family is rich.”
She sipped her flavored water, contemplating his words. Rich. And family. He’d never been cheap on their dates, always picking up the tab, but he lived like a poor man. At least, like someone who didn’t have a whole lot of extra cash sitting around.
“How rich?”
He shrugged. “Like Richie Rich, rich.” His eyes twinkled, but she could see he was serious. “My Nana—”
“You have a Nana? As in, a grandmother?”
He cracked a smile as he sat in the chair across from the window. That had always been his favorite spot. He said he liked looking at her profile while watching the sunset or sunrise. “I had a mother, too.”
“Must you be so sarcastic? I feel like I don’t know you at all.”
“I’m sorry,” he said. “It’s weird for me to talk about it, especially the money part. People think you have money, they treat you differently. I’ve never liked that.”
She could understand that. Jared was rich, but he’s always lived relatively modestly. People whispered and wondered, but no one knew. She supposed a few people did treat Jared differently, and a few people knew about his first wife. She was a gold-digger, according to the gossip mills.
“Okay, so having a hard time grasping the idea that you actually have the funds to purchase the Heritage Inn, but it concerns me that the only reason you are doing it is because of the baby. I don’t want you to feel trapped or tied down, or obligated to do anything.”
“Lots of things are going to be because of the baby. I’m okay with that. You gave me an out. I didn’t take it.”
He had a point. “Tell me about your nana. Are you close? Do you see her often?”
“She basically raised me. I see her three or four times a year. Call her once or twice a week. I’d say we’re close.”
“You’ve lived here for a couple of years. We’ve been sleeping together for months, and not once did you mention anything about a nana,” Patty said. “Does she know about me?”
The way Reese dipped his gaze spoke volumes on where she stood in Reese’s life, baby or no baby. “I’ve never talked to her about any woman I’ve dated.”
“Why not?”
“She’s a bit overprotective of me,” Reese said, then sipped more wine. “I’m not being flip or mean, but until now, I haven’t seen any point in telling anyone about her. But I’d like you to meet her.”
Oy. That would be a lot to take, Patty thought. “Do you have siblings?”
“I’m an only child. My mother died when I was seventeen, but left my grandparents to raise me when I was seven. My father is in prison. He’s not my biological father, but that’s a long story.”
“Prison?”
He nodded. “I didn’t know until my mother was dying. Thought he ran out on me and my mom when I was seven, so it was a shocker to find out: dad in prison, but not your dad.”
“That sucks.” So much of Reese made sense now that it was impossible for her to ignore the longing in her heart.
“It did, for about five minutes. Living with Nana and Grandpa was great.”
“Where is your grandpa now?”
“He passed away two years ago. Heart gave out. He was a real hardass sometimes, but a great man.” The way Reese talked of his family, the slight tremble in his voice, was something she’d never heard, a deep, emotional connection filled with love and admiration.
Her heart ached for the little boy who’d been through so much, and for the man who carried that burden through his adult life. She wanted to ask him to join her on the sofa. To hold him. Feel his warm embrace. This couldn’t be any easier for him to tell, than it was for her to listen. “I can’t believe I didn’t know any of this.”
“Well, we did have that rule,” he sai
d. “Nothing personal.”
“Does anyone know about any of this?”
“Jared knows a little.”
“So, it wasn’t just me you kept all this from?”
“It’s not that I kept it from you, or anyone, but I didn’t want to put it out there and make connections...because I tend to, as you know, not stay around very long.”
“I’m still worried about that.”
“I’m buying a hotel,” he said. “I’m not going anywhere.”
She studied his face, which had softened, his eyes less deep and secretive. Even the way he sat said he was open to the world.
But it was hard to trust. “I’m having a really hard time with that one.”
“None of this changes who I am,” he said. “I’m still the same person you’ve known the last few years.”
“But it does.” She shifted to face him. “Your secrets kept you from ever really being close to anyone. Even me, and we shared a bed for more than half a year. If it doesn’t change who you are, then you’re still the man who can’t be in a long-term relationship.”
“I see your point.” He refilled his glass, took a healthy sip, then moved to the sofa, and sat next her, which only added fuel to a fire that burned too hot. He smelled like a combination of brute masculinity and salt from the cool ocean air rolling in. He had a way of melting down all her defenses with a touch. When he looked at her, he focused on her every word. Her every move. Yet he’d never revealed himself. He’d managed to keep her just far enough away that sex was her only means of knowing him. He wasn’t a talker, but he could listen. And he listened so well that before she was even finished talking, they were usually in bed.
“I don’t know who you are at all, and you’re telling me all this as if it’s no big deal. What will happen in few years when you get bored with being a trooper or running a hotel? Then what? What will happen to me? To your child? Are we just no big deal?”
“You’re being melodramatic.”
“You’re being patronizing.”
