Lies and Solace

by Jana Richards

  “No, please don’t do that!” Mary said, the alarm in her voice loud and clear. “I’d be worried sick about you. And really, there’s no point. The place is dead. No one’s going to drive out here in a blizzard. I promise I’ll make it up to you later with extra shifts.”

  “What about tomorrow? I’m scheduled for the dinner shift again.”

  “We’ll have to see what the weather’s like tomorrow and take it from there.”

  Harper did a quick mental calculation of her current bank balance, knowing it was fast depleting. Most of her income came from doing the books for several small businesses in the area, including Miller’s. But the money required to keep the lights on and the heat running in the lodge meant she needed the extra work.

  “I’ll talk to you tomorrow. Bye, Mary.”

  “Bye. Stay warm.”

  She ended the call and stuck her phone back into the pocket of her jeans before putting another scoop of coffee into the basket. As soon as Ethan left, she’d turn the heat down. It cost a fortune to heat the old place, but she needed to keep the furnace working or run the risk of letting the pipes freeze. And frozen pipes tended to burst, causing damage that was far more expensive than a mere heating bill. If that happened, she might as well lock the doors and walk away.

  Panic coursed through her veins at the thought. If she couldn’t convince Ethan and his company to sink money into the lodge, it was game over. The roof couldn’t withstand the spring rains, and she couldn’t afford a new one. She’d have no alternative but to sell to Hainstock Investments or donate the land to the nature conservancy. Either way, the lodge would be history.

  She’d be letting her grandfather down. This place had meant everything to him. And where would she go?

  “Harper? Is everything okay?”

  Ethan’s hand on her shoulder brought her back to the present. She was so tired of handling everything on her own. Her sisters tried to understand, but they didn’t have the same attachment to the lodge that she did. And they were far away. She was so tired of being alone.

  For one wild moment, she wanted to fling herself into his arms and take comfort there. Instead, she made herself stand tall. She had no choice but to see this venture through to its conclusion. Alone.

  Harper swallowed back the tears that were dangerously close to the surface. “Yes, everything’s fine. That was my boss at Miller’s. I was supposed to work in the restaurant today, but with the blizzard, there’s no business. So I have the day off.”

  His lips quirked in a grin. “I thought you quit.”

  She couldn’t help but laugh, and some of her tension eased away.

  “I changed my mind.”

  “You don’t sound particularly overjoyed about having the day off.”

  “Well, I could always use the money.” She shrugged, trying to make light of the situation for his benefit. “Who couldn’t?”

  “Harper, what would happen if my boss decides not to put money into the lodge? What if he decides Hainstock really only wants the land?”

  Was he telling her it was hopeless? She tried not to let her disappointment show. Squaring her shoulders, she looked him in the eye. “Then I’d have to leave. Whether I sell to you or donate the land, the lodge would be torn down or fall down on its own. It would be the end of everything my grandfather built here, everything he believed in.”

  He nodded, but the expression in his dark eyes didn’t give any indication of which way he was leaning. “Come on, let’s finish making coffee and take it into the lounge. Maybe it’s warmer in there.”

  “Why don’t you go ahead? I’ll bring the coffee when it’s ready.” She needed a moment to compose herself.

  “Okay.” He walked across the kitchen, then turned back to her. “Whatever happens, you’re going to be okay. I’ve known you for less than a day and I already know you’re a strong person. You’ll find your way.”

  At that moment, Harper didn’t feel the least bit strong. But somehow it helped knowing Ethan believed she was.

  This time her smile was genuine. “Thank you.”

  CHAPTER THREE

  Ethan watched Harper expertly stack wood in the lounge’s fireplace, a smaller replica of the one in the dining room. Using kindling as a starter, she soon had the fire blazing. He had never much cared for wood burning fireplaces because of the smoke and ash, but this one was very welcome as it threw blessed warmth into the room. As she busied herself pouring coffee from a carafe, he wandered around the lounge. It was a small, cozy room at the front of the building that had probably served as the lodge’s bar at one time, judging from the wooden counter on the opposite side of the room and the glass shelves on the wall behind it. There were a couple of old sofas and upholstered chairs placed strategically in front of the fireplace.

  Harper handed him a coffee cup, then shut the glass-paned French doors leading into the lounge, trapping some of the heat. Finally, he was able to peel off one of the two flannel shirts he was wearing. He’d needed the warmth of both of them, as well as the T-shirt, until now.

  He sat down in one of the upholstered chairs and set his coffee cup on the side table next to it. “Thanks for the loan of the clothes, by the way. They fit pretty good, and they’re a hell of lot warmer than my own clothes.”

  “You’re welcome.” Harper sat in the armchair next to his. “They belonged to my grandfather. He was tall, like you. After he died, I didn’t have the heart to donate all his clothes.”

  “I’m sorry. When did he die?”

  “About a year and a half ago, but he’d been sick for some time. He was never really the same after my grandmother died ten years ago. He lost interest in the business, and bookings started to slide. I tried to convince him to modernize so we could attract more than just die-hard fishers to the lodge, but he wouldn’t budge. Without Grandma, he didn’t care anymore. Bookings have dwindled to a few of Grampa’s most loyal clients in the summer.”

  “Did you always live with your grandparents?”

  Some emotion he couldn’t name flashed in her eyes. “Since I was ten. My parents drowned out there on the lake, and my sisters and I came to live with them.”

  That was a shock. “I’m sorry.”

  Her smile was tinged with sadness. “Don’t be. For the most part, we had happy childhoods here. But I always wondered what might have been if our parents had lived.”

  Ethan fought the urge to gather her in his arms and hold her tight. She shouldn’t have to be alone this way.

  Instead, he wrapped his hands around his coffee cup to keep from reaching for her. The impulse to protect her surprised him. Was it her sad history that affected him so profoundly or was it something about Harper herself? “How many sisters do you have?”

  Her smile this time was much more relaxed. “Two. Scarlet is thirty, two years younger than me. She lives in Chicago and works for a PR firm. She’s some kind of marketing genius, or so she tells me. Maggie is the baby of the family. She’s twenty-four and is a marvel in the kitchen. She graduated from cooking school a couple of years ago, and she’s worked in restaurants in Minneapolis since then.”

  “And you stayed here.”

  “It’s where I want to be.”

  “Do your sisters help with the expenses of running the lodge, like the heating and maintenance?”

  “No. They’ve got their own lives to live.”

  That surprised him. “Aren’t they part owners of the lodge as well? I’m sure I read that in your proposal.”

  “Yes, they are. When Grampa died, he willed the lodge equally to the three of us. I think he was hoping we’d work together to run the place. But Scarlet and Maggie have their own dreams. They’ve offered to help with expenses from time to time, but I’ve refused. The lodge is my responsibility.”

  He thought about arguing with her. Logically, if her sisters were equal owners of the lodge, they should share equally in the expenses. Instead, Harper bore the weight of the entire burden. It made no sense.

  But
from the stubborn set of her chin, she didn’t want to hear his logic. She reminded him of his sister, Lydia. As the oldest, she, too, had taken on far more than her fair share of responsibility for the family.

  It wasn’t his place to shine a critical light on Harper’s family. Lord knew his family had enough problems of its own.

  But it bothered him that she believed she had to do everything without assistance.

  Time to change the subject. “Are your sisters married? Any kids?”

  “No, we’re all single, no kids. Scarlet’s been engaged a couple of times, but both times she got cold feet at the last minute and called off the weddings. And as far as I know, Maggie has never had a serious boyfriend. At least no one she’s introduced to me. What about you? Do you have someone significant in your life? What about kids, brothers and sisters?”

  He tried very hard to forget about Bree, his former girlfriend, but she lingered in his memory like a bad smell. “No significant other. I’ve got an older brother and sister, which makes me the baby of the family. I’m the same age as you, thirty-two. I don’t have any kids, but I’ve got two nieces and one nephew. My sister’s daughter and son are sixteen and twenty-one respectively, but my brother’s little girl is a preschooler. I still get to spoil her.”

  “You’re lucky.” She sounded wistful, but then she tilted her head and gave him a grin, as if pushing aside the emotion. “Little known fact about the Lindquist sisters. Our mother named us after characters from books set in the South, or in my case, a famous Southern writer, Harper Lee. Scarlet’s name came from Scarlet O’Hara from Gone With the Wind, of course. My baby sister Margaret Catherine was named after Maggie Cat in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.”

  “Kind of unusual for a family from Minnesota.”

  “That was our mother. She was one of a kind.”

  Though she smiled, her sadness touched him once more. He’d lost his mother as a young man and that had been hard enough. He couldn’t imagine being orphaned at ten.

  “Your grandparents did a good job of raising the three of you. You sound very proud of your sisters.”

  “I am. I just wish…” Her voice trailed off and she looked away.

  “What do you wish, Harper?”

  She turned back to him, the wistful expression evident in her blue eyes once more. “I wish they lived closer. I wish I could pop over to see them anytime I wanted to. And when I’m really dreaming big, I wish the three of us could work together here at the lodge to make it the success I know it could be.”

  “That’s a nice wish.”

  She shrugged. “Pie in the sky. If I told Scarlet what I just told you, she’d tell me to suck it up and quit dreaming.”

  Ethan chuckled, amused by her. “She sounds like my brother.”

  “Oh, yeah?” She tucked her legs beneath her and settled back against the cushions of the armchair. “Tell me about him.”

  Ethan shifted uncomfortably, unsure how much to disclose. “Not much to tell. He’s two years older than me and like I said, he has a daughter who’ll be turning five soon. He works as a contractor and a carpenter, he’s opinionated and brash, and tends to be overprotective of his family. Especially me. For some reason, he hasn’t figured out that I’m not twelve anymore.”

  The amusement in Harper’s laughter warmed his soul like the fire warmed the room. “Sounds like a man after my own heart. I know exactly how he feels. It’s hard for me not to be overprotective, too.”

  He feigned annoyance. “You don’t know what it’s like being the youngest in the family. And it’s not only my brother. My sister Lydia is twelve years older than I am. Growing up, it was like having two mothers.”

  “Are your parents still alive?”

  “No, they’re gone now. Mom died of breast cancer when I was eighteen, and Dad died seven years ago.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Yeah, so am I.” He missed his mother every day. His father’s passing had been a relief. The old man had been a hard person to love.

  “Where did you grow up?”

  “In northern Wisconsin. My parents owned a small inn in a resort village.”

  Harper leaned forward, her gaze intent. “Is that why this place interested you?”

  “Perhaps initially. But like I said, I’m only willing to invest money if it makes financial sense.”

  She tilted her head. “You mean investing money on behalf of your employer, don’t you?”

  Crap. Way to go, idiot. “Yes, of course. But the company relies on me to make a sound recommendation based on facts and figures. I take that very seriously.” He needed to turn the conversation back to her before he slipped again and revealed more than he intended. “How long has the lodge been in your family?”

  “Over seventy years.” Thankfully, she settled back into the chair and a smile lit her eyes. “My grandfather’s family farmed west of here and when his father, my great-grandfather, returned home from World War Two, he used the G.I. Bill to purchase this property. His father was furious because he wanted him to use the opportunity to buy some good farmland. But great-grandfather didn’t want to be a farmer. He wanted to hunt in the woods and fish in the lake, and live a quiet life. He named the lake after the solace he found here and brought his wife and his five-year-old son, my grandfather, here to live. He made a modest income guiding other fishers and hunters. My grandfather said his father had been a POW during the war, and he needed the solitude and peace.”

  “Did your great-grandfather build the lodge?”

  “Yes. Grampa made some additions and modifications, but essentially it’s the same building my great-grandfather built in the fifties.”

  No wonder Harper was fighting so hard for the lodge. Three generations of her family were attached to the land, the lake, and the building. He fervently hoped her plans for the lodge proved economically feasible.

  The thought stunned him. Twenty-four hours ago he was sure he’d tear down the building and now he wanted Harper to convince him to save it?

  She set her coffee cup on a side table. “Would you like more coffee, or are you ready to look at the blueprints and estimates for the renovations I’ve had drawn up?”

  He got to his feet. “I’m ready.”

  “Brace yourself,” she said with a rueful smile. “Those estimates aren’t for the faint of heart. The costs are pretty steep.”

  Ethan grinned. “Bring it on.”

  Much to Harper’s relief, Ethan didn’t seem fazed by the staggering estimates she’d secured for the renovations. Not like she’d been. To her everlasting shame, she’d actually wept in front of the plumbing contractor who told her how much it would cost to fit each of the ten guest rooms on the second floor with its own bathroom. The expense still overwhelmed her.

  She watched as Ethan unrolled the blueprints on one of the dining room tables and thoroughly examined them. She’d had an architect draw up blueprints for the renovation of the lodge, using the money she’d made by selling the last pieces of her father’s rare stamp collection to pay for it. The stamps had been collected by her great-grandfather, added to by her grandfather, and passed to her father when he was twenty-one. Guilt for selling the collection still plagued her. They’d been the last physical link she and her sisters had to him.

  For the hundredth time, she brushed aside the guilt. She couldn’t afford to be sentimental. The stamp collection had allowed her to send her sisters to school and helped her with her grandfather’s care when he was sick. Now, they were providing a future for the lodge.

  At least she hoped they were. She still had to convince Ethan the lodge was a sure bet.

  “What do you think?” she asked tentatively.

  Ethan straightened. “The estimates to get this place up and running again are enormous. But it’s nothing I didn’t expect.”

  “So no surprises. That’s good, right?”

  He shrugged. “Depends how you look at it. It’s not the costs so much as the future income potential of the lodge that concerns m
e. There’s no point sinking money into the place if we can’t make money in the future. I’m worried the lodge is too small. There’s only ten rooms upstairs, and if you put in bathrooms, you’re going to lose at least two bedrooms.”

  Harper’s excitement dimmed, but she refused to give up. “Being a small, boutique hotel is the whole point. The other resorts in the area are doing well, and there’s no reason to believe a revamped Solace Lake Lodge couldn’t be profitable, too. We’ve got a bigger lake and a better beach than many of the other resorts.”

  “Miller’s Golf Resort has dozens of rooms.”

  She was prepared for his counter arguments. “Sure, but they cater to an entirely different kind of clientele. They host golfers in the summer and snowmobilers in the winter. If we emphasize the eco-friendly nature of this place, we’ll attract a whole new crowd.”

  “I suppose it’s possible.”

  “I know it’s possible,” Harper said, warming to her subject. Too anxious to sit any longer, she got to her feet, nervously tugging on the cuff of her shirt. “We can cater to couples who want a romantic getaway, and to people wanting a chance to commune with nature. Eventually, I’d like to build a spa where clients can have a massage or take a sauna. Or maybe even hire estheticians to give facials and other beauty treatments. The problem with the lodge in my grandfather’s day was that it was essentially a man’s kind of place. We rarely had women staying here. And only the hardiest of ice fishers ever turned up in the winter.”

  The flicker of interest she saw in Ethan’s eyes told her he was really listening to her ideas. “I agree. The only way a place like this can survive is if it’s a year-round resort.”

  “Yes, exactly. We can create cross-country ski trails through the forest and clear some of the snow from the lake for a skating rink. I know horse drawn sleigh rides are popular in the winter at the other resorts. There’s a guy who lives about ten miles from here who runs dog sled teams, and he said he’d be interested in partnering with us.” With one finger, she tapped the binder containing all her cost estimates and ideas. “I’ve detailed all my plans in here.”