Secrets and Solace

by Jana Richards

  “We don’t have to go,” Harper said. “We can stay right here and make sure everything’s okay.”

  “No. We’re going. There’s no way I’m going to cancel this trip.”

  “But if you’re worried, how are you going to enjoy yourself?”

  He caught Harper’s hand and kissed the back of it. “If Cam’s going to drink, it’s not going to matter whether I’m here or not. Maybe a cooling off period will be best for both of us.”

  “You’re sure?” Harper asked.

  “Yes. Absolutely sure.”

  Harper sighed and then smiled. “Okay then.” She turned to Scarlet. “Are you going to be okay with this?”

  Scarlet wanted to shout that she was so not okay. She didn’t want to be anyone’s babysitter, and she wanted to be Cameron Hainstock’s minder even less. But she didn’t want Harper and Ethan to worry. And strangely, she didn’t want Cameron to be alone. She pasted on a smile, hoping Harper wouldn’t see her worry. “Of course, I am. If I get in over my head, Maggie will help me. She’s going to be the mature one, remember?”

  “I remember.” She pulled Scarlet into a hug. “I love you.”

  Scarlet kissed her cheek and whispered, “I love you, too. Remember, wild monkey sex.”

  “You bet.” Harper released her with a smile.

  Ethan embraced Scarlet. He whispered in her ear. “Look after him. Okay?” When he let her go, he said, “If things get really bad, call Lydia. I’ll text you her number.”

  She nodded, unease settling in her stomach. She hoped she never had to make that call to Cameron’s sister.

  After hugging Maggie, they got into the truck and headed off down the road. Scarlet and Maggie watched until the truck was no longer visible.

  “Well,” Maggie said, heaving a sigh. “It looks like we have our work cut out for ourselves the next couple of weeks. What do you think we should do first?”

  Scarlet put her arm around Maggie’s shoulders. Her younger sister’s petite frame always made her feel like an Amazon. “I think the first thing we should do is bake cookies. Chocolate chip.”

  “You want to make chocolate chip cookies?”

  “Well, technically, you’ll be making the cookies. My role is strictly supervisory.”

  “Okay, fine, I’ll bake cookies. Can I ask why?”

  “Cameron’s crew is starting the demolition of the old cottages tomorrow. I think it would be a nice gesture to offer them a treat, a way of beginning on a high note. Maybe Cameron will see it as a peace offering.”

  “Sounds like a good idea.”

  “That and I have a real craving for chocolate chip.”

  Maggie laughed. “Of course, you do. Come on. I’ll let you lick the spoons.”

  Scarlet squeezed her shoulder. “Have I ever told you you’re my favorite younger sister?”

  Maggie slipped her arm around her waist as they walked back to their own cottage. “I already knew.”

  CHAPTER SIX

  Cam arrived at the lodge at eight a.m., pulling a flatbed trailer with an excavator strapped to it behind his truck. He’d rented the machine for a few days so they could quickly knock down the old cottages and haul away the debris. Once he and his five-man crew cleared the sites, the fun stuff could begin – building the new cottages.

  Ethan’s parting words about working with Scarlet to finalize the designs rang in his ears. A ball of anxiety formed in his gut. What would she think of the floorplans he’d drawn up? Would she like the sketches, or would she think they were amateurish? He didn’t have any formal instruction as an artist but he was a draftsman, having trained in building design. Combined with his knowledge of carpentry and construction, he believed he’d created a beautiful, functional product. But would Scarlet?

  He wished he knew why the hell it mattered to him so much.

  He drove the truck and trailer up the hill road overlooking the lake, past the two recently built cottages. When he arrived at the first cottage slated for demolition, his crew was already there. Some of his tension eased. They were a good bunch and needed this work almost as much as he did.

  He waved at Charlie as he got out of his truck. “You ready to do this?”

  “You bet!”

  Charlie helped him remove the tie-down straps from the excavator and lower the ramp. Cam hopped on the machine and backed it off the trailer. He maneuvered it to the old cottage and, lifting the bucket, pushed it into the roof of the front porch. It fell in a heap onto the porch floor. A couple of more pushes and the roof and walls of the entire cottage were down, too.

  The dumpster company arrived with the bin and he dumped wooden debris and pieces of concrete foundation into it. When he’d removed all the debris he could with the machine, he and his men cleaned up the small bits and pieces remaining. By the time they were done, it was difficult to tell there’d ever been a structure there. Cam insisted on neat and efficient work and refused to cut corners or accept sloppiness from himself or his crew.

  The crew was about to move to the next cottage when Scarlet and her sister Maggie approached carrying a couple of thermoses and a picnic basket. With her red hair pulled back in a ponytail and her clean-scrubbed, make-up free face, she looked as harmless as the girl next door.

  Looks could be deceiving.

  “Hi!” she said with a grin. “We come bearing gifts.”

  Maggie set the picnic basket on the ground and pulled out several ceramic mugs that she passed around. Scarlet followed behind filling the cups with coffee from the thermos, and Maggie offered cream and sugar to anyone who wanted it. Then, Scarlet passed around a plastic container of cookies. Cam helped himself to one and bit into it. Chocolate and butter and sugar exploded on his tongue in an orgasmic mix of flavors.

  Not a good idea to be thinking about orgasms with Scarlet nearby.

  “Hmm. Good.”

  “Maggie made them,” Scarlet said proudly. “She’s the best. She’s going to make the Solace Lake Lodge kitchen famous far and wide.”

  “Scarlet, stop.” Maggie turned to him, a blush staining her cheeks. “I’m just filling in, developing some menus with local ingredients until Ethan and Harper find a real head chef willing to relocate to Minnewasta.”

  “Stop being so modest. You’ll make a fabulous head chef.”

  “Enough, Scarlet.”

  Interesting that Maggie looked embarrassed rather than pleased at Scarlet’s praise, not to mention a little stressed. He understood the stress. She was being asked to take on a crucial role in the makeover of the lodge. If she failed, the lodge might fail, too.

  If he didn’t deliver eight beautiful, rustic, yet modern cottages by next spring, the lodge may not be able to accommodate the number of guests it needed to. And if the cottages he built weren’t to customers’ tastes, no one would want to stay in them.

  He’d been under pressure before, but an extra burden of tension weighed upon him with this contract. This was Ethan’s baby and he wanted to do a good job for him, especially after the conversation they’d had yesterday.

  Maybe he wanted to prove he wasn’t a total screw-up.

  Scarlet poured more coffee for everyone and after topping up her own cup, she sat beside him on the flatbed trailer. He heard her sigh as she stared down at her sandals. Cam couldn’t help smiling when he saw her pretty pink toenails, a striking contrast next to his dusty, scuffed work boots.

  “It feels weird to be tearing down Grampa Bill’s cottages. He built them all by himself, you know, and he was so proud of his work.”

  “I wish we could have saved them, but they were too far gone.” He crossed his feet at the ankle. “I didn’t realize your grandfather built these cottages.”

  Her smile was tinged with melancholy. “He did. He was a handy guy. He did all the maintenance and carpentry work that needed to be done around here. He loved this place the way Harper does.”

  She looked out toward the lake. “I don’t know why I’m feeling so sentimental about these old shacks. Grandma
used to make me and Harper clean the things within an inch of their lives. It was our job to change the sheets and towels every day when we had fishermen staying. There’d be Hell to pay if we didn’t do the job to her exacting standards.”

  Cam read between the lines and guessed her relationship with her grandmother had not been as loving as with her grandfather. He totally understood.

  He followed her gaze out toward the lake. The best thing about these cottages was the view. He especially liked the sense of privacy each cottage had. There was plenty of space between the cottages, and lots of trees and bushes separating them. He wanted to take advantage of the setting to make guests feel like they were the only ones for miles.

  Scarlet cleared her throat, then turned to him, all business once more. “So, did Ethan mention to you that he wanted us to work together to pick a design for the cottages?”

  “Yeah, he mentioned it.” He tried to sound blasé but his stomach twisted in a knot. He tossed out the remainder of his coffee.

  “I wasn’t real clear on how this was going to work. Do we have to hire someone to draw up blueprints from your sketches?

  “No, I’ve taken care of it.”

  She lifted her eyebrows. “I didn’t know you were an architect.”

  “I’m not. I’m a draftsman. Mostly I draft residential home plans, but I’ve also done some commercial buildings.”

  “Oh, I see. Can we look at your plans now?”

  “Ah, sure. As soon we move the equipment to the next cottage. You want to come along?”

  She hopped off the trailer. “Sure. Give me a second.”

  While she helped Maggie gather the empty cups and thermoses and pack them in the picnic basket, Cam guided Charlie as he drove the excavator back onto the flatbed for the short drive to the next cottage. Normally, he would simply drive the machine the short distance, but the pavement on the road between the cottages was already breaking up. He didn’t want to hasten its demise by repeatedly running the steel tracks of the excavator over it.

  Once Maggie lifted the basket and was on her way back toward the cottage, he jumped in the truck and rolled down the window. “Hop in.”

  He couldn’t help noticing her long, exquisite legs as she hoisted herself into the cab. She was wearing shorts that ended at a perfectly respectable mid-thigh, but on Scarlet they looked anything but respectable. He wrenched his gaze away from her bare thigh and turned the ignition.

  He drove slowly to the next cottage and parked in the flattest spot he could find. Charlie and Jim unloaded the excavator.

  “I’ve got to go over some cottage plans with Scarlet. Can you operate the excavator?”

  “No problem, boss.”

  He retrieved a long cardboard tube from behind the front seat and pulled out the rolled-up plans. Scarlet followed him to the flat bed where he smoothed the curled papers with his hand so she could see them. She touched the sketch of the exterior elevation of a two-story cottage.

  “Did you draw this?”

  “Yeah.” He swallowed past his throat’s sudden dryness.

  “It’s beautiful. Wow.” She picked it up and looked at it more closely. “I can really see what it would look like in this setting. Do you have a floor plan for it?”

  “Yeah, right here.” He shuffled through the papers to find the corresponding floor plan. While she examined the plan, he examined her. He wasn’t sure why her praise was so important to him, but it was. The tension in his gut eased.

  “This feels very spacious,” she said. “With two bedrooms and a bath upstairs and a master bedroom and bath on the main floor, we could easily accommodate a large family, or even two families. We could put a sofa bed in the great room for extra guests. The only thing I’m not sure about is the two-story style. I’m worried that it will look a little out of place with the two existing bungalow cottages.”

  “I thought of that,” he said. “If we clad all the cottages with the same exterior siding and the same roofing material, we can create cohesiveness without having to be identical.”

  “Okay. What are these other plans?”

  “Plans for different styles of cottages I want to build. My idea is to build several styles to fit the needs of different guests. We’ll match the style of cottage to the size and shape of the lot, and it will look like it’s meant to be there. Like I said, we’ll use the same exterior siding to tie them all together.” He cleared his throat and shuffled his feet, nervousness making him twitchy. “Of course, if you feel that, from a marketing perspective, it’s a better idea for all the cottages to be the same, we’ll use only one set my plans. Or, we can use the plans Harper bought online for the two cottages she built last year. That way, we’ll have ten identical cottages.”

  He rolled up the first set of plans and put them back in the tube, then spread his favorite sketch in front of her. It was a smaller cottage with only one bedroom and one bath, but Cam loved the soaring vaulted ceilings that gave the cottage an open airy feeling while still maintaining the coziness of the place.

  “Oh, this is cute,” Scarlet murmured. “I love the way the fireplace chimney goes all the way up to the peak of the vaulted ceiling. It’s beautiful.”

  “I thought we could clad the fireplace in stone much like the fireplace in the main dining room of the old lodge. It would give the place a real north woods vibe.”

  “That would be great. The problem is that this cottage is too small. It’s really only big enough for one couple. Even with a sofa bed in the great room, it probably wouldn’t be suitable for families, or even for a couple of buddies who want to come up here to fish or snowmobile. We have to appeal to as many people as we can.”

  “But don’t you think there’d be a demand for something this size? A couple isn’t going to want to pay extra for room they don’t use. And it would be perfect for a person alone who wants a cottage rather than a hotel room in the lodge.”

  “I’d rather build a bigger cottage and give some people too much space than a smaller one we might have difficulty renting.”

  He had to admit her argument made sense, but he wasn’t ready to concede yet. “Because it’s smaller, it’ll be cheaper to build.”

  She studied the sketches and the floor plans, her forehead wrinkled with concentration. “It is awfully cute. Let me think about it.”

  He’d take that. For now. “Maybe you’d like my third design better. It’s got the same vaulted ceiling and stone-clad fireplace, but it’s got two bedrooms.”

  Cam set the other sketch aside and pulled out the third. Scarlet nodded as she studied the floor plan, then turned to smile at him. The full impact of her high wattage smile gave him an unexpected punch in the gut.

  “This is perfect. It’s got all the elements I love about the second design with the extra space we need for guests.”

  “I’m glad you like it.”

  “I do.” She pulled the plans for the smaller cottage closer and examined them again. “But I really love this design. It’s so cute.”

  “I think it would be popular, and even though it’s smaller, I don’t believe there will be any problem renting it.”

  She drummed her fingers on the drawing. Then she straightened and met his gaze. Okay.”

  “Okay?”

  “Identical is boring. Let’s build all three of your designs. We want eight new cottages, so I propose building three of the two-story, three of the two-bedroom A frames, and two one-bedroom A frames. Along with the two cottages we already have, we should be able to accommodate any guest’s needs. I believe Harper and Ethan would agree.”

  Cam was both pleased and relieved. “You’ve made a good decision.”

  “I think so, too. It’ll give guests some choices.” Her expression turned thoughtful again. “I think Grampa Bill would approve.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Yeah. He was a very practical innkeeper, but he appreciated beauty too, especially the splendor of this lake. He’d think your cottages were special enough to fit in here.�
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  Of all the things she’d said, this comment gave him the most pleasure. He had to swallow and look away before he could answer.

  “I appreciate that.”

  “So, that wasn’t so painful. We managed to make a decision without coming to blows. What happens now?”

  “I’ll finalize the designs and get them approved by the county building department. I need to figure out where the electrical outlets and lighting fixtures go, stuff like that.”

  “And don’t forget the solar panels and some kind of battery storage area.”

  He’d like to forget about them. “I’m concerned that with all the trees here, we’re going to have more shade than sun. How are solar panels supposed to work without sun?”

  Her smile disappeared, replaced by a stubborn set of her jaw. “There’ll be plenty of sun on the roofs of the cottages.”

  “I think tying the cottages to the regular power grid would be a hell of lot simpler and more reliable in the long run.”

  She crossed her arms over her chest. “I feel like we’ve had this conversation before. The whole theme of this place is sustainability and eco-friendliness. Are you saying you aren’t capable of building these cottages to accommodate solar energy?”

  Anger and pride rose in his chest. “Of course, I can build them. I can build anything. But I think going solar is a waste of money.”

  She lifted her chin. “You’re wrong about that, but it really doesn’t matter what you think. Ethan and Harper are your clients, and they want solar energy. So either get with the program or step aside so they can hire someone who can build what they want.”

  For one prideful moment, he seriously considered doing exactly that. But then common sense intervened. He needed this job and so did his crew. And he wanted to prove to Ethan he was reliable. A team player. He wanted him to know he could count on him. Lord knew that hadn’t always been the case. “Fine. We’ll use solar energy.”

  “Try not to sound so enthusiastic about it.”

  “What the hell do you want from me, Scarlet? I said I’ll do it.”