Secrets and Solace (Love at Solace Lake Book 2)

by Jana Richards

  They walked over to the truck. Harper pulled fabric swatches, a chunk of granite, some subway tiles, and a small cupboard door from the canvas bag and laid them out on the tailgate. Lastly, she produced a piece of hardwood flooring and a sketch.

  “So, after I told the designer about the cottages we’re building and the vibe we’re going for, she came up with this stuff. I’m having trouble figuring out what all these samples will look like in the space. What do you think?”

  “What did you tell the designer you wanted?”

  Harper blew out a breath. “I told her they were rental cottages in the woods near a lake, and that we’re reopening the lodge with an emphasis on sustainability and eco-friendliness. I showed her your drawings of the cottages and said the finishes needed to tough and long-wearing.”

  “You decorated the other two cottages, didn’t you?”

  Her cheeks turned pink. “Not exactly. The lady at the furniture store in Brainerd where I bought everything offered to decorate in exchange for doing her taxes for a couple of years.”

  That made him smile. She really didn’t have a clue. “What do you see when you imagine what the new cottages will look like?”

  Her face went blank and she shook her head. “I don’t know. I told you, I’m no good at this stuff.”

  Cam picked up one of the fabric swatches and tossed it aside. “I’m not talking about the details of the color scheme. What feeling do you want the cottages to have?”

  She leaned against the truck and crossed her arms, her gaze fixed on Ethan some distance away as he resumed pounding nails. “I want the cottages to feel warm and homey, and a little bit rustic. When people come here, I want them to relax and feel like they’re really out in the woods on a little adventure.”

  He handed her one of the stark, white subway tiles. “So does this scream rustic, homey, adventure-in-the-woods to you?”

  “No.” She handed the tile back to him with a frown. “It says this is a designer’s idea of what a north woods cottage should look like. I think these are the same tiles Ethan has in his condo in the city, which makes sense since the same designer decorated it.”

  He grinned at her. “I agree. I think this stuff is too sleek and modern for what we want here.”

  “Right.” She stuffed the samples into her bag. “Back to the drawing board. Maybe I can get the lady from the furniture store to help me again.”

  “You’ll figure it out.”

  “I hope so. Thanks. You helped me get a handle on what we want here.”

  Charlie approached him carrying a chain saw. “Boss, we’re trying to take down those two trees that are in the way on the next lot, but the chain keeps coming off. Want me to run into town and buy a new one?”

  Harper set her bag on the tailgate. “Can I see that?”

  Charlie frowned, but handed it to her. “You know about chain saws?”

  “A little.” She ran her fingers over the chain, obviously unconcerned about getting her hands dirty. “I think I know what’s wrong with it. I’ll take it to my garage and get it back to you in a few minutes. Can I leave my samples in your truck for now, Cam?”

  “Yeah, no problem.” If Charlie hadn’t been able to fix the chainsaw, he couldn’t see what Harper could do. He watched as she hoisted the saw onto her shoulder and headed back down the hill.

  A short time later, Harper returned with his saw. Cam climbed down the scaffolding to talk to her, curious to see what, if anything, she’d been able to do.

  “It works fine now,” she said, handing it to him. “All it needed was a good oiling. If it runs dry, it tends to seize up and throw off the chain.”

  Cam accepted it from her and pulled the rope. The motor jumped to life, purring smoothly in his hands. He killed the engine. “Where did you learn about chain saws?”

  She swept out her arm to encompass the forest that surrounded them. “Right here. A good chain saw comes in handy. You might have noticed we have a few trees.”

  He couldn’t help grinning. “Yeah, I’ve noticed the trees. Who taught you about chain saw maintenance?”

  “My grandfather. He also taught me how to change the oil in outboard motors and snowmobiles.” She inclined her head toward the chainsaw in his hands. “He always said that if I look after my tools, my tools will look after me.”

  He smiled at her gentle rebuke. “Point taken. I’ll make sure to look after it better. You really know how to change the oil on an outboard motor?”

  “Sure, among other things. Grampa Bill taught me basic maintenance stuff.”

  “Did he teach Scarlet, too?”

  Her laugh rang through the trees. “Hell, no! She wasn’t into the finer points of chain saw maintenance. I’m the only grease monkey in our family.”

  Cam regarded her closely. She didn’t look like any grease monkey mechanic he knew. With her long blonde hair and big blue eyes, she looked more like a Barbie doll. But maybe there was more to this Barbie doll than he’d been giving her credit for. He hefted the saw. “Thanks for this.”

  “Anytime. In fact, if you’re interested in switching jobs, I could be persuaded to give up my decorating duties.” She grinned as she grabbed her bag of samples from his tailgate. “You’d probably be way better at it than me anyway.”

  His lips twitched. “Nice try, Harper, but I’ve got my hands full here. I’ll be happy to take a look at whatever you come up with, though.”

  “Thanks. I’ll take you up on that offer.” The smile swiftly died on her lips as her eyes fixated on a point over his shoulder. She sucked in a breath “Damn it. What is he doing up there?”

  He followed her gaze to the scaffolding where Ethan stood several feet above the ground helping to guide a rafter lifted by the crane into place. He’d insisted on joining the framing crew and doing his share, despite Cam’s protests that he’d never done that kind of work before, and he’d only slow them down. To Ethan’s credit, he’d learned fast and fit in well with the rest of the men. Most of them had no idea he was the owner of the place and not just one of the guys.

  “Ethan’s doing well. I had my doubts at first—”

  “But is he safe?” She turned to him, her eyes full of worry. “He could fall off the scaffolding or get hit in the head—”

  “That’s not going to happen.”

  “How do you know?” She watched Ethan once more, her grip on the bag turning her knuckles white.

  “I know because safety is job one on any of my construction sites. The scaffolding is double-checked before we let anyone on it. Ethan is wearing a harness, like all the other guys on the scaffold. And everyone on site wears a hard hat. We never take any short cuts with safety.”

  She nodded, but said nothing. Cam had the feeling she didn’t believe him.

  “Harper, I’m not going to let anything happen to him. I promise.”

  She turned to him and after searching his face, she nodded again. “I guess I’ll have to trust that you’ve taken every reasonable precaution. But even so, I’ve got to go. I can’t watch him up there.”

  “Understandable.”

  “Please don’t tell him we had this conversation. He already thinks I worry about him too much.”

  “Also understandable. He is kind of a knucklehead.”

  She laughed softly. “Yeah, but he’s my knucklehead, and I want to it to stay that way. I’ll see you later.”

  After gathering empty coffee mugs, Harper packed everything, including her bag of samples, into the wagon and walked back down the road toward her cottage. Cam watched her until she disappeared around a bend. He grinned.

  “I’ll be damned.”

  She really did love his brother. He could hear it in her voice and see it in every worried glance she gave him. Moreover, he was beginning to believe she’d feel the same way with or without the money.

  Sometimes it was good to be wrong.

  Scarlet slid her damp palms against her skirt and hoped her nervousness wasn’t terribly obvious. She sat next to
the host of the morning show and answered her questions about the lodge.

  “Scarlet, I understand the Solace Lake Lodge has been in your family for many years.”

  “Yes, that’s right. My great-grandfather purchased the property right after the Second World War. My grandfather built the timber-frame lodge we’re currently renovating.”

  Pictures of the lodge and the lake flashed on a screen behind them. “Tell me about the renovations you’re doing,” the host said.

  Scarlet launched into what she hoped was a coherent and interesting spiel about the new cottages and hotel rooms, the sustainable nature of the lodge, the event center, the new dining room using local ingredients, and the new recreational facilities they had planned. She didn’t bother to mention that some of those facilities, such as the new eco-friendly tennis courts, hadn’t actually been built yet.

  The talk about the new amenities coming to the lodge nicely segued to the topic she really wanted to talk about – hosting weddings at the lodge. She gestured to the screen. “These pictures are from my sister’s wedding a couple of months ago. As you can see, the setting on the lake is absolutely breathtaking. It’s a lovely place to get married.”

  “I can see that an outdoor summer wedding would be spectacular at your lodge. What about at other times of the year, say if someone wants a winter wedding, for example. Could you accommodate them?”

  Scarlet’s palms began to sweat again. She hit the button to bring up an interior shot of the dining room.

  “As you can see,” Scarlet winced at her repetition. She swallowed and forged ahead. “We have a beautiful indoor dining room that will accommodate between fifty to seventy dinner guests, so yes, once the renovations are complete, we’ll be able to host small weddings year-round.” She hit the button again to bring up the architect’s drawing of the event center. “And once our event center is complete, we’ll be able to accommodate weddings for up to two hundred and fifty people at any time of year.”

  “When do you expect the event center to be completed?”

  “Construction has just begun. We estimate it will take approximately a year to complete and be fully operational. We’re going to begin to take bookings very shortly for weddings in the event center scheduled for October of next year. And I want to remind couples that even if they don’t hold their weddings at our lodge, we have beautiful, private accommodations for a honeymoon or a romantic weekend getaway, all year long.”

  “I understand you’re attending the Minneapolis Wedding Show this weekend.”

  “Yes, I am. I look forward to meeting with engaged couples and letting them know what we have to offer.”

  “And when will the Solace Lake Lodge be open for business again?”

  “By the spring of next year.”

  The interview ended with Scarlet giving out the lodge’s website one more time and mentioning that it was an easy two and a half-hour drive from Minneapolis. After thanking the host for the opportunity to talk about the reopening, it was over. When they went to commercial, Scarlet blew out a breath and sank deeper into her chair.

  The host laughed. “That wasn’t so painful, was it?”

  “No, not at all. I was ridiculously nervous, that’s all.”

  “Well, I would never have guessed. Why don’t you come back in the spring when all the renovations are done and we can talk again?”

  She’d be gone long before spring came. The unexpected pang at the thought of leaving surprised her, but she kept her smile firmly in place. “Thank you. I’m sure we can arrange something.”

  She shook hands with the host and left the studio. Using the GPS in her car, she drove to the convention center where the wedding show was being held. After checking in with the organizers, she found her table and was pleased to see it was on a main aisle that should receive good traffic. She made several trips to her car to bring in her supplies, and then set up her booth with the banners, brochures and pictures she’d made. The only thing she could do now was hope she’d done enough to attract couples to the lodge.

  Minnewasta 10 miles

  Scarlet sighed in relief at the highway sign’s proclamation. After going full-tilt for the entire weekend, she was exhausted. She’d spent three long days manning her booth at the wedding show. When the show wasn’t open, she not only promoted the lodge at the TV station, she’d set up interviews at a few radio stations. In hindsight, she’d probably packed too much into one weekend, but she was under pressure to get the word out in the short time she had. She desperately wanted the lodge to be a success.

  She wished she could say with certainty that her efforts over the weekend had paid off, but the truth was she had no idea. She’d handed out brochures and business cards to anyone who would take one, and had talked and smiled until her face ached. Though several people expressed interest, no one actually said the lodge was definitely the venue they wanted for their wedding.

  Yawning, she opened her window a crack and turned up the radio. She probably should have stayed another night at Ethan’s condo and driven back in the morning after a good night’s sleep, but she was anxious to get home.

  Funny, she hadn’t thought of the lodge as home in a very long time.

  Signaling, she made the turn onto the secondary highway that would take her to the lodge. A sense of relief came over her. And anticipation. It was past eight p.m. on a Sunday evening. She thought of Cameron, wondered whether he had worked over the weekend. Wondered whether he’d still be on site.

  She pushed away thoughts of Cameron, or at least she tried. Was he the reason she was so anxious to get home? Nothing good could come from feelings like that.

  Her cell phone rang and was picked up by the Bluetooth signal in her car. She hit a button on the steering wheel to answer. “Hello?”

  “Hi, is this Scarlet Lindquist?”

  “Yes, it is.”

  “Oh, good. I’m glad I caught you, Scarlet. My name is Melissa Carson and I spoke to you at the wedding show. I picked up your brochure and showed it to my fiancé. Then we looked online at all the pictures of the last wedding there. It was really beautiful. My fiancé totally loves your place.”

  She tamped down her rising excitement. “I’m glad to hear it.”

  “We’re planning to get married in late May, and we’re inviting about a hundred people. Do you have any openings at that time for an outdoor wedding like the one your sister had?”

  Scarlet did a little happy dance in the driver’s seat. She wanted to scream and shout her joy. Yes! Somebody believed in them. Instead, she used her best professional voice to calmly answer Melissa. “Yes, we have openings in late May. What date would you like?”

  She pulled over to the side of the road and grabbed a pen from the bottom of her purse. The only piece of paper she could find was the wrapper from the burger she’d picked up to go a few miles outside of Minneapolis. But it did the trick. She wrote down Melissa’s name and number and the date she wanted to reserve for her wedding. Her client didn’t have to know that hers was the only date reserved right now.

  “I’m on the road right now, Melissa, but I’ll get back to you in a couple of days about the details. And then I’ll have my sister Maggie talk to you about the food you want served. Does that sound okay?”

  “It’s perfect.” Melissa sounded excited, and it was infectious. Scarlet squirmed in her seat as she tried to keep her enthusiasm under control. If this booking panned out, it could be the beginning of something amazing for the lodge.

  “I’ll talk to you soon.” She hit the off button on the phone before letting out a scream of pure joy. When she got herself together once more, she put the car into gear to drive the last few miles home. She couldn’t wait to tell her sisters the news.

  I can’t wait to tell Cameron, too.

  She was in too good a mood to examine why the idea of sharing her news with him made her giddy with pleasure.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Cam and Ethan worked all weekend on the cottage closest
to Maggie and Scarlet’s. After working the last two weekends in a row, Cam had given his crew the weekend off. They’d deserved a break, and he wanted to head off any complaints about working them too hard.

  Besides, the weather forecast had been iffy, calling for sporadic showers all weekend long. The forecast had been right, but fortunately each rain shower had been blessedly short in duration. Despite having to run for shelter a couple of times, he and Ethan had made good progress. They managed to sheath the exterior walls of the cottage with plywood. On Monday, when the rest of the crew arrived, they could do the same with the other seven cottages. It was gratifying to see his sketches come to life.

  He ate a late Sunday night dinner with Maggie and Harper and Ethan and helped with the dishes once they were finished. The cottage felt empty and quiet without Scarlet. He missed her.

  Not a good idea.

  Despite knowing it wasn’t a good idea to miss her, he couldn’t help asking about her. “How did Scarlet do at the wedding show? Do we need to build another cottage?”

  “Apparently, we’re not in any danger of having to do that,” Maggie said with a grin. “I talked to her last night and she said it was busy, but no one laid down their hard-earned cash to make a booking.”

  “When is she getting home?” He tried not to sound too interested in the answer.

  Maggie washed a glass and set it in the drainboard. “Last I heard, she planned to stay overnight at Ethan’s condo tonight and come home in the morning.”

  Surprised by his disappointment, he shook his head as he dried a plate. Missing her, and waiting for her, was plain stupid.

  If he missed her now, what the hell was he going to do when she went back to Chicago?

  When he’d dried the last dish, he hung up his towel and said goodnight. He drove down the narrow lane leading back to the main lodge. In the twilight, a small car approached and as it got closer, he realized it was Scarlet. After honking her horn, she stopped on the side of the road, then opened her door and ran toward him. Cam slammed on the brakes and threw his truck into park, his heart lodging somewhere in his throat. He flung open his door and reached her in two strides. He grasped her shoulders and hung on tight.