Page 35 of Love Like Lightning

Snagging the heels in question, I slip them on and turn with flourish. “But of course. Business professional is my middle name.”

“Speaking of professional, have you had coffee yet today?” he asks casually enough, but the way he’s narrowing his eyes has me thinking this isn’t about coffee.

“I haven’t. I thought I padded our time enough to maybe grab some from that coffee shop.”

He nods his head and hums thoughtfully. “I took a walk to grab some early this morning. Couldn’t sleep. Thought I saw someone leave your room.”

He says it so casually that it takes a moment for his comment to sink in. When it registers, my eyes widen.

I mean, it doesn’t really matter. What I do in my personal time isn’t any of his business.

Cam and I are close enough, friendly enough, that this conversation shouldn’t be awkward. Except it’s Cam, and he makes everything awkward. He thinks we shouldn’t know that much about each other since we work together. We’re colleagues, not friends. He was two beers deep during a dinner when he accidentally divulged that his parents were divorced. He wasn’t thrilled that particular piece of information slipped out of him.

Which…fair. I believe in boundaries too, but I also think that the nature of what we do and the way we work kind of implies that we’ll be closer than the average coworkers. That and he’ll do stuff like this occasionally, try to connect or talk about something non work related. I’m convinced he secretly does want to be friends, but some weird personal rule has him acting like he doesn’t.

“Weird.” I decide that ignoring it is probably the best course of action here. I don’t actually believe he wants to know anything. More than likely, he’s just messing with me. We tend to do that with each other occasionally.

We engage in an uncomfortable staring contest across the room for a long moment. He looks away first.

“We should probably head out. I don’t think there’s time for coffee.” He glances at his watch and turns to open the door.

I swallow a groan, wishing I had planned a little better. It’s not even early in the day. I should have gone out to grab a real lunch too. I throw on my jacket and grab my bag with my laptop. I check my phone again and see that we’ll barely have enough time to get to our destination with Cam’s preferred ten-minute buffer. I silently resent Cam for not picking me up a Danish or something, but I’m sure when he said he was up early, he meant before dawn.

The drive is quiet. A light dusting of white snow clings to the trees lining the road that winds up to The Wright Lodge.

It is a stunning property, and I can’t wait to see the rest. I know there are small cottages that can be rented out, and I also know that the family home is tucked back onto the property somewhere. Not that it’s likely I’ll be seeing it.

The lodge itself is a large white farmhouse with a quintessential wraparound porch. A large red barn that I’ve been told holds one of their reception areas is set back behind the house. It looks slightly desolate, but that might just be because it’s so quiet on the property.

“Probably not a good thing that there are no cars.” I vocalize my thoughts, knowing Cam’s likely thinking the same.

“Not good at all. But that’s why we’re here.” He throws his car into park and moves to exit, but before he can wrench his door open, I place a hand on his arm.

“Hey, we always bring things back. Don’t sound so stressed.” I offer him the same platitudes I usually do, and he just pins me with a glare.

“Gia, respectfully, no matter how many times you tell me not to, I’ll always stress. It’s who I am.” He tries to sound gruff, but I can hear the humor layered in his words.

Laughing, I shake my head, and we both get out of the car. Walking up the steps of the lodge again, I sincerely hope that yesterday was a fluke, and this project doesn’t start on the wrong foot. Without missing a beat, Cam walks right in, and I follow after him.

This time, Gina greets us with a bright smile. She’s got on a different apron today: this one is covered in bunnies wearing sunhats. It makes me wonder how long it’ll be before spring breaks through the mountains up here.

“Hey there. You guys settle in okay yesterday? Where did you grab dinner? I’m sure wherever you ate, it was great. I’m so sorry again about yesterday.” Gina bombards us with a flurry of questions before she’s even stepped out from behind the desk.

Her bright smile is still clouded by just a little bit of what I can only assume is anxiety.

Seeing it makes me want to give her a big hug and tell her that we’re not leaving Ever Lake until we sort things out for them and their business.

I don’t know if it’s the strong mom energy or because I’m a helper by nature, but something about this project feels different, and I’m desperate to make things work for Gina and her husband.

“We’re all set in our rooms at the bed and breakfast. And dinner last night was just fine. We’re ready to get cracking if you are.” Cam strides right over and sticks his hand out for a handshake. Gina laughs, eyes crinkling, and pulls him in for the hug that I was just thinking about.

“You can shake my husband's hand, but I’m a hugger.” Pulling away, she gives him a very stern, motherly look before coming my way. “It’s great to see you again, Gianna.”

“You too. I’m happy you called Cam.” I lean into her hug and breathe in the subtle scent of flour and cinnamon that clings to her. “And don’t worry about yesterday's mix up. It happens.”

“We thought long and hard about whether calling you in was the right move. This is our Hail Mary. Hopefully, it works out.”

“We’re going to do everything we can to bring your business back to its prime, Gina.” Cam makes a promise without really promising her anything.

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