Page 10 of Can't Fight the Moonlight

"I'm okay. I'm more concerned about Anthony and the London trip. Is he on board?"

"Yes, and we were wondering why you weren't returning our calls or texts," Eric said. "Anthony is booked on a flight tonight, leaving San Francisco at ten p.m. I've brought him up to speed on what I know. He has cleared his schedule for the rest of the day, so he can go over everything with you."

"Good. I need probably thirty minutes to an hour to find a computer and download my notes from the cloud. I'm hoping everything is there. Let Anthony know that I'll be calling him shortly. How's he feeling about everything?"

"He probably has more confidence in his abilities than either of us do," Eric said dryly.

"I like his confidence, but I want to make sure he can back it up with substance."

"Agreed. So, what happened? You got in an accident? Anyone else involved?"

"No one else was hurt. I had a run-in with a fence."

"Probably because you were speeding. I keep telling you to slow down."

"Well, right now, I'm going very slow." Lizzie couldn't seem to get the truck past thirty miles per hour.

"Maybe that's what you need."

"What I need is to get back to work. I'll be in touch." He ended the call and slipped the phone back into his pocket. "Any chance you could give this baby more gas?"

"This baby is getting plenty of gas. She just doesn't like to run. She's old and tired."

"Maybe you should invest in a new truck."

"I'll put it on the list," she said dryly. "Don't worry, she'll get us back to the inn."

"Hopefully before tomorrow."

"You're very impatient, Justin."

"I have a lot to do."

"So do I. Believe it or not, you're not the only one who has a job."

"It was your idea to take a side trip to the hospital."

"To make sure you were all right. But we're almost home."

He glanced out the window. Whisper Lake was not his home, but it was a picturesque mountain resort town. The downtown area filled with touristy retail attractions: restaurants, bars, gift shops, clothing stores, and antiques shops. There were also organic food cafés and markets, and a variety of coffee and juice bars as well as tea shops.

The residential streets were a mix of A-frame cabins mixed with more modern homes, as well as a few larger estates. "It feels like a town in transition," he murmured, looking back at Lizzie.

She nodded. "It's growing like crazy. We're only two hours from Denver and while we're not as fancy as Aspen or Vail, we have great skiing and an amazing lake in the summer. Our retail and entertainment options are exploding. With the ability of more and more people able to work remotely, the full-time population is also growing. It's no longer dead during the elbow seasons of September/October and April/May. It's busy all the time."

"That must be good for your business. Did you grow up here, Lizzie?"

"No. I grew up in Denver, but my grandparents lived here, and I spent a lot of summer vacations with them. I always had this town in mind as the place I wanted to settle down in, and when the inn came up for sale, I jumped on it."

"When was that?"

"Two years and ten months ago. The first year was spent in a constant state of remodel, but I'm finally getting the inn to where I want it to be. We're starting to get repeat business. Your grandparents are among some of my best customers."

"They seem quite enthralled by this town and your inn. Although, I don't love the fact that they have to drive two hours from Denver to get here. But my grandfather loves to drive, and the fact that he's turning eighty this year doesn't seem to be slowing him down."

"That's for sure. They're both very energetic people. They went cross-country skiing when they were here in February. I think they outlasted some of the younger members of the group. And I had a line-dancing class at the inn, which your grandmother excelled at. She really kicked up her heels. I was dancing next to her, and I was huffing and puffing by the end of it, but she was fine."

He smiled at her words. "She loves to dance."

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