Page 41 of The Christmas Eve Delivery

“Can I give you a ride back?”

“Since you were headed that way, I wouldn’t say no.”

When we got back to the Sweet Mountain Inn, Miles paused as soon as he climbed out of the car. He took a moment to look at all the renovations I had managed to accomplish in the past few months.

“It looks different, somehow,” he said.

“I would hope so. I put a lot of work into the old girl.”

“But I can’t quite figure out what’s different,” he admitted.

I looped my arm through his elbow, and we stood there, looking up at the Sweet Mountain Inn. “She’s had fresh paint on all the decorative woodwork that helps protect the wood and hide all the wood rot until I can afford to have everything replaced. She’s also had all the windows repaired or replaced.”

“Did you get the bathrooms done?”

I shook my head. “Not yet.”

“No bathrooms, but you spent all that money on the windows?”

“Not my money,” I admitted. “I got a grant to cover the cost to make the building more energy efficient. Now when there’s a storm, the building doesn’t howl like it’s in some kind of a horror movie. Hopefully, I’ll be able to secure another grant to help cover the plumbing costs and redoing the bathrooms. Apparently, there’s a lot of grant money out there to help maintain historic buildings, and Sweet Mountain more than qualifies, but the application process is a real pain in the butt,” I admitted.

“Was it grant money that put in landscaping and rosebushes around the gazebo just like you wanted?” he asked.

Yeah, just like I wanted. “I think that was more of a coincidence than anything else. After all, I didn’t have any say in what they did.”

“But a gazebo covered in roses was your vision,” he said.

“Speaking of that,” I started, “You’re not some kind of spy for that developer who’s trying to come in here and buy up the town, are you?”

He closed his eyes in a long blink and turned to me. “What developer?”

“There’s this developer who wants to come here and put in some kind of a resort in the middle of town. I’ve seen the plans. He wants to level some of the older buildings. I will admit some of those structures are rundown, but that’s not an excuse to level them. He wants to take out the area from the inn to the library. That would include the post office, and then going back”— I gestured toward the part of town that would be impacted if JM Carlisle Group was allowed to come in— “and take out about six square blocks of some of the oldest homes in Brookdale.”

“And you think I’m a spy for this company?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know, but the last time you were here, I told you my idea of turning Brookdale into a wedding destination. The next time the development company sent a prospectus to the mayor, they had included ways that the resort would help bolster the local economy, and it even mentioned how it would support turning Brookdale into a destination location for things such as family reunions, and as a honeymoon and wedding destination. Now that can’t be a coincidence, can it?”

Miles chuckled. “It sounds like a coincidence to me.”

“I’ve never mentioned the whole wedding thing to anybody,” I said.

“Brookdale is a quaint little town. Anybody looking to suggest ways of bolstering the economy would think in terms of how to turn this into a destination location. I’m not a spy. What kind of changes have you made to the inside?” he asked, changing the topic as we started to walk up to the front porch.

“Nothing major, a few minor repairs here and there. I got most of the door locks oiled and running properly, so there should be no more lock failures anytime soon. And of course, the windows, which required a few rooms to be repainted, but other than that, she’s still pretty much the same.”

Miles paused as we started to climb the steps. “Look, Lydia I don’t want to be presumptuous here, but are you gonna let me stay with you again?”

“I can’t believe you’re even asking me this, Miles.”

“Well, considering the last time this happened…” He pointed to my baby bump.

I ran my hand over my stomach. “This didn’t happen the last time you were here. This happened the first time, during the storm,” I said.

“You’re more pregnant than I thought.”

“I am definitely way more pregnant.” I laughed.

“And your friends know I am the father?” he asked.

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