Page 16 of Lakesides and Longing

He chuckled at that. She regularly appeared in his dreams—he couldn’t help his subconscious thoughts—and she probably wouldn’t appreciate it if he told her what they were.

“Mine says I’ll meet the love of my life.” She snorted. “Maybe you’re right, and these are just a bunch of hooey.”

“Who says you can’t meet the love of your life?” He’d never heard her being skeptical of anything supernatural before.

“Because I’m never dating anyone long-term again. Once was enough, thank you very much. The love of my life could waltz into this room today, and I’d tell him he gets a summer fling. That’s all.” Blake found that attitude a little depressing, but truthfully unless the woman was Debbie, he basically felt the same way.

Blake sneezed, and Paige’s eyes widened. “Are you sick?”

“No. It’s just allergies. I’ve got Zyrtec up in my room.”

“You shouldn’t be taking that stuff. It’ll just make you more allergic to other things. I’ll put a diffuser in your room with eucalyptus oil and get you a bottle of lavender and sandalwood.”

He gaped at her. “What are you talking about?” She’d mentioned this craziness before, but she’d never tried to force it on him.

“Essential oils treat everything better than pharmaceuticals.” There she went again.

He sniffed. “Remember, I work for pharmaceuticals. I’ll stick with my Zyrtec. I don’t need that snake oil.”

She sat up taller, her face scrunched up. “They are not. They are far better for you than the chemicals your industry feeds us.”

The doorbell rang, before he could argue, and Paige jumped up.

It was probably that blasted UPS guy again. Blake had tried to answer the door a couple of times, but Paige always shooed him away. He didn’t know why he cared. If she wanted to flirt with the UPS guy, that was her business.

Paige rushed for the foyer. Tria stared up at him. “I don’t know what you’re looking at me for. You know I don’t feed you from the table.”

Tria dropped her snout and whined. She was learning bad habits here. Paige constantly dropped things from the table “accidentally.”

A squeal came from the door followed by loud voices. Blake got up to see what the fuss was all about. Paige had her arms flung around an older woman, and a young man stood behind them.

The woman let go of Paige and caught sight of Blake.

She giggled and approached him. “Who’s Muscles here?” she asked, squeezing his bicep.

Paige kissed the young man on his cheek and rolled her eyes. “That’s Blake. My brother insisted I have a bodyguard this summer.”

The woman looped her arms through Blake’s. “Ooh, a bodyguard, I bet you have good stories.”

“I’m not a real bodyguard. I’m just staying here with Paige so she has company and a driver. I’m good friends with Lukas, and he didn’t like Paige out here all by herself, and I needed a place to stay for the summer.”

“Sure, likely story. I’m Ida, by the way. That’s my husband Phil,” she said with a nod to where Paige and Phil were talking animatedly.

Blake hoped his face didn’t reveal his surprise. There had to be at least thirty years age difference between them.

Ida eyed him suspiciously. “Go on, ask the question. I know you want to.”

Blake patted her hand. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Ida let out a laugh. “Paige, I like this one better than Emery.”

Blake met Paige’s eye, worried that this might hurt her feelings. The blood had drained from her face. Paige hadn’t so much as mentioned Emery to Blake, but he knew that was her dead husband. It was a little insensitive of Ida to say anything at all.

Phil rushed forward and stuck out his hand. “I’m Phil.”

Blake took it, extracting himself from Ida. “Nice to meet you. I take it you’re the snowbirds next door.”

Phil chuckled. “Yep, my Ida is the most temperature-sensitive person I’ve ever met. Can’t stand anything under thirty-two degrees or over eighty.”

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