Page 13 of What We Keep
I flashed her a smile. “He is. He’s happy we’re rebuilding this place.”
“How long has this taken?” she asked as we walked down the stairs.
“We’ve been working on it for almost three years now. It took years to get all the insurance stuff sorted after the fire. I don’t do much with it, but I have a law degree and kept my license. I had to threaten to sue. That’s—” I shook my head, almost to myself. “It was a lot of tedious work. We had a crew to help with the foundation and framing, but we’ve done all the finishing ourselves. Insurance helped, but it only went so far, and we wanted to improve it.”
I gestured around. “I don’t know how much you know about how Heartfire Falls operated before, but we did guide trips. Fishing, hunting, climbing, ice climbing, hiking, you name it, we did it. We upgraded the smaller buildings first since we needed somewhere to stay.”
“Where did you originally stay after the fire?” Elsa asked.
“Upstairs in the barn,” I admitted, rolling my eyes as I gestured toward it. “We did some quick work to make the apartment up there work for us.”
I led her into the barn. “Come on in.” I walked her up to the upper floor, gesturing around. “And this is where I stay.”
Her gaze arced about the space. “It’s nice.”
I shrugged. “We did our best. There are three rooms for you to choose from,” I added, leading her down the short hallway. “We’ve got a few rooms ready in the resort, but between my brothers, my mom and Tommy, there’s not much privacy at the moment. Tommy was staying out here with me, but he likes being close to the action in the new building.”
She lingered by one of the rooms. “Do you mind if I take this one?”
It was beside mine, but I didn’t offer that detail. “I said you could take any.”
Peering inside, she lifted her gaze to the windows, which offered a stunning view of the field beyond, currently ablaze with fireweed in bloom, a landscape of fuchsia. “I like this one. What’s the rent?”
“Nothing.”
Elsa put her hands on her hips. Her eyes flashed. “Haven, you have to charge me something.”
Chapter Eight
Elsa
“I wasn’t going to rent these rooms,” Haven said, eyeing me steadily. “They’re going to be for staff we eventually hire.”
“Well, then give me something to do,” I insisted.
“Like what?”
I rolled my eyes. “Something.”
He let out a short breath, something close to amusement flickering in his expression. “Let me think about it. You can move in whenever you need to.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m sure.”
Haven looked at me expectantly, waiting for me to say something. Something else flickered in the depths of his blue eyes, like the ocean right before a storm when lightning rippled across the sky.
“Are you sure that’s okay?” I felt pressed to ask again.
His lips kicked up at one corner, just slightly. “Of course, it’s okay.”
I shifted on my feet, feeling antsy and nervous. “I need to pay something,” I pressed.
Haven’s brows hitched up. “I already said that wasn’t necessary, Elsa.”
“I know, but either let me pay or give me something to do. To earn my keep.”
“We need staff more than we need money. Honestly, we’ve been running ourselves ragged trying to get this place ready to run again.”
