Page 4 of Falling for You
“Roman.” I stare at her with my mouth open and my heart racing.
“Why would I —”
She cuts me off, “I might be old, honey but I’m not dumb. That boy thought he was sneaky but I have a clear view out my kitchen window all the way to the road. He even tried with that hoodie practically wrapped around his face each time, but I’d know him anywhere. I changed his diapers.”
“Ugh. I thought we were being so secretive.” I slap my forehead with my palm.
“Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me.” She winks. “Besides, I’m not ruining that relationship by letting your brothers find out.”
“It’s already ruined. He’s too scared of Hunter. He ended things before Valentine’s Day. I went to the brewery after the dance, and he rejected me again. But maybe that’s just his easy way out.”
“Then it’s his loss. You’re a catch.” She grabs my hand and walks with me the rest of the way in silence.
Allowing my mind to war with itself on how I feel about the fact that Roman didn’t show up for me today.
I park my Jeep in front of the old cabin near Mom and Pops’s house. It’s just a short walk through the trees to their front door, and the furthest spot away from Liam and Cooper. I didn’t want to move into my room at Coop’s cabin or take money away from us during the busiest season by taking my old room at the inn. So I’m staying in the old cabin that we haven’t renovated yet. Is it a safety risk to stay here? Absolutely. But do I have my freedom from prying older brothers? Absolutely.
I don’t have to pay rent, but I do have to renovate it while I stay here with Hunter as the contractor. A ploy I’m sure that Mom worked out in her head to get him back in my good graces.
I’m sure that renovating a cabin with my brother will definitely help the situation at hand, there’s no way we won’t argue when his job is to literally invade my space and destroy it.
Yeah, this can’t go badly.
My front door swings open and my future sister-in-law walks through. “I’m here and I have wine, cupcakes, and ice cream,”—she scrunches her nose at the sight—“and cleaning products.”
“You are my favorite friend.” I take some of the items from her hands and place them on the kitchen counter. I’ve already been cleaning for hours since everyone left. But the cobwebs in the corners tell a different story.
“I’m your only friend.” Violet laughs.
“Doesn’t change the sentiment.” I narrow my eyes. “Besides, Willow is definitely my friend. Meaning I have two. But youbrought wine and cleaning supplies, making you the favorite.” I pull out some of the leftover solo cups from who knows when, inspecting the inside. They’ll do.
“Girl. This place is rough.” She spins on her heel, taking in every square inch of the old cabin.
“I know. The bedroom is clean, and has a good mattress. Mom ordered a new king for me with new bedding so at least I will sleep well.”
“Oh that will make all the difference.” Violet walks away to the bedroom to check it out.
The cabin is small. Probably only eight hundred square feet total. One large room makes up the kitchen, dining room, and living room. There is one bathroom and one bedroom off to the side, and a wrap around porch surrounding the whole place. The back has a gorgeous view of the ocean over the edge of the cliffs and is basically the cabin’s only redeeming quality.
My granddad built every cabin on this property facing the ocean from the backs of the houses. And not one obstructs the view of another. That’s kind of our biggest selling point. Every cabin has an ocean view.
“This will be so cute once it’s all done. Do you know when Hunter is starting?” She pulls out a wine opener from her purse.
“He said he’ll be by tomorrow to talk about what I want to do. But I know Liam already gave him instructions since we’re making this the honeymoon cabin and he now feels overqualified for opinions on being blissfully happy.”
I roll my eyes at the thought of them having a meeting behind my back onmycabin. I’m supposed to be partners with Liam. I run the business and customer side, and he runs the maintenance side. But sometimes I feel like he just wants to keep me in the baby sister category even though he couldn’t run the inn without me.
And that’s not just me being cocky. He really couldn’t. I’ve brought this place back to life financially, including when Pops told us there was a secret second mortgage on the place, and Gunnar had to bail us out of foreclosure. But because of me, Gunnar is getting paid back, and he doesn’t even know it. But Willow’s non-profit has been getting anonymous donations for the last few months.
“So spill it. Why haven’t you been home really? I know it wasn’t because you were busy. You were making it home every weekend for that sexy mystery man with a great ass that I caught sneaking from your room a few times.”
Ugh, not Violet too.
“Uh… I don’t know what you want me to spill if you already know.”
“The details obvs. I mean the man had a killer ass that you could probably bounce a quarter off but I don’t know who it was or why he was sneaking in and out.” She stares at me waiting for the gossip as she sips the wine I poured for us.
“Well he ended it. So that’s all there is to it.” I relax into the couch that’s probably older than me, trying to give off an air of nonchalance.
