Page 13 of Lucky in Love
Since screen time wouldn’t be an option for the week, a book seemed like the perfect way to pass the nights. Bells jingled as he entered Page Turners.
“Brody!” Faith greeted. “Long time no see.”
“Hey,” Brody said, bummed his secret was out of the bag already. “Broke Nick down pretty quick, huh? He warned me you had a superpower over him.”
Her tinkly laugh made him smile. “Actually, Alex saw your ID and did an internet search. I guess we could keep pretending you’re Kevin if you want.”
He waved a hand. “Too late for that.”
“What can I do for you?”
“Oh, just looking for a book. Won’t be much else to do at night with no internet.”
“Hah. I knew it. Alex cutting the Wi-Fi is gonna garner so much business for me. I feel like I should offer her a cut.” She winked. “Don’t tell her I said that.”
He made an X over his heart.
“Hey,” she said. “I just had a great idea. Why don’t you come to dinner with us tonight? Nick is always complaining that he’s the only man in our group. I’m sure he’d love some testosterone at the table.”
“Oh, um, sure,” Brody said. They seemed fun, and even if it turned out they weren’t, it would be good to get the locals’ advice on what to do while he was in town. “Thanks.”
“Great. I’m headed out, but if you need anything, Irene’s here, somewhere. Dinner at The Rusty Nail. Seven o’clock.”
“All right. See you later.”
He found a book and checked out, ran into The Rise and Grind for a coffee, then stopped by the Kitchen Kart grocery store for the bare necessities—beer, milk, cereal, and ice cream.
He tried Chloe again, but got voicemail straightaway. Which was weird. She should still be at work.
Back at the cabin, he opened the freezer to put away the ice cream and stopped short.
“What the…?” Who stored knives in the freezer?
He laughed out loud. This had the tiny manager written all over it. He swapped out the knife block with a pint of Rocky Road, re-homed the knives, and shut the freezer.
After putting away the rest of the groceries, he tackled his beard, jumped in the shower, and dressed for dinner.
CHAPTER FIVE
Alex couldn’t believe it when Nick came out of the cabin all chummy with the new renter. For some reason, it irked her that hewasn’tthe fugitive. Which made no sense, but sometimes feelings were fickle that way.
After making dinner plans with her friends, she beelined straight back to the office to search for Brody Collins—her cabin and the office were the only two places on the property with Wi-Fi.
“No! No. No.” Alex groaned.
“What’s wrong?” Lauren asked, brows furrowing with concern. “Is it about the escapee? Is he close?”
“Worse.” Alex turned the computer monitor to face Lauren. “Thisis who checked into cabin twelve.”
The search had returned page after page of Brody Collins, famous travel writer for a magazine called Wanderlust. Articles he’d written and pictures he’d taken from the Loire Valley of France to the plains of Africa to the beaches of Antigua. And hundreds of reviews he’d done over the years.
“You think he’s here to critique us?”
“Why else?” Alex frowned. “Humph. My first impression was far from stellar, that’s for sure.”
“Well, now that we know, we’ll make it up to him. Ensure his stay is nothing but perfect.”
“Then it looks like we’re sucking up only because of who he is.”
