Page 70 of Lucky in Love
“You sure that’s a good idea?” Faith asked gently.
“I know what you’re thinking, and yes, I can do this,” Alex said. “I was also gonna see if y’all wanted to do game night at the rec cabin. There’s a kitchen and plenty of room.”
“Oh, that sounds fun,” Juliet said.
They watched Maddie’s show and hung out until late. Brody drove Alex home and jumped at her invitation to spend the night.
He fell asleep thinking that every day in this tiny little town, and every moment with this tiny little woman, felt more and more like home.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Monday morning, Alex—without any complaints from her ankle—walked the whole property looking for damage. The storm had taken all the leaves, and with the trees bare and residual snow lingering, it looked like winter had come early. This weekend’s campers would be bummed about missing the glorious New England fall, but nothing she could do about it.
She returned to the office, where Lauren sat playing solitaire on the computer.
“Only four trees down,” Alex said, shucking her hat and coat. “And the one across my path is the only one blocking anything.”
“That’s good,” Lauren said. “I’ll call the grounds guy and see when he can come out. All the cabins fair okay?”
“Yes. Thank goodness we put that new roof on cabin twelve. I doubt it would have held up under all the snow, and who knows how much damagethatwould have caused.”
“How’d Brody survive?”
Alex was surprised Lauren hadn’t already heard about her and Brody. “Storm must’ve broken the town grapevine,” she said, hesitating.
“Ooh. What’d I miss?” Lauren turned toward Alex and rubbed her hands together greedily.
Alex heaved out a breath. She would find out eventually. No sense in lying or delaying.
“Brody sheltered at my place. We’re kind of dating now, I guess.”
Lauren laughed. “You guess?”
“It’s complicated,” Alex mumbled.
“Ha. I’m sure it is. Good for you, girl.”
“Anyway,” Alex said, picking up her coat. “I also wanted to let you know I have plans for the rec cabin on Thanksgiving. Campers can use it for the day, but I need it cleared by seven-thirty.”
“Will do.”
On the walk home, she started mentally planning for a dinner party, still mad at herself for allowing Brody to provoke her into such a thing.
He’d implied she was chicken, somehow knowing she’d take the bait. She didn’t like being so predictableorthat he already knew how to push her buttons and was okay doing so.
When she got home, she texted her friends to arrange an emergency meeting. She needed to talk to themwithoutBrody around. They all agreed to come to her place that evening.
Later that afternoon, she supervised the removal of the branch blocking her path, amazed Lauren had gotten someone out so quickly. Once they left, she fed Daisy, talked to Brody for a minute, cleaned up, and waited for her team to show up.
“How’d you get out of hanging with Brody?” Tess said when she entered, a bag of deli sandwiches dangling off her arm.
“Just told him I needed a night with my girls.” Alex pulled out paper plates and napkins and set them on the counter. “He took it all right. Is it weird he wants to spend so much time together?”
Alex’s dating experience was almost exclusively with men who’d rented a cabin—hunters, hikers, fishermen. And those relationships ended when the reservation did. Having someone so close for so long was taking some getting used to.
“Not if he really likes you,” Juliet said. “I thought you said you didn’t get tired of him during the storm?”
“I didn’t, but that was different,” Alex said. “He couldn’t leave, even if I’d wanted him to.”
