Page 15 of Making New Plans

I mentally shook myself. Wasn’t my problem. I needed to keep things easy and to not get involved.

Carter grabbed his toolbox and stalked past me with zero acknowledgment. Probably off to chop wood or grunt at a tree. George went back to washing his dishes while Mable sent a worried glance between Chloe tapping furiously on her phone and me. Then she too shuffled back to her station.

I studied Chloe as she chewed her lip and worried over whatever was on her phone screen. Her golden ponytail brushed the nape of her neck, and her slim-fitting gray blazer drew my eyes from the set of her shoulders to her narrow waist and flared hips. My eyes dipped lower just as George clanged some pans together, giving me a minor heart attack. I glared in his direction while he glared in mine. I broke eye contact first.

Little did he know, I hadn’t been the one to spy first. She had. And she’d gotten an eyeful. I wondered what she’d noticed about me. Not that I’d ever ask. The key to looking confident even when you weren’t? Never ask what people thought of you. But sometimes, especially now with curiosity settling over me like a horde of spring mosquitos, I really did want to know.

Chloe finally registered me staring at her and blinked. “Oh, right. Hunter. Training. Okay.” She turned back to the now-full coffee pot and poured herself a mugful of steaming coffee. She drained it like she was shotgunning a beer at a frat party then waved her empty mug in my direction. “Want some?”

I shook my head.

After a refill, she marched out of the kitchen. “Right then, let’s go.”

Frowning, I followed her. She set her coffee mug on the desk, made yet another note in her planner, then turned to me. “We only have one more checkout today, Ms. Bergenstein, and she usually checks out around ten, so we have a few hours.”

I nodded. “Are most of the lodge’s guests repeat customers?”

“Yes. Mostly people who have stayed here before or are referrals from people who have.”

“Are you doing anything to bring in new business?”

Her shoulders stiffened. “Why? Worried that this place isn’t doing well enough to make a good sale?”

My eyebrows shot up. “I figured I should know what to expect revenue-wise, regardless of my plans. I’ve been ordered to shadow you and learn the business, remember?”

She crossed her arms over chest. “Yes, I know that, and eventually I’ll show you the books as part of the process.”

“Then why are you being so defensive? Is it that bad?”

“No, it’s not that bad. It’s not the best either. But I’ve been trying my damnedest to put this place on the map with the limited resources I have. It may shock you, but not everyone wants to stay in…in…” She waved her hand in frustration at the green-turned-gray carpet, the plaid wallpaper, and the heavy gold chandelier hanging in the entryway that had never seen good days, let alone better days.

“An eccentric grandfather’s den?” I supplied. It was the nicest description I had for it.

A small smile lit her face, which had a resounding effect somewhere in my chest. I pushed further into uncharted territory. “At least the horrific moose head is gone. Thanks to you.”

She outright laughed at that, which, damn it all, dragged the corners of my mouth upward. And she noticed.

Her laughter died, and she stared at my mouth, transfixed. Which, of course, made my smile disappear. The less I smiled, the more self-conscious I felt when I did. Like I was doing it wrong because people always stared.

And now we were both gazing at each other’s mouths where our smiles used to be like a couple of lunatics.

She snapped out of it first. “Um, anyway, yeah. Books. I’ll show you the books sometime. Cool? Okay, how about a walk around and I’ll give you a rundown of things you need to know?”

I grimaced. I knew the ten-room lodge pretty well and didn’t really care to see it all again since it seemed as though nothing had changed. But I was an adult now and here to do a job. I motioned for her to lead on, and she slipped past me, touching me only with her scent of vanilla and coffee.

She chattered about vendors, maids, other employees, cleaning schedules, and stories of past guests as we walked through the lodge. But I only half paid attention.

I thought I could ignore most of the memories that clung to this place like dust in the rafters. At least it looked clean for once. When my grandfather had been running the lodge when I was a kid, he hadn’t cared as much about keeping it clean as he had about filling it with knickknacks and turning it into a hangout for his hunting-enthusiast friends.

That meant the state of the lodge had everything to do with Chloe. A fact that irked yet gratified me. Why would she care so much about this place?

Reminders of how much my life had sucked here were everywhere. Like that washed-out painting of two ducks. The one my father had nearly broken when he’d drunkenly stumbled into it one late night. Probably still had a chip on the bottom-right corner of the frame when I’d barely caught it in time.

Or that memorable display of snowshoes Mom had bought him for his birthday one year, and he’d called her stupid for wasting money on something he’d never use when he could’ve used the money elsewhere. The whole town knew exactly where he’d liked to spend his money. Such was my life as the son of a small-town drunk.

“Hunter? Are you okay?”

Chloe’s voice pierced through the fog in my brain. We were standing in the hallway between two rooms. I blinked, not remembering arriving there. Chloe’s concerned gaze flitted down to my clenched fists then back up to my eyes. My heart shrank away from the pity in her face as I relaxed my hands and tried not wince at the pain in my palms. My nails must’ve dug into my skin.

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