Page 5 of Making New Plans

Chloe’s lips twisted in a frown, and I could see her mind racing through my proposal, picking it apart. But the lawyer was fidgeting with his documents and clearing his throat again. Bad news.

“Unfortunately, no, Mr. Erickson. Your father insisted that you remain here until the thirty days were up and that you learn the job directly from Miss Higgins at the lodge.”

I tore my gaze away from Chloe twirling her blonde ponytail around her finger to snarl at the lawyer, a familiar fury building in my chest. “My father didn’t give a damn about where I lived and what I did my entire life. Why would he care now?”

The lawyer looked like a melting snowman when he glanced at Sal again.

I turned to her as well. “You’ve been uncharacteristically silent this whole time. Care to explain?”

“I won’t presume to know what he was thinking, Hunter.” She gripped the head of her cane and leaned forward. “But the stipulation will hold up in any court.”

“And what about my job in Boston? Do you expect me to quit the architecture firm and shack up in this hole for thirty days?”

Sal emanated zero sympathy. If anything, she seemed a shade smug. “I’m sure you can work remotely, as you so brilliantly suggested, or, heaven forbid, take a vacation.”

I clamped my jaws together, doors slamming shut in my mind, trapping me here. I wanted to ask, “What about the rest of my life?” But I already knew I had no one, not even a goldfish, waiting for me in my barely-lived-in apartment. A list of failed online dates and a standing invitation to “grab a beer” with a few of my colleagues were the entirety of my social life. My cleaning lady was the only other person with a key to my place, so she’d have to be the one to send me my stuff. Thankfully, I’d packed for at least a week.

Wait, was I really doing this? Moving back to Tangled River to work with—excuse me, under—a woman who seemed as eager to get rid of me as Sal and the rest of my family had been when I was a kid.

I shifted my glare to Chloe. “Let’s circle back to the ‘training under Miss Higgins’ part. What exactly does that entail?”

Chloe matched my glare while the lawyer answered, “Stephen wasn’t specific about the ins and outs of the job, only that you were to learn the job of running the lodge from Miss Higgins here.”

“Why her?” I demanded.

Chloe’s golden eyebrows shot up. “Because I’ve been working here for the past eight years, three of those as the manager.”

I wanted to argue with her somehow, but I couldn’t deny her long history here. Plus, it was ludicrous to think that my dad had ever showed up to help with the day-to-day work. Which made her the most qualified mentor.

But the idea of training under someone… I hadn’t had to do that since I’d first started at the firm five years ago. After years of toiling through college classes with strict professors and being the unpaid, overused intern to then clawing my way out from under mentors who looked down their noses at me, I really didn’t want to be someone’s lackey. Especially when I’d never signed up for this job.

Taking my silence as the mutiny it was, Chloe spoke again. “I understand that the situation isn’t ideal, Mr. Erickson. Trust me, I don’t want to do this anymore than you do.”

I leaned forward in my chair. “Do tell me where the hard part is for you. From where I’m sitting, it looks like you get someone to boss around for a month.”

She shot to her feet and placed her palms on the desk between us, her eyes sparkling with murderous intent. “Oh right, as if I weren’t busy enough taking care of an entire lodge by myself, I can add babysitting an arrogant, ungrateful heir to my to-do list.”

Before she’d hissed out the last word, I was on my feet and nose-to-nose with her. “And I have to play errand boy for an uptight workaholic in this hell hole.”

“Then leave,” she snarled.

For a lightning-quick moment of insanity, I wanted to haul her across the desk and kiss those scowling lips. Taste all that delicious fury emanating from her like a fire I wanted to burn myself up in.

I must’ve been staring because her breath hitched, and she tucked her lower lip under her teeth. My whole body tightened.

A throat cleared next to us, and in my brief madness, I’d forgotten our audience. I immediately leaned back to glance at the lawyer who blinked rapidly at us as if his eyelids were shutters on a camera and he were the paparazzi.

“According to the statement, Miss Higgins,” he said, “if Mr. Erickson were to leave without fulfilling the stipulation, the lodge would be claimed by the state. In which case, operations would most likely shut down until the property was sold.”

The mesmerizing fire drained from Chloe’s face, and she sank back into her chair. Averting my gaze from her, I followed suit. I didn’t know how to untangle what had just happened, but I did know that I needed the money from selling the lodge. And if that meant subjecting myself to Chloe’s instruction and living in this dump for thirty days, then I would do it. My dad severely underestimated my willpower if he thought he could scare me out of this with a stipulation or two.

I scowled at the lawyer, whose name I realized I still didn’t know and, at the same time, didn’t care. “It doesn’t matter because I’ll do what the old man said. This lodge will be mine in thirty days.” My eyes landed on Chloe for that last part.

She straightened her shoulders, a bit of the challenge from before glinting in her eyes. Better grim resignation than defeat.

The lawyer breathed a sigh of relief and shoved his papers back into his briefcase.

Sal stood. “I’ll walk you out, Harold.”

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