Page 4 of Always Be Mine

William was the family lawyer, and the man in charge of administering their late father’s estate, which, at this point, meant calling Craig and all his siblings into his office to give them the next stipulation of their father’s will. So far, both Chase and Charli had jumped through their assigned hoops. There were three of them left, and it didn’t surprise Craig to hear it was time to hear what Asher’s requirements would be. As the third born, it was his turn.

Craig exhaled slowly and pulled the Jeep away from the curb and onto the street to make the short drive to the center of town. “I’m totally swamped, Charli. Can I skip this one? We all know it’s Asher’s turn next, and I support what everyone thinks is best. I just?—”

“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that.” Charli’s voice lost her usual friendly, light tone. She meant business. “Meet at the big house at two.”

“Two?” He was about to protest with a million reasons why two was an awful time for him, but before he got the chance, Charli spoke again.

“See you there, brother.” The friendly tone was back. “Don’t be late.”

The speed limit slowed, the trees thinned, and a moment later, Lucy turned the corner into Trickle Creek. Tiny, well-kept houses lined the snow-covered street she drove through. She’d been surprised to see snow so late in April, but it didn’t look like it would stay. The ski hill that loomed as a fixture over the town, looked as if there was still plenty of snow but she was pretty sure she’d seen a few tulip or daffodil heads poking out here and there as she drove. Still, a far cry from the full blooms there were in the gardens back home.

Home.

Vancouver wasn’t home anymore. At least not for a while. It was stupid to let one man drive her away from the only city she’d ever lived in. But it wasn’t just Ross. It was everything. It was who she’d become. She didn’t even recognize herself anymore. It was time for a break.

Lucy followed the directions of her GPS as the robotic voice guided her past the little houses, to a busier, slightly more commercial-looking part of town. Her rental was in theheart of Trickle Creek,the listing had said. It was a small apartment over an ice cream shop in the plaza, a pedestrian-only shopping area. It looked cute and clean in the listing.

Her phone guided her to a large parking lot, but there was no ice cream shop in sight.

Lucy put the car in park and flipped through her phone to read the detailed instructions.

You will have to park in public parking and walk through the plaza. The bright-blue door to the suite is located beside the Sugar Shack.

“Okay, Garfield. I guess this is it.”

Truthfully, it wasn’t much at first glance. The parking lot was situated at the back of a long row of short buildings, that all looked to be joined in a bit of a mishmash. She spotted an arched walkway with lights strung along the top between two buildings and aWelcomesign in the middle and guessed it was the entrance to the plaza.

It looked like it might be a bit of a walk to her temporary home, so Lucy decided to take as much as she could in the first go. Having spent the last few years living in a third-floor walkup, she’d become pretty good at being aone-tripper. And although the amount of stuff she had packed in her car was clearly going to require more than one trip, it didn’t mean she couldn’t do her best.

Lucy pulled her purse over her body, gathered up one of the smaller boxes in one arm, and lifted Garfield in the other. Fortunately for her, he was a pretty sedentary cat who was more than happy to be carried around.

She’d only barely made it through the arched walkway into the pedestrian-only plaza when Lucy realized she may have overestimated her carrying capacity. The box she held started to slip a little and when she adjusted to try to keep it from slipping, Garfield protested by digging his claws into her shoulder.

“Ouch. Dammit!”

Startled, Lucy loosened her grip, and the cat chose that moment to seek his independence. He leapt from her arms, landing on the brick cobble. Fortunately, Garfield looked just as startled to be on his own as she was. The cat momentarily froze in terror. But then, from somewhere behind her, Lucy heard a dog bark.

“Garfield, no!”

It was too late. She could only watch, her arms still full, as Garfield turned and ran faster than she’d ever seen him move, in the opposite direction.

ChapterTwo

“I’m really sorry,Craig. I wish I could give you two weeks, but?—”

“It’s okay.” It wasn’t. It wasn’t even close to being okay that one of his best employees had shown up for his shift, only to let Craig know that it would be his last one. But it’s not like there was anything else he could say. “It sounds like the restaurant will be an excellent opportunity.”

“It will be. Thank you for understanding.”

Craig gritted his teeth and forced a smile. “Of course.” It was a good opportunity for Tom. Not only would the restaurant at the golf course be able to pay more, but there would be tips involved as well. As much as Craig prided himself on being a good boss and making the Sugar Shack a great place to work, he couldn’t compete with the tips that the golf course offered.

It would just mean that he’d have to work a few more afternoon shifts than he would have liked until he could find a replacement for Tom. At least it was shoulder season and not nearly as busy as it would be when the summer tourists started flocking to Trickle Creek soon.

Fortunately, he still had the Help Wanted sign in the back room. Craig grabbed it, along with a roll of tape.

It had warmed up a little since the last time he’d been outside, which, according to the watch on his wrist, had been hours ago. It was already after lunch. He’d worked right through it. The work never seemed to end. He’d had no idea an ice cream shop would be so much work. Or stress.

He’d been researching other avenues of revenue to expand into other markets and although he’d found a few promising things, they all required time and money. He still had some savings, but he was sorely lacking in the time and energy it was going to take to add something new.

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