Page 23 of Your Place or Mine

“People around here don’t like change,” he said finally.

“Well, lucky for them, I’m not asking them to change. Just… update. Refresh.”

“They’ll take it personally.”

“Then I’ll let them.”

His eyes narrowed slightly. “And what if you fail?”

I smiled, calm and steady. “Then I fail trying.”

He blinked, just once, and I swore something shifted in the air between us. Maybe he was trying to figure out if I meant it. Maybe he already knew.

Whatever it was, I didn’t look away.

Finally, he pushed off the bar and shook his head, muttering, “You’re trouble.”

I took another sip and smiled into the glass. “You have no idea.”

He walked away without another word, but I caught the corner of his mouth twitching as he turned his back.

And I sat there, sipping my dandelion gin and tonic, feeling equal parts triumphant and unsettled.

Because no matter how delicious the drink was, how casually handsome he looked, or how much that little twitch of a smile felt like a win…I wasn’t dumb.

Callum didn’t like me.

Not really.

And no amount of weeds in a cocktail would make me feel better.

But that didn’t mean I would let him, or anyone else, steamroll me. I might’ve arrived here raw and a little broken, still finding my footing, but I wasn’t spineless.

This building was mine.

My future was mine.

And Reckless River?

Well… it might not know what hit it.

But it was going to love what I had in store for it.

Chapter Seven

Callum

The last stool scraped against the floor with a satisfying thud as I flipped it upside down on the bar.

It was past midnight, and The Rusty Stag was finally quiet. Only the hum of the ice machine and the low buzz of the ancient neon sign outside kept the silence from feeling too heavy.

Drew leaned against the far end of the bar, counting tips and sipping a soda like he had all the time in the world. Meanwhile, I was one loose spark away from kicking over a barstool just to watch it bounce.

“She’s gonna change everything,” I muttered for the third time in ten minutes.

Drew didn’t even look up. “You’ve mentioned.”

I grabbed the rag off the counter and started wiping a spot that had already been wiped twice. “She’s probably making a list as we speak.Replace light fixtures. Paint walls. Install fancy new bathrooms with touchless sinks and toilet paper folded into origami.”

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