Page 3 of Love Notes

“I can’t eat a whole pint of ice cream, Ryan,” he said, which was a lie and we both knew it.He sighed.“Fine, I’ll give it a shot.Do you need a ride back into town?”

“Nah,” I said.“I don’t know how long I’ll be, so I’ll take my truck.”

I climbed out of the truck, waved him off, then went inside my cabin to grab the keys to my pickup.The truck was older than me, but it ran in all kinds of weather and on all kinds of roads.At a steady speed of no higher than thirty miles an hour, but still.It was reliable.Well, the heating wasn’t great, but that was only an issue in winter.

When I pulled up outside Maple Cottage, the lights were on and the front door was open.A police cruiser was parked in the driveway—something that would have looked ominous with the insecure house except the deputy the car belonged to was Chris, Rebecca’s boyfriend.

I followed his voice inside the house.

“I know!”he was saying into the basement as I found him in the kitchen.“I know, babe, but I’mworking!”

Rebecca responded with swearing and splashing.Neither of those were good.

“Ryan!”Chris sagged with relief when he saw me.“I’ve turned the water off, but I can’t stick around, bro.I’m supposed to be patrolling downtown, and the sheriff will kick my ass if he finds out I’m not.”

“You could tell him it’s an emergency!”Rebecca yelled up from the basement.

“Becca, me being here isn’t going to unfuck anything!”And then, because he was smarter than that comment implied, he retreated.Fast.“I’ll come back the second my shift is done, I swear!”

I moved into the doorway of the basement and stared down the steep steps.“Shit.”

Rebecca, standing in ankle-deep water, stared back at me.She was holding a mop, which honestly seemed way too optimistic for this situation.It’d take a hell of a lot more than a mop to fix this.I was just wondering how I was going to tell her that when her glare softened, her lower lip wobbled, and she burst into tears.

I hurried down the steps, halting when I came to the last one.“Bec, come on.Chris is right—”

“Don’t you take his side!”She dropped the mop with a splash and scrubbed her cheeks with the long sleeves of her flannel shirt.

“I’m not,” I said.“Okay, so what happened?Has a pipe burst?”

She nodded miserably.

“Come on, get out of there.”I held my hand out for her, and she waded over to me and let me pull her onto the steps.“Lucky it’s only partly finished, right?Remember how you wanted to put a media room down here?”

She sniffed.“And you said that was a waste of money for a vacation rental.”

“Aren’t you glad you listened?”

She took another look at the basement, her lip wobbling again.

“Come on,” I said, and drew her upstairs.“Chris said he’s turned the water off, and there’s not a lot else we can do tonight.I mean, we’ll probably have to get a pump to drain the water out and run a dehumidifier and some fans for a while until it’s dried out.Then see about replacing the carpet and drywall, probably.”

Rebecca slumped down in a chair at the little kitchen table.“How long is a while?”

“A week, maybe a little longer.”

“Ryan!”She looked distraught again.“Our first guest is arrivingtomorrow!I can’t have the place full of plumbers and builders and—and humidifiers!He’s sent three emails checking that it’s quiet and he won’t be disturbed!I only came by tonight to leave the welcome basket!”

She waved her hand at the kitchen counter.

“Wow,” I said, taking in the basket with the fancy bow on it.“Chocolates, wine, and are those your homemade white chocolate and macadamia cookies?I love those.Why don’t you make them for me anymore?You’re going all-out for this guy.”

“I wanted it to be perfect!”

I sighed and sat down across the table from her.“I mean, you might have to cancel and refund him.”

“He’s already on his way,” Rebecca said.Her tears had stopped, but she scrubbed her cheeks anyway.“And if we refund him, money is going to be really tight this month.Fuck.”

“Becca, I can help.”

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