Page 8 of Heating Up (Nugget)
“Hey, if we’re gonna be roomies, just call me Aidan.” He got to his feet.
“Okay . . . Aidan.” She watched him walk away, unable to help herself from staring at his butt. She wasn’t usually that pervy, but a butt that good shouldn’t go to waste.
About thirty minutes later, Pat returned. “You want the good news first or the bad?”
“The bad.” Dana was definitely a bad-news-first kind of person.
“We’re gonna have to do all new construction from the ground up.”
She’d already figured that out. “What’s the good news?”
“You can rebuild it the way you want it. Maybe add a second story with a big master suite. Expand the kitchen.”
The house had been three small bedrooms and only one bathroom, which had been more than enough room for her. But having an en-suite bath and a contemporary kitchen would bring up the resale value of the house. Perhaps a big walk-in closet too.
“Won’t that cost more money?”
“Not necessarily. Let’s see what you get insurance wise and we’ll work around it.”
“Really?” Dana’s mood picked up at the idea. This might just be a way to make lemonade out of lemons, and lordy, she’d been delivered a whole lot of sour. Her fault of course. How stupid of her to have left a candle burning? “How soon can you get started?”
“We could do the demo right away. But you’ll need architectural plans approved by the city before we can start building. And we’re still finishing Lucky and Tawny’s house on the ranch. So it could be a while.”
Not what Dana wanted to hear. “Once you get started, how long will it take?”
“That would depend on the plans, but, Dana, realistically, you won’t be back in this house for a year.”
That might as well be a lifetime, she thought. No way could she occupy one of Griff’s houses for an entire year. And one of the seasonal cabins up in the hills was out of the question. She’d freeze to death in the winter. When she got back to the office she’d scan theTribfor rentals. Not everyone used a real estate agent, and maybe she’d find a hidden gem she didn’t know about. A girl could dream.
“You’ll guarantee me that my house will be your next project?” she asked Pat.
“Absolutely. And we’ll try to get you in as quickly as possible.”
“What do I do in the meantime?”
“You get those plans done. I’ll get them through the city planning board, but we’ll need blueprints pronto.” He took off his hard hat and grabbed coveralls from his truck toolbox. “Put these on. Colin is waiting for you with a few ideas. He’s got a good eye—as good as any architect.”
By the time Dana got back to the office, her head swam with possibilities. Colin’s vision for the rebuild included a great room off the kitchen, as well as a small office and powder room on the main floor. Upstairs, he had three bedrooms—one of them a huge master suite. The plan would use the same footprint as the old house but double the square footage by adding a second story. She really didn’t need all that space, but if she could pull it off financially, the house would be worth a whole lot more and could wind up being her nest egg.
She immediately went online to search for rentals. There were exactly two: one she already knew about that had significant mold problems the owner refused to acknowledge, and a cottage on a nearby ranch. The rent was free in exchange for watering, feeding, and exercising the ranch’s forty horses. Not only was it a full-time job but Dana didn’t know the first thing about horses.
She was just about to check their competitor’s website when Griffin came into the office. He had on shorts and a pair of flip-flops. Must be his day off—not that the man ever had to work a day in his life. He was independently wealthy because he was part Wigluk Indian and was entitled to a portion of the tribe’s casino money, which was substantial.
“I’ve been looking all over for you,” he said.
“Haven’t had time to get a new phone. What’s up?”
“I’m worried about you, that’s what’s up. Lina said you’re staying the rest of the week at the Lumber Baron. Why, when I’ve got a planned community full of empty houses? Colin will lend you some of his furniture.”
First off, the last person she wanted knowing her business was Lina Shepard. But given that Maddy was Lina’s sister-in-law and she worked at the inn part time, Dana realized the impossibility of that. Secondly, didn’t Griffin know how humiliating it would be for her to be reliant on him? Apparently, he didn’t have a clue how much she’d cared for him . . . how much it had hurt her, knowing he’d been in love with Lina the whole time they dated? That’s why Dana wasn’t responsible for what she said next; the unrequited love gods made her do it.
“I’m renting Tawny Wade’s place with Aidan McBride, Sloan’s brother,” she blurted.
Griffin’s eyes grew large. Good, let him be taken aback. “How do you know Aidan?”
“Carol and I have been working with him on finding a place. It turns out we have a lot in common.” Like they both didn’t like living in their cars.
“Wow. That’s great. Aidan’s the real deal, man. And here I was worrying for nothing. You need money?”
