Page 56 of Take My Heart
‘I could help you with that. You wouldn’t even have to pay me. I love the idea of fixing up a house but never thought I’d be able to. Cam said when we bought a house it had to be new construction. He hates old houses.’
The more she talks about this guy, the more I wonder why she was with him. They don’t seem to have much in common.
‘There’s not much to do in this town,’ I say. ‘Why don’t you go somewhere more exciting? Get on a plane and fly to a beach.’
‘By myself? Surrounded by couples?’ She shakes her head. ‘That would just depress me.’
‘My house should depress you. It’s falling apart. I don’t know why you’d want to stay there.’
‘Your house isn’t that bad, and I like it here. I like the town. I know I’ve only been here a day, but I feel comfortable here and I like that it’s so quiet. I need a break from the city. Haydon Falls seems like the perfect place to get away for a few weeks.’
‘There’s a historic inn a few miles from here. I’m sure they’ll have some rooms open up once the storm ends. It’s really fancy and it’s quiet. You could stay there.’
‘I’d rather stay with you.’ She shoves her hat up because it was falling down over her eyes. ‘Unless you don’t want me to.’
I look at her, at her rosy cheeks, her red nose, her eyelashescovered in snow. She’s fucking adorable and I really do like her, but letting her live with me? I don’t think it’s a good idea. I like living alone. It’s why I’ve never lived with a girl.
‘It’s only for a few weeks,’ she says. ‘And I’ll pay you. How about $1800? That’s $600 a week. Does that work?’
That’s more than my mortgage payment. If I agree to this, I could pay my mortgage and use what’s left to pay back Jason. It wouldn’t be all that I owe him, but it’d be a start. And if I paid him, maybe he’d get off my back about how I run my business.
‘Yeah, okay,’ I say, but I still think it’s a bad idea. What if we end up doing something and then she decides to get back with her ex? I don’t know why she’d do that. The guy sounds like an ass and Kate clearly wasn’t happy with him if she left him at the altar.
‘Really?’ Her eyes widen. ‘I can stay?’
‘Sure. But only for three weeks. And we’ll need to set some ground rules.’
‘Like what?’
‘I don’t know yet. Let me think about it.’
The only rule I can come up with right now is for her to never wear my shirt again. If she does, something will definitely happen. She looked so damn hot in that thing.
‘Thank you!’ She hugs me. ‘You have no idea how relieved I feel knowing I have a place to stay.’ She lets me go. ‘This is exactly what I need. It’ll give me time to think without my family around, telling me what to do.’
‘What about the car? Don’t you need to get it back to your boyfriend?’
‘EX-boyfriend, and I don’t know what I’m going to do with the car. When I can use my phone again, I’ll text Cam and tellhim what happened.’ Her rush of excitement fizzled out the moment she said his name. Now she looks sad, and worried about talking to her ex.
‘Let’s keep walking,’ I say. ‘See if you can make it to the end of the block.’
‘I can make it,’ she says, her smile returning. ‘These boots are pretty comfortable when you stuff them with rags.’
‘If you’re really staying here,’ I say as we walk, ‘you need to get some clothes.’
‘I have some in the car.’
‘It could be a few days before you get it out of the ditch. You’ll need stuff before then. Maybe Gina could loan you some things.’
‘Who’s Gina?’
‘My brother Sawyer’s girlfriend. She owns one of the breweries in town.’ I laugh. ‘The one that competes with Sawyer’s.’
‘Her business competes with her boyfriend’s? And they’re still dating?’
‘They make it work. None of us thought they could, but they found a way. And their breweries are doing better now than when they were trying to put each other out of business.’
‘Wait. How did they end up dating if—’
