Page 31 of Christmas at Cozy Holly Inn
She crossedTalk to Ted about the permitoff of her to-do list.
Chapter 16
Nolan was not usually a suspicious person. He felt bad about his conversation with Julie. Maybe his father’s and grandfather’s grumpy distrustful attitudes were rubbing off. He hoped not. On the other hand, he did see some holes in Julie’s story that she wasn’t staying in town. Here she was meeting with friends and talking to people in the diner as if she were planning to be part of the community. And she was having a party at the inn. That sounded like something to do for a grand opening. And she had a cat!
But the biggest thing was that he’d heard a rumor while he was at the feed store that the inn was opening back up, Ida was coming back, and Julie was staying to help her.
And would it be so bad if she did stay in town? There was something about her, even as prickly as she was, that made Nolan want to like her. Someone who liked animals as much as she did—and he did remember the cat she’d brought with her everywhere as a kid—couldn’t be bad.
She’d grown up into a very attractive woman. Nolan didn’t usually feel this tug toward women, maybe because he knew everyone in town and would have had to drive a good distance in order to meet someone new. He didn’t bother, since he hadn’t really wanted to date after his last disastrous relationship and his mom’s death. But Julie…
If what she said was true, she would be out of Pinecone Falls soon enough.
Nolan cleared his throat. Family dinners were always awkward these days, with conversation scratching the surface of superficial. The weather, the guests, problems with the inn. All spaced between long silences. The lodge didn’t offer dinner to the guests, just breakfast, so Nolan usually did the cooking for the three of them. It didn’t help that Nolan wasn’t the cook his mother had been, and half the time he managed to burn dinner while trying to do three other things.
Tonight’s roast beef wasn’t half bad, mostly because he’d remembered to set a timer on his phone, and he’d opened a can of beef gravy to go alongside it and the potatoes instead of trying—and failing—to make it from the beef drippings. Still, he found he didn’t have an appetite. He set his fork down on his plate with an audibleclink.
Stan narrowed his eyes. “Something got into you?”
Nolan sighed. He knew better than to read too much into town gossip, but this could be important to his family. “I heard a rumor while I was in town today about Julie Green.”
Silence.
Gramps set down his knife and fork with a lot more grace than Nolan had. “What about her?”
“I heard she might be staying on longer than the party.”
Gramps narrowed his eyes. His face might as well have been carved from stone. “How long?”
“I don’t know. It was only a rumor. It wasn’t specific.” He didn’t want to add in the part about Ida coming back and rile Gramps up further. Trying to get back to what should have been a normal dinner, he speared a wedge of potato. He didn’t lift it to his mouth. “Gramps, are yousurethis sale is going through?”
Gramps wanted this sale so badly, and Nolan didn’t want to see him disappointed. But the evidence was pointing to some ugliness in the near future with the Greens. If Ida Green had been in any way capable of running the inn herself, or if her son and daughter-in-law had been willing to take up the responsibility rather than jetting around the world, the property wouldn’t have been put up for sale in the first place. But Julie Green had never before been a concern. She’d been distant, so distant she hadn’t even visited except briefly at Christmas. Nolan would have thought she had no interest in the property either.
But now that he’d met her, he had to wonder…
“Yes,” Gramps said with a grunt. “I’m sure. Ida and I have had our differences, but I have her this time.”
Nolan decided he didn’t want to know what those differences had been. Gramps had always had a chip on his shoulder when it had come to the Cozy Holly Inn. Nolan had always assumed it was because Ida Green was an old business rival, but maybe that wasn’t the case…
He hesitated just long enough for the two older men to mark it. With an inner sigh, he figured he might as well put all his worries out on the table.
“I saw her in town today. Julie. She was talking to Ivy—the pet store owner—about some sort of permit. I didn’t catch the whole conversation, but when someone came up to her and talked about her staying, I figured it couldn’t hurt to straighten out the facts. I asked her point-blank whether she was planning on staying past the party.”
His dad had stopped eating now too. “And?”
Nolan shrugged. “And she said no.”
“But you don’t believe her.”
“Those Greens,” Gramps muttered under his breath darkly.
Nolan pretended not to hear. “Why would she need a permit unless she was planning on opening up to customers again?”
Gramps harrumphed. “Good question. Well, I know one person I can ask. I owe Ted Thorndike a favor. Maybe it’s time to repay him. I may be able to learn more about what the Greens are up to at the same time.”
Nolan was confused. “So, the sale isn’t final, then?”
Silence.
