Page 26 of Happy Harbor
“Why areyouon your porch in the wee hours of the morning?”
“Because I couldn’t sleep,” she said through gritted teeth.
“Same here.” He leaned against one of the columns and waited for her to respond.
“This is my house now. I don’t need my tenant loitering around my porch. You have the guest house. That’s the property you’ve rented. I don’t understand why you think you have the right to just go wherever you want!”
He walked down the few steps onto the lawn, turned around, and looked at her. “Is this better?”
She crossed her arms. “It would be better if you were inside the guest house and not up on a dark porch to scare me in the middle of the night.”
“I’m sorry, okay? I didn’t think anybody would be outside at this hour, and I have a lot on my mind. Sitting on this porch is something I’ve done since I moved here. Adeline and I had our morning coffee out here together. I guess I was trying to feel closer to her.”
Now she felt a bit bad. Just a little, though. This guy was a stranger, and she didn’t like the idea of him living on her property, regardless of how good-looking he was.
“You had coffee with her?”
“Every morning like clockwork. She’d tell me stories about when she was a kid, but also give me life advice.”
“About women?” she asked, for reasons unknown to her. Why did she care about this guy’s love life?
He laughed. “Occasionally.”
Josie sat down on the top step, unsure of why she didn’t just go back inside the house. The sun was starting to light up the edges of the sky, and she needed to get ready to go to the restaurant soon.
“She gave brilliant advice.”
“She did,” he said, leaning against the handrail. “What’s your name, by the way?”
“Why do you need to know?”
He chuckled. “Well, you are going to be my landlord.”
She looked up at him. “Unless I decide to evict you.”
“Yikes,” he said, holding up his hands. “I pay on time, and I promise I’ll stay off your porch.”
She stood up. “As long as you pay on time, we won’t have a problem.” She walked toward the door before turning back to him. “Oh, and you can make those checks out to Josie Campbell.”
Josie didn’t linger to see his face, opting to break their conversation right there. She wasn’t looking for new friends. She was in Happy Harbor to help her daughter, honor her grandmother, and try to make some kind of future for herself. Handsome tenants didn’t factor into any of that.
As she shut the door, she saw Kendra standing in front of the window, peeking between the closed plantation shutters. “Good Lord! You startled me! Why aren’t you in bed?”
Kendra let go of the blinds and looked at her, grinning. “Who was that?”
“Apparently, we have a tenant in the guest house.”
“He looks kinda cute.”
Josie shrugged her shoulders. “Really? I didn’t notice.” She walked out of the room before Kendra could see her face because it would surely give away the fact that she had noticed everything about him, and she didn’t like herself one bit for it.
CHAPTERSEVEN
Josie really wished she had gotten more sleep. It was difficult enough to go over to the restaurant and relive those memories again, but to do it when she knew she was going to be the one running the place with absolutely no restaurant experience was another thing. Kendra had offered to come with her, but she really wanted to do this alone. The last thing she needed was for her daughter to see her break down again.
Thankfully, the restaurant was still closed, so she didn’t have to deal with any customers today. But Joe said that some employees might want to come by and meet Josie since she was going to be their new boss. Josie preferred to work alone most of the time. Managing other people always seemed to get her into trouble.
She turned the key in the lock and walked inside. The place was eerily quiet. It was like she could feel the emptiness her grandmother left. She flipped on the lights, and they struggled to come on. If she ever got the place making more money, she would invest in better lighting.
