Matt turned over and punched his pillow, trying to get comfortable. I should have told Liz that I was the one she outbid on the old place on Doe Run Road. The thought had tumbled around in his brain for the last two hours.
She might not trust my assessment if she knows.
But he knew that was doubtful, although it was a mounting list of problems. She might think he was just trying to scare her off or talk her out of the property, which wasn’t the case. The truth was she’d caught his attention … again. The last thing he wanted was for her to leave.
She’d looked kind of familiar the first time he’d seen her in the diner, but now that he knew about her connection to the inn he remembered everything about her.
The two of them shared more in common than just bidding on Angel’s Rest.
They’d spent a lot of hours together fly-fishing the stream and hiking these hills as kids. Not just the two of them—there was always a big group of kids on those outings—but she’d intrigued him even back then. His first crush.
He only had to remember the one new girl. She’d been a stranger to all of the kids, and her focus had been on spending time with her grandfather, not the other kids. She might not remember him, but he sure remembered her.
If he’d only been up-front with her about the auction, and the fact that he’d already conducted the in-depth inspection, he wouldn’t have to wait until Thursday to see her again.
Each day dragged by, and when Maizey told him that she was staying in George and Dottie’s apartment, Matt found himself spending more time in town than usual hoping to bump into her, with no luck.
On Thanksgiving morning, Matt rolled out of bed at six o’clock and grunted out a hundred push-ups followed by a hundred sit-ups the way he did every morning. With his blood pumping, he went to the kitchen and preheated the oven. Out the window, the low morning light rose like smoke from the night grass.
He’d had plenty of invitations for a hearty Thanksgiving meal and probably more desserts than he was willing to exercise off, but this year he couldn’t bring himself to spend it with anyone. He missed Dad.
Just because he wasn’t up to spending Thanksgiving with anyone didn’t mean he didn’t like a good turkey dinner, though, and he was fine with dinner for one.
Memories of Thanksgivings with Mom and Dad filled his head. It would never be the same now that Dad was gone too.
The oven beeped, letting him know it was up to the desired temp. He hadn’t even started yet. His coffee had cooled during his walk down memory lane too. He dumped it into the sink and took the turkey tenderloin he’d picked up at the market yesterday out of the refrigerator.
He gave the tenderloin a rubdown with olive oil, then added fresh thyme, sage, garlic, coarse salt, and fresh pepper before popping it into the oven and setting the timer for forty-five minutes.
Then he pulled cans out of the pantry and placed them on the kitchen island next to the fresh eggs Pastor Mike had given him yesterday for helping out. It didn’t take him long to put together candied sweet potatoes and one of those green bean casseroles. He opened the large oven door and slid both dishes on the rack below the turkey. Then he worked up a batch of stuffing and set it to the side. He’d have to make the gravy when he got back.
By the time he’d scrambled a few egg whites and drunk a hot cup of coffee, the timer on the oven was ticking off the final few minutes on the turkey. He shoveled the last two bites of his eggs into his mouth, turned off the oven, and covered the loaf pans that his casseroles were in with foil before heading out to meet Lizzie at the inn.
She had the same effect on him now that she had all those years ago the first time he laid eyes on her serving hot chocolate one frigid winter night before Christmas with her grandmother. His parents had taken him to see the lights.
It had been a cold December night and Mr. Jarvis had hooked up his hay wagon behind his draft horses and chugged a trailer load of locals up the steep path to see the holiday lights. There hadn’t been anything fancy about it, just a great way for people to spend time together, and celebrate the holidays with some a capella caroling. It was sort of the unofficial kickoff to the holiday season. There’d been no town tree lighting back then. Other than the live nativity at the church, the Westmorelands’ extravagant light display and treats at the inn was the big attraction. People still talked about those times now. They’d been a part of the fabric of this town for so many years.
Everyone in town participated.
Waiting for her to come back that summer had felt like a lifetime.
Once the inn closed, the town decorated the big cedar in front of town hall the first Friday night of December. It wasn’t the same, though.
Matt scooped out a big dish of dog food. “Come on, Elvis. Time to eat.”
That dog was never in a hurry. He lumbered into the kitchen, stopping to stretch and yawn. “You be a good boy while I’m gone. I won’t be long.” He patted Elvis on the head and left to meet Liz.
He was running early, so he took the long way around, back down through town. Antler Creek was quiet on this bitter cold morning. Then again it was still a little too early for people to realize what they’d forgotten at the store for turkey day just yet.
As he passed by, there were only three cars in front of the market—proving his point.
Doe Run Road was a frosty sight this morning. The freezing rain had laid a thick layer of ice along the bare branches, weighing them down so much that they seemed to reach for the other side of the road, forming a glistening tunnel. In places, limbs had fallen into the road. Ice cracking into what looked like shards of glass sprawled on the pavement.
Matt glanced at his watch. He’d planned to be early, but he could see by the fresh tire tracks on the road that he hadn’t been the only one up and ready to go early this morning. She was already here.
His pulse quickened. Why? They hadn’t really known each other all those years ago, and she’d had a boyfriend waiting on her at home, so they’d just been casual friends doing things in a group with other kids from the church. But she was different from the girls he’d known. Confident, and unaware of how cute she was … even when she was wearing hip waders and a fishing hat.
Matt took in a deep breath. Get ahold of yourself, he thought.
Until Liz came back to town he wasn’t the least bit interested in getting involved again. He was fine being alone. Completely fine with it; in fact, he preferred it that way. His house was always clean. There was no argument over what to watch on television, or the way he spent his money. He could eat whatever he liked when he liked. A woman was definitely not what he needed right now.
But it’s Lizzie.
No. Don’t fix what ain’t broke. Things were good the way they were. Uncomplicated.
She could go back to Charlotte, and I might never see her again.
“My point exactly,” he said to himself. “I sure don’t need to make that mistake again.” He pulled into the driveway and parked next to her in front of the house. Just get in there, give her the information she needs, then get out.
He grabbed the bright orange rechargeable spotlight from his backseat. With his notepad in hand he walked to the door, rapping on it three times before letting himself inside. “Good morning.”
“Hey.” She spun around toward him, all bundled in a hip-length ski jacket, with the hood up. “Thanks for being on time. It’s freezing in here.”
Her nose was red, which made her look even cuter as she bounced up and down trying to expend some energy to warm up. He wished he’d thought to bring a kerosene heater for them to at least warm up around as they talked, but he wouldn’t need that much time.
“We’ll try to make this fast.”
She clapped her gloved hands together. “I’m more interested in an in-depth look at what I’ve got to work with than a fast one.”
“Of course. So, I guess I need to let you know…”
“What?” Concern danced in her eyes.
“I’ve already done a lot of this inspection.”
“I don’t understand.” She looked around. “The electricity isn’t on, so you couldn’t have come last night.”
“Right. No. I worked it up over the past few weeks.” He could tell she wasn’t tracking to what he was saying. “I was bidding on this place too.”
“Oh!” Her eyebrows shot up, and a slight smile played on her lips. “You were?”
“Mm-hmm. You were just willing to pay more than I was.” He noticed her lips tug to the left, as if that piece of information pained her. He hoped she hadn’t paid much more than his threshold had been.
“Yeah, well you clearly had more current information than I had.” She scanned the room, shaking her head. “I only stumbled upon it being up for sale on Thursday night. I had no time to check things out. I bid solely on emotion and great memories from my childhood.” She raised her hand in the air. “I know that’s not a popular methodology. I personally wouldn’t recommend it either.”
He laughed. He liked her moxie. “Well, it’s yours now.”
“Exactly.”
“So, I’ve already done the in-depth look at the bones of this place and there are a few problems, for instance…” He took her arm and moved her about four steps to the right. “The folks from the art gallery didn’t get professional input when they started removing walls, else they wouldn’t have removed that one.” He pointed above where she’d just been standing. “That used to be a weight-bearing wall. If it’s left open it needs a structural beam there.”
She took another giant step back. “That’s important.”
“Yeah, and as you can see there was some significant water damage. Nice that they’d repaired the roof. Too bad they left the huge mess. Rumor has it they took the insurance money and fixed the roof, but decided the building was too much work for the limited foot traffic they got up here. They closed the gallery instead.”
“I can see where that could be the case.” She walked around the room, then turned and looked his way with her head cocked. “If I’m understanding you correctly, you already have some idea of the extent of the necessary fixes and renovation involved.”
“I do, and I’m happy to send it to you.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Couldn’t you have just told me that when I talked to you about doing the inspection?”
She was right. He could have. “That’s fair. You’re right, but you know part of the assessment depends on what it is you plan to do with the place. So, let’s talk about what your plans are. That will impact the list of what really needs to be done, and the cost to do it.”
“I probably should have asked what this inspection was going to cost me.”
“I’m not going to charge you a dime for what I’ve already done as my own due diligence to bid on the place.”
“Really? Why would you do that?” She seemed skeptical. “I mean, you have the information. I need it. Simple supply and demand.”
That made him chuckle. “Maybe in the city. Around here, we call it the good neighbor policy.” Right now was the perfect time to tell her he remembered her from those fishing trips in the stream with her grandfather, but for some reason the thought of saying that as they stood here in the freezing cold in the dark seemed creepy.
“So far all the neighbors seem pretty nice.”
“Folks up here are the real deal. It’s a good place to be.”
“My best childhood memories are from here.” She sucked in a breath, smiling as if she was seeing things the way they used to be. “I always dreamed of running the inn like my grandparents had. When they sold it and took off in that RV, I was devastated. I didn’t understand it.” She looked away. “Honestly, I still don’t understand how they could leave this behind.”
“I guess they wanted to travel?”
“Bucket list.” She nodded. “Only none of us knew what was really going on until it was too late. Pop had been diagnosed with cancer, so they decided to throw caution to the wind. Go for broke, literally, and travel and see the nation until they couldn’t.”
“Not a bad way to go.” Only he knew better. Cancer was a terrible way to go. He’d seen it attack and age his father in fast-forward time right before his eyes. It had been hard to watch. Finally, he’d just pretended he was helping some other person’s grandfather. That had been easier than admitting to himself what was happening to Dad, and there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it.
“Somehow I don’t think it was as fun as they thought it would be. How could it be, knowing that any day could be your last together?”
He shook his head. The lump in his throat kept him from offering up any response at all.
“I feel like now I’m getting the chance to do what I was always meant to do.” Her eyes glistened. These were clearly the words of her heart. “I want to bring Angel’s Rest back to its original beauty.”
He shook his head. He admired her dream, but this was a big task. “This place is a long ways off from that.”
“You should’ve seen it back in the day.”
He had. Well, not every room, but he’d been inside the living room at Christmas. It wasn’t like this. Tell her.
“Where do we start?” she said with a smile.
Rain started pummeling the roof.
They both looked up. “Those metal roofs are great, but they can be noisy.”
“I love the sound.” She closed her eyes and tilted her chin toward the ceiling.
Her unjaded view intrigued him. When was the last time he’d really just pushed every tiny ounce of negativity away to enjoy something at its very core? He closed his eyes and looked up too. “Great sleeping.”
Her eyes sprung open. “Yes!”
The gusto of her response jerked him back. He chuckled at how he’d gotten caught up in her moment. Like an otherwise reluctant trout striking a hand-tied dry fly skittering across the stream. “I’m glad to hear you want to turn this place back into the lodge—or an inn as you called it.”
“I’m not even sure I know the difference between a lodge and an inn or a bed-and-breakfast, but I’m going to have one,” she said with a laugh. “At least sort of.”
“I believe a lodge indicates there’s recreation as well as a place to rest your head. Whatever you decide to call it, there isn’t any other place to stay here in Antler Creek, and people still have fond memories of Angel’s Rest.” He walked to the back right corner of the space. “The kitchen used to be over here. Do you know what you have in mind for that?” He walked over to where a blue “W” was spray-painted. “The pipes are still behind this faux wall. It would have to be stubbed back out, but at least the plumbing wouldn’t be a complete redo unless you want to move the water to another part of the room.”
“It makes sense to keep the kitchen sink under this window. It’s such a nice view. I brought a few sketches of what I had in mind.” She crossed the room and picked up a leather folio from next to her purse and carried it back over to him. Flipping through a stack of papers, she pulled one out that had the word “kitchen” in bold letters down the left side. “Here you go.”
He took it, then looked at her. “You did this?”
She nodded.
“Impressive.”
“Thanks. I would have been fine with the kitchen the way it was if it had still been here, but since it’s not, I may as well take advantage of a few newer layouts and conveniences.” She handed the whole folder over to him. “I put together the original layout the best I could remember using some software I found online. It’s not to scale or perfectly formatted, but it might help us assess my needs.”
“Not bad.” That was putting it mildly. He worked with guys who’d been educated in drawing plans who handed him less professional stuff than this. “You did good here. Really good, and it’s reasonable.”
Modestly, she shrugged. “You can Google how to do just about anything these days.”
“That doesn’t always end well, you know. Can’t believe everything you see on the internet.”
“Don’t I know it,” she said with a laugh. “I’ve had a few Pinterest fails. That site sucks me in every time. Especially with recipes, and I’m no cook.”
“Then you probably can mark the bed-and-breakfast off of your list. Stick to the lodge or inn.”
“True. I’ll stick to what I know. At least when it comes to software and planning, I’m in good shape, and I’m no quitter.”
“Good, because a project the size of this isn’t for quitters.” But he didn’t for a second think she would quit this project.
The rain spattering along the roof became louder. “That sounds like hail.” She raced to the front door, and flung it open. “It is.”
“I was hoping that weather system would skirt us. As cold as it’s been, it’s going to get slick up here in a hurry.” Matt motioned her back over. “We better make this fast.”
She closed the door, and jogged back over to his side. Her eyes sparkled. “I’m with you on that.”
Okay, so maybe I’m more than a little interested.