Lucas Croft knew when he was being played, which was why he would have bet his last dollar on the fact that the woman sitting across from him was about to hit him with a whopper. Lucky for her, they shared the same DNA.
“Are you going to get to the point, or will there be more chitchat first?” he said.
His little sister’s hazel eyes grew wide, but her feigned shock was no match for experience. Ever since they were kids, she’d been roping him into her crazy plans. He’d figured she would eventually outgrow it, but seeing as she’d just celebrated what she referred to as her twenty-ninth trip around the sun, that was looking less and less likely.
He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. “I know you’re up to something, Smalls. Why don’t you save us both the warm-up and just spit it out.”
Her face scrunched up like she’d just sucked on the lemon dangling off the side of her herbal tea. “You know I hate that nickname.”
“And you know I hate being dragged into your plans.” Despite his best efforts to the contrary, Lucas couldn’t help the smirk of amusement that tugged at the corner of his mouth. His sister might have been a complete pain in the ass, but her heart was always in the right place. Still, her ideas were usually a little eccentric and, if they involved him, often downright wacko. Like the time when she was seven and he was ten and she hatched a plan for them to run off to Antarctica to save some rare breed of penguin. He’d been grounded for a month over that one! Or when she convinced him to help her turn the old fire station into a used bookstore. The long nights painting the walls had been bad enough, but lugging all those books was worse than even the most punishing day in the gym. Although to be fair, that idea had actually turned out fairly well. After five years, Blazing Books was staying afloat, which was more than he could say for his own business venture.
Sophie lifted her chin in defiance. “Maybe I just wanted to see my big brother. Ever think of that, Mr. Smarty Pants?” Between her size—five foot two on a good day—and her pixie haircut, his sister was always being mistaken for a college student. Her insults, on the other hand, were one hundred percent middle school.
Lucas’s smirk widened into a full-on grin. “You expect me to believe you closed the bookstore for an hour in the middle of the day just because you felt the overwhelming urge to buy your brother a blueberry muffin and a shot of espresso?”
She squirmed in her seat, a surefire tell if there ever was one. “I know they’re your favorite. Besides, Maddie loves this place.”
On instinct, Lucas’s gaze shifted to where his four-year-old daughter was busy drawing rainbows on a pint-sized chalkboard. As usual, she’d assembled the three stuffed animals that accompanied her most everywhere into a makeshift classroom. Lord only knew what she was teaching them today, but whatever it was had her smiling, and that was all that mattered despite the fact that they were a motley crew of fluff. There was Floppy, a long-eared rabbit from her very first Easter basket who was now missing his cotton tail; Stanley, half an avocado with a smiley face that was a gift from who else but the dork currently seated across from him; and a well-loved, pink-and-white teddy bear named Stinky. His name wasn’t actually Stinky, but that’s what Lucas had vowed to call him until Maddie relented and allowed the bear to take a bath in the “spinning machine.”
“No fair using the kid to get you off the hot seat.” He leaned forward and placed his elbows on the table. “Now spill. What are you up to?”
“Okay, fine.” Sophie looked down, fiddling with the spoon, the napkin, the lemon—anything to keep from meeting his stare. “I may have reactivated the listing on the rental site.”
Cute little sister or not, she had no right to reactivate the listing on his now-dormant bed-and-breakfast. It might have been his business, at least at one point, but it was also his home. This was crossing the line, even for her.
“Take it down.”
She winced. “I already booked one of the rooms for next week.”
If his daughter hadn’t been within earshot, Lucas would have let Sophie have it. As it was, he was in danger of grinding his molars into dust.
“Look, I know you haven’t hosted guests in a while, but it will be like riding a bike. Once you get going, it will all come back to you.”
There was a litany of reasons why this was a bad idea, the most glaring of which was the fact that the place wasn’t even close to being ready for guests, but he chose to focus on the most immediate one.
“Maddie won’t like it.”
“You don’t know that.”
“She was two the last time a guest stayed in the house. She doesn’t even remember that lifestyle.”
“She was almost three,” Sophie corrected. “Your daughter is a lot more open to new experiences than you give her credit for, and unlike her dad, she actually likes meeting new people.” Her words came quickly, no doubt an attempt to cut off his protests. “Besides, you don’t have to worry about Maddie. She can stay with me.”
“For a whole week?” He shook his head. “No way.”
His sister looked genuinely hurt. “Maddie loves spending time with me.”
“Yeah, for an afternoon, maybe a day here or there, but she’s never been away from me that long.” He tried to soften his objection with a little levity. “Plus, a whole week of glitter nail polish and ice cream before dinner?”
“It’s not like you won’t be seeing her every day. It’s just so you can have the flexibility to get stuff done. And you should be thanking me. If it weren’t for me, the poor thing wouldn’t have even known what a skirt was, let alone tights.”
“And that would have been a bad thing?” As far as he was concerned, Maddie could stay a little girl in blue jeans and pigtails forever.
“I’m serious, Luc. I love spending time with my niece. Plus, it’s good for her to have a female in her life, and since apparently the idea of actually asking a woman on a date is out of the question…”
He shot her a look he knew could freeze lava in hell. “Not this again.” They’d been over the topic so many times he’d lost count. There weren’t many women on the island to begin with, and by the time you weeded out the ones who were too old or too young, there wasn’t much left. Not that he was in the market. Love was a four-letter word as far as he was concerned. “So help me, if you’re about to tell me yet again how much Susan at the bank thinks I look like Ryan Reynolds—”
“Settle down, Cujo.” Sophie held up her hands in innocence. “I wasn’t even going to mention Susan.” She stuck her tongue out. “Personally, I think you look more like Ryan Reynolds in Deadpool, but hey, to each their own. All I’m saying is that Maddie could benefit from a week of frills and glitter.”
“She’s fine. We both are.” His voice lowered. “Plus, what if she has a nightmare?” It had been months since the last time Maddie had woken screaming his name, but the sound of her little voice quivering in fear was permanently ingrained in his mind, not to mention his heart. If she woke up looking for him and he wasn’t there…
“Then you can FaceTime and sing that silly song she loves, and if that doesn’t work, you could be at my place in less than ten.”
Ten minutes away from a frightened four-year-old was ten minutes too long. The doctor said she would outgrow it, that as the memories of losing her mom faded, so would the nightmares she’d been having about losing her dad. It was a double-edged sword really. As much as he wanted his daughter to have a peaceful night’s sleep, the thought of her mother fading from her memories was almost harder to bear than Maddie’s screams.
“Or I could skip the late-night ride and she can just stay home and we can forget this whole thing.” Lucas began to stand, but Sophie’s next words stopped him in his tracks.
“I got double the summer rate.”
“What did you just say?”
“You heard me.”
“How the hell did you manage that?” No one paid double the summer rate in summer, let alone the dead of winter.
“I may have told her there was a man from Louisiana who came back every year to see the sea turtles.”
“You spoke to her?” He wasn’t sure what made him ask because at the moment, the fact that his sister was chatting with potential customers was the least of his concerns.
“We messaged through the site.”
Lucas ran his hand through his hair. “Turtle season ends in August.”
Her ears turned pink. Tell number two. “I may have fudged the dates a bit.”
“And the place doesn’t look at all like the website photos anymore.” That was the understatement of the century. It wasn’t like he’d meant for it to get so out of hand, but after the funeral, he’d focused all his attention on Maddie. Then one day slipped into the next, and before he knew it, even he had to admit it was a mess.
“Yeah, I may not have mentioned that either.”
“What did you tell her?”
“That it was tranquil.”
More like deserted.
“Good news is she booked the turret room,” Sophie said as if reading his mind. Not that it mattered. There was only one guest room left. The others had been…repurposed.
“You know I haven’t had a booking since…” A profound sadness crept into his heart like ink seeping into parchment.
“I know.” Her voice had grown softer. “But the last thing she would want is for you to lose the inn. It meant so much to both of you. And with the taxes coming due…”
There it was, the truth he couldn’t deny. Death and taxes, the two inevitabilities in life. One had rocked his world, and the other was threatening to clear away the rubble.
The cash from Jenny’s life insurance policy had covered their mortgage and living expenses for the last two years, but that account was dwindling quickly. He had enough for about three more months—which, if he was going to reopen, would get him to the summer season—but not for the full tax bill as well. He and Jenny had poured their hearts and souls, not to mention every dime they had, into their little beachfront castle. The thought of running it without her brought the emotions he tried his best to bury right up to the surface. But the thought of selling it—or even worse, having it taken away by the county—would be like losing her all over again.
A week’s rental at double the summer rate would certainly buy him the time he needed to figure out his next steps, not to mention get his little sister off his back.
Lucas pressed his lips into a thin line, then let out an exaggerated breath. “Fine. I’ll take the booking.”
Sophie clapped her hands together. “That’s great!”
“What’s great?” Maddie asked. Her dark-brown curls swayed as she skipped toward the table.
“Your dad just agreed to let you sleep over at my house for a few nights.”
His little girl’s eyes grew wide. “Like a slumber party?”
Sophie smiled. “Exactly like a slumber party.” She cocked her head to one side. “Except it’s not much of a party if it’s only the two of us. Can you think of anyone else we can invite?”
“Stanley would love to come,” Maddie said. “So would Floppy and Raymond,” she added, referring to Stinky by his given name.
Shocker, Lucas thought. But there was no denying the warmth that spread through his chest at the sight of his daughter so happy.
“Then definitely bring them.” Sophie pulled her niece into her lap, then turned her attention back to Lucas. “Want me to come by tonight to help you tidy the place up a bit?”
It would take a hell of a lot more than a little “tidying” to make the place presentable. For a moment, he almost felt guilty about that. But then he thought about the kind of uptight woman who would pay double just to beat out some imaginary schmuck looking for turtles in winter, and all thoughts of Southern hospitality left him. “No thanks,” he said. “I am who I am. If my guest doesn’t like it”—he narrowed his eyes at his sister—“she can message her host.”