Charmer (Havenbrook #1)

Chapter 4

CHAPTER FOUR

FINN

For as long as I could remember, Nola had been in Drew’s and my small circle of friends. In Havenbrook, there were the haves and the have-nots, with very few in between. Growing up in the trailer park on the outskirts of town, Drew and I fit neatly into one particular category. And Nola had been right along with us, her trailer just a couple doors down for our entire childhood.

So it hadn’t been a surprise when she’d called a few months ago, going on about a great opportunity to buy the old Main Street Soda Fountain and renovate it.

At the time, I had been contemplating making an offer on the bar I managed in California for the ready-to-retire owner. Not because I loved that space or because it was a particularly good investment, but because it’d been time. After managing the business for the better part of five years, it’d seemed like the next logical step to take over ownership, especially when I had the means to do so.

Thanks to my goddamn genius of a brother, the two of us and our momma had been lucky, sitting on a nest egg Drew had been able to cultivate. So I had the financial means to do it—something me, my brother, and our mother had been without for the first twenty years of my life. But it had been more than just that. I’d wanted to do something with my life. Wanted to be something more than a bar manager. I wanted something of my own.

And now I was getting it…two thousand miles away from home.

It’d been so long since Drew and I had been in Havenbrook, I hadn’t remembered exactly what the old soda fountain had looked like, but we’d trusted Nola to make a sound decision for the three of us. Now that I stood in front of it, it was like I’d blinked and been transported back in time, to when I was nineteen.

Most of the other buildings in the town square had had facelifts in the time I’d been gone, their storefronts and signage new and updated, matching with the rest of the renovated square. Not our place—or maybe our hole-in-the-wall would have been a more apt description.

It was the only unoccupied building of the newly revived downtown, a two-story brick storefront on the corner, complete with a crumbling front walk and peeling paint on the window casings. The dark red bricks made it appear classic, but the rotted front door and sign hanging above it screamed of neglect.

I cringed, thinking about what we’d find on the inside. It hadn’t been in Drew’s and my plans to stay more than a few days in Havenbrook, so I hoped the interior was up to snuff. The space had been empty for going on two years—was why the three of us had been able to get it at such a steal. Because of that, we had a bit of extra money to put into the renovation. And, from the looks of things, we’d need every penny.

The three of us stood out front, Drew and I flanking Nola as we all stared toward our future.

“What do y’all think?” she asked, dividing a look between us.

“I think we’re gonna use every bit of our budget.” Drew shook his head. “Maybe more.”

It was no surprise my knee-jerk reaction matched my brother’s. I stared up at the building, toward the grimy windows of the second story, remembering Nola had said it had an apartment we could possibly rent out for some additional income. One positive in what I feared was a money pit.

“What time’s Nash meeting us?” I asked about the contractor we’d hired.

As soon as the words left my mouth, a faded red truck, beat to hell and somehow still running, came to a stop along the curb in front of us, King Construction in bold letters on the side. A man I didn’t recognize stepped out. But of course, it could only be one person.

It’d been a long time since I’d seen Nash King, and he’d changed by leaps and bounds. He’d been a couple years younger than us in school, so we hadn’t hung out much—or at all, really. But in a town as small as Havenbrook, everyone knew everyone. No longer was Nash the scrawny teen I remembered. Now he stood as tall as me, his skin-and-bones stature filling out no doubt thanks to his chosen line of work. The younger kid wasn’t a kid anymore.

“Well, if it ain’t the Thomas boys, as I live and breathe,” Nash said as he stepped toward us, a smile stretching his lips.

“Hey,” I said, extending my hand for a shake. “Barely recognized you. Good to see you, man.”

“You too.” He shook Drew’s hand as well, grinning at both of us. “Y’all gettin’ along okay?”

“I guess we’ll see once we get inside.” I nodded toward Nola who pulled out a set of keys.

“It’s actually not as bad as you’d think,” Nash said. “I walked it with Nola before y’all bought it to make sure we weren’t lookin’ at anything structural or any big-ticket items.” He grabbed the door at the top once Nola unlocked it and held it open for everyone. “With the exception of needing new electrical and a whole new HVAC system, it’s a solid building. A good investment, in my opinion.”

Original hardwood floors covered the space, several planks damaged or missing. A few fixtures had been left behind, as well as the bar and stools where the soda fountain had been. The walls, coated in months of grime, were a faded blue. Cobwebs and dust covered every square inch. Even if it was in good working order, it was going to take a shit-ton of elbow grease to get this place gleaming again.

“After talkin’ with Nola about what y’all wanted in here, I drew up a couple different floor plan options.” Nash walked to the counter, unrolling the plans and laying them across the dusty surface. “Anything can be changed, of course. This is just to give y’all an idea of space constraints and such for everything y’all want included. If possible, I’d like to get these finalized today, so I can get my guys in here tomorrow and get started. I know y’all won’t be here for long, so I want to fit in as much as possible. Save Nola some of the headache of dealin’ with any issues that come up after y’all leave.”

“What kind of issues?” she asked.

“Various things that come up here and there as we uncover possible issues with the space. You’ll also need to get started on picking out specific pieces—furnishings, fixtures, flooring, those kinds of things.”

“But that won’t take much time, right?”

“Did y’all hire a designer?” Nash asked.

Drew, Nola, and I shared a glance, my brother and I shrugging. Coming from a bare-bones bar that had nothing more than a bar top, stools, and a few high-top tables, I hadn’t even thought about hiring a designer for the space. Had no idea we’d need one.

“I’ll take that as a no.” Nash laughed. “In that case, it’s gonna take up a good bit of time. At least in the beginning. Once y’all get everything decided, your involvement will be less frequent, though there are always small details to contend with and building issues I’ll need approval for.”

“Any chance this can all get done within the next few days before Finn and Drew leave?” Nola asked with a hopeful smile.

Nash’s bark of laughter caused that smile to drop from her face.

“Shit.” She blew out a breath, running a hand through her hair. She turned to Drew and me. “I love y’all, and I know this whole thing was my idea, but I’ve still gotta work until this place is up and runnin’ and bringing in actual cash. I can’t afford to quit. And I sure as shit can’t afford to get fired because I’m runnin’ over here every fuckin’ day to pick out wall sconces.”

“What the hell’s a wall sconce?” Drew asked, scratching his jaw.

“And y’all thought you didn’t need to hire a designer?” Nash asked with raised brows.

Shit. She was right—they both were. This was going to take a lot more time than we’d bargained for, and Nola didn’t have it to give. Wasn’t fair to make her either. Not when she didn’t have the security of a solid savings account to fall back on like Drew and I did.

“All right, just hang on a second,” I said, running a hand through my hair. “Gimme a minute to think.” I glanced around the room, my gaze catching on a dark alcove toward the back, stairs beyond it no doubt leading to the unoccupied space above.

A plan started forming in my head, the itch under my skin I’d first experienced in Willow’s presence spreading until it was too much to ignore.

“Hey, Xena, you said the space upstairs is an apartment?” I asked.

“Yeah, two-bedroom. Cute little thing. If I wasn’t in the middle of my lease, I’d move there in a heartbeat and save money on rent. Pretty sure they even left some furniture in it.”

My question had been innocent enough, but Drew and I had never been able to get anything by the other, and this was no exception. Drew’s brows shot up in an unasked, what the hell are you gettin’ at ?

I rubbed a hand over my rough jaw. “I was just thinkin’…”

He blew out a heavy breath and shook his head. “Bad idea, man.”

“You don’t even know what I’m gonna say.”

“Twins,” was all he said with a tap to his temple.

Nola divided a look between us. “What am I missin’?”

“You were in there, right?” Drew asked me, ignoring Nola’s curious looks as he hooked a thumb over his shoulder toward town hall on the other side of the Square. “Did she seem real open to havin’ you around for a while?”

“This isn’t about her.” Lies. “You heard Nash—someone’s gotta be here dealing with this shit, at least for a little while. Nola can’t do it.”

“And we can?”

“We have the means to take extended leave if we need to.”

“Wait.” Nola placed a hand on each of our forearms. “Y’all’re stayin’?”

“No,” Drew said, his eyes never leaving mine.

“Maybe.” I crossed my arms, widening my stance.

My twin could deny it all he wanted, but the truth was we needed to hang around—at least for a little while—to get things squared away, and we both knew it. We had enough money so we could go a bit above our budget, but there was still no way we’d be able to hire an interior designer to deal with everything. Especially not considering there wasn’t anyone in Havenbrook who’d fit the bill, which meant we’d have to shuttle in someone from Memphis or Jackson.

Dollar sign after dollar sign kept adding up, and while we did have a savings account to pull from, we’d already taken a huge chunk of it out thanks to the building and renovations. And, truth be told, I didn’t have a whole lot of interest in going back to my childhood days where we scraped for every penny and had survived mostly on boxed mac and cheese with cut-up hotdogs. I wasn’t going to use up all the money just because we had it available to us.

Which meant sticking around, living in the apartment we’d already paid for, and taking care of this stuff on our own was the most logical and economical thing to do. And if it gave me the opportunity to hang around and make sure Willow was all right, well, that was just the icing on the cake, now wasn’t it?

I couldn’t get that buttoned-up version of her out of my head. She didn’t belong there—not behind that desk and not in Havenbrook—and I needed to know why she’d given up all of her dreams to move back.

Nola narrowed her eyes at me. “Is this about Willow?”

“Of course,” Drew said with a snort. “When is it about anything else?”

“Just because we shared a womb doesn’t mean I won’t beat your ass.”

His relaxed stance remained, his hands stuffed in the pockets of his jeans. “If I had a buck for every time you said that to me, I’d be a mighty rich man. And yet my ass has remained unbeaten.”

“Maybe this time I should follow through.”

“Are y’all about done?” Nola asked with an eye roll. “Can someone please let me in on whatever the hell y’all are goin’ on about? Not everyone here has shared a womb.”

Before I could open my mouth to say anything, Drew beat me to it. “Romeo here thinks there’s some chance with the girl he ran away from. Wants to stick around and find out. And, if I’m not mistaken, wants us to hunker down in that apartment above the bar while he does it.” He turned to me, eyebrows raised. “Did I get that about right?”

“No, you didn’t, smartass,” I said. “This isn’t about Willow. Nola can’t be around every day while we get these details figured out. Who else are you proposing do it? Our fairy godmother?”

“So, what, you’re just gonna leave Sammy in the lurch? You know he can’t run the bar without you.”

“The bar’ll run fine. I’ll let him know we’ll be back in two weeks—three, tops.”

I didn’t need my brother telling me this was a bad idea—I already knew that. I didn’t know what the hell I hoped to accomplish by staying. Didn’t know what I could accomplish. But I wanted to try. Even for just a little while.

“What about you?” I asked Drew. “What’ve you got goin’ for the next bit?”

“Nothin’ I can’t do from here, and you know it.”

“So then hanging ’round for a couple weeks shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Jesus.” He took off his cap and scrubbed a hand through his hair before replacing the hat, no doubt reading every ounce of hope and apprehension that dripped from me. He stared at me for long moments then sighed and shook his head. “All right, I’m in. Let’s see how this shitshow plays out.”