Chapter 12
CHAPTER 12
R iley hadn’t expected the kiss to change anything between her and Lucas. In some ways, the tension was still there and just as strong as ever. When Lucas walked into a room, she knew exactly where he was. Every part of her was hyper-aware of him. But the aloofness between them vanished. They could talk normally. Sometimes she even got flashes of how their relationship used to be.
Riley’s next confrontation with Lucas happened the first week in January. An hour before her shift ended, an architect showed up to talk to him. Riley hadn’t meant to eavesdrop, but as they walked around the lobby talking, it was clear from their conversation that Carson planned to make major renovations. Knock-walls-out renovations.
The architect gave Lucas a binder of drawings and said he looked forward to working together.
As soon as the man was out the door, Riley sidled over to Lucas. She was nearly immune to his cologne now. Nearly. “What was that all about?”
Lucas opened the binder and flipped through the pages. “Carson wants to add a conference room and another wing for guests. That way, we should be able to make more money in the summertime and attract some small conferences or retreats in the wintertime.” He eyed her with an unspoken sigh already forming on his lips. “You’re about to tell me why you think that’s a bad idea, aren’t you?”
The surprise on her face wasn’t due to disapproval. She’d planned to expand the inn too—someday far in the future when she had the funds. Carson was doing it after one month of ownership? If he was sinking that much money into the building, that decreased the chances he would want to sell the place or that she would ever be able to afford it.
She swallowed and tried to wipe the disappointment from her expression. “Actually I think expanding the inn is a good idea. We get a lot of interest from people who want to do reunions in the summertime, and we usually don’t have enough rooms to accommodate them. Can I see the blueprints?”
She was probably foolish to ask. It was only going to cause her pain to see her dreams rendered into drawings in someone else’s plans.
Lucas handed her the binder.
She expected the drawings of the conference room to have the same quaint English manor look that the rest of the inn had. Instead, they showed a huge glass box attached to what was now the kitchen.
“Turns out you were right. I am going to tell you this is a bad idea.”
Lucas reached for the binder. She flipped it around to show him the picture. “You’re turning the kitchen into some sort of greenhouse?”
“No, we’re modernizing the place. We’ll build a new kitchen and turn the old one into a conference room. The glass walls take advantage of the view.”
She scanned more pages, stomach sinking with each one. “All of this is the wrong style. Did the architect even look at the inn before he drew these?”
“Yes. He wants to modernize the place.”
And this was why football players shouldn’t be allowed to make design decisions. “If our guests wanted to stay in something modern, they’d go to one of those hotels in Bozeman that has the aesthetics of a warehouse. People come here for the old-fashioned appeal.”
Lucas took the binder from her and snapped it shut. “Just a heads up, you’re probably not going to like the furniture the designer wants to put in here after the renovations.”
Were they trying to ruin the building? “You need to tell Carson to get a different architect. Here’s a litmus test he can use: Pass on anyone who thinks the glass pyramid outside of the Louvre was a good idea.”
Lucas nodded patiently, patronizingly. “I’ll give him your opinion as the assistant manager.”
Not good enough. “When is Carson planning on starting this monstrosity?”
“I’m sure the architect and he will go back and forth finalizing the design. After that, getting the permits will take another couple of months. The hope is to have the renovations completed by next winter.”
He said more, but she was too busy making a phone call to hear what.
“Sorry,” Riley told him. “I need to go above your head for this.”
“You want to talk to Carson?”
“No, he clearly has no taste. I’m calling Olivia.”
The call went to voicemail. “Get back to me as soon as you hear this message,” Riley said into the phone. “We need to have a long talk. Really long. Also, are you sure you don’t want a bachelorette party? Annie is having a hard time letting go of that idea and has been researching places in Bozeman. But don’t let her talk you into skydiving. It’s way too cold in the winter for that. One more thing, what exactly are my duties as a bridesmaid? Is there a sash or a tiara involved? Love you, bye.”
Riley put her phone down. Lucas, arms folded, was regarding her. “Should you be having discussions with your friends on the company’s time?”
“I’m trying to save the inn from death by architecture. That is company business.”
“And the stuff about the tiara?”
She rolled her eyes. “I was just joking around. Have you forgotten that I do that?”
He gave her a long look. “No, I haven’t forgotten anything about you.”
What did that mean? She wasn’t sure but it made her gulp. “You can’t think that sticking a modern design on a building that has always attempted to be a pretentious English manor is a good idea. If Carson hears it from both you and Olivia, he’ll listen. You’re going to tell him modernization is the wrong choice, aren’t you?”
Lucas lifted his hands as though trying to show her something. “Most people like modern-looking buildings. Go to any big city and look at the hotels there. You won’t see much new construction in the pretentious English manor style.”
How could he be so wrong? “People build boring square buildings because they’re cheaper, not because they look better. They don’t. They look like tightly packed boxes of misery and despair. It’s probably why crime floods inner cities. People get a little whacked out when they have to stare at those buildings every day. I’d want to mug someone too.”
Lucas nodded, unmoved by her speech. “Fine,” he said dryly. “When I tell Carson the assistant manager’s opinion, I’ll be sure to use the words ‘boxes of misery and despair’. I’ll leave out the part about you wanting to commit random acts of violence.”
She shouldn’t have been so upset by all of this. It wasn’t her inn. She was still considering buying land and building an inn to compete with this one. The best thing to do was say, “Great plans. While you’re at it, you should get carpet throughout the inn that makes a bold, modern statement. Try something with an orange and chartreuse design.”
But she cared about the building too much. She didn’t want to see its beauty destroyed. “If Carson sticks with that architect, the end project will look like The Riverside Inn had an affair with a Walmart and is giving birth to a long, squat office building.”
Lucas tucked the binder under his arm. “Um, okay. Thank you for that visual. Also, I’ve changed my mind about you talking to Olivia. You should tell her all of this instead of telling it to me. Why don’t you call her again? Maybe she’ll pick up this time.”
He was moving away from the front desk and heading to his office. She followed after him. “Wait, I have to convince you what a bad idea those designs are so you can help change Carson’s mind. Right now, I don’t think you get the whole aesthetics angle, which granted, I should’ve expected because your last apartment had no decorations, and the furniture looked like you found it on the side of the road.”
He stopped to face her and drew in a patient breath. “My roommates and I didn’t have to find that furniture anywhere. It was left in the apartment by a string of previous tenants who were either too generous or too lazy to move the stuff out. I left a potted Ficus tree and a philodendron for the same reason.”
He’d left them? “I gave you those plants.”
“Oh, well, maybe that was the reason then.” He turned to walk to his office again.
She took hold of his arm to stop him. “We can negotiate about this.” She hadn’t expected that touching him would send any feelings through her. She wasn’t touching him in a romantic way, and yet she didn’t seem to be able to move her hand from his arm. It wanted to stay there, her feet wanted to be this close to Lucas. Muscle memory, she supposed.
He surveyed her, looking into her eyes, not at the hand that still rested on his arm. She tried to think of something she could use as a bargaining tool. “If you convince Carson that the new renovations should match the original style, I’ll…” She really had nothing to bargain with. “I’ll be a model employee for you.”
His eyebrow cocked up. “Wouldn’t you do that anyway?”
She dropped her hand away. “Um, no. Olivia assured me that you couldn’t fire me, so you know, I was planning to…” she made a rolling gesture, “slack off whenever you aren’t around. Come in late. Defy your every order. That sort of thing.”
“Just because I can’t fire you doesn’t mean Carson can’t.”
“As I’m gathering names on my petition to protect the inn’s historical value, I’ll mention that you insinuated Carson would fire me over this. The Lark Springs Gazette would probably find that newsworthy.”
Lucas pinched the bridge of his nose, shut his eyes, and sighed. When he opened his eyes, his gaze bore into her. “No petition. No Gazette, and I’ll tell Carson I think he should get a second opinion about the design. That’s all I can promise, and you better not ever come in late.”
“What if Carson doesn’t listen to you?”
“Then the two of you will finally have something in common. Now stop slacking off and get back to work. We have a deal. You’ve got to be a model employee now.” He stalked off toward his office.
He ought to have known that her threats about slacking off were meaningless. She took too much pride in her work for that.
“Thanks!” she called after him.
“And no more trying to startle me with the ghosts of marsupials past,” he called back.
“Look who wants the moon,” she said, but he’d already shut the office door. She found herself smiling anyway. Working with Lucas did make her job more interesting.
Olivia didn’t call back until later that night. She’d been at a seamstress for wedding dress alterations and then at a bridal shower some of the Broncos’ wives threw for her.
This was another reminder that Olivia’s life had changed since she’d moved to Denver. Now she had a whole group of friends that Riley knew nothing about. Probably the trophy wife type of women. Cool. Beautiful. Sophisticated.
“You wanted to talk to me about the architectural plans?” Olivia asked although it wasn’t really a question. “Lucas already told Carson all the metaphors you used to describe the proposed addition.”
“I have more,” Riley said. “Modern architecture is like modern art. Carson is going to Picasso a Rembrandt. Picasso, by the way, sucks.”
“You realize you’re talking to a past art teacher, right? Picasso broke conventions and…never mind. That’s not the point. You’re right that the architect’s plans don’t match the existing structure. The problem is the budget. It’s cheaper to build in a modern style than to come up with something that looks like it was Darcy and Elizabeth’s summer retreat. Carson has sunk so much money into the inn that he doesn’t want to spend a ton extra on the renovations.”
Riley had depended on Olivia being just as horrified by the aesthetic as she was. Her words twisted in Riley’s stomach. “But it will look bad. Doesn’t the artist in you hate that?”
“The artist, yes. But the rest of me understands the financial side of the situation. As it is, we won’t see a return on those renovations for years.”
“Then why not wait on the new addition?”
“Because if Carson doesn’t expand, there’s a higher chance someone else will come in and build another upscale hotel nearby. But he’s going to ask the architect what small changes he can make that will help the designs mesh better. People won’t see the new wing from the front, so the inn will still have the same picturesque look from that angle. Guests will love the new rooms from the inside. The building just won’t look as pretty from the back. That’s not such an awful thing, is it?”
Yes, it was. “It will end up hurting business,” Riley said because apparently Carson was only going to respond to the financial side of things.
“Let’s see what changes the architect comes up with. I’ll have Lucas show them to you once they’re done.” She was wrapping up the subject, and with all of her wedding preparations, she probably wouldn’t think about it again until February. Would that be too late for serious plan changes?
“What if Carson got another investor? He works with a bunch of rich guys. Wouldn’t one of them like to adopt a needy Montana inn?”
“I don’t know how much he talks to his teammates about investments.”
“Hear me out. He can tell them that he won’t hit them so hard in practice if they throw a hundred thousand dollars his way.”
“That’s not how practice works.”
Riley needed a new approach. “Remember how you offered to set me up with one of Carson’s friends to be my wedding date? I’ve decided I want that. He doesn’t have to be handsome, just wealthy and easily influenced.”
Olivia’s voice took on a panicked tone. “Riley, you absolutely can’t hit up any of Carson’s friends for money at my wedding.”
Some of Carson’s teammates would be staying at the inn. They might enjoy the place so much that they saw the value in it. “For all you know, a few of them are looking for investments. They might be happy to see the business plan I’m clearly going to need to create before your wedding.”
“No.” Olivia’s voice went low with a warning. “I’m already worried that they’ll judge me because of my poor roots, dysfunctional family, and alcoholic father. I can’t worry that my bridesmaid is pressuring them for money. My white-trash bingo card has enough spaces on it, thank you.”
It wasn’t like that. “Once they see the inn, the idea will sell itself. Have you thought about having your wedding at The Riverside? There are some great photo ops by the fireplace.”
“We’re having it at the church, and you aren’t even allowed to mention the inn to anyone.”
It had been a mistake for Riley to talk to Olivia about getting another investor. Riley should’ve just waited until the wedding and mentioned the subject when Carson’s friends were around.
“It was just an idea,” Riley said. “A good idea but apparently hopeless. Just like the inn.” She just kept losing more of The Riverside Inn. Pretty soon it wouldn’t even be the same place. Her throat felt tight. She was glad Olivia couldn’t see her face and tell how upset all of this was making her.
She was powerless to keep Carson’s architect from ruining her second home.
“The inn isn’t hopeless.” Olivia’s voice went softer. “It will still be a lovely place, no matter what additions the architect makes.”
Olivia didn’t understand. Perhaps she couldn’t. As a high school art teacher, she’d never been sentimentally attached to her workspace. One classroom was like another. The inn was unique, classic, and beautiful.
Carson might feel differently about bringing on one of his friends as an investor, but Riley wouldn’t be able to call him and talk to him about that, or Olivia would be upset with her for going behind her back.
However, that didn’t mean Riley couldn’t casually bring up the idea to Carson when he returned to Lark Springs for the wedding. Olivia couldn’t be mad if Carson was the one to talk to his friends about investing in the place.
“When will the architect have his updated plans to you?” Riley asked.
“He won’t start work on them for a couple of weeks.”
Good. Between that and the time it took to get building permits from the city, Riley had some time before anyone took a wrecking ball to the place.