Chapter Thirteen
M av watched Lee’s reaction as they strolled into the great room. Damn it, but her opinion mattered, more than he wanted to admit.
He tried to view the lodge through her eyes, but all he could see were past memories and current issues. He pictured Christmastime with Mom and Dad and with Dee and her husband from years ago, all sitting on the couches and recliners, enjoying a brightly lit tree, the warm fire, and comfortable conversation. A pinch in his chest refocused his attention to the brown and blue patterned rug between two couches. The once-thick fabric had become worn, frayed on one edge. One of the west-facing windows had fogged, its seal broken. Needed to be replaced. On the back corner of the great room, a river rock stone had fallen out of the mortar of the fireplace and Mav hadn’t had time to reset it.
That hollow space in the stonework resonated in more ways than one.
Lee hadn’t said anything. He didn’t need her to be impressed, just accepting.
“Wow,” she breathed, her head tilted back to take in the high ceiling and hand-carved wood railing of the loft above them.
That one word resuscitated Mav’s hope.
She walked straight ahead to the soaring windows on the side of the fireplace, Kenai sedately tagging along. Lee lifted her hand but didn’t quite touch the glass. “This view is amazing. The meadow, the woods behind it, and those mountains. Gosh.” As if to herself, she said, “It’s so pretty, it doesn’t seem real.”
He rocked back on his heels. Why didn’t he think she would appreciate it?
Because he had automatically lumped her in with Skylar, whose first comments upon entering the lodge included how cold it was and how slow the satellite Wi-Fi ran.
Quit comparing . He did Lee a disservice. He did his older, wiser self a disservice.
He loved this place. He would work himself into the ground to keep it in the family. He needed to make it successful, but without time or money… Frowning at an area of unvarnished wood on the windowsill, he added another item to his mental to-do list.
“What do you think?” His voice came out hoarse. “I know it’s not very fancy.” He had said those same words before. Mav braced himself.
He couldn’t see her full expression, only her lovely profile as she studied the scenery. He stepped back behind her, wanting to touch her but rolling his hands into fists and planting them at his sides. He peered over her head to visualize what she saw when she stared out this window.
“Fancy? This is very Alaska rustic chic, like on the TV shows! Honestly, no one I know would believe a place like this exists.” She gave a mirthless laugh. “No one I know would survive it!”
He knew all about outsiders not surviving here. “How so?”
“Besides the fact that it’s so beautiful it almost hurts?”
Mav knew all about something being so beautiful it almost hurt.
He was looking at her. “Yes.”
“First of all, there are no boutique shops in town for Mom. No malls for hundreds of miles. Even if she bought jewelry or fancy clothes to show off, they would be wasted under the winter coats. On the other hand, Dad is lost without a country club to attend. The lack of year-round blooming greenery would shock them to their socks. No golfing and drinks afterward with buddies who helped my ex—” She bit off the last word and fell silent.
Maverick didn’t move. He wanted to know more but wouldn’t press.
“Anyway.” She pressed a fingertip into the casement. “My family thinks I’ve lost my mind with this job and location.”
“Do you think you’ve lost your mind by coming here?” He caught a whiff of her sweet and tart scent that reminded him of salmonberries baked in a pie.
It took a few seconds for her to say anything. The words were so soft he barely heard them.
“Maybe so. Or maybe the exact opposite.”
“How so?”
“I really needed this job,” she said heatedly but didn’t go into details. Her sigh slid over him like silk on raw nerves. “I’m realizing that home might not be one fixed place or one group of people. Home doesn’t equal welcoming , either.” She also did not elaborate on that statement.
He definitely wanted to know the whole story of why her shoulders slumped.
Kenai took that moment to lift her head into Lee’s hand, insisting on another ear scratch. With a chuckle, Lee obliged.
The quiet moment dissolved like rising morning mist.
Clearing his throat, he said, “Want to see more?”
When she turned, Lee bumped into him, and he instinctively grasped her upper arm. As she tilted her head up, she caught her lower lip beneath her teeth. That small action, combined with a hint of sadness in her brown eyes, fired off a cascade of complex sensations wrapped up in Mav’s own conflicted feelings and topped off with tons of his baggage from the past.
The mere mention of her ex had created creases between her brows and made her beautiful mouth turn downward. Mav needed to know what happened, if only to be better than whatever that guy was.
Hell. He’d made at least three inappropriate assumptions in the past minute, most of which involved a future, which Mav and Lee did not have.
Not a good way to start a visit—he peered down at her open, vulnerable expression—with a friend.
Friend, damn it .
He dropped his hand. “Come on, this way. We’ll check out the main floor bedroom, the loft rooms, and then the guest wing.”
She blinked, and pain was replaced by a polite smile.
He recognized a mask when he saw one.
“The guest wing must be fancy!” she said.
It wasn’t for him to press. He would remain sensitive to her privacy and keep things casual and friendly. Patience wasn’t his strongest talent, but if she wanted to open up to him, she could do so on her terms. “It only sounds fancy.”
Kenai, apparently not interested in the grand tour, licked Lee’s hand one more time, padded over to the foam bed in front of the fireplace, and curled up with a satisfied whuff .