Chapter 5
Chapter Five
Avery
“It’s incredible. I can’t wait to see it in person.”
The virtual tour over, I laughed and flipped the screen on my phone around so I could see my best friend, Carrie. “It’s pretty great, isn’t it?”
“It looks like a lot of work.” Carrie pressed her lips together and shook her head.
Carrie and I had been best friends most of our lives. We’d been through pretty much everything together. But where I was an infallible optimist who could always see the bright side of every situation, Carrie was more of a realist. She’d tried to bring me back down to earth on more than one occasion in the past. But when it came to the inn, I refused to entertain any thoughts that weren’t one hundred percent positive.
I couldn’t afford to let any bit of negativity—or realism—in.
“I’m up for it.” I took my cup of tea out to the front porch, which had very quickly been my favorite place in the few days I’d already been in town. Probably because from the vantage point of the old swing, with the building at my back and the street in front of me, I could pretend—at least for a few minutes—that I didn’t have an overwhelming amount of work in front of me.
The swing creaked under my weight when I sat, but the rusty chain held. For now.
I added it to my mental list of things to fix.
“And I’m going to hire a handyman,” I told Carrie once I was safely settled in the swing. “Reid Lyons is the best in town.” It wasn’t just his brother, Grayson, who’d told me that, either. I’d been asking around, and everyone had said the same thing.
“Is he cute?” Leave it to Carrie to need the details. “He is, isn’t he? I can see it on your face.”
It was true. Reid Lyons was very cute. And strong. And he made me feel things I hadn’t felt in a very long time just by looking at me. But he was also the grouchiest man I’d ever met, completely unreasonable, and—probably most notable—he didn’t seem to like me at all.
“Oh my God, Avery. You are totally living in a Hallmark movie.”
“A what?”
“You are. You’ve moved to a small mountain town to fix up the old inn you inherited and you’re going to fall in love with the sexy local handyman.” She laughed. “It’s just like every single holiday movie ever.”
“Except it’s not Christmas time.”
“Details, details.” Carrie waved her hand.
And then there was the other, not-so-small detail that I still hadn’t fully resolved about the fact that my grandparents’ will had clearly stated I needed to be married in order to inherit the inn and the healthy savings account they’d left me to fix it up.
“You forget that I still haven’t figured out the rest of my situation.” I bit my bottom lip and blew out a breath.
“I’m telling you, Avery. Just grab a guy off the street and make him a deal. You’re a total catch, and any man would be more than happy to be your husband.”
“Except for one.” I hated the way my stomach still dropped six months later whenever I was reminded of Porter.
“He’s a fucking idiot,” Carrie said without missing a beat. “And he did you a favor by knocking up that?—”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
I didn’t. Mostly because there was nothing to talk about. Porter and I had been together just over a year, and I was sure we were going to be married. It wasn’t just me, either. Porter loved to talk about the big wedding we were going to have, with all our family and friends. I could see now that for him, the wedding would have been more to show off and a lot less about us and our relationship. But it hadn’t stopped me from starting to daydream about standing at the altar, pledging my life and love to my husband.
I just had the wrong man.
Ironically, if I hadn’t discovered that Porter had been sleeping with his intern, I probably would have that husband I needed right now. Of course, if she hadn’t gotten pregnant, I would have been married to an adulterer. So, be thankful for small blessings, I guess.
“Well, either way, I meant what I said.” Carrie shook her head. “All you need to do is go outside and wave your left hand in the air, and you’ll snag a husband.”
“You do realize how crazy that sounds, right?”
“Hell, I’ll marry you right now.” Carrie looked straight into the camera.
It was my turn to laugh. “Is that a proposal?”
“You know it is.” She was completely serious. “But I’m not wearing white.”
“Oh, I love you, Carrie,” I said between giggles. “But the will clearly stated husband , so I’m pretty sure it’s a no-go. You know how much I appreciate it, though.”
“Anything for you.” She blew me a kiss. “Look, I can’t wait to see the inn and this sexy handyman you’re going to fall in love with and marry. Or marry and then fall in love with.” She waved her hand. “Whatever order you need to do things. But I’ve gotta run. Talk soon, okay?”
“Of course.”
“Love you, bye.” The screen went blank.
“A Hallmark movie, huh?” I tucked my phone beneath me, took a sip of my tea, and pushed the swing a little so my feet slid over the floorboards. The situation did have all the makings for one of the over-the-top sappy movies I loved to binge with a bucket of popcorn. Except for one little detail.
This was real life. Not a movie.
With a sigh, I dropped my head back and blew out a breath. I couldn’t let myself worry about the whole husband thing. Not until it was something to actually worry about. And with any luck, the lawyers would find a loophole that rendered that part of the will null and void.
For now, I needed to focus on the task at hand.
Getting this place fixed up.
It had taken me a few days to conclude, but I’d officially reached it. YouTube videos and internet searches were only going to get me so far when it came to the repairs the inn needed.
Despite my best efforts, I’d been unable to get Reid to accept the job. Of course, it would help if I could actually talk to him, but I hadn’t been very successful in my efforts to track him down up until now.
And even if I could find Reid, I wasn’t overly confident that I’d be able to convince him of anything. He was pretty adamantly against helping me with the inn. Which was completely ridiculous. No matter what he might think, I was not an outsider who was going to singlehandedly destroy his town.
Okay, I might be an outsider. But I certainly had no plans to destroy Trickle Creek.
I’d only been back in town for a few days and already I remembered exactly why I loved it here so much when I was younger.
Everything was so much quieter and calmer. With the mountains surrounding me in every direction, I felt a sense of peace that I could never achieve in the city. No matter how many yoga classes or meditation sessions I attended.
It was like some part of me was able to unplug and disconnect so that I could reconnect to a different part of myself. A calmer, more connected part.
With a sigh, I took another sip of my tea and let my feet slide over the floorboards again.
I was going to need help and if Reid wasn’t willing to take the job, I was just going to have to find the second-best handyman in Trickle Creek.
And possibly—a husband.
The sooner the better.