Chapter Three
Benson
“Nice place you’ve got here,” Piper says with a snort as she sidesteps a stack of papers piled up in front of my desk.
I raise an eyebrow and lean back in my chair. “Funny, I don’t remember inviting you here for interior design advice.”
“No? Shame. You could use some.”
She scrapes back a chair and sits down.
“Careful. That chair’s an antique,” I warn.
“From what? 1991?” She gives the sagging plant on my desk a poke. “And what about this poor thing? It looks like it’s been trapped in here forever. It must’ve survived on sheer willpower alone. The dirt is bone-dry. You do know plants need light and water to survive, right?”
“Jealous that my plant has got more life in it than that sad-looking dead tree at the back of your glamping resort?”
“Oh, please,” she scoffs. “That tree was struck by lightning and is still hanging in there. And I hired an arborist to save it. Meanwhile, you’re the one stuck in this shoebox of an office. Don’t you think it’s time to expand this place and thrust it into the twenty-first century where the rest of us have been living for decades?”
I sigh. “Are we going to bicker the whole time or are we going to discuss the plans we came up with for preventing that developer from ruining things for us?”
“Sure. Why don’t you go first?”
Her nostrils flare, and I have to try my absolute best not to laugh. She’s cute when she’s angry, even when that anger is directed at me. Too bad she hates my guts. You know how people always talk about love at first sight? With her, it was hate at first sight. Seriously, five minutes with me and she hated me.
I don’t even know why. I have no troubles or any strained relationships with anyone else in Fog Harbor. The first time Piper and I spoke, I shared my passion for old-school camping with her and she bit my head off, insulting my campground without blinking—the business I’ve worked so hard for and am unbelievably proud of.
Something like that doesn’t exactly scream ‘best friends in the making’. So yeah, we bicker all the time, even though I secretly find her adorable. Not that I’d ever admit that to her. I’m not giving her the satisfaction of knowing that tidbit of information because she’ll use it as a weapon against me for as long as I live.
“Well? You don’t have a plan, do you?” she asks with a smug smile.
“I do,” I say. “I think we should buy the land together.”
Her eyes grow wide. “That’s your plan? It’s ridiculous.”
“Excuse me?”
“I’m not going to buy real estate with a guy like you, Benson.”
I clutch a hand over my chest, pretending to be hurt. “Ouch, you sure know how to kill a man’s ego.”
She arches an eyebrow. “Do you really want to co-own a plot of land with me? We don’t get along as it is. How will we ever decide what to do with it? We’ll kill each other before the ink has dried on the contract.”
“Fine, you have a point. My idea clearly sucks, so why don’t you tell me what you’ve thought of. I’m sure it’s golden.”
Piper crosses her arms over her chest and narrows her eyes at me. “Well, I’m still working on my idea. But one thing’s certain—I’m not about to jump into some business arrangement with you just because you think it’s convenient.”
I lean forward, resting my elbows on the desk. “So, you’ve got nothing, huh? That’s what I thought. At least my terrible idea is better than yours which consists of sitting around waiting for a miracle.”
She huffs and looks away. “We’ll think of something. In the meantime, how do you feel about visiting your sister-in-law’s family and hitting the trails there?”
I blink. Did I miss part of the conversation or is she losing her mind? “Let me get this straight—you’re dodging my suggestion to buy the land together by trying to ship me off to Maplewood Springs for some kind of hiking retreat?”
Piper rolls her eyes, clearly exasperated. “It’s not about dodging your idea, Benson. I’m just thinking you might want to get some fresh air and clear your head before you try to drag me into any more ridiculous schemes.”
“I love my brother and his wife, but I’m not going to drop everything in the busiest season of the year to go hiking with them in some small town. Besides, there’s plenty of fresh air in Fog Harbor too.”
Tears spring to her eyes. “Are you sure? The Appalachian Mountains are gorgeous this time of year, and I know you love hiking.”
“I’m staying put, yes, but thanks for the completely irrelevant suggestion.”
She bites her trembling lip. “Why can’t you do this one tiny thing for me? You don’t know what it’s like to have to make small talk about Bitcoin and the fluctuations of the trading market.”
“What does small talk have to do with me visiting my sister-in-law’s family in Maplewood Springs?” I frown. “Are you sure you’re okay? You’re not suffering from a heatstroke or something?”
“I’m perfectly fine!”
“Then what’s going on? You’re scaring me by acting so… weird,” I say, trying to avoid calling her crazy.
“My mother is coming into town,” she says between gritted teeth.
I run a hand over my beard, genuinely puzzled. “Is that some new kind of slang for your Aunt Flo making an appearance? Are you trying to hint you need chocolate or something?”
Her eyes widen in shock. “No, that’s not it at all. Just stop.”
“Stop what? You’re the one rambling and making absolutely no sense whatsoever.”
She gives me a flick of the wrist and an annoyed sigh as if she can’t be bothered to explain something obvious to me. Honestly, how are men supposed to understand women if they keep talking in riddles?
“Let’s drop the whole thing, okay? Pretend it never happened. All I’m asking of you, no, begging of you, is not to speak to my mother when she comes into town.”
“Okay,” I reply reluctantly, even though I still don’t know what her mother coming into town is code for.
“Great, that’s settled then.”
I clear my throat. “Anyway, let’s circle back to our plan to fight the big, bad developer. Should we give it an extra day to think things over?”
“Or a week,” she says.
“That sounds like an awful long time to wait before we take action. We don’t know how fast this developer plans to move, Pip.”
Her eyes shoot daggers at me. “It’s Piper.”
I know I shouldn’t tease her like this, but it’s way too easy. She hates it when I call her Pip, and I love how flustered she gets when I do. The way her ponytail swings left and right when she angrily shakes her head at me is priceless.
Not that I love her , absolutely not, but… Like I said, despite her being insufferable, she’s extremely adorable.
She scrapes her chair back and clears some invisible dust from her shorts. “I’ll drop by once I’ve got a more fully-fledged idea. In the meantime, please don’t set foot on my property, okay?”
I give her a mock salute. “Yes, Sergeant, I promise.”
She turns on her heel, stumbling over her own feet while she tries to avoid running into an old lamp I crammed into my office.
She looks back over her shoulder to me, her eyes full of fire and daggers. I put a hand over my mouth to stifle my laughter. She reminds me of a fluffy Care Bear throwing a tantrum—her anger completely out of sync with her usually kind eyes and sweet smile.
Seconds after she slams the door shut, my phone rings. A few loose papers go flying in the air as I prop my feet up onto the desk.
“What’s up, Maddox?” I ask.
“Hey, brother. I just heard a rumor from one of my customers, Charlie. He told me that the plot of land adjacent to yours is up for sale and that some slick developer is planning on snapping it up?”
I sigh. “It’s true, unfortunately. I’ve been trying to figure out how to keep them from getting their greedy paws on it, because I don’t have the funds to buy it myself.”
“And? Any ideas pop up?”
I lean further back in my chair and rub my temples. “That’s the problem. I’ve been bouncing ideas around with Piper, but so far, we’ve got no tangible solutions. My idea is that we should buy the land together, but she refuses. Can you believe that?”
“You and Piper? No, I absolutely can’t believe it. Since when do you two sit around and brainstorm together?” I can almost hear him smile through the phone. “Or are you finally admitting you’ve got a crush on her?”
“Don’t start with me, man. I’ve told you numerous times already. I do not have a crush on Piper.”
“Sure, that’s why you can’t stop talking about the woman. You’ve been hoping for a shot with her for years.”
“I can’t believe you’re making this into something it’s not. I’m just trying to keep the land from being turned into a high-rise hotel. It has nothing to do with any so-called crush ,” I protest.
“Just admit it, brother. There’s something about her that gets under your skin in the best way possible.”
I clench my jaw. Even if he’s right, which he’s not, Piper hates me. Having a crush on her would be futile because she’d never return my feelings. “I’ve got to go, Maddox. I’ve got a campground to run and I’m sure you’ve got plenty of work waiting for you at your bait and tackle shop.”
“Fine, avoid this topic for now. But I’m telling you, you can’t keep avoiding your feelings for that girl forever,” Maddox says with a laugh.
Yeah, we’ll see about that.