Chapter Twenty-EightFischerOctober 26
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Fischer
I’ve met my fair share of powerful women.
When I was working with Miranda, many of our clients were beyond wealthy and possessed a lot of influence in Sun City thanks to Miranda’s ability to relate to the fairer sex and convince those women to trust us with their investments.
At the time, it was the best thing to ever happen to me because it helped us grow our business at an unprecedented speed.
I learned to appeal to them as well, using charm and smiles to catch their interest, and they all had a certain smugness to them, rightfully earned with their hard work and enterprising natures.
I’ve never seen anyone like Micah Taylor when she rises to a challenge.
Unlike when we got snowed in, Micah shows no signs of insecurity as she moves around the lodge directing anyone who has shown up.
She called in any of the Greenwood staff who weren’t scheduled for opening night, promising food and a free photo with Houston Briggs on top of their regular hourly wages.
Debbie, the caterer, brought in extra staff as well even though half her team is working a wedding tonight in Sun City, and they’ve been assisting the decorators and moving furniture all afternoon despite that being nowhere in their job descriptions.
Every five minutes, someone new has a question for Micah, and she always has an answer, one she gives with a smile.
Not that it was ever in question, but if I didn’t love Micah before, I certainly do now. She’s the most amazing woman I’ve ever known.
Houston shows up around five, when everything is still in chaos, and finds me hanging string lights in the lobby.
“Looks like things are running a little behind,” he says instead of greeting me.
He’s dressed in a black button-up and silver tie, his blond hair artfully mussed, and he doesn’t seem all that impressed with what he sees.
I roll my eyes. “Feel free to tell your sister that. She’ll put you to work.”
“Where is Micah?” Folding his arms, he looks up at me with all sorts of judgment in his eyes.
We didn’t really talk the other day—I let Micah handle the info dump for tonight’s event—so there’s some definite awkwardness between us.
I haven’t decided if he’s really as down-to-earth as he seemed at trivia night or if his MVP status has gotten to his head.
“Last time I saw her,” I say dryly, “she was teaching the string quartet to play your walkup song.”
“Seriously?”
“No. She’s in the kitchen prepping the waitstaff.”
To my surprise, Houston laughs. “Need any help?”
Micah finds us five minutes later, arguing over how much slack we need to put in the lights. “Hi, Hou. What are you doing here?”
He frowns, still holding a string of lights above his head while he stands on a ladder across the lobby from me. “You asked me to come.”
“No, I mean what are you doing here so early? I told you that you didn’t have to show up until after seven.”
“I needed a distraction from…never mind.”
“From Darcy?”
He drops the lights, and I barely manage to hang onto my end. “How do you know about Darcy?” he asks. “Never mind. Yes, from Darcy.”
“What about Tamlin?”
This time, he nearly slips off the ladder. This guy clearly doesn’t have a lot of control over himself right now; it’s a wonder how he became Sun City’s best pitcher in the last thirty years. He grits his teeth. “What about her?”
Though I can tell Micah is itching to continue on to wherever she was planning to go when Houston distracted her, she keeps her attention on her brother. “There was some serious chemistry on Thursday. I think you should explore that.”
Houston jumps to the ground, which is probably a smart move. “There’s nothing to explore with Tamlin Park,” he growls. “I’d rather explore… We don’t have to talk about this.”
“Are you dating Darcy?” Micah asks.
“No.”
“But you want to be?”
“Yes. No. It’s just…it feels like she’s keeping something from me. I don’t like it.”
“Maybe there’s a reason.” It takes me a second to realize that I’m the one who said that.
Face heating, I slowly climb down the ladder and rest the lights on the floor before moving to Micah’s side.
I have to admit that I’m curious about whatever is going on with Houston’s love life, and I will absolutely take this chance to enjoy a moment with Micah.
Outside of last night, when she let me give her a shoulder massage while she made plans late into the night, I haven’t had much of a chance to be around her, let alone touch her.
Houston’s eyes track my movement as I wrap Micah up from behind, pulling her against me.
I should probably remember that he’s her older brother and likely just as protective as he was when he met me the other day, but I’ve been craving her all day.
Once the reopening starts in an hour, I doubt I’ll have the chance to hold her again until it’s all over.
“What do you mean, a reason?” he eventually asks.
I shrug. “People are motivated by a lot of different things. If this Darcy is keeping something from you, she probably thinks it’s for a good reason.”
“Is there ever a good reason to hide things from someone you care about?” Micah asks. She sounds more curious than accusatory, which I appreciate. I know how much I hid of myself in the beginning, and I regret taking so long to trust her.
I kiss her temple, something Houston doesn’t seem to appreciate with the way he narrows his eyes at me. “No. But it takes the right person to show you that they can be trusted. Hearts are fragile things.”
“I like your heart,” Micah says.
“I love yours,” I reply.
Houston’s phone dings, and he seems overjoyed to have a reason to look away from us. As soon as he reads the message he received, his eyebrows shoot high. “Okay, don’t be mad at me.”
Micah tenses, gripping my arms. “What did you do?”
“I called in a favor that I wasn’t sure would pan out until now. Hopefully it doesn’t disrupt anything, but I thought it might help.”
“What—”
But Houston heads for the door right as a group of people walk through it.
I twist so Micah can see the literal entourage making their way into the lobby.
It’s made up of people loaded with garment bags, suitcases, cameras, and a million other things I can’t name, but it’s the two people in the middle who catch my attention.
My arms go slack. “Is that…?”
Micah gasps. “That’s Bonnie Aiken.”
“Okay, so I’m not going crazy and seeing things?” Still, I blink hard because I can’t comprehend why a movie star just walked into a tiny lodge in middle-of-nowhere, New Mexico. “But how—”
“She and Houston were dating over the summer,” Micah explains, sounding far too casual about her brother being a thing with one of the most famous—and beautiful—faces of Hollywood.
Houston greets Bonnie with a hug and a kiss to the cheek, and then he shakes the hand of the man next to Bonnie. I may not watch many movies, but even I know Derek Riley. Like Bonnie, he’s one of the biggest names in the movie industry right now, which means…
Micah giggles. “Do you have any idea how many people are going to know about the lodge after tonight?” she whispers.
“Do you have any idea how many people are going to want to hire you for their events?” I throw back.
She turns pale, grabbing my hand. “But I don’t have a company.”
“Sounds like you need to make one.”
As the new arrivals make their way toward us, Micah’s hold on my fingers grows tighter and tighter until I wince from the strength of it. For someone so tiny, she has a lot more power than anyone realizes.
“Micah,” Houston says, “you remember Bonnie, right?”
Bonnie glides forward, pulling Micah into a graceful embrace.
She may be in what looks like silk pajamas with minimal makeup—I’m assuming the entourage is there to change that—but the actress is just as beautiful as she is on all the billboards around town advertising her newest movie. “Micah, this place looks like a dream!”
Micah squeaks.
“And, uh…” Houston bites his cheek as he looks at me. “This is Fischer Bradley.”
“Oh, you own the lodge!” To my shock, Bonnie wraps me up in a hug as well, though my limbs seize up and leave me frozen stiff. I think it’s less about her touching me and more about the fact that a movie star is on friendly enough terms with me to hug. I genuinely don’t know how to react to that.
“Actually, his brother owns the lodge,” Micah says. “Fischer works with me.”
“I work for her,” I clarify, even though Micah stares at me in bewilderment. “Uh, thank you so much for coming to our reopening. You didn’t have to come all the way out here.”
Bonnie tsks as she steps back and takes the hand of her co-star.
Derek hasn’t said a word, and I honestly can’t tell if he’s impressed by the lodge or thinks it’s the tackiest thing he’s ever seen.
“I was happy to come when Houston called. Oh, this is my partner, Derek Riley,” Bonnie says, patting his broad chest.
“Partner as in starring in a movie together, or partner as in more?” Houston asks. Surprisingly, despite their romantic history, there’s no tension between him and Bonnie. They must have parted on good terms, or perhaps they were never serious in the first place.
I kind of hate how interested I am. I blame Micah and her books, and the fact that I asked her to read one out loud to me as I drove us here this morning so I could keep myself awake. For a romance, it was surprisingly riveting.
Bonnie grins even though Derek grimaces. “That depends on who you ask,” she says with a bit of mischief in her words. Then she turns back to Micah. “So, how can we help?”
Micah’s smile falters. “Help? You mean after the event starts? You really just have to exist. Maybe smile for a few photos?”
“No, I mean, it looks like you’re shorthanded with the setup. What can we do? Set up chairs? Put ice in cups? Anything.”
Okay, well, my estimation of Bonnie Aiken just went up, and Houston by association.
A little dumbstruck, Micah glances around the room before nodding toward the kitchen. “I guess you can see if the caterer needs anything? I need to go check on the patio outside and make sure everything is good to go with the fire.”
“I’ll go with you,” I say, mostly because I don’t want to leave her side now that I’ve got her.
As Bonnie drags an indifferent Derek to the kitchen, Houston coughs and looks at the lights sitting on the floor where I left them. “I guess I’ll handle the lights?”
“Hey, Houston, quick question,” I say, though I probably shouldn’t waste any time as the clock ticks closer to six.
I’m feeling drunk on the idea of the whole country learning about the lodge when pictures surface of Bonnie and Derek out on the back deck, so I don’t have much of a filter right now apparently.
“Why did you break up with Bonnie Aiken ? One of the most beautiful women in the country?”
“Careful there, Bradley.” Houston sends me a warning glare before glancing at Micah.
“No, I’m with Fischer,” Micah says. “Why did you break up with her? She’s gorgeous and so sweet! And now she’s dating Derek Riley, who is basically the hottest man alive.”
“Yeah,” I agree.
“Uh…” Houston glances between us, clearly thrown by our united front. “I’m confused. Do you want me to date Tamlin, or do you want me to date Bonnie? Because I can’t do both.”
“I want you to date whoever makes you happy,” Micah says.
“Darcy.”
“Are you sure about that?” I ask. “You just drove two hours to avoid her.”
“Okay, wow, we are done talking about my love life. Go make out on the patio or something.”
I meet Micah’s gaze and grin, and she smacks me. “It’s not a bad idea,” I say.
“Later,” she replies. “Houston?” When he looks up, she tackles him with a hug. “Thanks for coming. And for calling Bonnie. You have no idea how much it all means to me.”
He shrugs, though he seems surprised by her gratitude. “I’m happy to help,” he says sincerely. “Besides, it’s nice to feel useful.”
Micah scoffs. “You just helped your team win the World Series. That sounds pretty useful to me.”
Grimacing, he quickly busies himself with the lights. “Yeah. Go give your boyfriend a kiss before he falls apart, Half-pint.”
She looks at me, and the question in her eyes hits me hard, like a bolt of electricity right to my chest.
“Yes,” I say quickly, surprising myself with the easy admission. “I’m your boyfriend. Anything you want me to be. Even if you think Derek Riley is hotter than me.”
Houston and Micah both burst into laughter right as a deep voice says behind me, “The caterer has a question for you, Bradley.”
First giving Micah a playful glare—it’s her fault I’ve loosened up like this—I turn to face Derek with heat burning in my face. “Thank you. I’ll be right there.”
Derek watches Micah head for the patio, and then he gives me a surprising smile. “If it makes a difference, I don’t think she finds me more attractive than you. She looks at you like you hung the stars.”
This man has risen as one of the biggest heartthrobs in cinema, and last year he was in a massive action-adventure blockbuster that grossed several hundred million dollars on opening weekend, and he’s telling me I don’t have competition with the girl who spent the first several days of knowing me trying to get me to smile?
I literally have no words, and I gape at him, trying to make sense of where my life has gone.
Everything changed when I met Micah Taylor.
Clearing his throat, Derek looks around the room and then nods at Houston. “Briggs.”
Houston folds his arms. “Riley. Treating her right?”
“You know I am.”
“Good. Help me with these lights?”
“Sure.”
I leave them to it as I head for the kitchen, still wondering if we’re going to pull this off but for the first time thinking maybe we will. That’s what happens when Micah Taylor is given a chance to inspire everyone around her to follow her lead.