Chapter Four #2
At the mention of Bright and Early coming to the lake, Avery’s head lifted from her doodling.
Victoria Evans had worked at Montressa with them that summer.
His expertise on personal finance had led Victoria to campaign for him to be a regular on the show.
For reasons unknown to him, Avery hadn’t liked Victoria.
Sometimes people rubbed you the wrong way. He’d had a few of them in his life.
“Yes, Victoria and I will broadcast live on June 30th.” Miles tried to keep his voice as neutral as possible, but Avery bristled.
It might not be the best idea to bring Victoria here when he was trying to reconcile with Avery, but it was too late.
Maybe they’d get along after all these years. Then again, Avery held on to grudges.
“Avery,” Nate said. “Stick around. They’d probably love some footage of you water-skiing.”
“We’ll see.” Avery frowned, confirming Miles’s fear she’d leave once she’d done what she came to do—or as soon as Victoria arrived, whichever came first. And that would be a shame because Avery was a great water-skier.
“Let’s talk Montressa.” With so little free time, multi-tasking was necessary for Nate, and he typed as he spoke. Miles knew the feeling. His phone buzzed on the table.
“Wait, isn’t this a staff meeting? We’re the only two here.” Avery pointed her pen back and forth across the table.
“Ayuh. The dream team,” Nate said. “Together at last.”
Avery winced and concentrated on her paper.
“Updates,” Nate said. “Opening Day is June 16th. Housekeeping promises to have all the cabins deep cleaned and ready by then. My sister and I are taking turns in New York so I can be back in Maine when the summer staff arrives May 30th.”
Avery wrote May 30th—staff, June 16th—opening day, and June 30th—B he’d gleefully push every one of Avery’s damn buttons.
Holding her stare until the last possible second, he slowly removed his sweater. Cool air greeted his stomach as his T-shirt rose with it. He couldn’t see her reaction, but he had worked hard for this body, so he flexed his abs in case she compared this view to the one from her Google search.
When the sweater finally came off, Avery’s gaze was fixed on his hip, her pout now agape.
Miles tensed. The firefly tattoo. He’d wanted to show it to her when he could explain.
He reached down to lift the waistband of his jeans but accidentally pulled the elastic of his boxer briefs.
If she’d missed the tattoo, she didn’t miss the Tom Ford logo.
She met his eyes, slowly closed her mouth and swallowed hard. Whatever she’d seen, she’d liked. He leveled his stare, raised an eyebrow, and slowly freed the hem of his tee from around his chest. Avery’s head fell to her drawing. His phone buzzed twice.
“Someone really needs to get in touch with you.” Avery didn’t look up. At least she’d drawn pine trees and not a demon.
Nate sighed. “Yeah Miles, maybe you should check your phone.”
Miles felt bad. Nate didn’t need this right now. He and Avery needed to stop making a fuss over trivial things like dog slobber and granite samples. The phone buzzed again. Despite his curiosity, he didn’t pick it up.
“Miles.” Avery tapped her pen on the table. “You’re swamped. Go back to New York. We have enough staff, and things haven’t changed much around here. I can run the front desk blindfolded.”
Blindfolded. What he wouldn’t give for a night with her and a blindfold. Oh, the things they could try. The pulsing heat returned, extinguishing any chance of him going back to New York.
“One person cannot replace Sam, Laurie, and Nate. I’m not sure two of us can, especially if we’re”—he took a chance and winked at her—“blindfolded.”
Avery tucked a tendril of loose hair behind her ear, touching the spot he used to kiss, her coy smile a sign her mind had gone to the same place.
He leaned across the table. If she wanted him to leave, he’d stay.
“I worked here for eight years and ran the waterfront for three.” He flexed every arm muscle for her viewing pleasure. “How about you take land, and I take water?”
“But, you’re too”—his phone buzzed again, and she tapped it with her pen—“busy.”
“I’ll get whatever that is later.” He pointed at his phone. “I can handle it.”
On the Zoom call, Nate nodded. “That’s a good plan. You both know how to run the resort. Let me know if you have any ideas to improve Montressa. We need more stars on those ratings. I want to add a website and maybe social media, but that’ll have to wait until winter, when I have the time.”
Casper stood and meandered to the end of the table. In one swift motion, he grabbed a molasses cookie off the plate.
“First thing on the list.” Miles tapped her list. “Train that dog.”
Avery scowled.
“And Nate,” he said. “There’s room for twelve for your bachelor party canoe trip. We’ve got the bros from high school, three from your college brew crew, Wes, and me. Let me know who should fill that sixth canoe.”
“How about Hayes? He’s cool, and Lily suggested asking him to do a reading at the wedding,” Nate said, checking his smartwatch. “Listen, I gotta go. I’ll think of another person. Thank you. I appreciate your help more than you know.”
After wishing him well, Avery stood, shook her head, and left. Her drawing remained on the table. Silhouettes. Five pine trees, the moon above, a moose below.
His phone buzzed again. He checked his texts. Every single one was from Nate.
Nate: Dude, put her on tv so she has to stay longer
Nate: OMG. Stop watching her play with her pen. You look ready to pounce
Nate: Noooo. Do not come between her and Casper
Nate: Damn! She is checking out your six-pack
Nate: I think she saw the tatt
Nate: She’s not over you
Nate: WTF! You’ve been waiting for this. Get it together.
Getting it together was harder than he’d expected. Going out with women one time required little emotional investment. Trying to win back someone you hurt required perseverance, humility, and vulnerability. If he couldn’t find them, Avery would leave.
“Have you seen my lip balm?” Avery reappeared, patting her pockets as she’d done so many times ten summers ago. “I swear I brought it in here.”
“You did, but I haven’t seen it.” He looked under the table. Nothing. He walked around to her side of the table and checked each chair as she peered into the box of samples. Nothing. He shrugged and gave her his best smirk. “Maybe Casper ate it.”
“You blame him for everything.” She rolled her eyes and started to leave.
“Avery,” he said, lightly circling her wrist with his thumb and forefinger. “I’ll be in New York part of next week on business. The rest of the time, I’ll try to stay out of your way.”
She glanced from her wrist to him. He wasn’t the only one feeling the buzz jumping between them. A tiny gasp evaporated off her lips as their gazes met. Aware he’d touched her without asking, he let go. She brushed something off his shoulder.
“So soft,” she said in an almost whisper.
“Snuggle,” he said.
Her eyes grew wide.
“Oh, no. Miles, I wasn’t trying to, we’re not, um—” She stepped back.
“No,” he said, grinning. “My fabric softener. It’s Snuggle.”
“With the bear?”
“Ayuh.”
Avery’s cheeks flushed. “I’m not sure if this is more or less embarrassing than you catching me googling you.”
“I’m not qualified to answer that. After all, a dog sneezed on me, and I acted like a petulant child.”
She let out a nervous, stilted laugh and he said a silent wish for her to find the humor in all of this and let it loose.
Miles wanted to hear her contagious, genuine laugh again.
He’d recognize it anywhere. His favorite time to hear it had been when they talked nonsense in bed after sex.
If it went too far, she used to cry happy tears.
Sometimes she’d even snort, which only made them laugh harder.
This laugh lacked that kind of sparkle, but it was a start.
“Pepper,” he said, with what he hoped was a comforting smile. “We’ll get past the awkward part.”
She frowned at the use of her nickname and nodded.
“That’s not why we’re here, Miles.”
Maybe not, but with any luck, he’d earn her forgiveness. A monumental task, but he had time. The Lodge was empty until the summer staff arrived at the end of the month.