“But that won’t take much time, right?”
“Did y’all hire a designer?” Nash asked.
Finn, Drew, and Nola shared a glance, he and his brother shrugging. Coming from a bare-bones bar that had nothing more than a bar top, stools, and a few high-top tables, Finn hadn’t eventhoughtabout hiring a designer for the space. Had no idea they’d need one.
“I’ll take that as a no.” Nash laughed. “In that case, it’s gonna take up a good bit of time. At least in the beginning. Once y’all get everything decided, your involvement will be less frequent, though there are always small details to contend with and building issues I’ll need approval for.”
“Any chance this can all get done within the next few days before Finn and Drew leave?” Nola asked with a hopeful smile.
Nash’s bark of laughter caused that smile to drop from her face.
“Shit.” Nola blew out a breath, running a hand through her hair. She turned to Drew and Finn. “I love y’all, and I know this whole thing was my idea, but I’ve still gotta work until this place is up and runnin’ and bringing in actual cash. I can’t afford to quit. And I sure as shit can’t afford to get fired because I’m runnin’ over here every fuckin’ day to pick out wall sconces.”
“What the hell’s a wall sconce?” Drew asked, scratching his jaw.
“And y’all thought you didn’t need to hire a designer?” Nash asked with raised brows.
Shit. She was right—they both were. This was going to take a lot more time than they’d bargained for, and Nola didn’t have it to give. Wasn’t fair to make her either. Not when she didn’t have the security of a solid savings account to fall back on like he and Drew did.
“All right, just hang on a second,” Finn said, running a hand through his hair. “Gimme a minute to think.” He glanced around the room, his gaze catching on a dark alcove toward the back, stairs beyond it no doubt leading to the unoccupied space above. A plan started forming in his head, the itch under his skin he’d first experienced in Willow’s presence spreading until it was too much to ignore.
“Hey, Xena, you said the space upstairs is an apartment?” he asked.
“Yeah, two-bedroom. Cute little thing. If I wasn’t in the middle of my lease, I’d move there in a heartbeat and save money on rent. Pretty sure they even left some furniture in it.”
Finn’s question had been innocent enough, but neither of the brothers had ever been able to get anything by the other, and this was no exception. Drew’s brows shot up in an unasked,what the hell are you gettin’ at?
Finn rubbed a hand over his rough jaw. “I was just thinkin’…”
Drew blew out a heavy breath and shook his head. “Bad idea, man.”
“You don’t even know what I’m gonna say.”
“Twins,” was all he said with a tap to his temple.
Nola divided a look between them. “What am I missin’?”
“Youwerein there, right?” Drew asked him, ignoring Nola’s curious looks as he hooked a thumb over his shoulder toward town hall on the other side of the square. “Did she seem real open to havin’ you around for a while?”
“This isn’t about her.”Lies.“You heard Nash—someone’s gotta be here dealing with this shit, at least for a little while. Nola can’t do it.”
“And we can?”
“We have the means to take extended leave if we need to.”
“Wait.” Nola placed a hand on each of their forearms. “Y’all’re stayin’?”
“No,” Drew said, his eyes never leaving Finn’s.
“Maybe.” Finn crossed his arms, widening his stance.
Drew could deny it all he wanted, but the truth was they needed to hang around—at least for a little while—to get things squared away, and they both knew it. They had enough money so they could go a bit above their budget, but there was still no way they’d be able to hire an interior designer to deal with everything—especially not considering there wasn’t anyone in Havenbrook who’d fit the bill, which meant they’d have to shuttle in someone from Memphis or Jackson. Dollar sign after dollar sign kept adding up, and while theydidhave a savings account to pull from, they’d already taken a huge chunk of it out thanks to the building and renovations. And, truth be told, Finn didn’t have a whole lot of interest in going back to his childhood days where they scraped for every penny and had survived mostly on boxed mac and cheese with cut-up hotdogs. He wasn’t going to use up all the money just because they had it available to them.
Which meant sticking around, living in the apartment they’d already paid for, and taking care of this stuff on their own was the most logical and economical thing to do. And if it gave him the opportunity to hang around and make sure Willow was all right, well, that was just the icing on the cake, now wasn’t it?
He couldn’t get that buttoned-up version of her out of his head. She didn’t belong there—not behind that desk and not in Havenbrook—and he needed to know why she’d given up all of her dreams to move back.
Nola narrowed her eyes at Finn. “Is this about Willow?”
