It was one hell of a pitch. She had no other way to get this level of help so quickly.
“Miles…” She hesitated. “You think we can do all of that?”
He nodded. “I can’t. You can’t. Butwecan. And I don’t care who’s in charge because we’re working for our friends.”
Avery ran her teeth over that full lower lip again as she studied the reservation board, considering his offer. She nodded, maybe to herself.A moment later, Avery looked him straight in the eye and lifted her chin. Her hair fell back, exposing her neck. Avery with a mission was all sultry determination, and so damn attractive. He wanted to kiss that spot below her ear, but pushed her allure aside and met her stare with equal tenacity.
“Let’s do it.” She extended an open hand. “For the Coopers.”
He grasped her warm hand and shook it. “For the Coopers.”
A pact. He’d fought harder for this job than any other because he wanted it more. One opened a bottle of champagne in moments like this, but champagne was still too intimate. So he did the other thing people do in this situation.
“Thank you,” he said. “You know you’re amazing, right?”
She blushed and he caught a sliver of hope in her wistful smile, as if she were thinking about something she liked, or maybe loved once.
Chapter Seven
Avery
Saturday, May 27 - Memorial Day Weekend
Avery parked her car and popped open the trunk. After dropping Lily at the airport earlier in the morning, she’d spent a couple of hours at Marden’s Surplus and Salvage tackling the list of requested supplies for various departments at Montressa. The store had everything: clothing, flooring, cosmetics, hardware, and home goods at dirt cheap prices. Maintenance needed driveway markers. Housekeeping needed sponges, travel-sized toothpaste, and shower caps. She’d bought her entire list and more. Avery left items for the lodge in her trunk and loaded all the bags containing items for the Boathouse on one arm.
With Lily’s school year ending soon, and now that things were tolerable with Miles, Avery looked forward to spending her summer at the lake. She’d bought inflatable floats in anticipation of long afternoonschatting with Lily in the cool water. Her giant loon float was pretty accurate, but Lily’s “moose” was more of a mythological hybrid with the rounded head of moose and the pointy antlers of a deer. Adoose. Lily would love that.
On the way to the airport, she and Lily had discussed the bachelorette party. Lily decided on an early August visit to puffin-cruise-renowned Boothbay Harbor. Between Sam’s heart attack, Nate’s prolonged absence, and her duties as junior class sponsor, it had been a stressful spring. A couple of days relaxing and poking through a seaside town with Avery and a few friends from high school and college sounded perfect to Lily.
After the bachelorette party, Avery had a week to settle into an apartment in Hanover before starting her MBA at Tuck, Dartmouth’s business school. She needed to find a place to live, yet kept putting it off. Spending a summer with Lily was more fun to think about, but Avery needed to start her apartment search. She’d vowed to forego her usual Netflix binge and spend her evening making reservations for the bachelorette trip and scoping out apartments online.
Avery squinted in the late afternoon sun as she lumbered along the path to the Boathouse. The shopping bag handles looped around her wrists cut off the circulation in her arms. Maybe she shouldn’t have taken all the bags for this project in one trip, but she hated to be inefficient. If memory served, she’d purchased the perfectlinens for the Boathouse.
Finding the door locked, she put the bags down and massaged her sore forearms. She hadn’t grabbed the key earlier because she hadn’t expected to come here first. Since the Boathouse sat at the edge of Montressa’s property, it would be a long walk up to the lodge to retrieve it. She texted Wes, hoping he was nearby.
Avery:I’m locked out of the Boathouse. You close by?
While she waited for his response, Avery walked to the end of theBoathouse’s private dock, shielded her eyes, and studied the Red House. Ladders were everywhere as a crew removed the manufacturer’s stickers from the new windows and cleaned the glass. If she couldn’t own the Red House, she was content seeing the quaint A-frame getting the love it needed.
A jingle of keys pulled her out of her thoughts.
“You should see the countertops they installed yesterday.” She’d expected Wes and his raspy grumble, not Miles and his deep, syrupy voice.
Avery scrambled for a plausible reason for gawking at his house.
“Oh, I was just checking to see if the loons were nesting yet.”
“Funny you didn’t see me, since I was in the cove looking for them. I waved at you. They haven’t come yet.” He pulled out his keys and unlocked the Boathouse door. “It looked like you needed the master key.”
Avery busied herself picking up her bags to hide her embarrassment. Miles leaned down to help, and she could have sworn his hair tickled her temple. This close, he smelled like chocolate milk. The scent of warm pine after an August rain hit her a second later.
“Whoa. Was all this on the list?” Miles peered into a bag.
“Sometimes I deviate from the list.” She laughed. “And there may be returns. I haven’t been in here yet, and I bought things for the Boathouse I remember.”
He stepped inside and flicked the light switch. “Well, let’s test your memory.”
Avery hesitated, unable to will her feet to move forward. Going intherewithMilesmight bring old feelings to the surface. She could still picture them ten years ago. Tearing off each other’s clothes. Tumbling onto the scratchy lace bedspread. And Miles so close she could count the golden stars in his beautiful chestnut eyes. He’d asked if she was sure. She had never been so sure of anything in her life.
