Chapter Eleven
Avery
Tuesday, June 6
Cool mornings called for hot tea and Avery couldn’t get the kettle in the lobby to boil fast enough. She dropped a tea bag in her favorite mug, the one with a moose on it, and yawned. Someone needed to tell Casper it was too early to be this bouncy. He’d stolen the newspaper she used as a fire starter and torn it to shreds. Avery groaned as he proudly paraded a log he’d snatched off the firewood pile around the room. At ten, he had the energy of a puppy. She needed caffeine for this.
While the water heated, she checked her emails. Her Zoom with her MBA advisor, Emily Prescott, started in twenty minutes. Perfect. She had plenty of time to drink the first cup, brew a second one, and set up the conference room for her meeting.
Avery hadn’t slept well. Sometimes she ignored all her hard work and convinced herself the Peppered Page getting snapped up by a largercompany for a hefty price amounted to dumb luck. Her designs had cultivated a loyal celebrity following, but she’d spent hours last night second-guessing her talent, worrying Professor Prescott might question whether a boutique stationery founder belonged in a seedbed of future Fortune 500 executives.
For good luck, Avery had worn Miles’s soft flannel shirt as a bathrobe while she dried her hair and put on makeup. Mornings at the lake were brisk, and the flannel felt as if it had never let go of Miles’s body heat. Under the hair dryer, his woodsy smell had lifted off the fabric like steam. If some of his business sense mixed in the vapor, all the better.
To silence her own thoughts, she switched on the lobby television toBright and Early. Victoria Evans sat center screen, bantering with the other anchors. Avery wondered if they found Victoria’s lack of a filter annoying.
Victoria had made nineteen-year-old Avery self-conscious. She’d called it “being helpful” when she’d said Avery’s jeans were unflattering or suggested Avery reconsider her freshly cut bangs. Her prediction Avery and Miles would never last stung the most. Avery still hated that time proved Victoria right.
Normally, Avery turned offBright and Early, but she wanted to see the local weather after the news, so she muted it. Victoria had always loved the spotlight, and she’d perfected the perky morning host vibe. She had too much energy for someone who started work before the sun rose. Without sound, she was almost tolerable.
The kettle beeped just as Casper ran to the door. Unlike other times, when he seemed to get riled up over nothing, this time he barked ferociously at the crunching gravel. A few seconds later, brakes squeaked in the circle. Two freight trucks cut their engines as she opened the door.
The drivers had fifty new mattresses for Montressa. Avery was here alone. Everyone was off-property running errands or attending water rescue and CPR training in Portland. With everything else going on,Nate must’ve forgotten about the mattresses. He didn’t answer his phone, and a series of frantic texts to the staff confirmed no one knew anything about them. She’d have to cancel the Zoom. A frazzled search of Nate’s desk yielded an invoice and a list of the number of beds assigned to each cabin. She slid it into a clipboard, started the delivery crew on Lupine Cabin, and breathed a sigh of relief when Miles’s Mail Jeep pulled into the driveway.
“Miles,” she said as he slid open his door. “I have my Zoom with my MBA advisor in ten minutes. Can you—”
“Go, I’ve got this.” He took the invoice. “And good luck.”
Something between them had changed in the past couple of days. Miles seemed more relaxed and helpful. Avery felt less apprehensive and more confident they could be friends. She couldn’t wait to tell Lily. As junior class sponsor, Lily was knee-deep in putting on prom planning. Avery hadn’t talked to her in a week. They had a lot of catching up to do.
“I’ll check in later.” He glanced at the clipboard and led the crew carrying two mattresses toward Lupine.
She watched him walk away. The confident stride, the clipboard, those jeans, and his Henley with the sleeves pushed up to reveal his sinewy forearms. Miles in charge was worth appreciating.
Oh, who was she kidding? Miles was hot. Period. She could admit that as a friend, right?
Eyes still on Miles, Avery walked to the lodge and almost ran into a large birch tree trunk that did not belong in the middle of the path to the office door.
“Whoa, cowgirl. Get your mind off that boy for a second.” Wes laughed. He held the birch upright, as if it were a bed post.
A heat rose in Avery’s cheeks. Wes didn’t comment on her beet red complexion.
“Sorry, I was pulling these out of storage and missed your texts,” he said as he shook the tree. “I have four of these, almost exactly alike.What do you think of using them for the bed?”
Avery composed herself and evaluated the branch. The gorgeous silver birch bark was prettier than she’d imagined. If the finished bed equaled her vision, the Boathouse would resemble an indoor woodland sanctuary.
“Perfect! Can the branches spread across the ceiling?” she asked, fanning her fingers overhead. “It’ll be like sleeping under a tree.”
“I’ll cut one, and you can give me your thoughts before I proceed. If Miles doesn’t need my help, I can work on it now. I’ll check in with him and have him send a king mattress over.”
Wes hoisted the branch onto his shoulder and set off toward the Boathouse. “I’ll text you and let you know.”
“Okay, but I’ll have my phone on silent for an hour,” she yelled after him. “I’ll be in a meeting.”
By the time she returned to the lobby, there was no time for tea. At the conference room table, she took three deep breaths and logged on to Zoom.
Emily Prescott popped up on camera, bright-faced and glowing. Avery quickly checked her own camera. She looked less frazzled than she felt, but her makeup could’ve used a touch-up. Victoria would’ve had opinions on this. Avery hoped Professor Prescott didn’t.
After introductions and small talk, Professor Prescott asked Avery to call her Emily and mentioned she had ordered her wedding invitations, baby announcements, and Christmas cards from the Peppered Page. Ah, a connection. Avery relaxed.
