She grinned. “You’re too handsome for your own good. But the next time you come in here, I better see some healthier choices! Does Connor know you’re going to be eating this mess in his kitchen?”
Everyone in town knew everything going on at the resort.
“He’s out of town for the weekend, and I think as long as I don’t burn the place to the ground, he’ll be fine.”
“You boys are doing a fine job up there. So much progress!” She put the last of his groceries in a bag. “Make sure you don’t burn the place down! It would be a shame after all the work you’ve put into it.”
“I’ll do my best,” he assured her before tapping his debit card to the screen. “You have a good weekend, Mrs. Bentley. And I’ll be thinking of you when I sit down and enjoy my dinner tonight!”
She laughed softly. “You’re a brat, Axel. Have a good weekend and behave!”
“You too!” he said with a wink, grabbing his cart and heading out to his truck.
The sky was turning an ominous shade of gray, and he knew if he wanted to beat the rain, he would have to forgo any other stops in town and make his way back to the resort. Nothing else was pressing, so he knew he could come back on Monday and see about getting a new pair of work gloves and some saw blades. He wasn’t going to be working this weekend, so he’d be fine.
He quickly loaded the groceries and climbed into the truck as the first clap of thunder sounded, followed by a flash of lightning. This storm probably meant that their cable was going to go out and the Wi-Fi would be spotty. That all made him wonder just what he was going to do with himself if he couldn’t watch TV or scroll on social media.
“I guess I’m gonna find out.”
Heading out of town, he thought of the truck on the side of the road and wondered if the owner had come back for it. As he got closer to the resort, he didn’t see it, so he had his answer, happy that they weren’t going to have to hitch a tow or wait it out in the storm.
“Good for you, stranger,” he said just as the first drops of rain started to fall.
It went from a drizzle to a downpour in the blink of an eye, and his visibility was crap. When he finally passed through the gates of the resort, he breathed a sigh of relief and wondered whether he should go to his cabin or up to the lodge. But as he pulled closer to his parking spot, he noticed another vehicle parked haphazardly near the entrance to the lodge.
The closer he got, the better he could make out that it was the truck that was on the side of the road earlier.
“Maybe this was as far as they could get and it broke down again?” he wondered, driving over and getting as close as he could. But even when he pulled over so he could look in the driver’s side window, he didn’t see anyone in there. “What the hell…?”
After a quick maneuver to put some space between their trucks, Axel quickly glanced around for an umbrella, a jacket, or even an old sweatshirt. The rain was coming down so heavily that he wasn’t sure anything would really help, but it seemed like the thing to do.
Grabbing an old hoodie, he slid it on before jumping out of the truck and making a run for the main entrance of the lodge. He had no idea who or what he was going to find, but it was his responsibility to at least look.
“Son of a freaking bitch!” Maisie Quinn screeched, yanking hard on the front doors of the Lakeview Harbor Resort lodge. Her umbrella had just blown away, and the rain was getting heavier by the second. This just wasn’t her day. She knew she was late—stupid old truck!—but she also knew there was a group of contractor guys living on site. So where the hell were they?
Sighing loudly, she stared out at the rain from the porte cochere—thankful for the shelter from the storm. She had prayed she could get inside and still have her interview, but it looked like she was doomed to have to run back to her truck and get soaked again. It would have been great if she could have pulled her truck right up to the door since that’s what this entire area was for, but the whole thing was blocked off for traffic and most of the blacktop was torn up. It was an absolute mess and getting messier and muddier thanks to the rain.
Much like her own appearance.
Although maybe it was a blessing in disguise that the interview didn’t work out because she was definitely not looking her best. Staring at her reflection in the glass doors, she cringed.
“A chubby drowned rat,” she murmured. “I know I wouldn’t hire me.”
And the thing was, she desperately needed this job.
Like…beyond desperately.
Almost life or death desperately.
Only now, with no one here, it looked like she was about to lose everything.
“Seriously, universe!” she cried out, stomping her foot. “You can’t give me even one little break? I saved that turtle, doesn’t that count for anything?”
Of course, stopping short seemed to be the thing that caused her engine to seize up.
At least, that’s how it seemed. She literally knew nothing about car engines or how they worked. All she knew was that she was chugging along just fine one minute, but after she stopped short for the turtle and turned the truck off, it wouldn’t start again. Well, it did eventually, but now she was afraid to get back in it and discover that it wouldn’t start a second time.
“Because that would just be my luck,” she said wearily. “To be stuck at a freaking resort that has a hundred rooms and I can’t get in.”
