“Sounds good. Hey, whaddya think about me staying here a little longer?”
“Ooh. Did you meet someone?” Cooper’s excitement was palpable. “Was it the pretty camp guide?”
“Calm down.” Logan rolled his eyes. “Nothing like that. It’s kind of a long story, but I met a guy I wanna help out of a tough situation.”
“You gotta give me more than that.”
“His name’s Max, and he owns this run-down inn that has great potential. His wife died about six months ago, and he’s sort of…stuck. I’m thinking of offering to help him with financing and renovations.”
“Wow. Um, okay. Yeah, we’ll make it work. How long?”
“Nothing’s for sure yet. I’m gonna talk to him today and see what’s what.”
“All right. Just let me know,” Cooper said before changing the subject. “So, did you get any useful info from the camp leader about the business?”
“Not really.”
“Well, what’d she say when you told her you wanted to buy the store?”
“I didn’t tell her.”
“Because?” Cooper dragged out the word.
“First off, she’s not just an employee. She’s the manager. And I’m pretty sure she’s the one responsible for the amazing balance sheets.”
“So we keep her on. What’s the big deal about that?”
“I don’t know.” And he didn’t. Coop saw it as black and white, but for Logan, everything feltpersonalnow, which complicated things. “Also, what was I supposed to say? ‘Hi, I’m about to buy your store, now take me on a campout.’”
“Yeah, I guess that could’ve lowered your chance of survival. But I can tell there’s more. What’s the real reason?”
“I’m an idiot.” Logan let out a guilty sigh. “I even had the perfect opportunity. No one else was around, she’d just told me she was the manager and hinted that she didn’t know for how much longer…”
“And you chickened out?”
“Yeah, and hightailed it out of there. We were having this ‘moment,’ and I just fled.”
“You like her.” It was not a question.
“I’m not sure. She’s cool. Nothing like the women in Houston. But I don’t really know her.”
“Is that another reason you want to stay? Ask her out and see where things go?”
Logan shrugged. “Maybe.”
“Okay. Now we’re talkin’. This is exciting! Annie’s gonna need details. Keep me posted.”
Logan got ready and headed downstairs. He found Max in the office, slumped behind the desk and wearing a look of defeat.
“Max?”
“Oh. Hi, Logan.” He waved a hand over the papers spread out in front of him. “It’s worse than I thought. I’m not even sure it’s salvageable.”
“We’ll see,” Logan said, taking a seat across from Max. “I heard about your wife. I’m very sorry for your loss.”
Max gave a sad smile. “I know it’s been long enough that I should be functional by now, but I’m just lost. This was a project we were supposed to do together. And now that she’s gone…”
Logan treaded lightly. “I’ve never been married, so I can’t know exactly what you’re going through. But I did lose both my parents a few years ago, and I get that losing someone leaves a hole. Why don’t you let me take some of the burden on this? I’ll sort through what you’ve got, do an assessment, and we’ll go from there.”
