“Yeah,” Alex said. “What if he blackballs us? Puts us on some kind of ‘no-fly’ list?”
“I’m sure that’s not a thing,” Tess said with more confidence than she felt. Carter did seem like the vindictive type.
“We’ve got a couple of months until the season starts,” Nick said. “Bro should be over it by then. If not, we could take him.”
They talked about the upcoming Fourth of July and wedding plans. Both were this week. Logan sat quietly, seemingly happy just listening to their trivial banter.
Tess still had a weird feeling about his true motives for being here. Like there was something he wasn’t telling them. But hewas here for the summer and had apparently been adopted into their posse, so she might as well get used to him being around. She supposed there were worse things.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Logan
Logan slammed a sledgehammer into the wall and smiled at the gaping hole. Why was destroying things so satisfying? In the last couple of days, he and Max had cleared four rooms. This one had plumbing issues, and the bathroom wall needed to go.
Part of his chipper mood came from reminiscing about how Tess had given Carter the ol’ heave-ho. Petty as it was, it had warmed his heart to see the cocky jock lose his temper and storm off in a huff. Even though he probably wasn’t used to being denied much of anything, that didn’t give a grown man an excuse to act like a baby.
When faced with the ultimatum, Tess chose to stay with her team rather than run off to Cancun. Her actions had solidified Logan’s decision to try to convert their friendship into something more. And given him hope that could be a possibility.
Just as he’d begun plotting a time and place to make his move, Cooper called, bringing his nascent plan to a screeching halt.
“So,” Cooper greeted. “The lawyers received a call late yesterday from the seller. He wants to take the Green Valley Falls store out of the deal now.”
“Did he say why?” Logan pushed his safety goggles to the top of his head and leaned against the bathroom counter.
“No,” Coop said. “But ya gotta wonder why. It makes me think he knows something we don’t. Like maybe it’s worth more than we thought.”
“He just barely put together the package. What would he know now that he didn’t a week ago?”
“Beats me. But you should find out what the deal is before we agree.”
“I’d ask ‘why me?’ but I guess that’s obvious.” Logan sighed.
“You’re hanging out with the manager. Shouldn’t be too much of a problem.”
“Except that I really like the manager, and it feels gross to use her for information.”
“Them’s the breaks, Bro,” Cooper said. “Maybe you could do it without her knowing. Make up some pretense for visiting her office. And when she’s not looking, take a peek at the books.”
“I am not doing that,” Logan huffed. “What if it has nothing to do with the store itself but something in town or the local area?”
“Oh, yeah. Like a new touristy thing coming that would presumably make the property more valuable. Good thinking.”
“Ski resort. Amusement park. Casino. Outlet mall. Sports stadium. Convention center. Could be anything.”
“Right. Well, I’ll leave it to you to figure it out,” Cooper said. “Counteroffer expires in ten days, but the sooner the better.”
This fresh wrinkle threw a damper on his plans to go for it with Tess. Not thrilled with his new assignment, and definitely not about to call Tess with the sole purpose of pressing her for intel, Logan put the task at the bottom of his to-do list.
Frustrated, he funneled his feelings into the sheetrock in front of him and had it demolished in seconds. He stood, hands on his hips, admiring his handiwork when Max entered.
“Dude. It’s the Fourth of July. What are you doing?”
Logan had planned to stay at the inn and work while Max and his family went to town for the celebrations, but Max put his foot down and insisted Logan join him.
That was how he found himself sitting at a plastic-wrapped picnic table, elbow-deep in a syrupy-sweet apple pie.
“And I thought the peach was delicious,” Logan said, licking his lips.
