Rowan frowns. “We don’t have hot springs around here.”
“Not natural ones.” She gives him a pointed look. “He plans to fix that.”
“How’s he going to manage it?” Rowan drops his voice. “Any human geologist will know it’s not possible.”
“That’s what Gideon told him.” She groans, frustrated. “I don’t know. The whole thing is a mess.”
“Who owns the property?” I ask.
“My mother.”
“It doesn’t seem like she and Mr. Eastwilden get along very well. Would she even sell to him?”
“Only if Gideon felt his project would be good for the town.”
“And what does Gideon think?” Rowan asks.
“He’s undecided—and he’s not sure he wants the Eastwildens buying up any more of the town. They already own the hotel, the stationery store, the divination store, and the microbrewery. They have enough clout as it is.”
“Another reason not to sell him the tea shop,” Rowan says, like he has to convince me. “He’s treating Moss Hollow like the properties are cards to be won in a board game.”
“He’s not getting the tea shop,” I assure him. “I won’t participate in his goal of town domination.”
Somehow, I’m going to have to figure out how to pay for the repairs on my own.
I could deposit Russell’s check and be done with the whole mess. But Emerson confirmed that if I want to file the restraining order, I probably shouldn’t take the criminal mage’s money. It would be impossible to explain to the human judge should Russell bring it up during the final hearing, potentially creating questions I wouldn’t be able to answer and possibly ending up with the restraining order being denied.
So, do I tear up the check and move forward with a likely worthless restraining order? Or cash the check, put the money toward the repairs, and hope Russell leaves me alone?
It feels like a no-win situation.
I suppress a sigh, deciding I’ll worry about it later, and finish Anna’s tea.
She takes a sip, contemplating it, and then nods to herself. “This is the best twig tea I’ve ever tasted.”
“I suspect it’s the only twig tea you’ve ever tasted,” Rowan jokes.
“You like it?” I ask, glad for the small win. “Ours is premium shade-grown, made from the same plant as gyokuro. It’s really nice, even if it’s not super expensive.”
“You could have offered Mr. Eastwilden Da Hong Pao from one of the original mother trees, and he still wouldn’t have been happy,” Rowan says. “Don’t let him get in your head.”
“I didn’t come to Moss Hollow expecting to make an enemy in the first season, and now I’ve made two,” I say miserably. “I hope it’s not a trend.”
“Two?” Anna asks.
“Keira and Mr. Eastwilden.”
With a scowl, Rowan glances out the window, toward the hotel. “Mr. Eastwilden is just a miserable, greedy old codger with a deep pocketbook.”
“And to be fair,” Anna says, sipping her tea, “he doesn’t really like anyone.”
“All right. But what about Keira?”
Rowan and Anna exchange a look, and then Rowan laughs. “She probably dislikes you.”
I turn toward the back counter, feeling the need to tidy something. “You know, life would be so much easier for us both if you’d held out for true love instead of dating someone to get back at your cousin.”
Darkly, he says, “Believe me, it’s a lesson I learned well.”
