Page 5

I roll my eyes. “It just needs replaced.”

Ally crouches near one corner where cracked linoleum curls upwards. When he touches it, a piece breaks off in his hand. He straightens up with a sigh. “As does the lino.”

“But I’d suggest you deal with that first.” Lewis nods at a damp patch on the ceiling.

Jamie tugs open a kitchen drawer, only for it to come right out and dangle at an awkward angle. He smirks at me before shoving it back into place, although it remains defiantly crooked. “Very retro.”

Ally exhales sharply, his face settling into that classic “sucking a lime” expression. Uh oh, I can feel a lecture coming.

“I can’t believe you bought this place without checking with us,” he says sternly. “I would have definitely talked you out of it.”

And that’s exactly why I didn’t check with him. For someone who runs an outdoor adventure business, Ally can be surprisingly risk-averse. Also, I’m an adult! I don’t need to check anything with my brothers.

“You’re all being so negative,” I say, my voice losing some of its earlier bounce. “It’s nothing a bit of hard work and elbow grease can’t sort out.”

Jamie sniggers. “Hard work and elbow grease? Didn’t know those words were even in your vocabulary.”

“That’s rich coming from you,” I shoot back.

“I run a successful beer garden. That’s hard graft.”

“Aye, and you’ve been grafting at that for . . . what? Two whole months? Hardly makes up for all the years you spent doing hee-haw before that, does it?”

He cocks his head like he’s going to argue, but then he shrugs. “That’s fair.”

We fall quiet for a while, my brothers continuing to survey my tired new abode. Right. I square my shoulders and lift my chin. So what if this place needs a wee bit of TLC? There are three strapping lads right here.

Turning on the charm with a dimple-popping grin, I meet each of their eyes in turn. “I know it’s going to take some work. But maybe⁠—”

“Oh no!” Lewis says.

“What?”

“That look!” Jamie waves at my face.

“What look?”

“The ‘my brothers will do it for me’ look,” Jamie clarifies, his tone accusatory.

I press a hand to my chest in mock outrage. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. Having said that, if you did want to pitch in . . .”

I look to Ally first. He scratches his jaw, the expression on his face already telling me what I don’t want to hear.

“Cat, you know I’ve always done what I can for you, but Bannock Adventures operates seven days a week over the summer, and when I’m not working, I’ve got a sixteen-month-old and a very pregnant wife to look after. It’s not that I don’t want to help—it’s that I physically can’t.”

“Oh,” I say. Surprised and more than a little crestfallen, I turn to Lewis.

“Don’t look at me!” he protests, his hands raised. “It’s tourist season, by far the busiest time at the hotel. And my second-in-command is about to go on maternity leave. I’m stretched thinner than ever.”

Lewis’s second-in-command and Ally’s very pregnant wife are one and the same person—Emily, my sister-in-law.

Desperate, I turn to Jamie, my last hope. “I can’t believe I’m asking this, Jamie, but are you free to help?”

Jamie pulls a regretful face. “I’d love to, but I’ve got video games to play.”

I glare at him.

“Joke! Actually, the new beer garden is keeping me busy, plus Maisie and I are trying to figure out how to make our businesses work with each other instead of against each other. You couldn’t have picked a worse time. In winter? Perfect. Now? No chance.”