“Hey, I was going to call you later today,” I said.
“I wish you would’ve called me a half hour ago. I might not have thrown my trash at the new intern.”
“You threw garbage at an intern?”
“It was an accident. I was walking by what’s usually an empty cubicle while arguing with someone on a call, and from the corner of my eye I mistook her for a wastepaper basket.”
“You thought a human was a wastepaper basket?”
“She’s skinny and was just sitting there, not moving.”
I laughed. “I miss hearing your daily mishaps.”
“Well, you could remedy that pretty easily. Call more.”
“Yeah, I know. I’m sorry. I’ve just been…busy.”
“Does that mean The Palm Inn is almost ready for the grand opening?”
I looked around again. “It’s getting there. Two days ago, I quietly started an ad that directed people to our new website, and a few more nights have already been booked for late next month.”
“Good. I’m glad you’re ready, because I think we’re going to be able to sell you out.”
My brows furrowed. “How?”
“I got you a two-page spread in Southern Living magazine.”
“Are you joking?”
“Nope. One of the guys who used to work for me works there as an editor now. We keep in touch, so when I came back from my visit to you, I emailed him a couple of photos I’d taken of The Palm Inn and asked him to keep us in mind if he ever had an opportunity for a feature. He said he would, but I wasn’t sure anything more would come of it. Then this morning, he called and said they’re running a feature on landmark B&Bs, and one of the buildings they’d planned to showcase fell through at the last minute. He can give it to us with a two-page pictorial!”
I sat up. “Wow!”
“There are two catches, though. First, they’re on a tight deadline, so they need a full photo shoot within twenty-four hours.”
“Well, I can do that myself, if they’re okay with it.”
“I figured you’d say that, so I just sent a link to your portfolio over to them. I should hear back pretty fast.”
“Okay. What’s the other catch?”
“They want Levi Miller in at least one of the photos.”
“I don’t think he’ll have a problem with that.”
“But won’t that be helping you, and lessening his chances of winning the bet you have going?”
I’d actually forgotten about our bet. “Things have…sort of changed between me and Levi. That’s what I was planning to call you about this afternoon. He’s not pushing me on selling it anymore.”
“Well, that’s a good thing.” I heard a knock at the door through the phone, and Harper said, “Hang on a sec, will you, hun?”
“Sure.”
I listened to the muffled sound of a woman speaking in the background. “Sorry to interrupt, Harper. But your ten-thirty appointment is here. You also have Lyle Druker from the Chicago Tribune on line two.”
“Thanks, Liz. Just give me a minute.” Harper came back on the line. “Sorry about that. I also have a few other things I was able to get lined up for The Palm Inn, but I have to run right now. Maybe we can catch up tonight?”
“Yeah, sure.”
“How much time do you need to check with Levi before I can tell Southern Living we’re a go?”
“He should be back in a half hour. But I really think he’ll be fine with it.”
“Sounds like things have improved between the two of you.”
“Yeah…I, uh, we slept together.”
“What?!” My best friend screamed so loud, I had to pull the phone away from my ear. “Hang on.” I heard the muffling of the phone once again and then, “Liz!”
“Yes?” came a voice in the background.
“Tell Lyle Druker I’ll call him back in an hour. And my ten thirty is a prospective new client. Can you tell him I have an emergency and to get started on the new client intake form so he isn’t just sitting there, please?”
“Sure thing.”
“Give me fifteen minutes. Don’t interrupt unless the building is on fire. And it better be a big fire, not a little toaster oven.”
“Uhhh…okay.”
“Thank you. Shut the door behind you.” Harper came back on the line. “Start talking.”
For the next fifteen minutes, I filled her in on everything that had transpired since the night of Alex’s camping party.
“So what are you going to do about Tanner?”
“I’m not going to do anything, because he’s never going to know. In less than a month, Levi will be back in Colorado, and that will be it. This was just… We have a strong physical connection, and we let ourselves get carried away.”
“So it’s just physical? You don’t have feelings for him?”
I shook my head. “It doesn’t matter if I do. It could never be more for so many reasons.”
“You mean Tanner?”
“Well, yeah. But that’s not the only reason. Levi leads a very different lifestyle than I do. He’s a pro athlete who travels half the year, and I have a son who is in school here, and planting roots for him is my priority. I also don’t want to confuse Alex.”
“I don’t know, Presley. That all sounds logical and smart, but the heart doesn’t always do logical and smart. I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“I won’t.” I couldn’t say the words with enough conviction to believe them myself, so I knew Harper wouldn’t buy it.
“I have to go, but I’m calling you later so we can talk about this more.”
I smiled half-heartedly. “Okay.”
“Let me know what lover boy says about the shoot.”
I laughed. “I will. And thanks for everything, Harp.”
***
“Why don’t I go pick up Alex from camp so you can keep doing what you’re doing? I’d say I’d take over, but my idea of decorating is a few footballs and some signed jerseys pinned to the wall.”
I smiled. Not only had Levi agreed to be in the photo shoot, he’d also spent the entire afternoon helping me stage bookcases and mantels so they’d look good for the photos. We painted Mason jars and filled them with fresh flowers, went to the used bookstore and bought color-coordinated books to display on shelves, and now I was busy trying to fill in the nooks and crannies with the best pieces from all over the inn.
I set a pale blue vase on top of the mantel, then shook my head and took it down. “Thanks. That would be great. This is going to take me a while.”
“No problem.”
“Do you mind if I move things around in your room after I finish up here?”
He shook his head. “Have at it. Leave anything heavy that needs to be moved for when I get back.”
“Okay.”
The plan was to do the photo shoot first thing tomorrow morning. Harper and I had gone back and forth over text and decided the best areas to focus on were the living room, the outside front of the inn, and my bedroom and Levi’s. So after I figured out what would go where in the living room, I took some leftover shelf décor to Levi’s bedroom to see what I could do about dressing it up. A Broncos duffle bag sat on the dresser, so I grabbed it and went to zip it closed, figuring I’d hide it in the closet for now. But as I rounded the zipper at the corner, a box stuck out. I attempted to tuck it neatly inside, only to realize it was a giant box of condoms. Not only that, underneath the mega box was a second box the same size. Both unopened.