She cast him an amused glance over her shoulder. “I left my black leather and whip at the inn.”
Nate tripped over a tree root. He was never teasing Ellie MacLeod again.
Beside him, Chase laughed. “That’s the first time I’ve ever seen you stunned speechless by a woman.”
Nate ignored him and followed Ellie inside the now-smoke-filled cabin. He walked over and opened a window while Ellie plucked the cigar from between her grandfather’s lips. “Grandpa, your doctor told you no more cigars.”
“I didn’t inhale.” Joe grinned, leaning back in his chair to look up at his granddaughter. “Did it work? Is your mother going to leave us alone now?”
“Everything’s fine, Grandpa. Nothing for you to worry about. But we have to get back to the inn. It’s almost time for your pills, and you really should thank everyone before they leave.”
The other men at the table glanced at Nate, no doubt looking for confirmation. Joe couldn’t see him where he leaned against the wall, so he shook his head. Ellie wouldn’t be able to keep the truth from Joe for long, and he’d need the support of his friends.
“Your mother’s gone then?” Joe asked.
“Yes. Chase, do you mind driving Grandpa and Jonathan back to the inn?”
“Not at all.”
“Hold up there, Ellie my love. Game’s not over yet. Shouldn’t be more than an hour.”
“I thought you might say that.” She took a seat, pulled a handful of quarters from her pocket, and plunked them on the table. “Deal me in.”
“You can’t just join midgame. Besides, you don’t even know how to play,” her grandfather said.
“I say let her play,” Ed said, and the judge and Colin agreed.
“All right, but don’t say I didn’t warn you, Ellie my love.”
Chase leaned in to Nate. “Do you think I should volunteer to take her place?” Chase was a card sharp, not because he played a lot of cards but because he could count them.
“Let’s see how she does. You can always volunteer after a couple of hands.”
Ten minutes later, the game was over. Ellie had cleaned them out.
Nate felt Chase looking at him and thought he should probably stop staring at Ellie before he gave himself away. She’d surprised him again, and he decided he didn’t like surprises.
“I don’t know, bro,” Chase said under his breath. “Seems to me Ellie is exactly your type.”
Nate was afraid he was right.
* * *
Ellie leaned against the receptionist’s desk after saying goodbye to her friends. It had been exhausting keeping up a positive front. Sadie and Agnes had seen through her act, but they hadn’t pushed for more details about the meeting with her mother. Ellie didn’t expect the reprieve to last for long.
She glanced at the registration book. Her grandmother had checked Nate in. Ellie had assumed he’d be spending the night either at Agnes’s apartment above I Believe in Unicorns, her store on Main Street, or at Sadie and Chase’s cottage on Willow Creek. But the three of them had suddenly remembered that their guest bedrooms were unavailable. Her family were pathetically transparent matchmakers.
They didn’t seem to care that Nate had made it abundantly clear to everyone while cleaning up the dining room that they were friends, not lovers. It would have been amusing how he’d gone out of his way to treat her like one of the guys if it hadn’t been embarrassing. Even more embarrassing, she thought upon closer inspection of his reservation, was that her grandmother had charged him the regular room rate. After what they’d put him through, the poor guy should be staying for free.
She leaned over the desk and picked up the landline, punching in the number she knew by heart. “Hi, Zia Maria. It’s Ellie at Mirror Lake Inn. Is it too late to order a pizza for delivery?”
“Massimo,” Zia Maria yelled at her son. “It’s Ellie. You got time to make her a pizza?” A moment later Zia Maria chuckled. “He said for you, he’ll make time. My boy, he likes you. I like you too. When he dumps that woman, you’ll date him, yes?” Zia Maria didn’t hide the fact she wasn’t enamored with her son’s fiancée. They had this same conversation every time Ellie called.
Ellie laughed. “They’re getting married next month, Zia Maria. But tell Massimo I appreciate him fitting in my order. I’d like an extra large…meat lover’s pizza.” It seemed like the type of pie a guy like Nate would go for.
“Eh? Meat lover’s? But you like the vegetarian best, no?”
“It’s not for me. It’s for Nate.”
“Our Nate, he’s in town?” The older women in Highland Falls loved Nate. In their eyes he was a hero.
“Yes. He helped out at the inn today so I thought I’d treat him. I have food for breakfast and lunch but nothing for—”
“He’s staying with you?”
“Yes. I mean, no,” she quickly amended. The last thing she needed, or Nate wanted, was a rumor about them going around town. Zia Maria was as bad as her grandmother. “He’s staying at the inn. Just for tonight.”
“You be careful. He’s too handsome for his own good, and he likes the ladies. All the ladies. He’s a heartbreaker, and your heart, it has already been broken.”
Ellie sighed. She should have said the pizza was for a guest, a nameless guest. “You don’t have to worry about me, Zia Maria. I’m immune to charming men and heartbreakers.” Actually, she was drawn to them.
“That’s good. You leave the order to me. I know what Nate likes. You tell him to come visit Zia Maria before he leaves.”
“I’ll do that.” After saying goodbye and hanging up the phone, Ellie glanced in the direction of her grandfather’s suite of rooms. He’d been his cheerful old self when they’d gotten back from the cabin, chatting with his friends and helping with the cleanup. But as the last of their guests had left, he’d grown subdued. Ellie didn’t need to be psychic to know that he was anxious about the outcome of her meeting.
She walked past the office and caught a whiff of burning grass and cedar. Winter Johnson, the mayor, had used white sage to clear the negative energy from the room. Ellie inhaled deeply of the scent in hopes it would clear the confrontation with her mother from her mind. The only times she’d stopped thinking about it were when she lay back in the canoe with the sun warming the chill that had iced her insides at her mother’s threats and when she’d placed her hand in Nate’s and stood on the shore with him.
He had an oddly calming effect on her. She’d noticed it at the wedding and had wondered if she was imagining things, but today proved she hadn’t been.
She could use some of that calm now, she thought as she raised her hand to knock on her grandfather’s door. She had to confess that things hadn’t gone as well as she’d suggested earlier. He had to be prepared for what would come next. She would have preferred to talk to him when Jonathan was there in hopes the judge could alleviate both their fears, but he’d gone to Sadie and Chase’s for dinner.
There was one fear Ellie couldn’t share with anyone though—the fear that she was the one her mother would try to prove incompetent. Nate’s calming presence had almost lulled Ellie into confessing her fear to him. She could just imagine what he’d think of her if she told him she was psychic. Sharing her secret had never gone well for her in the past.