He opened the door. Ryder was lying on the bed, his head hanging over the edge of the mattress, his feet up on the wall. “You were told there was no smoking inside the inn. Put it out.”
Ryder ignored him, blowing a couple of smoke rings.
Nate gritted his teeth as he walked over and took the cigarette from between Ryder’s fingers.
Toby growled and bared his teeth at Nate.
Since the dog didn’t move from where he lay curled up on the end of the bed, Nate ignored him and tossed the cigarette in the cup of water on the nightstand. “Get up. Now.”
“Hey! That was my last one,” Ryder said, jerking into an upright position.
“Good. You won’t be tempted to break the rules again.”
Ryder shrugged, then reached over to pat the still-growling dog. “It’s not like I’ll be here anyway.”
Last night, the relief of finding Ryder alive had quickly dissipated in the face of the kid acting like it was no big deal they’d been looking for him for hours. That was when Nate told him he was taking him home. It wasn’t his finest moment. He’d been shaken up, still dealing with the memory of searching for Brodie.
“You’re not going anywhere.” Nate was about to tack on a couple of conditions when the belligerent expression on Ryder’s face was replaced with one of relief. “And neither am I.”
“Whatevs,” the kid said, pulling Toby half onto his lap and burying his face in the setter’s fur.
“Come on. The dog needs to go out. We’ll take him for a run.”
Ryder lifted his head. “So what, you’re like my jailer now? I can’t go anywhere without you?”
Nate was tempted to say yes but fought the urge. “No. I just thought you’d like to come for a run with me.” He shrugged and turned to walk away. “I left breakfast for you in the warming tray.”
“I guess we can go with you. Toby could use a run.”
* * *
Ellie pulled out of the Forever Treasures parking lot feeling like she might actually be able to pull off the redesign in time for the tours on Sunday. Her meeting with Sadie and Abby had been productive, if she didn’t count the time they’d wasted plotting Ellie’s seduction of Nate. The only seduction going on at the inn would be between the literary couples featured in the books they’d chosen. At least until they reopened for overnight guests.
Abby had suggested that Ellie close for two weeks and that they promote the reopening at the same time they announced that Mirror Lake Inn would be featured in an upcoming movie. The woman was nothing if not confident. But the idea worked for Ellie and went a long way toward relieving her stress.
Well, it had until Abby decided she’d film the stages of the reno for her followers and have them vote on the design elements of each room. In the end she’d gotten Ellie on board with her plan. When it came to promotion, no one did it better than Abby.
Ellie’s stomach grumbled as she sat at a traffic light on Main Street, and she glanced at the time on the dashboard. It was almost two. She hadn’t realized she’d been in the antique store that long. Then again, she’d accomplished quite a bit. She’d found several pieces for her client’s library in New York. He’d responded within minutes of her sending him the photos, thrilled with her and her finds.
She’d pretty much found everything she needed to decorate Jamie and Claire’s room, Westley and Buttercup’s room, Beauty and the Beast’s room, and Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy’s room. Four down and four to go. Although she wouldn’t be able to decorate Highland Falls’ Most Romantic Couple’s room until the winner had been announced.
Hopefully, Abby’s followers would give Ellie’s choices a thumbs-up. But even if she had to make a few changes, it would be worth it. The owner of the antique store was thrilled with the added publicity and had worked out a payment schedule that was more than generous. She’d also offered Ellie a volume discount.
The light turned green, and Ellie went to put her foot on the gas, but none of the cars in front of her moved. She rolled down her window and stuck her head out to see what the holdup was. It didn’t appear as if there was a fender bender. She glanced at the drivers in front of her, following their gazes to where Nate and Hunter were loading Sheetrock into the back of a truck in the hardware store’s parking lot.
Seriously? Since when did the sight of two men in T-shirts and cargo shorts cause a traffic jam? Okay, so they were exceptionally handsome men, and their muscles and show of strength were equally impressive, but they weren’t exactly an uncommon sight in Highland Falls. Several of the drivers honked their horns. Nate glanced over his shoulder, spotted Ellie, and waved her over.
She looked from him to the load of building supplies in the back of the truck. The Sheetrock and two-by-fours couldn’t be for the roof. But they could be for the damaged ceiling in the judge’s room. If the damage was really, really bad. She put on her turn signal, easing out of traffic to turn into the parking lot. Several cars did the same, their drivers no doubt hopeful that Nate had been waving them over. She would have laughed at the dumbfounded expression on his face if she weren’t adding up the cost of the supplies. Plus, she was still mad at him.
By the time she pulled up beside the truck, Hunter was walking into the hardware store, and Nate must have informed the other drivers that he’d been waving Ellie over, because she was on the receiving end of tight-lipped looks as the women drove away.
“What’s going on?” she asked when Nate came to stand beside the driver’s-side door.
“I wanted to check if you were okay with me ordering lasagna from Zia Maria’s for dinner. The kitchen is kind of a mess, so I thought it would be easier to order in.”
She took a deep breath. He’d made everyone breakfast and probably had made lunch for them as well, seeing as it was midafternoon. She couldn’t really get mad at him for not cleaning up. “Don’t worry about the mess in the kitchen. I’ll deal with it. I’m on my way home now.”
“I want to put in a few more hours on the demo, so you might as well just leave it until I’m done taking down the other wall.”
“Why are you taking down a wall? Was there another leak?”
“Joe didn’t talk to you? He said you’d okayed the demo.”
“No. I had my phone off. I just turned it on twenty minutes ago.” She thought about what he’d said about the kitchen. “Nate, what wall did you take down?”
“The wall off the kitchen.”
Her eyes went wide. “My bedroom wall? You took down my bedroom wall?”
He grimaced, then nodded. “Yeah. I’m sorry, Ellie. I assumed Joe had talked to you. I thought it was just my calls you weren’t taking.”
She waved off his apology. She was the one who’d gone radio silent. For five measly hours! “Why does Joe want…Oh no, please don’t tell me he asked you to build an entertainment room.” Her grandfather had been talking about getting a big-screen TV since she’d arrived in August. When she vetoed him putting one in the dining room, he’d suggested the inn could use an entertainment room. He’d gone so far as to pick the furniture.
Nate rubbed his jaw. “I probably shouldn’t have told him I needed something to do.”