“Although, what?”
He shot a glance at Bear, chin-deep in a copy of yesterday’s paper, and whispered, “Although it seems like one of your goals is a good workout. I could always help by racing you around in those little hot pants of yours.”
Abruptly, she stood erect, putting her hands on her hips, doing her best to look put out. “They are not hot pants. They’re running shorts.”
He let his gaze rove along those sleek thighs, and when he brought his eyes back to hers, something gratifying awaited him there. “You’re blushing,” he said with genuine surprise.
“I am not blushing.” She turned her back on him to wipe down a part of the bar that didn’t need wiping. “I’m just flushed from my workout.”
“Next time, you let me know if you need a running partner. Because seriously, I’m available for chasing.”
“Dream on, Jessup.” She threw the rag into a bin under the counter. “Now, do you have a reason to be here, or is it just to plague me?”
He was working up the guts to break it to her about the rancher’s second story, so for now it was pretty much the plague-her thing. He had an appointment to keep in Reno, but instead he found himself reaching for a menu. “What’s today’s special?”
“Soup, but it won’t be ready for an hour.”
“Forget the soup,” Bear said. He put his paper down and shot a thumb in the direction of the windows. “You’ve gotta finish the screens.”
Eddie popped up to take a look. “I did finish, good and solid.” He helped the Baileys out with small jobs, and it wasn’t like him to mess something up. “Here’s your problem,” he said, seeing it immediately. One of the pegs holding the screen in place had broken, leaving a gap wide enough to let bugs in. “I told you, Bear, you get what you pay for.”
“They told me these were perfectly good.”
“And I told you they’re perfect crap. These cheap ones can’t take any wear.” He wedged the screen back into place. “Hey, sugar,” he called to Laura, “you got a toothpick behind that bar?” She gave him a frosty look in reply, so he added, “I need something tiny to pick out the broken bit.”
“These things came with a bag of extra parts,” Bear said, headed to the door. “I’ll go to the garage, see if I can find them.”
Laura brought him a few plastic cocktail spears, and instead of returning to the bar, she stayed to watch as he used a toothpick to jiggle the piece free. “How’d that happen?” she asked.
He found her interest oddly gratifying. “It was probably some little kid, sitting in the booth, fiddling with it. Snapped the head of it right off.”
“Well, can’t you just snap it back on again? It’s letting in a ton of mosquitoes.” She put a knee on the bench of the booth to get a closer look, and the fake leather upholstery crunched as she leaned in.
The piece popped free, and he dropped it into her hand. “Got it.”
“Good. I worked the evening shift yesterday and was practically nibbled to death.”
Her thigh was tanned and smooth, and he had a good idea of what he’d like a nibble of. “I’ll bet you taste mighty good, too.”
Too good. He had to turn his back to her, giving himself a second to cool it.
But then she made an exasperated sound, and he just had to get a look at her expression, so he stood. He moved sooner than she’d expected, though, because as he did he practically bumped into her.
Stepping back, she made a little “Oh” sound. Her eyes were wide and lips parted, making her look as heated as he felt.
“Is there something the matter?” He stepped closer, touching a finger to her chin. “Because, sweet thing, you’re looking flushed.”
“Just fix it and be done, Jessup.” She shifted her chin, evading his touch, but she didn’t move outright, which he took as an excellent sign.
He inched even closer to her. “You want me to fix it?”
She took another step backward, looking a little unsteady. “Please.”
“Well, then. All you had to do was say please.”
Bear reappeared with a tiny, clear plastic bag. “Got ’em.”
“Maybe if you’d installed it right the first time,” Laura said flatly.
He smirked to himself, wondering if she was this saucy in all areas of her life. “I did install it right the first time.” He emptied the parts into his palm, looking for the right little black peg. “Maybe if the manager of this place hadn’t been so stingy…”
“I am not stingy,” Laura said.
“Whatever you say.” It took Eddie just a second to click the part into place.
Bear hooted a laugh as he headed to the bar, mumbling, “I need coffee for this.” The man walked slowly since a stroke had left him with a bum leg, but damned if he hadn’t been moving around better ever since Sorrow’d had her emergency down at the old mine.
Bear gave the coffee a sniff, and, despite his grimace, he poured himself a mug. “Well, kids, if that’s it on this whole ranch nonsense—”
“Actually,” Eddie interrupted, “there’s one other thing.” It was now or never. He settled on a stool, bracing himself for the fight he knew was coming.
Laura froze. “I knew it.” She looked at her father. “Here it comes. The part about how he’s going to destroy Sierra Falls and all the rest of us with it.”
“Let’s hear the man out,” Bear said. He turned to Eddie, adding, “Ignore her. I told my girl it’s just a little rancher.”
“Sure,” Laura muttered. “Ignore the girl.”
Her dad pretended not to hear as he stirred a couple of spoonfuls of sugar into his coffee. “No old, beat-up one-story hotel is gonna put the Big Bear Lodge out of business. Ain’t that right, Jessup?”
Eddie didn’t smile along, though. The churn in his gut made such a thing impossible. “Well, funny thing that. It turns out Fairview wants more than just a one-story rancher.”
Laura’s expression shattered—it was what he had been dreading most. “What did you say?” she asked, her voice gone hushed.
His attention was only on her as he said, “I’m sorry, Laura. I tried. They want to build up, not just out. We’ve got to take the place up a floor. But,” he quickly added, “what I said still stands. They’re building a spa in there, too, and once they add things like treatment rooms, there won’t be all that much space left for guest rooms. I honestly can’t see how it’ll put you guys under.”
“Build up?” she exclaimed, clearly not agreeing with his assessment. “How can they do that?” The hollow look in her eyes gutted him. But then her pain sharpened to fury. “How can you do that?”
Everything about her—her tone, her words, and the accusation in those eyes—put him on the defensive. “Because I need to put food on the table, Laura. Forget me, how about Jack? He’s got Craig and Tina to think about. If it hadn’t been us hired to do the job, it would’ve been some other outfit. Think about it.”
“No, you think about it. Your swanky new hotel isn’t just going to put the Bailey family out of business—it’ll change everything about Sierra Falls. Corporations who don’t give a damn about the town or the people who live here, they’ll come in and build their big chain stores and chain hotels and chain restaurants, and it’ll put the rest of us—the residents, the heart and soul of this town—out of business.”
He scrubbed a hand through his hair. Did she think these things hadn’t occurred to him? All he could do was try to remain optimistic. “I can’t stop it,” he said tiredly.
He checked his watch. His other commitment was calling him. Construction wasn’t the only thing in his life—not by a long shot—and it was a long drive to Reno.
“Are we keeping you?” she asked in a voice like acid.
He slid from his stool in answer.
She glared. “Where do you have to go?”
“Reno.” Like she cared.
“Hitting the strip?”
With a roll of his eyes, he got back on topic. “Look, Fairview has the permits ready to go. Neither of us can stop them.”
“Oh, I’ll stop them all right.” She stormed from behind the bar. “Think about it, Eddie. The former owners had a ton of dot-com money. If they could’ve made that stupid property into something bigger, or better, or somehow more than just a little old ranch house, they would have. No, there’s something fishy about your permits,” she spat, “and I’m gonna get to the bottom of it.” She looked at her dad. “Tell Sorrow I’m taking a rain check on lunch.”
She stormed out. The door slammed behind her, leaving a deafening silence, with just the sound of Bear’s spoon clinking against his mug to be heard in the tavern.
“Building up, huh?”
Eddie sighed and leaned against the dinged-up counter. “If it weren’t us on the job, it would’ve been someone else. There’s no stopping those people.”
“I always figured that was some sort of historic property. You know, the sort of thing you can’t change, just restore.” Bear shrugged. “I’m assuming you’re not doing anything illegal.”
“Fairview got special permission. Some adaptive reuse thing.”
“Never heard of it.”
“We’ve got the permits.”
“I heard you the first time.”
“Look, Bear. This is my livelihood we’re talking about. In this economy, Jessup Brothers Construction can continue to scrape by with odd jobs, or we can go big-time. Fairview is big-time.”
“It’s our livelihood, too, boy. The livelihood of the whole Bailey family.” He stood and patted a definitive hand on the counter. “But Marlene raised you well. I’m sure you’ll do the right thing.”