“Look who’s here!”
Carrie couldn’t see anyone, but the repetitive banging of metal on wood stopped at least. Then, appearing over the wooden terrace rail like a swimmer from the sea, a man unfurled and stood, and leant against the bar.
“Carrie Archer,” he said, his voice low and warm. “You made it, then.”
She blinked. How did he know who she was? And why, of everyone she’d met today, did he feel so familiar?
“Hi. You must be Nate,” she said, holding out a hand over the rail. “I’ve heard…well, nothing about you except your name, actually. And that you’re the gardener here?”
Nate took her hand in his larger, warmer one, and Carrie felt something unfamiliar spark up her arm. Heat? Attraction? It had been so long since she’d felt either she wasn’t sure. But there was something beyond either of those. A feeling of comfort, maybe?
It was probably just the reassuring bulk of his presence. He was a good two feet lower than her, down on the grass below the terrace, but he barely had to reach up at all to shake her hand. He had to be well over six feet, and with the broad, strong shoulders of someone who spent his days working outdoors, lugging trees around or something. He was one solid thing, in an inn that was falling apart.
Maybe Nate was exactly what she needed here at the Avalon. A trusty support team was important to any manager, or leader. If she could get him on side, to help back her up, he could be a great asset.
She was already starting to feel better about the whole thing when Nate’s next words made the terrace shift under her feet and face a new reality.
“Not heard of me, huh? Well, that’s kind of weird, given that your grandmother left me control of the grounds to this place in her will.”
Carrie drew her hand back from Nate’s. “I’m sorry? She did what?”
“Didn’t you read the will?” Carrie shook her head, which made Nate tut. Moving along the grass, he climbed the steps up onto the terrace. Now they were on even ground, he stood a good head and shoulders higher than Carrie. Suddenly, she wished she’d worn higher heels.
“Mr Norton, Gran’s lawyer, he said he’d go through the details with me once I arrived. He just told me that she’d left me the Avalon.” He hadn’t mentioned caveats, or another heir. Hadn’t told her that even Nancy hadn’t thought that Carrie could do this alone.
Someone else she had to prove wrong, then.
“You know your gran,” Nate said, looking down at her with something like pity in his eyes. “Always meddling. She left you the inn, and the land, with the caveat that I had control over the gardens. For as long as I wanted it.”
“And I suppose you still want it.” Looking up, she met his eyes, and knew his answer long before he said it.
“Yes. I do.”
It was hard to tear her gaze away. Something about his slate-grey eyes that drew her in, made her want to be closer.
“Besides, I think you’re going to need me,” Nate said, breaking the moment. Carrie pulled a face, staring down at her shoes.
She had to remember that Nate wasn’t who she’d thought he could be. Wasn’t a sturdy, trusty sidekick. Instead, he was one more person who thought she couldn’t do it alone. Wasn’t capable. Wasn’t good enough.
One more person to prove wrong.
And one more person who would try and tell her what to do. Would want her to do things his way.
Well, he was going to be severely disappointed.
“Need you?” she asked, eyebrows raised. “And why is that, exactly?”
Nate blinked at her. “Well, because this place is a wreck. And because I’m the one who’s been running it for the last six months, since Nancy got sick. I know what we need to do here.”
“Look, I get that we’re going to have to work together,” she said. “But Gran left me the inn. I appreciate you keeping the place going until I could get here but, like you said, it’s a wreck, and six months in your care hasn’t changed that. This is my place now. And I’m the one who’s going to fix it.”
Nate stared at her for a long moment, his dark eyes a little too knowing. “You really are just like your grandmother, aren’t you?”
Carrie thought about how Nancy never let anyone tell her what to do, always struck out on her own path. “I hope so, yes. Now, how about you give me the tour of this place, so I can see what I’m dealing with?”
“You don’t want to check out the paperwork first?” he asked, and for a moment Carrie started to second-guess herself. Then she shook her head.
“No. I want to see my inn.”
Nate gave a sharp nod. “Then let’s go.”
* * * *
They started in the dining room.
“I’d forgotten about this carpet,” Carrie said, staring down at the green and purple monstrosity, her face sour.
Involuntarily, Nate glanced down too. “You don’t notice it after a while,” he lied. He’d told her the place was a wreck. But her words, six months in your care hasn’t changed that, were stuck in his brain now, and he knew he didn’t have a chance of getting them out. She didn’t have a clue what she was talking about, of course. But still, the need to defend the Avalon Inn against this outsider was undeniable.
“Denial won’t fly with most clients.” Carrie pulled a notebook out of her handbag and started scribbling. “You only get one chance to make a first impression.”
Nate wondered how much she’d paid for the all-cliché business course to teach her that one. Almost not wanting to know, he stepped closer to see what she was writing.
The list, headed up ‘Renovations’, read:
—Replace dining room carpet
—And probably chairs, tables and crockery
—Definitely replace curtains
“At least you’re leaving the walls intact,” he muttered, and Carrie glanced up in surprise, as if she hadn’t realised he was there. “Come on, you can mentally tear down the kitchen, next.”
Actually, he thought as he waited for Carrie to trot after him, it was possible the kitchen might prove a saving grace. Not the room itself, although it was at least hyper-hygienic, thanks to his cousin Jacob’s obsessive nature, but what it stood for. The Avalon had always been famous locally for its food. Nancy liked to put on a good spread for any occasion, and hired the best chefs to make it happen.
Yes, ten minutes chatting about roast lamb and sticky toffee pudding with Jacob should have Carrie falling in love with the inn, he reckoned. Especially if Jake
