Mia was also right about his employees; he’d made it a point to hire the best, and he could trust them to keep things running for a little while.
Just the thought of waking up to the sound of water lapping on the shore instead of traffic outside his window, and getting out in his fishing boat rather than handing tissues to sobbing women, had him almost feeling ten years younger.
"Okay, you’ve sold me on a vacation," he told his already gloating sister, "but I can rent a place."
She picked up the flyer from the coffee table. "Remember how we used to have cannonball contests off the dock and the Jansens next door would vote for the winner?" He had to laugh at the memory, the sound rusty after being out of use for so long. He hadn’t seen little Brooke Jansen or her grandparents in more than fifteen years, but he hadn’t forgotten them. Rafe looked down at the picture of the lake house. "I loved this place. We all did."
Mia’s gaze was no longer challenging or gloating. He and his siblings often fought and teased, but at the core of it all, they loved each other...and they always looked out for each other, too.
"You loved it more than anyone, Rafe. You’ve got the money. It’s time to finally use some of it and clear your head out on the lake."
Rafe figured he could have kept arguing with her, but what was the point? He wanted the cabin, and not just for himself. For his whole family—especially his parents, who should never have lost it in the first place. This time, he would make sure they would never lose it again.
He picked up the listing and looked more closely at the picture. At first glance, it hadn’t looked too different from the way he remembered it, but now he noticed the peeling paint, the overgrown shrubs, the overly worn and slightly crooked front steps.
"After all these years, it’ll probably need some work."
"I’m sure it does, but you’re nearly as handy as Adam. And you know he’ll be thrilled to weigh in on how to best fix any problems you might find. The listing agent and I have been playing phone tag all morning, so I’ll find out more specifics soon, but the flyer says it’s furnished, so hopefully you won’t have to deal with buying much furniture."
If it were any other house, he would have had Mia show him more pictures and give him the inspector’s report, but he knew this place inside and out. Sure, he didn’t know anything about the people who had lived in it for the past eighteen years, but how much could there be to fix?
"You win. I’ll make an offer."
Mia’s grin lit up her already pretty face. "I knew it!"
He looked at his watch. "I’ve got to take another couple of clients this morning, but I can probably come in to your office later this afternoon to sign everything."
"No need." She reached into her bag again and pulled out a large folder. "Sign here, here, here, and here. I already called with your initial offer. Once I send this in, we should be good to go."
Clearly, he needed a vacation, because he should have seen this coming. Mia Sullivan always got what she wanted.
Especially when she was trying to help someone she loved.
"One day you’re going to find a guy you can’t wrap around your finger," he told her as he took the pen she handed him and signed next to all the yellow flags. She was smiling when she took the papers back, but her grin suddenly looked a little forced.
He put a hand on her arm. "Everything okay, sis?"
"Everything’s great." He wasn’t sure he believed her, but she was already walking out the door and saying, "You should be the proud owner of the lake house by tonight."
He’d seen the dollar figure listed on the offer and hadn’t blinked an eye, but now he had to ask, "Just how good is my offer?"
The twinkle was back in her eyes as she said, "Good enough to hop on your Ducati tomorrow and be there to light a fire on the beach and lie back to look up at the stars by nightfall."
"Thanks, Mia." She had been, and always would be, a major pain in the rear. But he wouldn’t trade his little sister for anyone else.
She didn’t turn back again, simply waved at him over her shoulder. Noting that every last one of his male employees was drooling over her instead of working, his voice was harder than it would otherwise have been as he told them, "Mandatory company meeting at lunch."
With that, he walked back into his office to prepare for his next meeting...and, with a summer at the lake in his sights, to get started on writing up a list of revised duties for his staff at Sullivan Investigations.
Chapter Two
Some days, Brooke Jansen loved her job.
Every day, actually, since she’d moved from Boston to live at the lake full time and start her own chocolate truffle business. She even loved it on days like today, when she couldn’t quite get her latest truffle recipe to taste right.
She’d spent the past eight hours working on a new summer-themed box of truffles, one she hoped would please people as much as the winter-themed box she’d debuted at Christmas. Now it was time to work out some of the kinks in her back with a swim. Plus, she tended to have some of her biggest epiphanies while underwater. She had been swimming like a fish from the day her grandfather had plucked her out of her father’s arms and plopped her into the lake despite his son’s protests that she wasn’t ready yet.
Brooke took her saucepans and glass bowls over to the sink. As she quickly washed them out, she marveled at the view of the lake and the Douglas firs in the mountains beyond the water. Even though she’d been living on Lake Wenatchee for the past three years, she still could hardly believe how beautiful it was.