Nine
Bear looked his way. “We were just talking about you.”
“Yeah,” Laura said in a flat voice. “Speak of the devil.” The way it came out, one would have thought he was actual evil-spawn.
Eddie touched a hand to his forehead. “What? Are my horns showing?”
She bustled by without sparing him another glance, headed behind the bar. “Shouldn’t you be at your job site? You know, sawing, hammering, crushing the hopes of others, that sort of thing.”
Bear sauntered over to join him in his the booth. “I got something to ask you.”
“Shoot.” He kept the easy smile on his face, but inside he braced. Laura looked ready to snap, and it gave him an inkling of what her father wanted to discuss.
“I hear you’re trying to put us out of business.”
“No such thing, Bear. I regret your daughter has a problem—”
“Problem?” Laura exclaimed.
Here it came.
He ignored her to lean forward and talk fast. “With respect, sir, so long as Fairview plays by the rules—and I’ve got a permit in my truck that says they are—then I’ve got a responsibility to grow my business.”
Bear liked the sir. He gave a gruff nod. “A man’s got to look out for his business.”
“I believe this’ll only bring more tourists to Sierra Falls. That rancher can only hold so many guests.” It’d be more guests once they added a second story, but he’d work up to that part. “People coming to visit the spa will need someplace to stay…” He cocked his head in the direction of the lodge, letting Bear do the math. And he honestly believed it, too. A night at the Fairview property would probably run about four times what a night at the lodge cost.
Sure enough, the man gave him a slow smile as he rose from his seat. “That was my notion exactly. I like how you think.” He went to the bar, pausing to smack a hand on the counter. “Can’t fight progress, girl.”
Laura looked unusually deflated. Quietly, she said, “They’ll put us out of business, Dad.”
“No prissy health farm is going to put us Baileys out of business. Seems to me you’ve got enough to fret about, so get back to it.” Bear shook his head as he settled onto a far stool, muttering, “Spa Jacuzzi city folk prissiness.”
Laura automatically poured her dad a cup of coffee. Eddie had known the man for years, and he knew to let him sip and sit with this latest development for a while before he broke the rest of his news. It took baby steps with Bear Bailey.
And besides, something else was demanding his attention at the moment. Laura had begun to crash around behind the bar, slamming the coffeemaker open and shut, rattling cups in the bus tray, breaking up the ice in the freezer bin. To someone else, she might’ve looked angry, but Eddie saw something in the way her mouth was drawn. A pinched look to her eyes that made it seem like she was damming back some emotion.
He hated it. Hated to be the bad guy in those eyes.
He popped up from the booth and joined her behind the bar.
She grew utterly still, watching as he poured himself a cup of coffee. “What are you doing?”
“I came for coffee, so I’m getting myself some.”
“I can see that. You know what I mean.”
He could tell she wanted to tear into him, but how could she fault his helping himself? Their waitress wasn’t in yet, so serving fell to the family. “Just trying to help a pretty lady.”
“Then rip up Fairview’s check.”
He topped off Bear’s cup, then walked back around and grabbed a stool at the bar. “Seems our goals are mutually exclusive.” As he leaned his elbows on the counter, he couldn’t help but eye her tight body in that skimpy workout getup. “Although…”
“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.”