once she remembered to add a stack of napkins.
“The floors I could handle. It’s the wallpaper stripping that I have to save my muscles for. Tedious and painful. But worth it. So far, it looks like just cosmetic fixes.”
“You’re giving the inn the Cinderella treatment?”
“Yes. And I’m worried about how right that reference may be when it comes to mice and birds being inside.”
“You’d turn down a helpful army of woodland creatures?”
“We’ll be banishing them day one. Don’t need ’em—and God knows my sister doesn’t want ’em,” he said with another knockout of a grin. “Amelia and I are one heck of a team. Plus, we’ve also got our friends Teague and Everleigh. Teague’s a workhorse and Ever…” Alex’s mouth opened and closed, as if auditioning the right words before letting them come out. “Well, she’s still finding herself. But I think she’s an ideas person. She’s certainly great with people.”
Sydney handed over the bag. Their fingers brushed for a moment, maybe two. It sent tingles that reached all the way to her elbow.
Which was ridiculous. She brushed fingers all the time. Taxi drivers handing her luggage. Front desk clerks handing over keys. Waiters taking back the menu. There was nothing sexy about a finger brush.
Until today.
Until Alex—the obviously crazy lottery winner. Or the massively naïve, optimistic lottery winner. Either way, he was a complication she didn’t need.
She yanked her hand back. “That’ll be fourteen dollars.”
“Plus the coffees,” he reminded her, with a backward tip of the head toward his sister.
“Twenty-two, then.”
“Yikes. We’d better load up on cereal and milk.”
“Our pastries are worth it. And come back to try our sandwiches.” Sydney looked down at the half-filled bucket of lettuce. “On second thought, wait until tomorrow to come back for lunch.”
“Something special on the menu?”
“Yes. I won’t be the cook. So the sandwiches will be edible.” Because Alex was nice. He didn’t deserve her half-assed attempt that would no doubt burn the crap out of a panini. “You’ve witnessed my lack of kitchen talent.” She brushed the muffin crumbs into the trash.
He slid bills across the counter. “I can make a sandwich. If I come back, it’ll be for the beautiful woman who can’t.”
With that, he headed for the door, where his sister waited.
While Sydney just gaped at him. What had just happened?
“Hey, hon?” Her father came around to the sink carrying two empty coffeepots. “Don’t forget that you’re on chemo duty with Gram this afternoon. And take a couple of pairs of gloves with you. Your job is to hold the basin when she pukes. Her aim…well, it’s not great.”
That was a timely reminder of why she was here. Lettuce dryer and puke catcher.
Whatever had just happened with Alex?
It didn’t matter.
Chapter Three
Alex finished pulling on his gloves. Then he tilted his face up to the sun spearing through the pine trees. “This feels great, huh? We’d never be able to sit outside like this on January 5 if we were still in Pittsburgh.”
“You’re not in the Caribbean wearing just trunks and some sand. You’re wearing a sweater under a coat. And a scarf. And a hat.” Everleigh glared at him as she pointed at each article of clothing that clearly offended her.
She hadn’t, ah, been on board with meeting on the inn’s porch. Outside.
In January.
But it was fifty and sunny in the midafternoon. No snow, no wind. It felt great.
Better than being cooped up inside, without the warming sun. He’d insisted they throw open the windows in every room, on every floor, to blast out the stale air. Hopefully blow some of the dust out, too.
“Do you want a blanket?” Amelia offered.
Teague gave the railing a careful push before leaning his whole weight on it. “Or do you just want to whine for another minute to get it out of your system?”
“What I want is to be warm. I know you don’t want to heat the entire inn, Alex, but why can’t we light one of the fireplaces and huddle in one room?”
With a patience he did not feel, Alex said, “They need to be checked by a professional before we use them.”
Everleigh shifted on the wicker furniture. The cushion sort of gasped, and the frame of the couch sort of…wheezed? “For what? They’re not ancient machinery. You light a fire and the smoke goes up. Basic since medieval times.”
If she kept this up, Alex would tell her to do jumping jacks to stay warm. Because they had about two hundred things to discuss besides Everleigh’s core temperature. “Animals