That was what he said when I finally quit babbling.
“What?” I asked.
“You rent those cabins too cheap, Cassidy. They’re the shit. Up the rates.”
I was experiencing a heady warmth from his they’re the shit that was somewhat overwhelming but I still managed to ask, “You think I could get away with that?”
“A year ago, two, no. Economy was in the tank. No matter how great your cabins are, you’d have to take that hit to get them rented. Now, you got the business you got because people are gettin’ a deal. They know it. You up nightly rates by ten, twenty dollars, weekly rates by fifty, they’d still rent them, because they might not be getting a deal, but they’re still the shit. You do that, helps you during the lean times.”
“That’s actually a good idea,” I told him because it was. I could do this. I’d have to honor the bookings I had at the rates they’d booked, but it’d be super-easy to change the website to increase the rates for future bookings.
“Not the scarecrow.”
Deacon’s bizarre words had my head jerking and my mouth saying, “Sorry?”
“Got a brain in my head, Cassidy.”
He said this with his deep voice bearing a thread of humor, not insult, which was good.
Still.
“I didn’t say you didn’t,” I replied.
“Woman, that was an offer.”
Again, I was confused.
“What?” I asked.
“Got a brain, I can use it,” Deacon answered. “You do what you do day to day. It’s your life. You’re up to your neck in it. Can get mired in that, unless you got someone to kick ideas around with. Since I got a brain, and you got me, that someone is me.”
The feeling of heady warmth that gave me was just overwhelming. So much so I couldn’t speak.
“Woman, you there?” he called.
“Yes, honey,” I forced out and kept doing it. “Thanks for the offer. I’ll take you up on it. I just hope I make it so you don’t regret it.”
“How would that happen?” he asked, sounding genuinely perplexed, which I found unbelievably sweet.
But still.
“You remember Grant?” I inquired.
“Who?”
“Grant. My boyfriend when I, uh…first met you.”
“Lazy fuck,” he stated, paused, then said before I could confirm, “Stupid fuck.”
“Yeah,” I replied, smiling. “Him.”
“I remember.”
“Well, my dream, this dream that transformed when I found these cabins, wasn’t being here doing it alone. I actually thought most of the fun would be being here, taking care of these cabins, and doing it together, at the time with Grant. He didn’t agree. His fun came a different way. The weight of the work, and me, ended up too much.”
“Cassie,” he said quietly. “Respect, but you two were too young to take that on. Man his age back then, all he wants is to get drunk and do it findin’ someone who’ll give him a blowjob after he’s done gettin’ shitfaced.”
This was absolutely true.