curve of her lips, she added, “A hotel isn’t as homey as one might wish, even if it is a pleasant place to stay.”
Pleasant. That monstrosity on the hill pretty much summed up all the things he—and most of the town—would never be able to afford. For her, it was merely pleasant.
Why was she there? Rick’s heart hammered in his chest, which was more than inconvenient considering his stomach was twisting into knots. She must know about the back rent. Someone had let it slip over the summer that Rick’s place existed, bringing Lana and Zoey in for the first time. Since then, Lana had never come there unless she was with Zoey or Graham, so showing up alone must mean she was there for business.
Damn, damn, damn.
“Is there something I can help you with?” he asked, trying to cover his distress with a relaxed tone.
“A glass of wine would be nice.”
Most people didn’t have a glass of wine while evicting their tenants. At least Rick didn’t think they did. Honestly, he had no idea what it was like on the other side of this arrangement.
“I have red or white.” Rick shifted on his feet, glancing at the door. Was it too much to ask for another customer to walk in and save him from the financial conversation he knew was coming? “Or I could mix the two, make some rosé for you.” Even as he said it, Rick cringed.
“I’ll take the rosé.”
Of course she would. So Rick went about adding cheap red wine to cheap white wine, feeling her eyes watching him as he did so. He handed her the glass. She took a sip without missing a beat, so either his concoction was successful, or she had one heck of a poker face. He’d tried tasting it before, but Rick wasn’t much of a wine drinker, so he didn’t know the difference between good wine and bad.
Since most people didn’t order the house blush, he’d always assumed it was bad.
Settling into her seat more comfortably, Lana leaned on the counter. “Christmas in Moose Springs. This is a first for me.” Swirling his terrible excuse for a rosé in her glass, she glanced out the window. “Anything I should know?”
“About the holiday or about what toes not to step on?”
A pretty smile curved her lips. “Both.”
“The hotel you’re staying in is about to be stuffed to bursting. When the Christmas crowd flocks in, it’s standing room only up there.”
“It’s been a little crowded for my taste,” Lana said. “Although it’s always nice seeing everyone full of the holiday cheer. The decorations are fabulous.”
Rick glanced at his pitiful attempts to spruce the place up. A fake Charlie Brown Christmas tree on the end of the bar with beer cap ornaments wasn’t exactly high-end design. His ex had put it up the first year they’d opened, and Rick hadn’t been able to throw out that sparse excuse of a tree, no matter how many extra needles it lost every time he pulled it out.
Lana followed his glance toward the tree, then she smiled at him. “But I always did prefer holiday decor with meaning.”
An awkward silence fell between them, in which he tried and failed to think of something to say and she sat there, sipping her wine and not rescuing him.
“I make you very uncomfortable, don’t I?” Lana finally sighed. “Don’t worry. I won’t be long. I wasn’t ready to go back to the resort and face the pile of paperwork waiting for me. There’s too much to do back there and never enough hours in the day.”
“We probably should talk about the rent,” he said tightly. It was best, he supposed, to get it all out in the open. “I know the check I wrote this month isn’t enough, but the list of crap that keeps breaking down is ridiculous.”
“We don’t have to talk about that unless you want to. I actually came for a drink. I’d normally go to the Tourist Trap, but…”
“But Graham fell in love, and who knows where he’ll be?”
“Oh, I know exactly where he is.” Lana’s lips curved before she took another sip. “And I know they’re not interested in having any company right now.”
“There’s a nice bar at the resort.” Nicer than his anyway.
“Is that your way of asking me to leave?” She flashed that playful look of hers his way, and suddenly Rick realized something very important about Lana Montgomery. That breezy smile of hers, the one she used no matter what