One Snowy Night (Sweet Home, Alaska #1) - Patience Griffin Page 0,20
list of things to go over with her tomorrow.”
Another idea popped into Donovan’s head. If he wasn’t going to put the place on the market until spring, maybe he should hold a couple of town events here, like Grandpa and Nan did when he was a kid. They would help raise the profile of the lodge.
It was Business 101 that turnkey income-producing properties enticed more potential buyers than a boarded-up, defunct old lodge would.
He picked up Boomer and set him in his lap. “My grandparents used to hold Sweet Home’s Christmas Festival here, or at least part of it.” He’d have to ask Piney or Mr. Brewster if the festival even existed anymore. “One of my grandmother’s favorite traditions was to have a wine tasting on the first night of the festival, featuring only Alaskan wines.”
“Then you’re going to stay?” Rick asked hopefully.
“No!” Donovan hadn’t really thought this through. “No. Not permanently. Maybe just through the Christmas Festival. Then I’ll hire a manager to run the lodge until it goes up for sale in the spring.”
“Okay then,” Rick said.
Donovan glanced at the dining table, imagining all the cookies and cakes and cheese and bread that it used to hold. “Re-creating my grandmother’s wine tasting and hosting the residents of Sweet Home just one more time seems like a good way to honor my grandparents.”
“I think so, too.” But Rick was giving him a knowing look.
“Stop it. The wine tasting has nothing to do with Hope.”
“Of course. I believe you.” But Rick’s words didn’t match his face or his tone. “On a more serious subject: Are you sure a wine tasting is a good idea?”
“I promise, my sobriety is safe.” Donovan appreciated how Rick helped him to stay accountable. “I’ve never been fond of the sweet fruit wines of Alaska.” Then Donovan remembered the newspaper clipping tacked to the wall in Nan’s office. “There might be one obstacle, though. If the town council still exists”—and he was pretty sure it didn’t, with the town so small now—“I’ll have to speak to them about lifting the ban on alcohol.”
They spent the rest of the evening planning and strategizing how to pull off the wine tasting.
“Rick, I don’t think we can get everything done in one afternoon in Anchorage,” Donovan said. “When we head out tomorrow and when I have some decent cell service, I’ll book us a couple of hotel rooms.”
Rick pointed to Donovan’s chest, where Boomer was fast asleep. “What about your buddy?”
Donovan ran a hand down the puppy’s back. “He’ll go with us. Everyone in Alaska takes their dogs with them everywhere. Even runts like Boomer.”
Donovan glanced at his watch. “It’s ten and I’m beat. I’m going to take Boomer out, then head up to bed. What about you?”
“I’ll be up in a while. I want to make sure I have everything organized for tomorrow. I call dibs on the room with the king-sized bed.”
“Go for it.” Donovan planned to stay in his old room tonight, the one he and Beau shared whenever they slept over at Grandpa and Nan’s. Rick would be proud that Donovan’s personal growth would begin now by revisiting his past this way.
“Come on, Boomer,” Donovan said, though the dog was already in his arms.
He walked out into the night and set Boomer on his feet. “So, little guy, you liked Hope?”
Boomer sniffed around, getting the hang of this bathroom thing.
“She liked you, too,” Donovan said. “I could tell. She looked at you the way she used to look at me.” With complete love in her eyes.
Now, Hope only looked shell-shocked . . . and more than a little worn out.
“You ready for bed?” He picked up the dog and went in.
As Donovan walked upstairs, he realized two things. Away from the fireplace, it was going to be very cold in the lodge. And Boomer wouldn’t do well on the floor of an unheated home.
He frowned down at the pup. “I guess I’m not sleeping alone tonight.”
Chapter 4
ON THE WAY home from the lodge, Hope had half a mind to drive to Piney’s and give her what for. But then Hope remembered the gallon of milk Ella had said they needed. She pulled into the Hungry Bear and parked.
Using her key, she unlocked the door and went in.
“Well?”
Hope jumped. “Piney! You about gave me a heart attack.” But as soon as Hope said it, the words made her sick because of her dad. “What are you doing, standing there on the steps?”