One Snowy Night (Sweet Home, Alaska #1) - Patience Griffin Page 0,34
have a lot of catching up to do. Hope, you should come out for movie night, too.” He looked at her with some pleading in his eyes.
Sparkle gave her a quick glance, too, as if to say, I’ll go if you go.
But Hope didn’t want to. It would be beyond uncomfortable.
“Bring your daughter,” Donovan suggested. “I’d be interested in her ideas for what might keep teenage guests occupied.”
Hope was more concerned about keeping Ella out of the lodge’s wine cellar. “I’m sure she can’t make it. A busy teen and all.” She frowned. “But I’ll come.” For Sparkle’s sake. And for no other reason.
Rick smiled broadly. “Also, it’ll give you a chance to look around the place. Donovan said he was going to ask you to give him some decorating ideas.”
Hope was shocked. Donovan looked shocked, too, at first, but then he seemed angry. Like he was going to plug Rick’s mouth to keep it from running.
“I don’t know anything about decorating.” Which wasn’t true. As a kid, she liked to pretend she was an interior designer. But now, who had time for fanciful things like decorating? Certainly not her.
“Donovan says you understand the spirit of Alaska better than anyone.” Rick looked outside, as if Courtney might reappear and challenge him on the unfounded claim.
Piney came from nowhere and patted Hope on the back. “Then Hope accepts. She’d love to decorate the lodge.”
Hope was speechless. But darn if she wouldn’t find her voice and let Piney know that she didn’t like getting thrown under the bus.
Piney pointed to the groceries. “How about I check you out? Hope, you sack.”
“We’ll get out of your hair.” Rick ushered Sparkle back to the diner and they took a seat in a booth.
Happily, Piney rang up the groceries. “I appreciate you patronizing my store, Donovan. Especially since you just came from Anchorage.”
“Happy to do it,” Donovan said.
His sincerity made Hope’s heart twitch, which was a shock unto itself. She’d come to accept that her heart was closed after many years of disuse. She’d been asked out by many of the lumberjacks who passed through Sweet Home, and before that by a few of her classmates before they’d married. She never had felt a thing, though. But something was happening now. And Hope was not happy about it. Opening herself up to feelings for Donovan now felt as reasonable as having open-heart surgery without anesthesia.
“What are you fixing for dinner, then?” Piney said. “I have a nice roast there in the meat case.”
Donovan nodded. “That’s a good idea. Do you mind wrapping it up for me?”
Piney motioned to Hope. “You take over here, and I’ll be right back with that roast.”
Hope grabbed the roll of aluminum foil and two cans of green beans and rang them up. “Do you even know how to make a roast?”
Some of the old mischief was visible in his eyes. “No. But I figured either you or Sparkle would.” His expression became more serious. “Thanks for agreeing to come to the lodge tonight.” Then he backtracked. “Not for me, of course, but for Sparkle and Rick.” He gestured toward the diner. “That’s something, isn’t it?”
Rick and Sparkle seemed like an odd pair, but who could tell when a couple was going to click? Or unclick, as was the case with her and Donovan.
“I’m happy to do it. I’d do anything for Sparkle and Piney.” They were the only family that she and Ella had left.
Except there were limits. Piney seemed hell-bent on forcing her and Donovan together. But there wasn’t the slightest chance of that happening. That stupid nursery rhyme raced through Hope’s head.
All the king’s horses and all the king’s men,
Couldn’t put me and Donovan back together again.
Chapter 7
“WHAT’S GOING ON?” Ella asked. “Why are you getting dressed up? You aren’t going to church for some reason, are you?”
Hope looked down at the dress she’d put on and groaned. She’d better go change. “I’m headed out to Home Sweet Home Lodge.”
Ella’s brow creased. “Why? That place is abandoned.”
“The grandson of the people who owned the lodge is back in town to put it up for sale,” Hope said.
“Then why are you going out there?” Ella asked.
“We were friends when we were kids,” Hope explained as benignly as she could.
“Oh?” Ella’s eyebrows rose to the ceiling. “Mom, do you have a date?” She seemed to think the idea was both funny and absurd.
“No, I don’t have a date. Sparkle seems to have a crush on Donovan’s friend Rick.”