Sandcastle Beach (Matchmaker Bay #3) - Jenny Holiday Page 0,22

finger against her lips to signal quiet, and led him back up to their apartment. Law had been too young to understand the wider economic context at that point, but he’d understood stress. He’d understood pain.

So he wasn’t going to risk Lawson’s Lager House on what was, ultimately, a whim. He had a sound business plan, and he believed in his idea, but restaurants failed all the time for lots of reasons. “I just can’t have a mortgage.”

“I don’t understand what the problem is,” Sawyer said. “Normal people have mortgages. It’s not unusual.”

“You don’t,” Law pointed out. “Eve doesn’t.” Eve had inherited the Mermaid Inn from her great-aunt, and Sawyer had sold his house in town when he’d moved into the inn.

“Yeah, but Sawyer’s not normal,” Jake pointed out, and Law had to laugh at that, not least because Jake so rarely made jokes.

“Your cottage is paid for!” Sawyer protested.

“Yeah,” Jake said, “but we have payments on the loan we took out to buy Nora’s practice, and the building itself has a mortgage on it.” Nora had bought the medical practice from the previous town doctor, and the pair of them had recently decided to purchase the building that housed it, too. “The two are rolled into one pretty hefty payment.”

“See?” Sawyer said. “Not that I’d ever call Jake normal, but you get the point.” He turned to Law. “So what’s the problem?”

“The newspaper building is a blank box. Once you get the desks out, it would be easy to drop in restaurant infrastructure. That’s what I planned on. Reno and rent.”

“This place would actually be a pretty easy reno,” Jake said, looking around.

“Too bad you don’t know any contractors who can fit you in,” Sawyer said.

“You guys aren’t contractors.” They made it a point to limit their business to fine carpentry—custom shelves and furniture and canoes.

Sawyer shrugged. “I did the inn with Eve. And Jake did all that work on Nora’s old house.”

“Yeah, and you ended up married to those girls.” Law snorted. “I somehow think they were the exception.” He took their point, though. They were more than capable. But of course that wasn’t what was holding him back.

“Sawyer’s not married yet,” Jake said drily. “So he could still throw Eve over and marry you, if that’s what you want.”

Sawyer rolled his eyes. “I told you, Eve and I are taking an if-it-ain’t-broke-don’t-fix-it attitude toward the whole marriage-and-kids thing right now.”

“Yeah, not everyone is as much of an overachiever on that front as you, dude,” Law said to Jake, whose romance with Nora and subsequent “shotgun marriage”—that was Nora’s joking phrase—had been conducted with whirlwind speed.

“The point is,” Sawyer said, “we’ll help you if you want us to. With this place or any other. Just say the word.”

Jake grunted in assent, and a rush of gratitude filled Law’s chest. Sawyer’s sister Clara was always teasing the three of them about having a “three-way bromance,” but it was kind of true. He wasn’t really sure how it had happened, but somehow, over the years, these two guys had become family. He would do anything for them.

So he wasn’t sure why he was so surprised the sentiment ran in the other direction, too. He also wasn’t sure why he was afraid to tell them the truth. It made him sound like a sentimental dork, but so what? He had been through a lot with these guys. They might give him shit, but they weren’t actually going to judge him. He blew out a breath. “So here’s the thing. I have this block about mortgaging the bar. My grandfather opened it in 1943. It’s been through wars, recessions, you name it. My parents almost had to close it in the nineties. I grew up there. I just can’t risk it. I won’t risk it.”

“Ah,” Sawyer said.

“You think I’m being stupid.” Maybe he was. Jason’s house was pretty damn ideal.

“Not stupid,” Jake said. “Realistic about your limits.”

“We’ll figure something else out,” Sawyer said.

“Thanks.” Law had to clear his throat. “I should get back. I don’t like leaving Carter alone for too long.”

As they walked back down Main, Law thought about how he had never actually left Carter alone in the building. There were times Carter worked the bar on his own, but Law was always upstairs. He had never come to trust Carter the way he had Amber. “I need to hire some people—for both places.”

“You sure do,” Sawyer agreed. “It’s funny. When you think of the stereotype of a workaholic, it’s