Page 4 of The Guest Cottage
“Yes. Already in my car.” She started the engine. “Pulling out of my driveway now.”
“All right, Ms. Heddings. Everything in your application checked out. You have my number, so give me a call when you arrive, and I’ll deliver the keys to you.”
Gale-force relief rushed through her. “Thank you! Oh, this is wonderful. I can’t wait to arrive.” To start my new life.
Finally, things were looking up.
With a smile in his tone, he said, “Drive safely.”
* * *
Thoughts of his new tenant played on repeat in Cort’s mind all day. She wasn’t what he’d expected. Her background check . . . her credit report . . . the photos he’d found of her online. . . her tone of excitement on the phone—contradictions, one after the other.
She was an accomplished woman, recently leaving a high-level job within a well-known, family-owned company . . . for an extended stay on Rainbow Lake?
For ten years she’d been married to the heir of the Heddings’ Holding Company, but her upbringing had also been upper middle class, with a mother in education and a father who was a surgeon.
In her photos, she’d appeared dignified and serene, nearly untouchable in the way of valuable art. Cold, detached, under the spotlight.
On the phone, she’d damn near been bubbling over with enthusiasm. She planned to spend all day in her car just to arrive for an extended stay in a modest home for rent in the “nowhere town” of Bramble.
None of it added up, but he was intrigued all the same.
Puzzles were meant to be solved, and he’d figure Marlow Heddings out in good time.
Spending the day working helped to distract him. He resisted the urge to check his phone. She’d call when she called, and if she didn’t, he had two other renters ready to sign on for the summer.
“Much better,” Herman said, giving the railing on the bar top a tug and finding it secure. “Good as new. Thank you.”
“No problem.” If he didn’t stay busy, his mind would circle endlessly. Marines didn’t slay their inner dragons—they made them work to their advantage. For Cort, that meant keeping his mind occupied with handyman jobs, which also built relations in the community and added to his savings. He didn’t see a downside.
The early evening sun cast long shadows everywhere. If Ms. Heddings didn’t arrive soon, she’d be getting acquainted with her new place in the dark. No sooner did he have that thought than she walked through the doors of the tavern.
Windblown fawn-colored hair hung loose to her shoulders. As she stepped into the dim interior, she removed large-framed sunglasses and glanced around with a smile of fascinated delight. Those eyes, velvety brown and heavily lashed, could get a guy into trouble.
She’d made an effort to dress casually in wide-legged faded jeans, with white Dior sneakers and a Dior sweater set. The outfit probably cost more than most people made in a month.
“Excuse me,” she said to Bren Crawford, an eighty-year-old original who couldn’t hear but refused to wear hearing aids. “I’m a tiny bit lost.”
Bren squinted up at her, took another gulp of his longneck beer, and wiped his mouth on his sleeve.
Instead of intervening, Cort braced his forearms on the bar, content to watch and wait, and maybe be enlightened on a few mysteries.
Smile slipping, Ms. Heddings tried again. “I know I’m in Bramble, but I’m trying to find a specific address.”
“What’s that?”
Her lips parted for another question, but then the light dawned and she closed her mouth with a smile. Digging in her purse, she pulled out a slip of paper, presumably with the address, and showed it to Bren.
Of course, he couldn’t see any better than he could hear.
Muttering, “What in the world?” Herman circled out from behind the bar and rushed over to her. “Can I help you?”
Giving up on Bren, she turned to Herman and said, “I hope so. I’m renting property on the lake, but I can’t seem to locate the exact address.”
“Keep going down this road and you’ll run into the lake. To the left, the address numbers go down, and to the right, they go up.”
“Oh.” Resigned to finding the place on her own, she said, “Thank you. I’m close then?”
