“Hi. I’m Ollie. Get Lost is the best fishing place around.”
She handed the phone back to Presley, who laughed at the abruptness. “There you have it. Okay, that’s all for now. I’ll share the end result when it’s all finished and put a link to the booking site.”
Her notifications and messages were hitting triple digits, so she could only imagine what the lodge’s numbers looked like.
When she put the phone away, she saw Jill talking quietly with Grayson.
Grayson turned to the group and got their attention.
“We really appreciate all of you. You’re a special group of guests. You truly didn’t have to pitch in this way, and we can’t thank you enough.”
Morgan lifted a can of beer. “Place looks great. We’ll have to bring some buddies and book this next time. Wish we weren’t leaving tomorrow.”
Grayson gave him a grateful smile. “As to that, as a thank-you, we’d like to offer you a free night as a small show of gratitude. If you’d like it to be now or sometime in the future, that’s up to you, but we’d love it if you’d stay another night on us.”
“Betcha Beckett’s girl stays more than one night,” Bo said, shooting an exaggerated wink in Presley’s direction.
She laughed. Morgan shoved his friend in a good-natured way.
“Let’s stay tomorrow, then. Hell, if you got room, let’s stay two more nights.”
Bo shrugged, slugged back the rest of his beer, and started cleaning up.
In those few minutes, as they started cleaning and went back to laughing, singing, and chatting, Presley felt something she hadn’t in a really long time, if ever: She felt like she was part of a family. A motley crew of a family, one no one would think of piecing together, but a family nonetheless.
Beckett walked up to her, a speck of paint on his cheek. She reached up, hoping her heart wasn’t flashing in her gaze, and swiped it away with her thumb.
Before he could say anything, she went up on her tiptoes and pressed her mouth to his in a kiss that likely shared too much about her real feelings.
As he angled his head, bracing the back of hers with his hand, she pushed away her worry that there was something phony about the way she was falling.
When she pulled back she smiled up at him. “Thank you.”
He laughed softly. “For the kiss? Thankyou.”
Presley shook her head, her throat thick, her chest tight with emotion. “For that and so much more.”
She was grateful when Ollie started chatting about the things her mom needed to pick up on the mainland and how she couldn’t wait to be older so she could do karaoke.
Presley was squatting down, touching up some paint on the baseboards, the last of her jobs. Without looking, she brushed her thumb against the rim, getting paint all over her skin.
In her crouch, she reached forward for the rag she’d set aside. Her hand was already on the speckled cloth when it moved, coming toward her. Presley didn’t know what was happening until she saw the big eyes and long spotted body. Whatever it was looked right at her as it brushed its body over her hand, scurrying in her direction. Presley’s scream of surprise only made the creature faster, so she crouch-walked backward, hitting the leg of a sawhorse that propped up a freshly painted cabinet door.
The door fell, landing on the hand she’d used, poorly, to brace herself. Everyone in the room turned, but it was Ollie who showed up at her side first. The… thing?Amphibian? Lizard? Is that its own species?Whatever it was, it moved like a sprinter. Maybe it smelled fear.
“You found a salamander!” She hurried forward, unaware of Presley’s distress.
Presley’s hand throbbed, her butt hurt, and her eyes stung with unshed tears.
“It’s so cute,” Ollie said, cornering it with a speed that rivaled its own. She picked it up as the adults came forward.
Beckett crouched, putting himself in her space like a much-needed distraction. He touched his hand to her face. “Hey. It’s okay. It’s just a salamander.”
Presley’s gaze widened. It could have been an alligator for how badly it had scared her. Her heart was waging a war, trying to bust out of her chest. All of a sudden, she flashed back to that one night she’d spent on the balcony of her family’s apartment. She hadn’t thought about it in years, but aside from the cold and the eerie sounds, she’d woken just before dawn, after having a very restless sleep, to find a bird perched on the rail. It’d startled her, but not nearly as much as the squirming mouse in its beak. The one that it droppedonPresley, terrifying her and almost sending her through the glass. She’d screamed then, too, as the mouse fell, the bird swooped, and her dad, an early riser, caught the commotion and came to open the window for her.
He’d told her she was fine and told her to go catch up on sleep in her own bed.That ought to cure your newfound love of the great outdoors,he’d said with a chuckle.
Beckett was rubbing his thumb along her neck, murmuring softly to her, bringing her back to the present. “Hey. Hey. It’s okay.”
