Homecoming Reunion (17 page)

Garret frowned at the blunt pronouncement. “What? How could that happen?” Though they were looking at the end of the operating loan, there was still a few thousand left in it.

“I brought it to the bank. I get it back. Insufficient funds. That’s how it happened,” Benny snapped.

“Okay. I’ll look into this right away,” Garret said. “Sorry about that. You’ll get your money.”

“I better. I got bills to pay too, you know.”

“Of course you do.”

Garret managed to placate Benny, then hung up just as Larissa came down the stairs. As soon as she saw him, she hurried over, glancing at the office doors behind him.

“So, what did my dad want?” Concern edged her voice and pulled her brows together in a frown.

“Just to touch base.”

Larissa’s frown deepened, as if Garret’s answer didn’t satisfy her. “You look upset. What did he say to make you angry?”

Garret shook his head and gave her shoulder a quick squeeze of assurance. “I’m upset because Benny Alpern just told me his check bounced.”

“What? We had enough money to cover that.” Larissa bit her lip, then shot Garret a horrified look. “If Benny’s check bounced, that means we won’t have enough to cover the credit card bill.”

“I’ll look into it,” Garret said, not wanting to bring up what he’d been pushing for lately. Online access to the bank accounts for himself and Larissa. Right behind that came an ugly thought. Was Orest involved in the reason the inn couldn’t seem to turn a profit? Was he skimming?

Larissa looked back at the office door. “So are you and my dad okay?”

“We’re okay,” he said with forced cheer. But behind his smile, thoughts and concerns festered.

Now that her dad was back, how would that affect their relationship?

* * *

“Don’t drop that plate now.”

Shannon’s quiet voice broke into Garret’s wandering thoughts.

“Sorry, I was just thinking,” he said, giving his cousin a quick smile.

“Surprised you can above this noise,” Shannon said, setting another dripping plate on the drainboard between them.

Adam and Natasha were playing an overly loud game of Go Fish in the dining room to the left of the kitchen and from the living room around the corner, boisterous conversation punctuated with the occasional laugh from Hailey floated back to them.

Shannon and Hailey’s sister Naomi had returned to Hartley Creek yesterday and the family was circling the wagons around her, determined to make her transition back into family life and town life as easy as possible. Hence the dinner at Nana Beck’s.

Larissa had asked if Garret wanted to come with her for a walk up Hartley Pass, but he had to beg off, because of Naomi. Larissa understood and for a moment he’d been tempted to ask her to come here.

But at the last moment, he stalled out. Taking her to a Beck family get-together just seemed to be pushing things too quickly.

Garret gave the plate he still held on to a quick wipe with his dishcloth just in case he’d missed something, wishing he’d given in to the impulse now.

“The inn still going strong?” Shannon asked.

“Stumbling along,” he said, pulling his attention back to his cousin. “But we have Pete Boonstra’s conference this week and that will help. The dining room is starting to turn a real profit so, yeah, we’re moving toward strong. I hope.” He tried not to think about Benny Alpern’s bounced check. They would deal with that the next time they met with Orest.

“You sound doubtful.”

Garret wiped a mug, wishing he knew exactly what to say and how to say it. He’d been on his own so long, he had forgotten how to share what he was thinking.

Thankfully Shannon just kept working, letting the rhythm of something as simple as doing the dinner dishes ease the awkwardness of the moment.

“I’m starting to think about my future,” Garret finally said as he wiped the last of the glasses.

“I thought that was the reason you came back here. To settle down and build your future here.” Shannon lifted her shoulder and wiped away a few errant bubbles that had landed on her cheek as she drained the water from the sink.

“It was. Still is. But I came with different ideas and plans.” Garret set the last glass into the cupboard above the counter, tossed the tea towel over his shoulder and leaned back against the counter. “I wanted to show Hartley Creek what I was made of. To come back a man of substance.”

Shannon brushed her wavy hair back from her face and leaned against the counter as well, unconsciously mimicking Garret’s stance.

“You’re part owner of an inn. I think that gives you some substance.”

Garret laughed. “It does I guess. Though I wouldn’t enjoy it near as much if it weren’t for Larissa.”

“You sound doubtful.”

Garret sighed, wishing he knew exactly how to articulate the reshaping of his emotions, plans and priorities.

“I’ve always been the kind of guy who makes a plan and sticks with it,” he said, shoving his hands into the pockets of his pants. “I’ve never had second thoughts. But lately...” He let his voice trail off. “Lately all I can think about is creating the kind of life I can be proud of. A life that will allow me to take care of...” He hesitated, his feelings for Larissa, though changing and growing, still almost too sacred and special to articulate.

“To take care of Larissa in the manner to which she is accustomed?” Shannon finished for him.

Garret chuckled at the old-fashioned phrasing. “Yeah. I guess that’s it. You know what her parents’ house looks like. It’s a mansion.”

“So. Do you think that matters to her?”

Garret thought of the differences of opinion they had on the renovations at the inn. How she wanted to do things right. The money she was willing to spend.

Yet she had settled for something simple. Easy. Inexpensive. And seemed happy with it.

“I’m hoping it won’t.”

“I don’t think she’s the kind of person who cares how much money she has in her bank account as long as she is with someone who loves her,” Shannon said, a faint tone of censure in her voice.

“That sounds all noble and good,” Garret said, a faintly harsh note entering his voice. “But you and I both lived with the results of being broke and not having enough. It’s humiliating and it’s not fun. I wouldn’t wish that on my future wife and children.”

“I still believe that if you’re with a person who loves you then money isn’t as important as you seem to think it is.”

Garret thought again of the inn’s balance sheet and how long it would be, even with Pete’s and Rene’s business, before the inn showed the kind of profit he knew the mill would.

“I can tell you’re still not sure.”

“I’m trying to reconcile what I want for her and what I’m able to give her. If I stay owner of the inn, I don’t know if I can support her.”

“The inn is supporting her now,” Shannon said.

“I suppose,” he conceded, thinking of the salary Larissa was pulling from the inn. It was a reasonable sum, but it wasn’t a huge amount.

“Remember the story of August that Nana loves to tell us?”

Garret nodded, smiling as he thought of the necklace and Bible his grandmother had given him when he came here. The necklace he wanted to give to Larissa when the time was right.

“August made choices too. At first, he made the wrong ones. He chose to chase the illusion of wealth. But he realized what a mistake he made and he came back to Kamiskhak. Which is a good thing because otherwise you and I wouldn’t be here to have this conversation,” Shannon said with a laugh. “But he knew he made the right choice. In the end, even though it would have made a difference for them, they didn’t do anything with those gold nuggets either, did they?”

Garret laughed at that. “No. I guess they didn’t.”

Shannon lifted the nugget on her necklace, looking down at it. “And neither did we.” She smiled, then tucked the nugget back into her shirt, looking back at Garret. “When Ben asked me to marry him, the last thing, the very last thing on my mind, was how he would support me or how we would live.”

“Considering he’s a doctor and you’re a nurse, that was a no-brainer,” Garret joked.

Shannon smacked him lightly on the shoulder. “It wasn’t even a blip on the radar, mister. Even now, as we’re trying to find a place to live, what matters more to me is the home we’re going to make, rather than the house we might be living in.” Shannon stepped closer to him and rested her hand on his shoulder. “You have to let go of your ideas of what success is. You have to recognize that making a success of a relationship is far, far more important than making a success of your life. Wasn’t it Emerson who said that laughing often and winning the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children and leaving the world a better place because you lived was his definition of success?” She clapped her hands.

“I guess as a Christian I would add that to know you loved God and loved the people around you more than you loved yourself would define you as a success. At least in my eyes and I know, for sure, in Nana’s eyes as well.” Shannon patted his shoulder then stepped back. “I see how Larissa looks at you. It’s the same one that I see when Hailey looks at Dan, when Emma looks at Carter. Give Larissa credit for caring for you—enough that to her it doesn’t matter how much money you have as long as you love her.”

Garret let Shannon’s words rest on his heart and stifle his second thoughts.

He knew Larissa cared for him.

Yes, things were changing between them and he knew his feelings were stronger now than all those years ago. He dared to make plans. To look into a future with Larissa, working at the inn. Making it the success he wanted his life to be.

He just wished he believed it was enough.

Chapter Thirteen

“I
didn’t think it would come together, man.” Pete Boonstra took a sip of his coffee as he looked around the packed dining room of laughing, cheerful real estate agents. “You worked a miracle here.”

“You underestimate Larissa’s organizational abilities,” Garret said, catching a glimpse of Larissa as she gently steered a young server toward a group of people. She glanced around the room, her lips puckered and a gentle frown marring her beautiful face. Watching, making sure everything was running as it had all week. Like clockwork. Then she caught him looking her way and her frown faded, the pucker turned into a smile and she waggled her fingers at him.

Since the forty people registered for the conference had descended on the inn, he and Larissa hadn’t managed more than a passing glance, a stolen kiss in the office, a quick touch as they passed each other in the hallway.

Garret had taken his family up on their offer and Hailey, Dan, Carter, Shannon and Ben had helped him clean up the grounds even as people were arriving.

Garret could still smile at the memory of his cousins and brother mowing, clipping, bagging and chiding each other as they scurried along. He still felt guilty about asking them to help when they’d done so much already, but he was told, in no uncertain terms by both his brother and Hailey, that this is what family does.

The thought had humbled him. He’d been away from family so long he didn’t think he deserved all the support and help he’d received.

From here, standing by the French doors leading to the patio, he saw the amazing results of their work. The grounds had regained their parklike appearance and a semblance of their former glory.

And for the first time since he had reluctantly bought into this inn he felt as if he could breathe easier. It would work out, he thought, glancing across the room and catching Larissa’s eye again.

He missed having quality time with her, and the thought put an ache in his heart.

“Excuse me, Pete,” he said, putting down his coffee cup on the sideboard. He skirted the edges of the room, not making eye contact, hoping he wouldn’t be waylaid.

However he wasn’t sneaky enough. One tall, lanky fellow caught him by the arm as he passed and pulled him against his will, into their conversation. “Say, Beck. I love what you did with the place,” the man was saying. His name badge said that he was Horace Hockstein.
Not the most auspicious name for a real estate agent,
Garret thought. “You’ve got lots of potential here. Lots that can be done. Pete was telling me you’re thinking of subdividing the property? Possibly flipping it? If you do, let me know. This is primo real estate.”

Garret frowned, wondering where Pete had gotten the idea and why he told Horace, but before he had a chance to correct the man, he saw Larissa coming out of the kitchen.

She handed a full tray of canapés to another server, stopped to straighten a flower arrangement and then looked up.

He kept his eyes on her as he walked toward her, giving only a quick smile to another person who called out his name. He made it to her side without any further distractions and took her arm.

“Come with me,” he said, giving her a quick smile. “I think we both need some fresh air.”

“I just have to fill another tray,” she said. “Then I’ll come.”

“Emily and the servers can take care of that,” he said, gently pulling her along. She protested, but let him lead her out of the dining room and into the foyer.

A group of people stood by the fireplace, holding forth about the changing real estate market, so he kept on going.

“What do you need me to see?” she asked.

“Trust me.” Garret opened the front door and a wave of cool evening air washed into the inn. He led her out into the gathering dusk, down the flagstone path, then he veered to the right and there it was. An arbor once overgrown by ivy, now clipped and neat. And tucked in the arbor was a rustic wooden bench that Hailey had found behind the gardening shed.

“Oh, my goodness,” Larissa said, her voice breathless as Garret pulled her down on the bench beside him, her eyes shining, her fingers pressed to her cheek in surprise. “I can’t believe you got all this done. I remember when my mother put up this arbor. I’ve been wanting to get the ivy tamed...and oh, my, the ramble. It looks so much better as well.” She pointed to a maze of shrubs and trees with another flagstone path meandering through. “This is amazing. I can’t believe you got all this done so quickly.” The pleasure and pride in her voice made all the late nights and stress worthwhile. Much work still needed to be done, but Garret felt a sense of pride and accomplishment at what had already been done.