Hours later, Hunter pored over the information Nina had provided that outlined the diner’s financial situation. No matter how he spun the data, however, the results were always the same—the diner was operating in the red. Brett and Nina had bought the building at the peak of the real estate market and were carrying a hefty mortgage. That, coupled with the high cost of food and the relatively low prices Nina charged her customers, made for a less-than-profitable picture.
In addition to the financial news, the inspection performed that afternoon by his cousin Noah, a contractor, had yielded a number of costly upgrades that needed to be done to bring the building up to code. Nina and Brett were lucky they hadn’t been subjected to a fire department inspection in the last year. According to Noah, the hood over the grill had to be replaced immediately. Noah had told him it would be nearly impossible to insure the building without that upgrade.
Hunter took his role as the family’s fiduciary steward seriously. Regardless of his personal desire to keep Megan close by, he couldn’t, in good conscience, encourage his grandfather to invest his hard-earned money in the diner, knowing what he did now about the financial picture.
Running his fingers through his hair until it stood on end, Hunter tried to find a way to make the numbers work. He needed this to work. If it didn’t, what reason would Megan have to stay in town?
The thought of her leaving after the night they’d spent together made him feel sick and sweaty, as if he had some sort of flu or something. With tremendous reluctance, he picked up the phone to call his grandfather.
“Hey, it’s Hunter,” he said when Elmer answered.
“Ah, just the man I was hoping to hear from. What’s the good word?”
“I’m afraid there isn’t one.”
“What do you mean?”
“The numbers don’t add up, Gramps.”
“Speak to me.”
Hunter launched into a detailed explanation as to why it didn’t make financial sense for his grandfather to sink his money into the diner.
“Are these challenges you speak of insurmountable?”
The night without sleep suddenly caught up to him, and Hunter was exhausted at the thought of what needed to be done to turn things around at the diner. “Not completely, but normally when you invest in a business you do so because you feel it will be beneficial to you financially. I can’t promise that’ll be the case here. In fact, it could be the exact opposite of beneficial.”
Elmer was quiet long enough that Hunter wondered if he was still there. “Gramps?”
“I’m here. Just thinking.” After another long pause, Elmer said, “Have you ever heard the story of how my father came to open the store?”
Hunter pinched the top of his nose, trying to ward off an exhaustion-fueled headache he felt coming on. He loved his grandfather beyond all reason, but he didn’t have the patience at the moment for one of his stories. All he wanted was to see Megan again, but since she’d asked for a few hours with her sister, he was giving her some space. Hunter sat back in his desk chair, prepared to settle in for a few minutes. “Yes, I’ve heard it.”
“I don’t think you’ve heard the whole thing.” Elmer loved nothing more than to spin a yarn, and now was no different. “You know the store opened during the Depression when things were hard—really hard. Nothing you imagine can do justice to how bad it was. My first memories were of my mother crying over the fact that she couldn’t buy meat. ‘How am I to feed my babies if I can’t buy meat?’ I heard her ask my father one night. It didn’t register to me at the time that things were that bad. I figured it out much later, as an adult, when I had a family of my own to feed. I tell you this to give you context of what kind of moxie it took for my father, in that environment, to say, hey, let’s open a business that requires a significant investment in inventory.”
Despite his exhaustion, despite his desire to move the clock forward to when he could be with Megan again, Hunter was riveted by his grandfather’s story.
“My mother was vehemently opposed. They argued about it, and they didn’t often argue, especially in front of us. But they argued about the store. My father’s position was that he could fill a need for people in the Northeast Kingdom.”
“She didn’t agree?”
“She agreed it was a good idea. What she couldn’t handle was that opening the doors would take every dime they had along with some they didn’t. She was afraid of what would become of us if the store failed.”
“I’ve never heard all this.”
“It’s not something my father liked to talk about. He was crazy about my mother, and the fact that they disagreed so profoundly over this was hard on him.”
“But he convinced her.”
“Eventually, but it cost him. It cost them. I have to give my mother credit. Even though she didn’t agree with opening the store, she threw herself into helping him make it work. And they worked around the clock. She had him put a stove and refrigerator in the storeroom so she could cook for us when they had to work late. We had beds back there, too. We practically lived at the store for the first year. And at the end of that year, it was rather apparent to all of us that the store was going to fail.”
Hunter could barely breathe. He’d never heard that either. The literature on display at the store told an entirely different story of the family business that didn’t include any flirtations with failure. “What happened?”
“The Christmas tree farm happened.”
“How so?”
“My father heard a rumor that the owners of the farm had defaulted on the mortgage and abandoned the property. So he went to the bank and worked out a deal to take on the mortgage, beginning in January. That was in October. He called in everyone he knew to harvest the trees. My mother ran the store while he harvested trees until he couldn’t move because he was so sore from the backbreaking work. The sale of the trees that Christmas brought in the cash he needed to save the store and make the first mortgage payment on the tree farm. As you well know, we’ve run the farm ever since.”
“And it continues to be a cash cow every holiday season.”
“Never more so than that first year. The point of all this, my boy, is that all business, fundamentally, is a risk. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Jimmy Carter said, ‘Go out on a limb. That’s where the fruit is.’”
“So you’re saying the diner is the fruit?”
“I’m saying it could be the next Christmas tree farm. But if we don’t try, we’ll never know.”
“I’ll make the offer.”
“You’ve done your due diligence, son, and you’ve done it thoroughly the way you always do. The decision was mine and mine alone, just as it’s my decision to tell you to make the offer in your name, not mine.”
“Gramps,” Hunter said, flabbergasted. “It’s your money. I can’t do that.”
“Why not? It’s my money. I can do with it what I want, can’t I?”
“Of course you can, but—”
“No buts. What’s mine is yours. Make the offer and have it come from you. It’ll give me great pleasure to watch you turn that place into another Christmas tree farm. I have every confidence you can do it.”
Hunter wished he had the same confidence in himself. What did he know about running a restaurant?
As if he’d read Hunter’s mind, Elmer said, “If my father could figure out what he needed to know under the conditions he faced when he opened the store and make it work, so can you.”
“Well, thanks for the vote of confidence. I’ll do my best to make you proud.”
“You always do. Every day of your life, you’ve made me proud.”
“Thank you,” he said, humbled by his grandfather’s effusive love.
“Let me know how it goes with the offer.”
“I will.”
“I happened to hear you took Megan out last night. I hope you had a nice time.”
“Yeah.” Hunter smiled at what had to be the understatement of his lifetime. “We had a nice time.”
“Glad to hear it. I like that girl. She’s feisty and isn’t afraid to say it like it is.”
“That about sums her up.”
“She’d be good for you. I’ve always thought so.”
“Always? How long is always?”
“For about as long as you’ve thought she’d be good for you. It might come as a shock to you to learn that not much gets by me.”
Hunter laughed hard. “That would hardly come as a shock to any of us.”
Elmer’s guffaw kept the smile on Hunter’s face long after they’d said their good-byes. His grandfather was truly one of the most uniquely authentic people in Hunter’s life, and the story he’d told him was one that Hunter would never forget.
Megan sat at the foot of Nina’s bed and sorted through a basket of socks, helping her sister pick out which ones to take and which ones to put in storage. The task helped to quiet her mind, which had been racing on overtime since she awoke that morning in Hunter Abbott’s arms after the most incredible night of her life.
“You’re awfully quiet over there,” Nina said as she worked on the closet. “What’re you thinking about?”
“Nothing much.”
“You’re not going to tell me what happened on a date that lasted all night? You’re not going to tell me why you actually called out of work for the first time … ever?”
“Sorry I left you shorthanded at the last minute.”
“Who cares about that? We coped. Talk to me about what happened with Hunter.”
“We had a really nice time.” And wasn’t that putting it mildly? She’d never had a better time with any man.
Nina plopped down next to her on the floor. “That’s it? That’s all you’re going to say? You spend more than twelve hours in the company of one of the hottest guys in town—hell, in the state—and that’s all you’ve got to say? It was nice?”
“You think Hunter Abbott is hot, Neen?” Brett said from the doorway. “You never told me that.”
Megan cracked up laughing. “Busted.”
“Go away, Brett. I’m digging for information that she’ll never give me if you’re in the room.”
“Pardonnez-moi.” He’d been driving them crazy with the French all afternoon. “But I just wanted to ask your opinion.” He held up two pairs of dress shoes. “Take or don’t take?”
“Take them both and go away.”
“Just gonna be me and you after Wednesday. Don’t forget that.”
“I’m not forgetting, but I’m also not going to be forgiving if you don’t buzz off and let me snoop into my sister’s love life, so au revoir.”
Megan put her hand over her mouth to keep from laughing out loud.
“Now you’re making me want to stay.”
“Brett!”
“Fine, I’m going, but you have to tell me what she says later.”
“You’d better not tell him,” Megan said after Brett left them alone.
“So far there’s nothing to tell,” Nina said glumly. “You gotta give me something.”
Megan hesitated for a moment, not wanting to say too much but needing to talk it out with someone, and Nina would always be her first choice. The thought of her being so far away in France when Megan needed her …
“Don’t do that. Don’t make that face. We’ll Skype and FaceTime and talk every day just like we always do. There’ll never be a time when I’m unavailable to you. Ever.”
Like always, her sister had said exactly what she needed to hear. Megan leaned in to her one-armed embrace and rested her head on Nina’s shoulder.
“We went for a drive when we left here last night. Ended up at a tavern on the side of the road called the Pig’s Belly.”
“Sounds … romantic.”
Megan laughed. “Not so much, except the food was amazing, and there was this band playing, so we danced, and then they had rooms upstairs for people who drink too much, except they aren’t just ‘rooms.’ They call them fantasy suites, like on The Bachelor.”
“Seriously? In a place called the Pig’s Belly?”
“I know! We said the same thing.”
“Go on …”
“We were having a really great time, so we decided to stay. And that’s what happened.” Ever since he dropped her off at home earlier with a chaste kiss and a promise to call her later, she’d thought about him constantly.
“No way! You are not getting off that easy. You have to tell me the rest.”
Brett came to the door again. “Don’t shoot the messenger, but Hunter is here looking for you, Megan.”
Her entire body tingled with awareness just from hearing he was downstairs waiting for her.
“Oh my goodness,” Nina said. “You lit up like a firecracker on the Fourth of July.”
Megan leaned in to kiss Nina’s cheek. “I’ll let you finish up here. Gotta go.”
“You’ll be in to work in the morning?”
“Of course I will. Where else would I be?”
“Soooo much I could say to that.”
Eager to see Hunter, she patted Brett’s shoulder as she passed him in the doorway and headed down the stairs at the house where she’d grown up. It would be weird to have other people living in it, but it didn’t make sense to let it sit empty when Brett and Nina could make some money from the rental.
While he waited for her in the living room, Hunter studied the display of her old school photos on the wall.
“Hey,” she said.
He turned and smiled, and her entire world tipped upside down in the span of a second, all because of a smile that reminded her of the intimacy they’d shared the night before. Every muscle in her body ached from what they’d done, but she couldn’t wait to do it again.
“You were so cute.” He pointed to the picture of her in full ballet regalia. “Adorable.”
“That was taken at the pinnacle of my dance career.”
“How old were you?”
“Eight, I think. It was a short-lived passion.”
He jammed his hands into the pockets of his jeans. Tonight he’d worn faded denim that hugged his muscular legs and other important places. He also hadn’t gotten around to shaving, which only added to his over-the-top appeal.
Knowing they weren’t alone, and Nina was probably listening to everything they said, Megan put her hands in her own pockets, trying to resist the urge to run to him, to kiss him, to touch him.
“I hope it’s okay I came here. You didn’t answer the door at your place.”
“Of course it is. If I’m not there, I’m usually here. Or I was. I won’t be coming here for much longer.” She looked around at the living room that still looked exactly the way her mother had left it—for a few more days anyway. Movers were coming on Saturday to pack everything into crates that would go into storage until Megan and Nina were ready to deal with it.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” She pushed back the melancholy that had hovered close to the surface all afternoon while she helped Nina pack. “It’s just strange to think of other people living here.”
“You could move in here and rent out the garage apartment.”
“We talked about that, but they could get more for the house, and what do I need with all this space? I like my apartment.” She was rambling and she knew it, so she made an effort to shake off the blues about Nina’s move so she could focus on him. “Anyway, how are you?”
“I’m good. Much better now that I’m with you again.”
She melted inside every time he said things like that. “Did you go to work?”
“For a couple of hours.” His brows furrowed, but he seemed to remember where he was, and the exasperated look disappeared. “Are you hungry?”
“I could eat. Then again, I can always eat.”
“Want to grab something?”
“That’s what you said last night and look where that got me.”
At her mention of last night, he flashed a sexy grin that made her melt in a completely different way. After last night, she was amazed that her girl parts could still tingle like that. In reality, the numbness had worn off the minute she heard he was downstairs waiting for her.
“No Pig’s Belly tonight. How about we hit the grocery store, and I cook for you at my house?”
“You cook?”
“I cook, I bake and I iron. Got anything to say about that?”
“Um, nothing other than can you bake me chocolate chip cookies?”
“Please,” he said with a scoff. “I could do that by the time I was eight.”
“I’ll confess to being aroused by this information.”
“That’s all it takes?” Smiling, he held out his hand to her. “Shall we?”
Megan eyed his outstretched hand with barely restrained desire to feel his skin brushing up against hers. She couldn’t remember ever wanting to touch another human being as badly as she wanted to touch him right then. “Neen,” she called up the stairs. “I’m going out.”
“Don’t forget to come home.”
She smiled at Hunter. “I might, so don’t wait up.” Then she took his hand and drew in a deep breath when he gave a gentle tug that brought her in tight against his chest. He kissed her cheek and then her lips. “Sorry,” he whispered, “but I was about to die from wanting to do that.”
“I was about to die from wanting you to.”
“Let’s get out of here.”
He led her out of the house to the passenger side of his SUV and held the door for her. When she was seated, he leaned in to kiss her again, lingering when her hand came around his neck to keep him there. What she’d intended to be a quick kiss became something else altogether when his tongue swept into her mouth as he grasped her hair. He withdrew from her in small increments until his lips were merely touching hers.
“Holy moly,” he whispered, his eyes closed.
She caressed his face, giving special attention to the stubble he’d left on his jaw because she’d told him she liked it. “I like how you say hello.”
Laughing, he put his arms around her, hugging her tightly. “I couldn’t wait to see you. Did I give you enough time with your sister?”
“Just enough. I can only do so much to help them. They have to decide what they’re taking and what they’re leaving.”
Hunter kissed her again, buckled her in and closed the door.
Megan watched him walk quickly around the front and kept her eyes on him as he got into the driver’s side and caught her looking at him. “What?”
“Just enjoying the view.”
He rested his hand on the wheel and stared into the darkness. “I was afraid I’d come to see you and everything would’ve changed again.”
“Why would you be afraid of that?”
“Last night was … intense and incredible. It meant so much to me to be with you that way, and I hoped …”
“It meant just as much to me, if that’s what you were worried about.”
“It was.”
“I haven’t been able to think about anything but you and last night since you dropped me off earlier.”
He released a long, ragged deep breath that sounded an awful lot like relief to her. “I haven’t thought about much of anything else either.”
Megan was equally relieved to hear that, and when he reached across the center console for her hand, she gladly offered it.