Carla Neggers - The River House

“We’re all set for Saturday,” Felicity said. “We’re having the party at Olivia’s inn. I need to take a quick look at it. Everything’s well in hand, but we can talk tomorrow if you’d like.”

“No problem. You’ll do a great job.”

It struck her as more than an offhand comment—as if what she did was so easy anyone could pull off a one-day boot camp of hard-driving, successful entrepreneurs and their aspiring audience. It was Dylan’s first major event, too. But, sure. Anyone could do it.

Felicity gave herself a mental shake. Gabe didn’t necessarily mean that at all. She knew better than to make assumptions. “Are you staying with Mark?” she asked. “Your dad? With Olivia and Dylan at their house? Did a room open up at Olivia’s inn?”

“None of the above.”

“Your grandfather at Rivendell? I don’t think that’s allowed.”

Gabe walked to the back of the car, opened the hatch, took out a duffel bag and shut the hatch with a soft thud.

Why would he need his duffel bag?

He edged toward her. “Remember when you said you owed me for letting you sleep on my couch?” He hoisted his bag’s strap on one shoulder, the light from the house creating shadows on his angular face, making his expression even more difficult to read. He didn’t smile, but he didn’t not smile, either. “I’ve come to collect.”

“You want to sleep on my couch?”

“It’s the best option,” he said, pragmatic. “Mark says Jess has bad morning sickness. I’m not staying there. Olivia passed out this afternoon. Dylan found out when he got home. She didn’t want to tell him, but he could tell something was up.”

“Husband’s instincts,” Felicity said.

“New dad’s instincts, too.”

She tried to ignore the sensitivity in Gabe’s tone. Much easier if he stayed the overbearing, mercenary jerk she’d convinced herself he was.

He wanted something from her. That was it. Had to be.

“Anyway,” he said, “I’m not staying with them, either. I’d pitch a tent, but tents aren’t my thing these days.”

“What about one of the Sloan brothers? There are five of them. They all live in town.”

“None of the Sloans were ever down-and-out enough to knock on my door and ask to sleep on my couch.”

“I didn’t ask. You offered. And I wasn’t down-and-out. I needed space to think.”

“What do you call no job, drowning in debt—”

“Reasons I needed to think. Obviously I should have done my thinking in Paris. I had enough room on my credit card for one more good trip.”

“Felicity math.”

There was no animosity or note of criticism in his tone. He grinned at her, as if he knew she couldn’t argue with him. Back then, she’d used time between jobs as an excuse to travel. Of course he remembered. This was miss-nothing, remember-everything, never-let-anyone-forget Gabe. He’d been that way in sixth grade. Now wasn’t the time to argue whether she’d truly been down-and-out. By her standards, no, she hadn’t been. By Gabe’s standards? She probably still was in need of intervention. But she had reined in her credit-card spending.

He flicked vainly at a mosquito buzzing around his head. “I’m still not a fan of mosquitoes.”

“If you think we can pick up where we left off three years ago—”

“I don’t. I know we’re not buddies anymore.”

There was something in his eyes. She ignored it but felt its effect in the pit of her stomach. She flashed on being out here that night at eighteen. She hadn’t noticed mosquitoes then. She hadn’t noticed anything but him. Gad. His mosquito buzzed toward her and then disappeared into the darkness.

“We stopped being buddies when you told me I was in the wrong career.”

“You were in the wrong career.”

His tone was lighthearted, but she bristled. “Everything I learned as a financial analyst has helped me with event management.”

“No doubt. I say the same thing about my failures.”

“I wasn’t a failure—”

“Didn’t say you were but your jobs in finance didn’t work out.”

“Are we going to do this? I was in a tough spot when I knocked on your door. I could have used some support.”

“I let you sleep on my couch and binge-watch Judge Judy.”

“I do appreciate that.”

“I also laid out the facts of your situation when you weren’t ready to listen and hadn’t asked my opinion.”

“You told me I’d dug the hole I was in, and I needed to stop digging.”

“Yep.” No hint of remorse. “My goal at the time was to penetrate your one-track mind and get you to consider alternatives. As your friend, I felt I needed to say something. I did, and it pissed you off. You told me I needed to work on my people skills.”

“Well?”

“Okay, you had a point. At least you knew I was being honest.”

Honest? So that was it? She made no comment.

He glanced up at the starlit sky. He looked at her again, his eyes dark, taking on none of the light from the house or the stars. “I found your note at the bottom of my note. You told me you’d made me brownies as a thank-you.”

She felt caught, trapped by her own behavior that day—by the memories of how she’d felt reading his note. “I did make brownies, but I ate them,” she said, defiant.

He frowned. “All of them?”

“They weren’t that good. I was mad. I forgot the baking powder or something.”

“But you ate them, anyway?”

“A bad brownie is better than no brownie. It’s one of life’s rules.”

He smiled then, taking her by surprise. “You’re probably right about that.”

Felicity felt the cool grass on her bare feet, let it pull her back to the present. She reined in the urge to launch herself into the emotions of the past and instead considered her current situation. There was no good option. Send him off to find other accommodations, and she risked the two of them becoming a source of gossip in town. Let him stay...same thing, but more manageable since no one had to know he was here. If not for the pregnant Frost sisters, she could at least try to persuade Gabe to bunk with the McCaffreys or his brother. She was backed into a corner. She had said she’d owed him three years ago, and Olivia and Jess needed rest.

“Inside,” she said. “Before the mosquitoes start gnawing on us both.”

“Ah, yes. Good to be back in Knights Bridge.”

Five

Felicity switched on the lights in her living room, but it didn’t change anything. Gabe had followed her inside and stood by the glass doors that opened onto the deck above the river. The man was as sexy and maddening as ever.

Sexier, maybe.

This wasn’t a welcome thought as he turned from the view and set his duffel bag on the floor by her IKEA couch. It probably had cost her less than his pants. Less than his shoes. Maybe even less than his haircut.

She stopped herself. She didn’t care if he had money. She never had.

He glanced around the living room. It had a woodstove and glass doors that opened onto the main deck. Felicity hadn’t left too much party-planning paraphernalia laying about, but she did have printouts of various badgers spread out on the coffee table. Gabe looked at them without comment.

“Different from the world of financial spreadsheets and such,” she said.

“At least these woodchucks don’t bite.”

“They’re badgers.”

He raised his eyes to her and smiled. “I know. It was a joke.”

“Ah. Right. You’re still a New England country boy at heart. You know your badgers from your woodchucks. You just don’t run into them often in your line of work.”

“One hopes you don’t run into them in your work, either. Badgers and woodchucks don’t mix with parties.”