Chapter 7

CHAPTER SEVEN

Zach

I should not be having feelings for my feisty landlady, except she's in my arms and boy howdy, it feels right. I forcefully remind myself I'm in Maple Falls to stay out of trouble. I'm not here to make my problems worse.

I don't say anything to Ellie as I carry her up the path to my SUV. Primarily because I'm sure I'd say something wildly inappropriate. Like, you're gorgeous; I love the feel of your soft curves; and what do you say we get married tonight?

When we arrive at my rental car—three hours later, or so it seems—I gently put Ellie down so that she's leaning against the fender. Then I take out my keys and open the passenger side for her.

Once she's inside, I close the door and hurry around to the driver's side. Getting in, I announce, "I could use a big fat cheeseburger right about now. How about you?"

She hems and haws for a minute before answering, "I'm not really hungry."

"That's too bad because you're eating." I know I sound dictatorial, but I'm over women who refuse to feed their bodies the calories needed for basic human function. And if Ellie hasn't eaten yet today, she must be starving.

"You can't tell me what to do," she says with hostility.

"You fainted from hunger," I remind her. "You're going to eat."

She stays quiet until we're on the main drag where the diner is located. "I thought you had things to do today."

"I do." With a sly grin, I add, "I have windows to wash."

"Ha, ha. I thought you had important businessman things to do which is why you couldn't stay with your brother."

The main reason I didn't want to stay at Troy's is because I was enjoying giving Ellie a hard time. She didn't hide her dislike for me very well, and I seem to have taken that as a challenge. "I can work after we eat and after the windows are done."

She grumbles but remains quiet until I park in front of the diner. That's when she tries again. "I really am okay with grabbing an energy bar at the market."

Instead of responding, I turn off the ignition and step out of the car. I run around to let her out, but she's already exited on her own. Taking her arm, I warn, "Be careful. You don't want to expend a lot of energy before we get you refueled."

A few steps later, I open the front door to the typical small-town diner. The décor is not trendy. Old school brown booths surround the perimeter of a room full of wooden chairs and tables that have probably been there for thirty years. It's nothing like eating out in Beverly Hills, and I love it on sight.

As soon as Ellie walks inside, her eyes immediately dart back and forth like she's looking for someone. A middle-aged woman in a pink dress raises her hand and greets, "You're back!"

Ellie's posture straightens like she just had a ramrod surgically implanted. "Shirley May!" She rushes toward the server and whispers something I can't hear.

I do, however, hear Shirley May's response. "Don't worry, hon. I won't say a thing." She winks at me and adds, "A little mystery is the key to any good relationship, am I right?" Ellie's complexion turns hot pink—ostensibly by the implication that we're an item.

Shirley May leads us to a booth in front of the window. Putting the laminated menus on the table, she announces, "It always slows down after the lunch rush. If you'd come two hours earlier, you'd probably have had to sit at the counter." Then she walks away.

As soon as Ellie and I are settled across from each other, I ask, "You come here often?"

I wouldn't have thought it possible, but her cheeks go even pinker than before. "It's the best breakfast and lunch in town."

"Better than the restaurant at Hawk River?" From the way Troy talks about his restaurant you'd think the chef had received a Michelin star or twelve.

Ellie looks up from her menu. "I don't eat at the lodge very often."

"That bad, huh?"

Her head drops to the side, and she glares at me like she's inspecting a particularly gnarly insect under a microscope. "It's expensive. Not everyone can eat out and not worry about the cost." And just like that, she's mad at me again.

"Ah." I don't know what else to say. Picking up my menu, I ask, "What's the best thing you've had here?"

"I like everything but the Monte Cristo, but that's only because I don't like sweet mixed with savory."

"I'm with you," I tell her. "My mom thinks a marshmallow crust on mashed sweet potatoes is gourmet fare. I've never been able to appreciate the combination."

"Do your parents still live in Michigan?"

"They sure do. As much as we've all tried to get them to move out west, they're still in the house we grew up in."

She seems surprised to hear this. "You'd think with such successful sons, you'd want to improve their lifestyle." She makes it sound like my folks moving closer to their sons wouldn't be any improvement at all .

"We've made sure to upgrade everything for them," I tell her. "Troy paid for new siding and a new roof, my twin Mac bought them a hot tub, and Jeffrey and Jacob built a guest house at the back of the property that my mom uses as an art studio."

"What did you do?" she demands none too nicely.

She clearly doesn't think I've done anything, so I particularly enjoy telling her, "I bought them a house in Barbados so they can escape the brutal winters." Take that.

"Oh."

After the waitress fills our water glasses and writes down our orders—I get the cheeseburger and Ellie gets a bowl of soup with half a sandwich—I say, "You don't seem to think highly of me. Why is that?"

Ellie squirms slightly in her seat. "Most people don't think much of you, do they?"

Until recently, I've been regarded as a pillar of society, or so I thought. I stare at her intently while taking a sip of my water. Then I put down the glass. "You're talking about my recent press."

When she nods her head, I ask, "Do you believe everything you hear?"

"Of course not."

"But you believe everything being said about me."

My lunch date suddenly looks uncomfortable. "Why would Yolanda Simms lie?"

"So, you're upset about Yolanda and not the earlier allegations that I don't give enough money to charity?"

"Neither puts you in a good light."

I nod my head slowly. "When you get to where I am in life, Ellie, you discover there are people who love nothing more than to tear you down."

"And where are you, Zach?" she sneers. "Far away from all the poor ordinary folks who make the world go 'round?"

This woman has got a chip on her shoulder the size of which I cannot fathom. What did I ever do to her but rent her cottage, wash her windows, and take her to lunch? "I think you've gotten the wrong impression of me."

"How's that?" she demands.

"You've jumped to conclusions, even though you obviously know very little about me."

Our waitress drops a basket of crackers on the table for Ellie's soup. Instead of answering my question, she pulls out a package and opens it. After eating two, she says, "It's true I don't know much about you, but I'd think if you were the good guy you want people to think you are, the press would have gotten wind of that."

There's no use fighting her. If she's got her mind set on my being a villain, so be it. It's probably even for the best, given the attraction I feel for her. I'm determined to leave Maple Falls as single as I was when I arrived, so I simply tell her, "I'm sure you're right." She seems surprised I'm not defending myself.

My cell phone rings as soon as our food arrives. "Belle, how are things at home?" I greet. "Did the plumber check the primary bathroom drain?" Without bothering to excuse myself, I push out of the booth and head to the front door so I can speak with my assistant in private.

"You've got bigger problems than a drain," Belle says. "I just got wind that Yolanda knows about your brother's charity hockey games. She's going to be in Maple Falls covering them for KBIZ." Without so much as a breath, she continues, "So much for your going up to Washington to reclaim your reputation."

My stomach rolls over like I just got off Space Mountain jacked up to twice the normal speed. In a bid to sound unbothered, I say, "She won't be the only reporter here."

"No, but that woman will do everything she can to poison the pool against you."

"This isn't my first rodeo. Let her do her worst."

"Uh-huh." Belle isn't buying my bravado. "I suggest you enjoy every minute before she gets there. "

"You don't happen to know when that will be, do you?" Maybe I should just abandon ship and go back to LA.

"No idea. But I'll let you know when I find out."

Shaking my head I demand, "What in the world did I ever do to that woman?"

"You can't be serious?" Belle asks. Before I can assure her I am, she clarifies, "You spurned her in front of the whole world."

"I only said that we weren't an exclusive couple. Which, I assure you, we never were."

My assistant makes a low tsking sound. "You don't know much about women, do you, Zach?"

I think about how Ellie has been treating me for the last few hours before answering, "I guess I don't."

"Then you'd better do some studying," Belle says. "Because as soon as Yolanda shows up in Maple Falls, heads are going to roll. Starting with yours."