12. Girl Bonding

Chapter 12

Girl Bonding

Joy eyed Hailey as they worked side by side, emptying one display cabinet after another. "What would you do with this building if you owned it?" Yes, Charlie had clued her in, but verification was key, just like in the M this business is so unpredictable. When we first met, he was teetering on the brink of disaster, but things have turned around since then and seem to be going in the right direction."

"I'm glad to hear that." In her most casual tone, she posed, "What about that blond brother? Is he teetering too? Is that one of the reasons he's behind the bar so frequently?" Yeah, she was fishing, but she wanted to know if her initial impression was true—that Charlie Hunnicutt lived paycheck to paycheck—or if the new image nibbling at the edges of her consciousness was the more accurate picture. A would-be-engineer with the determination and audacity to start a business at seventeen? The guy was motivated, but did that translate to financial success? Contracting wasn't an easy business either. Was someone else footing the bill? Mom and Dad?

Always verify.

"No, Charlie doesn't take any pay or keep his tips. He does it to help out. Also, Miners Tavern is the happening place in town, and I think he enjoys the social time."

"You mean the flirting time."

"Ha! No, not just that. He spends lots of time talking to visitors about where they're from, their adventures, stuff like that. He seems to really enjoy it. But to answer your original question, it's my understanding both Charlie and Reece are set for life." When Joy gave her a quizzical look, Hailey added. "The grandparents left each grandson a trust fund. Reece and Charlie invested theirs wisely. Noah, not so much."

"There's a story there," Joy prodded, wanting to know more. She encountered passed-on wealth on a daily basis and was always fascinated by how people managed it. At times, she daydreamed about how her life might have been had she inherited a great fortune instead of building it through her own blood, sweat, and tears. Well, not tears because Joy didn't cry.

"Noah blew his wad on wine, women, and song," Hailey explained. "He had a great time doing it, but boy oh boy, hindsight is a bitch."

"Sounds like he has regrets."

"Lots, but he's getting over them. He learns best through hard knocks, and I think success wouldn't be quite as sweet if the road had been easy. And we wouldn't have met. So there's that."

Joy flipped through a stack of about ten paperbacks with frayed covers and pages, pausing on one that featured a bare-chested man—the first big clue it was a romance—leaning against a brick wall with the top button of his jeans undone, wearing a look that promised one sweaty, sleepless, and satisfying night of dirty sex. He might as well have worn a sign that blared, "Down for fucking all night long." He sported long blond hair—perfect for yanking during the throes—though the man's face struck an eerily familiar chord inside her. Huh. Her eye was drawn to a distinct tattoo she'd seen before. A shock wave rippled through her.

What was it Mary said? Flowing blond hair.

No, it couldn't be! Joy shoved the book under a cabinet.

Hailey was talking, and Joy tried to refocus her attention, yanking it away from the beefcake cover. "I'm sorry, what was that?"

"I was just talking about what Reece and Charlie did with their money."

"I got distracted by these." Joy thrust the books—minus the one stashed under the display case—at Hailey. "Could you use these for your shop?"

"Thanks, but with the limited space, I'm only dealing in new books for now." She took them from Joy's grasp and shoved them into one of the donation bags .

Joy inspected a moth-eaten beaded bag with rows of its fine beads missing. "So you were sharing what Charlie and Reece did with their trust funds." Yes, she definitely wanted to hear about that —especially the part about Charlie .

"Reece took the money and dabbled in the markets. He turned himself into a serious day trader, which gives him the freedom to pursue his real passion—search and rescue. Charlie started his construction company, and he's built it into something amazing, according to everyone around here. That, and his reputation supports it. He has celebrities from Aspen who want to hire him, so you're a lucky girl that he's able to carve out time for this place." Hailey waved her arms around the unkempt space.

"There you go, playing his PR team again," Joy quipped.

Hailey gave her a contrite smile. "He really is the best, and I'm not just saying that. He's a perfectionist, which makes it hard on him sometimes, but it's great for his clients. He always delivers everything they expect and then some."

Joy reassured her with a smile of her own. "I was teasing." She took a swig from her water bottle. "What do you hear about a guy named Carl Weatherly?"

"Yech! That guy? Nothing good. He's attached to Bruno Keating, and anyone associated with Bruno is bad news. He makes snakes look like harmless earthworms," Hailey scoffed.

"Interesting. Mr. Weatherly stopped by yesterday to … Let's see, how do I put this without making him sound like an opportunistic toad?" Joy tapped a finger against her chin, and her jagged nail reminded her she'd broken it the day before when she'd first tackled her mother's mess. She needed to find a salon where she could get a manicure before Saturday—not that she was trying to impress anyone for any reason. She just liked having perfect nails. "I guess I can't. He stopped by to steal my business. He tried to get me to hire him by skewering Past Perfect."

Hailey's eyebrows angled into angry slashes. "Oh, don't use him! I mean, not unless you're a glutton for headaches and getting ripped off. If you decide not to work with Charlie, there are much better choices than Carl Weatherly. They won't be as meticulous or talented as Charlie, but at least they're honest … unlike Carl Weatherly. I know I shouldn't be talking behind the guy's back, but— "

Joy smirked. "Don't feel bad. You've actually confirmed my intuition. Something about him set off warning bells in my head. Could have been his smarmy smile or the sneaky approach he used when he weaseled his way in here or the way he started tearing down Past Perfect Restorations within five minutes of introducing himself. No finesse. If you're going to undermine someone, you need to be more subtle about it."

They both burst into laughter. The mirth set Joy's insides fizzing, releasing happy bubbles that had been pent up for far too long.

She warmed to the thought Charlie truly was bending over backward in an effort to accommodate her … and not because he was desperate for work. Sure, he wanted to do the project, but his motivation wasn't all about money. His speeches about preserving the town were genuine, and at heart he was a nice guy. She didn't meet many nice guys. He'd shown his colors when he'd covered for his brother at the bar and when he'd let her have the use of his shower. She wasn't used to people being kind just to be … kind. Greed was the prime driver in her world—along with self-preservation—though she dressed it up in all kinds of nice-sounding terms, like "the client's best interest."

They came at business from completely opposite directions, she and Charlie Hunnicutt, and she had to admit that when she was the client in this scenario, she preferred his approach.

She picked up a cracked statuette from a pile she'd been avoiding and tossed it into the trash heap. "I'm relieved to know the contractor I hired to help me get rid of this place is on solid financial footing. What I didn't know was that I was dealing with a historical preservationist who wants everything pristine and by the book."

"Is there anything wrong with that?"

"Besides us butting heads like two of those ramming things with the curly horns?"

Hailey laughed. "Bighorn sheep?"

"Yes, those."

"Girl, you've got to learn your mountain vocabulary." Hailey elbowed Joy, and Joy realized she liked the friendly contact. She wasn't a touchy-feely kind of person, but the playful tap made her feel connected on a reassuringly human level .

"I admit I'm completely out of my element here, but no, I don't need any mountain vocab because this girl is heading back to the big city where she came from. Soon. After I lay plans with Mr. Past-and-Present Perfect."

Hailey paused, a giant crystal in hand, and her eyebrows rode up and down her forehead. "Ooh, what kinds of plans?"

"Nothing like what you're implying. I'm talking about business. And I didn't mean perfect as in perfect hair and teeth and … Oh, never mind," Joy muttered. "Besides, I doubt there's any room to join his fan club."

"I was only kidding. It's clear you're not interested in those kinds of services, or you'd be all tongue-tied and loopy around him."

"Well, thank you for that!" After seeing the man on the book cover—the one she had to take a much closer look at—she totally got why women turned loopy. "I wouldn't want to be confused for any of his conquests."

"I don't know that they're so much conquests as candidates offering themselves up for conquering."

"Well, it's reassuring to know his social life doesn't get in the way of his work." Oh God, she was lame at this investigative stuff! Here she had criticized Carl Weatherly for his clumsy attempt at duplicity, and she was as, or more, clumsy in her fishing expedition. She might be a shark in the boardroom, but she was a trout on the shore gasping for air when it came to this kind of stuff.

Hailey chuckled. "I may be the newbie in these parts, but I do know Charlie's more than capable of handling both business and pleasure at the same time. Not that he shares details of his escapades."

"Escapades?"

"I'm pretty sure he hooks up now and then—I mean, he has to, right? No matter how disinterested he might act around the women throwing themselves at him, he has to get worn down and give in once in a while, if even just to get them to stop pestering him. And he's a twenty-six-year-old man, so he's got urges ." Hailey growled the last word in a poor attempt at a manly voice, eliciting more laughter from Joy.

"So … no steady?" Posing these nosy questions was so much easier when they were working alongside one another and she didn't have to meet Hailey in the eye. Joy could make them come off like casual conversation.

"The only person I know who might qualify is Neve—and that ‘might' is a stretch—plus, she's not exactly a ‘steady.' "

"Friends with benefits, then?" Joy held her breath, not wanting to know the answer for some odd reason.

Hailey tossed a length of fabric into a donation stack that was so high it leaned precariously to one side. One more item on its wobbly pile and it might topple right over. "I don't think so. I suspect Neve really has a thing for Reece, but that's based solely on intuition. I could be totally misreading the situation. I haven't been here long enough to uncover all the buried bodies in our little Peyton Place."

A figure loomed on the other side of the front door, ending this conversation that had veered into undercover-spy territory—with Joy at the wheel. Before he could knock, Hailey sprang for the door and opened it, throwing her arms around her Mr. Hunky Bartender himself.

Balancing a box in one hand, the bar owner encircled Hailey's waist with his free arm and chuckled. "Hang on there, surfer girl, or you're going to make me drop this stew Dewey whipped up special for you." His eyes wandered over the chaos, finally landing on Joy. "And Joy," he quickly added.

Yeah, right. Nice recovery, barkeep. She wasn't about to call the man on it because whatever he held in that box was sending out all kinds of lovely aromas that made her stomach rumble. His unexpected presence held another bonus: he had saved Joy from furthering this ridiculous round of questions that revolved around Charlie Hunnicutt's sex life.

"Who's Dewey?" she asked.

Hailey lightened Noah's load. "He's the Miners' head cook."

"The same one who turns out all those juicy burgers?" That I've been enjoying way too much?

Noah's eyes twinkled with pride. "Glad you like 'em."

"He's also Dixie's husband," Hailey added as they deposited the bounty on the kitchen table. She looked up at Noah. "Are you going to stay and eat with us?"

"I'd love to, but I can't, babe. I've got a lot to do before the lunch rush." He leaned in for a kiss, and before their lips touched, they stared long and deep into each other's eyes as though they were the only two people in the room. In the world.

Hello, standing right here witnessing this intimately cringy moment, you guys .

Noah rubbed his nose against Hailey's and whispered something about showing her "a few things" in his office later. Twenty-to-one whatever he wanted to show her was in his pants.

"I'll just go and ah, find, ah …" Joy snatched two soft rolls and left the room. The lovebirds had no idea she existed in that moment anyway, so why bother coming up with words she didn't have? Especially with the rolls demanding to be eaten now while they were warm.

Out in the shop, with every available seat piled high with debris, Joy plopped onto the dirty floor, sending a puff of dust into the air. What the heck? She was already covered in grime, her nail was broken, and the only shoes she had that were suited for cleaning out her mother's shop looked like hell and smelled like beer. Concern about her appearance was an unnecessary luxury at the moment.

"Brought you beer. It's in the fridge," Noah announced as he headed for the front door.

Trailing after him, Hailey waggled her eyebrows. "You know the way to a girl's heart, barkeep. I love you."

"As you should." He sent her a wink before letting himself out.

Joy didn't drink beer—not even the expensive craft stuff—but when Hailey twisted a cap off a frosty cold bottle and handed it to her, she took a sip. "Oh, this is good."

"Refreshing when you're doing hot, dusty work." Hailey tipped her own bottle back, and they ambled toward the spread on the kitchen table.

"That was really thoughtful of Noah to feed us." These Hunnicutts weren't half bad. She'd met Reece a few nights before—the other handsome brother—and he'd used kind, soothing words about her mother. It hadn't been necessary, but he'd tried to bring her comfort, and she appreciated the gesture.

Hailey chortled. "He did it out of self-preservation. I get hangry when I go too long without being fed."

"You guys are too damn cute."

"I know. Disgusting, isn't it?" Hailey chuckled, no apology in her tone whatsoever.

Joy had no personal experience with boundless love, but she recognized it when she saw it and could write the hell out of it. These two definitely shared that special bond. Noah was especially overt in showing his affection for Hailey. It was in his eyes every time he looked at her. The guy had it bad.

Where could Joy find a man who adored her like that?

The powers that be didn't make one for someone as difficult as you, dear.

Thanks, Mom.

"No. It's kind of reassuring, actually," Joy sighed.

These moments weren't meant for her—but she could rejoice a little knowing that they did exist in the world.