Chapter Five
Mitch needed to get back to work. Desperately. At Northern Star Demolition, if people didn’t do what they were told, he could fire them. His employees listened to him. Family didn’t listen for shit, especially Ryan. Granted, Mitch wasn’t paying him, but the lodge needed a carpenter and his brother was a damn carpenter.
“I’m running a business here, Mitch,” Ryan said, his annoyance coming through loud and clear over the telephone. “I can’t just take off because you think the front steps are a little rickety.”
Mitch tipped his head back on the couch so he could stare at the ceiling, not that he’d find what he was looking for there—which was patience with his brother—but it beat banging his head against the coffee table. “I run a business, too, Ryan. But I’m here. And the problems here go a lot deeper than rickety steps. The place is going to hell.”
“Then hire somebody to do the work. Somebody who doesn’t charge what I get.”
“There’s not a lot of money left to play with here, and us writing a check to the lodge to cover it won’t solve anything in the long run. We need to get together and fix the place up and decide how we’re going to keep it in the black. You can spare a couple of long weekends, at least.”
“I’ll try.”
That might have been fine if Mitch believed him, but he’d worked with enough building contractors to know he was being blown off. “Josh needs help. You remember him? Our youngest brother. The one that’s been running the place with only Rosie to help him?”
“Sounds like he’s been doing a piss-poor job of it, too.”
That’s just what Mitch needed. Another brother with a shitty attitude. What fun it would be to have both of them under the same roof. But the building needed some repair and Ryan was a goddamned builder, so Mitch was going to make him show up, even if he had to go to Massachusetts and drag his ass up there by force. Just on principle.
“I’ll come up Friday night,” Ryan said after the silence dragged on. “I’ll look the place over on Saturday and we can figure out what needs to be done, and then I’ll hit the road early Sunday morning. If the place is going to need more than a couple weekend’s worth of work, I’ll have to adjust my schedule and talk to the guys running my jobs. But I’ll at least look at it over the weekend.”
“I appreciate it,” Mitch said sincerely. “And so will Josh, though he probably won’t tell you so.”
“Tell Rosie I’m coming.” Which was code for telling Rosie that Ryan would be looking for shepherd’s pie and at least two loaves of her banana bread.
“See you Friday. And if it’s dark when you get here, be careful on the stairs. Second step up’s ready to give out.”
Once he’d closed his phone and tossed it on the cushion next to him, Mitch shut his eyes. And thought about Paige. Not deliberately, but she was the first thing that popped into his head and his focus went all to hell. There were about a dozen other things he needed to be doing right that minute, but none of them appealed to him as much as remembering how Paige had looked in the sunlight, sitting on the park bench.
She’d looked hot as hell in the red sundress yesterday, too, but for some reason the image of her lost in a book, with the sun making her hair shine, was the picture that sprang to mind when he thought her name.
If he hadn’t known she had a history of not looking for a good time, he might have slid a little closer to her on the bench. Maybe put his arm around her. Before he got up, he would have kissed her and gotten a promise she’d see him again later. Dinner, maybe a movie, and then he’d spend the night in her bed.
But Paige might have a good reason for not dating, and he wanted to know more about that reason before he treaded somewhere he shouldn’t.
“You sleeping?”
Mitch opened his eyes and smiled at Rose, who was standing in the doorway. “Just resting my eyes.”
“My husband used to say that, just before he started snoring. I made you a couple of fried bologna sandwiches for lunch. Come eat them before the bread gets soggy.”
“Where’s Josh?” he asked as he followed her into the kitchen.
“He’s resting his eyes, too. Fell asleep in a lounge chair in the backyard and, since he hasn’t been sleeping too well at night, I’ll leave him be.”
“Ryan’ll be up Friday night. Just for the weekend, to scope things out.”
“Guess I’d better make sure I’ve got the stuff for shepherd’s pie.”
“Don’t forget the banana bread.” Mitch sat at the table and sank his teeth into a triangle of fried bologna sandwich that was oozing mayo and juices from the thick slabs of tomatoes. He moaned and devoured a second bite before speaking. “Nobody makes sandwiches like this anymore, Rosie. I miss them when I’m gone.”
“Just one of the many reasons you need a wife. One who can make a decent fried bologna sandwich.”