Rose saw the dishes in the sink the second she stepped into her kitchen and shook her head. Those would be Mitch’s breakfast dishes, since she’d long since trained Josh to put his dishes in the damn dishwasher rather than leaving them for her to deal with.
It was good that Mitch had eaten at home, because maybe it meant he’d given up on Paige Sullivan, but it wasn’t good that the corn flakes he’d left in the bowl had hardened into splotches of whole-grain concrete she’d have to chisel off the side of the bowl. She turned the faucet on, hoping some hot water would soften them up, and looked out the window to see if she could spot the offender.
She spotted an offender all right, but it wasn’t Mitch. Andy Miller was standing in her backyard with a tool belt slung slow around his waist and a tattered Red Sox hat shading his eyes. The swoosh of anger through her veins was immediate and familiar. He wasn’t welcome at the Northern Star Lodge, and he damned well knew it, too.
Dropping the bowl in the sink with a clatter, she turned off the faucet and dried her hands. She hadn’t spoken to the man in twenty-six years, but she was going to break that silence and give him a piece of her mind. And then she was going to chase his sorry ass out of the yard, even if she had to use the tractor to do it.
Before she could get to the back door, it opened and Mitch stepped in, smiling when he saw her. But, as he closed the door, he must have seen she was unhappy, and his gaze flicked to the sink. “I meant to rinse that.”
“To hell with your dirty dishes. What is that man doing in this house?” She’d almost said “my” house, but stopped herself just in time. The Northern Star Lodge belonged to the kids, no matter how long she’d been the head of the household.
“He’s not in the house. Andy needs work and we need some help.”
“There are plenty of people in this town who need work. You know how I feel about him.”
“I know you don’t like him and nobody knows why. I also know Andy Miller is not only my best friend’s father, but was my dad’s best friend. They were like brothers.”
“He’s no friend of mine,” she said, folding her arms across her chest.
“I’m not paying him to play Scrabble or share knitting patterns with you. I’m paying him to work.”
“I really don’t want him here.”
Mitch’s jaw hardened, and the little boy she’d raised and was hoping to appeal to was lost behind the mask of a man who’d built his own business out of nothing. “Are you going to rebuild the front steps and paint the porch?”
She shook her head. “No, but Ryan could do the building, and all you need is a high school kid for the painting.”
“Ryan’s dragging his ass about coming up. It’s done, Rose.” Mitch started to walk away, then stopped. “You’re one of the friendliest and most generous women I’ve ever known. Why do you hate Andy so much?”
“I have my reasons,” she snapped, and then she walked away. Out of the kitchen and up the stairs and straight down the hall to her room, where she slammed the door like a teenager in a snit.
She was stuck. Mitch wasn’t going to consider firing Andy Miller unless she gave him a good reason, and she would never tell anybody why she hated Andy. She’d never tell a soul.
Maybe Mitch and Josh didn’t have to take her feelings into account when it came to running their business, but they damn well did have to live with the consequences.
*
Mitch slammed the pantry door and then kicked it when it didn’t close all the way. Andy Miller had started work Tuesday, now it was Thursday, and Mitch didn’t know where Rose kept the extra coffee filters.
Josh didn’t know. He said Rosie always made the coffee. Mitch would ask her, but he didn’t want to give her the satisfaction. She was on strike…or whatever you called a woman lounging in her room all damn day, knitting and watching television. Meanwhile, the guys who actually owned the place—and signed her paychecks—couldn’t make a pot of coffee.
Swearing under his breath, he grabbed the keys off the hook and started for the back door.
“Going somewhere?”
So she’d come out of her room. Holding a stack of DVDs, no less. “I’m going into town.”
“Good. You can stop by the library for me. I’m done with these movies, and Hailey called to tell me she found more I’d like in a box of donations. She’s holding them at the desk.”
She set the pile on the table and walked out before Mitch could point out the irony of her asking him for a favor—and asking was a stretch—when he couldn’t make a pot of coffee because she was pissed off at Andy Miller. Adding a few more creative words to his string of expletives, he grabbed the stack of DVDs and went out the door. Josh and Andy were in the back, going over a list of supplies, and he hoped to get out unseen. He wasn’t really in the mood for company.
He went to the library first, just to get it over with. Hailey was at the circulation desk, as always, and she raised an eyebrow when she saw him.
“Don’t see you here often,” she said.