I roll my eyes. “Well, we snagged one, at least. No Wi-Fi and all.”

“Yeah, well,” she chuckles. “You could probably count me as a fluke, since you sort of hired me.”

“Lucky us,” I laugh.

“I could try to call my friend…” she says.

I shake my head. “I doubt they’d be interested. Probably isn’t worth your effort.” I gaze out at the snow wistfully. “Honestly, I keep finding myself wondering if all this reno is even worth it. If it will make any difference. For all I know, we might be closing our doors within a year.” I blink a few times, shaking my head. “Sorry. I don’t know why I said that.”

“You can talk to me about it if you want,” she says. “Sometimes it’s good to unload to an unbiased third party.”

“Unbiased third party, huh?”

“I mean, mostly unbiased.”

“Right,” I laugh.

I stretch my arms above my head then, and I notice that she eyes me, her gaze following the motion in a way that makes my alpha preen. So if I flex a little when I push my wet hair from my eyes after, well, that’s no one’s business but mine.

“We used to be so much busier than this,” I tell her.

She nods. “Jeannie told me a bit about it.”

“She told you about the new highway?”

Another nod.

“Well,” I go on. “After that…everything slowed to a crawl. We bleed money every year now, and sometimes I don’t even know how we’re keeping the lights on. We had to get a loan just to pay you and your brothers.”

Her mouth parts, and I immediately give myself a mental kick for saying that.

“Sorry,” I say. “Again, I don’t know why I told you that.”

And I don’t, really. For some reason, I find it easy to talk to Tess. Maybe it’s because of all the helping I’ve been doing. It’s hard not to feel comfortable with someone you half fucked in the snow.

“It’s okay,” she says gently. “I get it.”

“I guess you could say all this”—I wave my hand aimlessly in the direction of the lodge—“is a last-ditch effort.” I huff derisively. “Pretty pathetic, huh?”

She shakes her head. “I don’t think so. You’re trying to save something you love. That’s admirable.” She gives me a stern look. “And it’s obvious that you love the place.”

I cast my eyes down to the water, trying not to think of my parents. The last thing I need to do is get all morose on her. “I do love this place. My entire childhood was here, and the thought of changing things terrifies me.”

“I get that,” she answers. “I’m doing my best to revamp more than revise, if that makes sense.”

“I can tell,” I say. “And you have no idea how much I appreciate it.”

Her answering grin is blinding, and I feel my gut clench with want that is sudden and fierce.

“So tell me more about you,” I say, trying to take the focus off me.

“Well, you know what I do for a living and that I have three brothers.”

“True,” I say, “but there’s gotta be more to Tess Covington than that. Did you always know you wanted to do this for a living?”

“For what feels like forever,” she tells me. “It just seemed right.”

“Seems like it’s working out for you with all the social media stuff.”

She looks sheepish then. “Actually…I’m in talks with HGTV for my own show.”

“What?” My brows raise. “That’s pretty fucking cool.”

“It’s…overwhelming. And there’s a chance they’ll pass, but…I guess it’s cool just to be considered.”

“Your family must be thrilled about that.”

Her smile immediately falters, and she suddenly looks unsure. “Well…I mean…I’m sure they would be…if they knew.”

“You haven’t told them?”

“They have a lot going on.” She fidgets in her seat. “I’m sure you don’t want to hear about my drama.”

“Unbiased third party,” I remind her. “Remember?”

“Right,” she snorts. “Well…I told you that my dad had a stroke ten years back, right?”

“I remember.”

“Yeah, well. It was a rough time. The physical therapy and rehab he had to go through just to be able to get back to the eighty percent mobility he’s up to now was gruesome. The medical bills were ridiculous.” She reaches to rub at her neck. “It’s why I changed majors to take over the business. I knew how much it killed my dad to not be able to continue it, and I figured I could kill two birds with one stone. Keep the business going and help out with the medical bills.”

“That’s really great of you, Tess,” I tell her honestly.

She shrugs. “Yeah, I mean…I was happy to do it. I love this business. I love what I do.”

“What did you want to be before you switched majors?”

“Hmm?” Her nose wrinkles. “Oh. I had some silly pipe dream about getting a degree in design. I thought I could sign on and help out my dad that way.”

“So either way, you always planned to help your dad.”

“I guess you could say that, yeah.”

I get the sense that she really admires her dad and, what’s more, that she really loves what she’s doing, continuing his business and watching it thrive.

“So why haven’t you told them about HGTV?”

Her face falls. “This last year…See, they put him on all sorts of medications after the stroke. He had AFib—that’s atrial fibrillation. Basically, it means that the upper chambers of your heart don’t squeeze right, so clots can form in your heart and move to your brain. That’s what caused the stroke. For a long time, his meds kept everything managed.”

“But this year…?”

“Apparently, his medications haven’t been doing what they should. He’s still in AFib even with them. So his heart rate stays irregular. He’s been having all sorts of fatigue and dizziness.”

“You said ‘apparently’…You didn’t know?”

She shakes her head. “They didn’t want to worry us, so they didn’t let us know until recently. The doctors want him to get a pacemaker put in; actually, they said it’s imperative that he does. They said that his life expectancy doesn’t look good without one, but…”

“But?”

“But his insurance isn’t great. Even with it, the damned thing will cost like twenty grand. They don’t have that kind of money. And the business is doing well, but…I don’t have that kind of money lying around. I’m hoping if I can land this HGTV deal, the signing bonus will help cover the costs so we can move forward with the procedure.” Her lip trembles. “I have to land this deal.”

I watch her expression crumple, and suddenly everything in my body screams that I give her something, anything to make her feel better. With that thought coursing through my body, I scoot closer to her on the bench under the water and gently wind an arm around her shoulders.

“Hey,” I offer. “I’m sorry. I know I’ve only seen you work for a few weeks, but you’re really great at it. They’d be stupid not to sign you on.”

I remain perfectly still when her head tilts to rest on my shoulder, a sigh escaping her. “I hope you’re right.”

“I usually am,” I deadpan.

That draws another grin out of her. “Somehow, I knew you’d say that.”

“I think it’s great what you do, Tess,” I tell her honestly, because in these few weeks I’ve known her, I’ve seen her exude passion for something as simple as floor stain just for the sake of making someone—me—happy, and that says more about her than anything else, I think. It’s clear she finds great joy in this, even more so in bringing joy to others through it. “And I think you’re fucking amazing at it.”

I hear the small catch in her breath, and I can’t help but wonder if anyone has ever told her that. I can’t say why the thought that I might be the first fills me with a sense of pride and satisfaction. Like in this small way, I’m taking care of her. It seems like Tess always makes sure to take care of everyone else—but does anyone ever really take care of her?

I find that lately…I like taking care of Tess a lot.

“I haven’t told them about what’s going on with me either,” she says quietly.