Page 21 of The Sugar Maple Inn

Grace buried her face in her mug, but she couldn’t hide her grin.

Sophie clapped her hands together. “I need details. All of them.”

“Seriously, it got so hot.” She leaned in close. “I even…you know.”

“Oh wow.”

“Does it sound weird, doing that with someone I don’t know in real life?”

“God no, loads of people do. Hell, people are even having it off with AI bots nowadays. At least this guy’s real.”

“As far as I can tell.” Grace sighed. “I don’t know, it felt right at the time but now…”

“Don’t you dare feel bad about it. It’s awesome. I mean, obviously I’d love you to meet someone in real life…Did I mention Reese Spencer’s pretty hot?”

Grace gave Sophie a look. “Knew you’d get it in somehow. You forgot to mention he’s a soul-crushing billionaire, too.”

“Is he soul crushing, though?” Sophie asked. “I looked him up last night. He does a lot of charity work. Focuses more on wildlife and sustainable stuff than, you know, tech and cars. And his origin story is kind of…I don’t know, different? He grew up poor in Canada. Single mom who did care work in a nursing home. His dad died when he was young so Reese had to step up.”

“That’s sad but lots of people have it tough. Doesn’t make the empire-building more noble.”

Sophie smiled. “I’m just saying, he didn’t start with money. He worked for this wilderness guide company when he was barely out of high school so he could help his mom with the bills. The owner took him under his wing. Taught him the business side of things, not just the outdoorsy stuff.”

Grace paused mid-sip of her tea. “And?”

“And when the owner had a stroke, Reese basically ran the company while the guy was in treatment. The owner didn’t have kids, so when he died, he left everything to Reese. The whole operation.”

“Lucky break for Reese, then.”

Sophie shrugged. “Maybe. But he took this tiny wilderness tour company and turned it into something huge. Said he wanted to show that a kid from Thunder Bay could do something special. He wanted to make his mom proud. Started buying up other eco-tourism operations, conservation land, built this whole network. The press started calling him the Golden Wolf—you know, because he’s Canadian, he works with wildlife, his hair…and he’s got that whole predatory business instinct thing going on.”

Grace rolled her eyes. “The Golden Wolf. Of course the press called him that.”

Sophie leaned forward, her brown eyes all sincere and Sophie-like. “One article says he still sends money to his mom every month. He set her up in a nice house, even bought the care home she works for and made it better.”

Grace threw her hands up in the air. “Fine, so he’s a good son, too. Stop trying to make me like him, Sophie.”

“I’m not! I’m just saying, he’s not some trust-fund kid playing with Daddy’s money. He worked his ass off, like you have. And all those conservation acquisitions? A lot of them seem tied back to wanting to honor his mentor’s legacy. The guy who gave him a shot when nobody else would.”

Grace stared into her teacup, processing. A kid from a deprived area with nothing. A mother working herself to the bone. A mentor who saw something in him. It was…uncomfortably relatable.

“Doesn’t change the fact he’s trying to buy my inn,” she said finally.

Sophie nodded. “True. But maybe he’s not just some villain with a credit card. Maybe he actually cares about these places. Like, genuinely cares.”

Grace thought about it. “Nah. Nobody’s going to become a billionaire without standing on a few billion heads on the way up.”

“Exactly what Luke said last night.” Sophie sighed and slumped back against her chair. “Honestly, between the two of you, you’re going to destroy my sweet naïve ways.”

Grace laughed. “Hell no, Soph. We need it to balance our cynical selves.”

Luke appeared in the doorway then, water dripping from his jacket. “Grace? If we’re going, we should go now. Weather’s improved a bit and radar’s suggesting the next front won’t come for an hour, so I have a slot to get you there. But fair warning: getting you back may be harder. I have a tour to do so I won’t be hanging around, but I’ll aim to get back for four.”

Grace shot to her feet, her heart hammering. “Right. Okay. This is it.”

Sophie squeezed her hand. “Go get your inn.”

But just as Grace was about to follow Luke out, her phone buzzed in her pocket. She pulled it out, seeing the school’s number flash on the screen.