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“I’ve been doing the best I can.”
“You made it sound like it was a paradise in the middle of upstate New York.”
“It is. It can be.” She hated the stutter of unease that trembled through her.
He pulled off the gravel road and climbed out of the truck, slamming the door. She hopped out and hurried around the front after him. He paced along the fence, stopping at the split lower spindle. He crouched in front of it and pinched the rotting wood.
“You actually invite people to come here?”
The slice was deep. “The main house is well maintained, and we have nothing but glowing referrals.”
He stood, looming over her. His hazel eyes were chips of cool jade filled with dismissal. “From who?”
“We have a loyal list of people who come back for fishing and snowmobiling.”
“Fishing and—” He paced up and down the fence. “This is zoned to be a B and B, not a game and recreational park. I looked up the paperwork. Christ, if anything happened to the men on the lake, are you even covered?”
She threw her shoulders back. “Of course we are.”
He finally stopped pacing in front of her. “How could you not tell me it needed this much work?”
In her head she’d known, but she’d been treading water for so long seeing just how run-down it looked after time away left a gaping hole in her chest. But she’d fight for it. The Heron was worth the fight. “It’s manageable.”
“Manageable?” He turned to her, his eyes hard and remote. “This looks manageable to you?”
“If I had some help. If you could only see how amazing it could be.” She looked past the sagging fences to the lake and the reeds of weeping willows. The graceful arc of a heron as it landed on an icy rock and folded in its huge wings. “I don’t want to lose this place.”
She’d been hanging on by her fingernails for so long. She’d thought maybe, just maybe someone else would see what she saw. Shane, of all people, with his renovation knowledge could make the Heron beautiful.
She faced him. “Can’t you see how special this place is?”
His eyes were flat and emotionless.
Fear took hold. Everything she’d been worried about threatened to suck her down. “You can’t want to sell it.”
“The property is worth more than this entire operation, so you’re damn right I want to sell. I will be selling.”
“No,” she whispered.
“Oh yeah. What are you going to do when you can’t make a repair? What happens if someone gets hurt on the dock or the porch that’s sagging? Do you just want to go bankrupt to keep this place?”
“Of course not. We’re just falling on hard times right now. Things will—”
“What? You think they’ll turn around? The only thing that would help this place is to sink at least ten thousand dollars into the property. I haven’t even seen the main house to know what else it needs.”
She shut her eyes against the angry tears that wanted to fall.
She’d been so afraid this would happen. That he’d see the place and not feel the magic in the land, in the woods and the water.
“I wanted you to see the potential of it all.”
“Potential? Do you know what kind of money you need to pull off the potential you’re looking for?”
She crossed her arms over her chest.
“At least forty thousand to really turn this around to be worthy of a B and B trade magazine.”
She dropped her hands to her sides in shock. “I don’t want to be in a trade magazine.” Her breath backed up into her chest at the arctic frost of his face. “I want families who want to go out on the boat in the summer or to play on the dock and swim. I want people who love the winter and snowmobiling and skiing that’s close by. I want people who want to hike and enjoy a place that’s a little off the beaten path.”
