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“Well, I took over this business three years ago, so…three?”
A laugh escaped her lips. “Okay. Guess I have enough to keep me busy for a few weeks, huh?”
“Guess you do. We never talked about your salary. How does two hundred a day sound?”
Beth’s eyes widened and she shuffled uncomfortably on the spot. “You can’t pay me, Wyatt. I can’t take any money from you.” It pained her to say the words because two hundred a day was nothing to sneeze at. A few thousand bucks would pad her emergency fund nicely. “Use it toward rent and food and utilities for my accommodation.”
“Nope, can’t do that. You work, you get paid. That’s just how it is.”
She took a deep breath. “Okay. Let me take a look at everything and work out how best to organize it all. Do you have any preference for how it all gets filed? Do you want to keep everything?”
Wyatt took a seat behind his desk, Freya plonking herself on the large doggy bed in the corner next to it. “Not unless you think I need to for legal or tax reasons. I’ve got a shredder in the far corner over there.”
Beth followed his pointed finger and spotted the machine in question tucked away. “Great. Give me an hour or so to take a look and see what I’m dealing with. Once I know what I’ve got, I can work out a filing system for you, then begin sorting through everything.”
“I’d appreciate it. I know I shouldn’t have let it go for so long, but every time I looked at it…”
She gave him a warm smile. “I understand. It’s easier to just tuck it away for a rainy day. Can I use the other desk?”
“Of course. Let me clear it off for you.” He picked up one pile of papers at a time and plopped them on whatever spare surfaces he could find. Beth wandered to the kitchenette at the back, where she opened the door to discover she’d been correct about it being a bathroom, and wet a dishcloth. After she’d wiped the desk clean, she made them both a coffee and got to work.
Going through the paperwork, she sorted it all into calendar years first, which took her all morning. Unsurprising, given there had to be thousands of sheets of paper. Bookings, receipts, invoices.
Wyatt had sat opposite her, working on his computer. Every hour or so, he went outside to stretch his legs, and Beth joined him, tipping her face up to the sun and enjoying the cool breeze washing over the lake. “It’s beautiful here.”
“Yes, it is.” His voice was hoarse and it wasn’t until she glanced over at him that she saw he wasn’t looking at the vista in front of them, but at her.
She went over to him and stole a kiss, then leaned against him. “So you’ve lived here for three years?”
“Yep.” He gave Freya a pat. “Moved here after I left the Navy. Thought the ocean air would do me good.”
“Where are you from?”
He paused a few moments before answering. “Georgia.”
Ah. That explained the slight Southern twang to his accent. “Is your family still there?”
“My mom lives near Atlanta, as does my sister, Charlotte, and her family. I’ve got two young nephews, Elijah and Ethan.” His face lit up at the mention of his family, which made her both smile and feel a little sad.
“Do you have photos of them?”
“Sure do.” Wyatt reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell, scrolling through it before turning the screen around. She looked at the two boys smiling at her. They were both dark-haired like their uncle and appeared to be around eight and five.
“They’re adorable.”
“They’re both rascals, but we love them anyway. And they love Freya to death. Ethan, the little one, is always trying to ride her like a horse.”
A snort escaped Beth’s mouth before she could stop it. “I bet Freya loves that.”
Wyatt grinned. “She doesn’t mind it. She loves the boys and lets them roughhouse with her.”
“How often do you see them?”
He let out a long sigh. “Not nearly often enough. I go there for Thanksgiving and Christmas. They’ve come here a couple of times during the summer. My sister is a doctor, so she’s always busy. It’s hard for her to get away.”
“Are they coming this summer?”
“That’s the plan. Mom and the boys stay with me, and Charlotte and Tom take the guest cabin. I take the boys out on the lake to go fishing and they love it.”
