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I shook my head. “I have a plan, and I know it will work. She might be a bit upset with me, but it will work, Nick. I know it will.”
He sighed.
“You should have heard her boss on the phone. Mr. Stiner laughed when I requested to work with Rose Shaw. Then when I didn’t laugh back, he tried his best to sell me on the other architects in the firm.”
“How did you get him to agree to you working with Rose?”
Reaching over for an apple, I chuckled.
“Didn’t give him much of a choice. I told him I’d seen her work, heard good things about her, and I wanted someone who was going to keep with my desire for an environmentally conscious build. He suggested Rose work alongside some guy named Duke. I told him if I didn’t get to work with Rose solo, I wasn’t using their firm.”
Nick whistled. “Damn, played hardball, huh?”
Taking a bite of the apple, I chewed, then answered him. “Only way I know how to play.”
Chapter Seven
ROSE
The knocking on my door had me rolling over and vowing to kill the person who dared to wake me up before nine in the morning. When I opened it and saw Lily and her best friend, Ben, standing there with grins spread across their faces, I went to shut the door. Lily put her foot to block it and gave me a look that dared me to make her leave.
The last time they showed up at my place a few weeks ago, they dragged me to an early morning training session they were doing with kids. Lily sat me down and handed me a sketchbook. I had to admit, it felt good to draw. I drew a few sketches of the kids riding and grooming the horses, then gave them to the mothers of the two kids. I had asked them first, of course, and I could see them glance in my direction from time to time to catch a peek at what I was doing. Both the parents had tears in their eyes when they saw the sketches, and one even asked me if I would do a painting of her daughter on her prized horse. I had politely declined, but a part of me wished I hadn’t. I normally liked to do landscapes, but portraits were always my mother’s favorite, so it was the first thing she’d taught me.
“If you think I’m going to sit at another damn riding clinic, you are sorely mistaken. It’s going to be hot today. It’s July, in case you haven’t noticed. Like the kind of hot where everyone thinks Satan is sitting on the state of Montana.”
Lily rolled her eyes and followed me into my place, Ben right on her heels.
“We’re going hiking and thought we might stop, have lunch, then maybe take a swim. Please come with us?”
“And be the third wheel? No, thanks.”
Lily’s smile faltered for a moment, and if I hadn’t been watching her, I would have missed it.
“We’re meeting Abby there, so it’s nothing like that,” Ben stated as he grabbed a banana from my fruit bowl.
“Abby?” I asked, my gaze bouncing from my cousin to her best friend.
Lily cleared her throat and quickly said, “Ben’s girlfriend is joining us.”
My eyes went wide, but with one sharp look from Lily, I turned away from Ben and headed to the sink. “I didn’t know you were dating anyone, Ben.”
“We’ve been dating for a few weeks now. I met her at the gym.”
I glanced over my shoulder to see Lily wearing an odd expression. “So you’re going on a hike and picnic with your girlfriend, and you invited Lily?”
He laughed as he shook his head. “No, Abby is joining me and Lily.”
Okay, now I was confused. “Someone needs to explain this to me. I haven’t had coffee yet, and this is weird.”
Lily smiled, but I could tell it was forced. “Ben and I have been doing this same hike for a few years now. We always take the hike up the same trailhead at least once a summer, eat lunch, swim in the freezing cold river, then hike back down. It’s like a tradition, and Ben thinks it’s bad luck to break the tradition. This year, Abby wanted to join us.”
“Okay, well, where do I come in?” I asked.
“I thought maybe you could bring a small sketchbook and…” She shrugged her shoulders. “Draw or something.”
Lily had emphasized the word “I” when she stated she hadn’t wanted to be the third wheel.
“Are you not dating anyone?” I asked Lily. “What about the hell of a hot guy we met at the Blue Moose a few weeks back? He asked for your number.”
“What guy?” Ben asked.
Was that a bit of jealousy I heard in his voice? I glanced back and forth between the two friends. Was there something else besides friendship between Lily and Ben?
