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I’d suggested we meet somewhere else to avoid antagonizing my pissed-off half-brother, but Ava had said he’d likely be gone for work, and if he wasn’t, he’d behave himself just fine. I had my doubts.
I was relieved we didn’t have to test the theory today.
I went in the door of the place I’d called my home for four months to find the cozy lobby hopping with activity. Anna, who managed the inn, was behind the desk with Sadie, one of the newer desk clerks. They both had customers in front of them.
“Hey, Knox,” Anna called as I walked by on my way to check the gathering room for my writing partner. “Ava’s upstairs.”
“Morning, Anna. Thanks.” I backtracked to the curved staircase and headed up.
At the top of the stairs was a relatively quiet lounge area with a couch and a few chairs. The stone fireplace from the gathering room below stretched upward and bordered one side of the stairs. The room was partially open to below. There were doors to the offices and an entry to the ballroom’s upper level.
Ava sat on one of the club chairs opposite the overlook.
“Morning, partner,” I said, then stepped to the balcony to glance below. “I see why you’re up here. Downstairs is busy.”
She smiled. “Hey, you. Business is picking up even though it’s off-season. Our ads seem to be working.”
“That’s great news.”
I knew, when she’d taken the reins after her aunt’s death, business had been a mere trickle. Ava had worked her tail off to start turning it around, and Anna was continuing where she’d left off.
“Anna’s the best thing that could happen to this inn, believe me,” she said humbly.
“She seems great at her job. How’re you doing today?” I asked as I sat in the other club chair. “Did Cash give you static because I was coming here?”
“No.” She shook her head. “I told you to quit worrying about that. You’re welcome here anytime.”
I knew I was in her eyes. I didn’t know if I’d ever feel welcome in Cash’s territory. They weren’t married yet, and Ava was still the sole owner of the inn as far as I knew, but that was just a technicality.
Exhausted, I sat back and worked up my willpower to get my laptop out, seeing that Ava’s was already powered up. I noticed she had her chapter open and had probably been working. I hadn’t found the time to write for at least two days, maybe three, and had accomplished hardly anything before that, which wasn’t like me at all. Yes, I’d had a baby fall into my life, but I needed to start doing better with my jobs, both for financial clients and fiction writing.
Ava frowned as she looked closer at me. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” I said on an exhale.
“Did that sweet baby keep you awake last night?”
The question sent my mind right down the Quincy track. I took a few seconds to answer. “Quincy had her last night. I just didn’t sleep much.” None of which was a lie. “Ava, I’m letting you down. I was supposed to get you chapter four a week ago, and it’s still not done. I’m sorry as hell—”
“Knox, shut up. You basically just had a baby.”
“I mean…”
“No. No jokes about not having a uterus. You’ve been a daddy for two weeks, and there’s going to be some adjustment.”
“I know that. I just…” I expelled a breath. “You’d think I could write a couple hundred words a day.”
Ava closed her laptop and set it on the table, sat forward in her chair like she meant business, and raised her brows. “Remember a couple of months ago when my aunt died?”
“Of course.”
It was when I’d met her. She’d come from California to take care of this place, which I’d been living in for about two months at that point. We’d started talking and discovered we were both writers.
“Remember how much writing I got done for the next two months? Let me refresh your memory. Zero words, Knox, and I didn’t have a baby depending on me around the clock.”
“You did have an inn,” I pointed out.
“Exactly. And that’s what needed my attention.”
