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Lucie frowned. “Huh?”
“It’s an inn, not a bed and breakfast.”
She could tell from Lucie’s nod that she had no idea what the difference was. Nor did she care. Right now, she was all about landing that temporary job.
But then suddenly—as suddenly as she’d appeared in Georgia’s life—Lucie was gone. Her eyes widened, and she looked at something over Georgia’s shoulder, then mumbled, “Got to go. See you” and rushed off.
“What…?” Georgia turned to watch her walk away, as if doing so would explain what was going on.
To her right, Lucie was rushing across the parking lot, not even glancing in the direction of the center of the parking lot. There might be a good reason why. Clayton Mills was walking toward Georgia, keys in his right hand.
As thrown off as she was by the sight of Clayton, Georgia’s mind was still on Lucie running away. Why?
But then Clayton drew closer, and all thoughts of Lucie flew straight out of her mind. He still wore his clothes from earlier that day, which probably meant he was stopping by on his way home from work.
“Clayton?” she asked.
He looked up suddenly, and it was clear he’d been lost in his thoughts, with no clue that his ex had been standing here just seconds ago. His eyes widened and his mouth spread into a slow smile.
Did that mean he was happy to see her?
“Hey,” he said, slowing to a stop several feet in front of her.
They’d seen each other in this grocery store before. And at the movie theater. And the diner. And the restaurant. She’d even passed him on the steps of the courthouse once, way back when she was renewing the inn’s business license.
All those times, she’d quickly looked away. It had been awkward not speaking to each other. They’d lived in this town a long time, aside from the years he hadn’t moved here yet and he’d been away at college and law school.
It’d always been clear she wasn’t going to speak to him. Until now. Until she stood here, staring directly at him.
“Just doing some grocery shopping.” She lifted the bags she was holding.
Shopping. Yeah, right. What she was actually doing was standing in front of the store, holding her grocery bags and talking to his ex-girlfriend.
“Me, too,” he said. “Picking up a couple of things for tonight.”
The strangest urge came over her. The urge to invite him to come have dinner at the ranch. She almost laughed out loud at that. Sure, that would go over well. The lawyer representing the Knott family in a lawsuit her family didn’t even know about yet eating in their dining room with their guests. Her family ate dinner there every night, whether the inn was packed with guests or it was the offseason.
“I spoke to the Knotts,” Clayton said. “They’re willing to settle, but only if you agree to their terms.”
“Which are?” She crossed her arms over her chest like she’d done in his office that morning.
It was weird that she kept doing that. A strange reflex. Maybe it was her way of subconsciously protecting her heart against him.
Georgia Ludington didn’t do well when it came to dating, and she was better off being alone. That was what she’d resigned herself to—a lifetime of being married to her career. The inn was her baby. The ranch was her husband. She had everything she needed right there, and she didn’t have to worry about getting her heart stomped on again.
“Complicated,” Clayton said after a pause where he looked into the store behind her.
He continued to stare over her shoulder after that, making her wonder if Lucie had snuck in a back door somewhere and was now standing back there. But then he returned his gaze to her face.
Complicated. Again, she was backtracking to what they’d been talking about. The terms. The Knott family had terms attached to any settlement.
“It’s complicated?” she asked. “How?”
Why did she think this guy was going to tell her what the Knott family’s terms were? He was their attorney, after all. Telling her might potentially lose him the case.
Clayton looked around again before settling his gaze back on her face. “I don’t want to go to court any more than you do. I’d love to settle this. It’d be in the best interest of both parties. If you go in front of the judge, there are court costs, you’ll have to pay attorney fees… Nobody wins?—”
“But the lawyers,” she finished.
