Page 47 of Mountain Dreams

“How long will she be staying with you?” Avery asked.

She’d become a pro at loosening the tension between the brothers, and Cody shot her a grateful smile.

“I’m not sure yet.”

“Until she gets sick of his bad habits,” Jax muttered.

“What bad habits? I’m an excellent roommate,” Cody trumpeted.

“I take it the apartment hunting didn’t go well,” Avery said.

He shook his head. “Not unless you consider waiting lists, rodents, and noisy neighbors pleasant. And when I say noisy neighbors, I’m talking headboard-knocking-against-the-wall noisy.”

Even Jax had to chuckle at that. “So, now what?” he asked.

“She’s living in my basement until she figures out where to go.”

“Your basement?” Avery scrunched up her pert nose.

“It’s fully finished and furnished,” Jax assured her.

Knowing Avery, she would have offered for Maddie to move in with her rather than live in a musty old basement. She was that kind of sweet.

“The only thing she has to come upstairs for is the kitchen and laundry room,” he added.

“Hmm,” Avery said. Then she and Jax exchanged knowing looks.

“Hmm, what?” Cody looked from one to the other.

“I bet you’re hoping she’ll come upstairs for other reasons than to make dinner and do laundry,” Jax supplied.

“Minds out of the gutter, you two. Geez!” Cody teased.

“Speaking of gutters, we should probably get to work,” Jax said. “We’ve got a maintenance list a mile long.”

“Before I go, are you still thinking about hiring an accountant?” Cody looked at Avery, though Jax was responsible for hiring people.

“Yes!” she said enthusiastically.

“Why?” Jax said, furrowing his brow.

“It just so happens that Maddie is an accountant, and I thought—”

“Oh, hell no!” Jax said, shaking his head. “Been there, done that.”

“Hey!” Avery scolded. “Look how great your last new hire turned out.” She pointed at herself with a cherry-red fingertip.

“It turned out great for us, but this is different,” Jax insisted.

“How so?” she said, challenging him as only she could do.

“Yeah. As I recall, Avery was with Travis when she started working here,” said Cody.

“Trevor,” she and Jax said as one.

“Whatever.”

“She wasn’t coming off a broken engagement, and she broke up with Trevor, not the other way around,” Jax reminded him.