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She leaned into my hand and gasped quietly. “Let’s go.”
Chapter19
Ava
Sunday morning, I crawled out of my bed early, reluctant to leave a slumbering Cash but hoping he’d sleep for another hour or two. To say we hadn’t gotten a lot of z’s since I got back in town Friday evening was an understatement. I couldn’t regret it, though, despite the way my eyes burned with fatigue.
I headed to the maintenance room to get the paint supplies Halstead had picked up. He’d wanted to help me today, but he’d worked lots of overtime the past two weeks, knocking out his items on the Operation Inn Overhaul list, and I’d finally convinced him he could help me paint the interior as he had time over the next week but to take today off. Painting was one thing I’d decided I could handle myself, and I hoped to get a couple of the guest rooms on the west wing done before dinner.
The A/C had been repaired. The roof replacement was scheduled to start on Tuesday with a guarantee it’d be done before Labor Day weekend, when we had seventy percent of the rooms reserved. I’d ordered a new, expensive inn management system and the computers to go with it. Levi Dawson’s construction crew was showing up tomorrow morning to screen in part of the deck. I was waiting for bids on the exterior painting, but that was less vital to have completed before our busy end-of-the-summer-season weekend for Labor Day. There were several other smaller projects either in process or waiting for bids, and there was the manager problem yet to be solved, but the to-do list was shrinking.
I unlocked the maintenance room and picked up a paint can, tray, brushes, plastic tarps, a roller, and tape, then headed to the west wing. I set everything down in the guest room closest to the lobby, then went to check in with Deshon and Sadie Brent, who was on her second day of training. After checking in with them and ensuring Deshon’s wife hadn’t yet gone into labor, I headed to the kitchen to get the donuts I’d stocked up on yesterday. Cash and I had discussed some possibilities for uses of the kitchen, but I hadn’t decided on anything yet. Until I did, I’d be using Sugar. No more early-morning baking disasters for me.
By seven, I’d eaten two donuts—I told myself I needed the carbs for the work I was determined to get done today—and was heading back through the lobby when the main door opened and Cash walked in, looking awake and energetic and…not alone. He carried an open-topped box that looked like it held more painting supplies.
Not seeing me, he turned back to whoever was behind him, laughing, and as they entered, I recognized his brother Seth.
“Hey,” I called out to them.
They weren’t alone. Seth was holding the hand of a pretty brunette. It took about three seconds for me to recognize her—she was one of my favorite country singers, Everly Ash. I tilted my head to the side, unsure what I wanted to find out first, what she was doing here at my inn or why she was holding Seth’s hand.
But before I could get answers to either question, Cash’s sister, Hayden, came in with a pretty woman about her age. Behind them were Cash’s youngest brother, Holden, and two other guys.
“What’s going on?” I asked Cash as he came toward the spot where I’d frozen in place near the door to the west wing.
“I told you I’d help you paint today,” he said, grinning.
“You did. Hi, Seth. It’s good to see you.” There might’ve been a little question in my tone.
Seth let go of Everly Ash’s hand long enough to hug me. “Hi, Ava.” He pulled Everly closer. “Meet my fiancée, Everly.”
“Um, yeah,” I said, smiling, “I know of you. I’m a big fan. It’s a pleasure to meet you, but”—I addressed Seth—“how the heck did she end up with you?”
“Plain dumb luck,” he said humbly. “Best luck of my life.”
“It’s a story, for sure,” Everly said warmly. “It’s nice to meet you.”
“You can read multiple versions of that story online,” Seth said with a scowl.
“But I could probably be convinced to tell you all about how I fell for this guy while we paint,” Everly said.
“You’re going to paint?” I asked, looking between the three of them.
“We’re all going to paint,” Hayden, who yanked me into a warm hug, said. “Ava, Ava, it’s so good to see you.” When she ended the hug, she said, “This is my friend Sierra, her husband, Cole, and this hottie is my husband, Zane. We let Holden tag along as well.”
“Tag along. We’ll see how many more walls I can paint than you,” Holden said to Hayden. He came over and side-hugged me.
I shook Sierra’s hand. She had her hair up in a ponytail and wore paint-splattered cargo pants and a cropped tee. “You and Hayden have been friends for a long time, right?” I asked. “I remember hearing her talk about you when I used to live here.”
“We met in second grade,” Sierra said. “Then we ended up marrying brothers.”
“Zane North,” Hayden’s husband said as he stepped forward and shook my hand. “I’m the good brother. Cole’s our black sheep.”
“Reformed,” Sierra said. “Most days.” She nudged her shoulder into his arm as he came forward to shake my hand.
After meeting everyone, I must have looked at Cash stupidly.
“I rounded up painting help,” he said. “We’ll knock out the whole wing today.”
