loomed before her. Not exactly the cozy Victorian she had expected, but it had a sort of earthy quality about it.
Lauren grabbed her things and looked at the front door. “Well, here goes nothing.” Trudging up the incline toward her home for the next two weeks, she hoped Candace and Gwen were right and that she could get some rest here.
Once she reached the door, she set her luggage down beside her, took a deep breath and knocked.
Upon hearing the doorbell, Garrett leaned his head back against the comfy chair and glanced toward the ceiling. “Great, contestant number five.” He squeezed his eyes shut for a fraction of a second, as if it would all go away like a bad dream. With reluctance he pulled himself from the deep chair, walked down the hall, around to the front door and opened it. The visitor took him by surprise.
“Hi, I’m Lauren Romey. I have a reservation here.”
Now here was a welcome sight. Dressed in stylish jeans and a long white T-shirt adorned with a classy silver belt at her waist, this woman had definite potential. It didn’t hurt that she had hair the color of buttercups and eyes that made him feel he had stepped into the clear, blue-green water of Emerald Bay. His spirits improved considerably.
“Garrett Cantrell, owner of the place.” He shook her hand, then stepped aside to allow her entrance. “So you decided to come after all, huh?”
She raised her eyebrows and looked at him with surprise. “Oh, uh, yeah.”
“Here, let me get that for you.” He reached for her luggage. In her other hand, he noted a dog in a carrier.
“You have a dog, Miss Romey?”
“That’s what they call ’em where I come from.”
“Oh, a guest with a sense of humor,” he said with a smirk.
“Is that a problem?”
“The humor or the dog?”
She laughed with a little hesitation. Seeming to sense they were talking about her, Nocchi whined and pawed at the floor of her carrier. “Shh,” Lauren scolded. She turned back to Garrett. “They told me I could bring her. I assure you, Nocchi is harmless.”
“Nocchi?”
“Yes, spelled N-o-c-c-h-i, but it’s pronounced no-key.”
He thought he’d eaten an Italian dinner once by that name.
“Her name is actually Pinocchio. I call her Nocchi for short.”
Now he’d heard everything. A tiny black dog with a barely visible nose named Pinocchio. Okay, that was weird. Weirdbadandugly.com. Garrett stuck his face closer to the carrier to get a look at the animal. He rubbed his eyes and peered in again. The dog was actually wearing a dress. Not only that, but a denim sailor-type cap festooned with a matching bow sat a little crookedly on her head. Now he’d seen everything. Talk about your froufrou dogs. This was just wrong. No animal should have to suffer that type of humiliation. Garrett leaned in farther and squinted. “Is there something wrong with her, um, eyes?” he asked, pointing.
“Huh? Oh, that.” With a defensive jerk, Lauren pulled the carrier away from him. “She’s—” Lauren lifted her chin “—cross-eyed.”
Certain he had misunderstood, Garrett leaned toward her. “She’s what?”
Her chin rose another notch. “I said Nocchi is cross-eyed.” Her expression dared him to challenge her.
He thought she was about to add, “You got a problem with that?” But she didn’t. He bit the sides of his mouth to keep from laughing.
She turned back to her pooch. “Poor thing. She was dropped as a pup, and they said she’s been that way ever since.” Lauren stuck her fingers through the grated door of the carrier and stroked Nocchi. “I do have to be careful moving the furniture.”
Garrett shuddered.
Lauren missed it; she continued to stroke her dog. “She’s a shih tzu,” Lauren explained. “She never makes any noise—” Nocchi suddenly yipped and jerked back, making Lauren almost drop the carrier.
“Oh, I’m sorry, Nocchi,” Lauren cooed, checking the dog over. She looked back to Garrett. “I think I poked her in the eye.”
Garrett looked at Lauren’s long, manicured nails. He wondered if the dog would ever see again.
Lauren hurried on. “She’s housebroken and won’t be a problem, I promise.” The woman lifted those Emerald Bay eyes to him.
How did women do that? It seemed they had an internal button marked “charm weapon” that they turned on when they needed it. Garrett winced inside, but his lips rose at the corners. There was a strict “no pets” policy—why would Macy and Molly tell her a dog was all right? He sighed. He couldn’t turn her away. She was the one normal applicant in the group. Well, at least she appeared normal. Still, the dog was questionable.
“That’s fine, Miss Romey—”
“Please, call me Lauren.” Her eyes twinkled.
Oh, sure, now that I’ve accepted her dog, it’s Lauren. “Lauren,” he repeated. “If you want to step into the front room, I have your key on a desk there.”
As they walked down the hall, Garrett heard her footsteps behind him and wondered what she would think of the place. A woman like her no doubt stayed in only the nicest inns and hotels. He squared his shoulders. Why should he care what she thought? Woods Inn could rival the best of them.
She gasped as he led her into an enormous room with a massive stone fireplace that stretched to a cathedral ceiling. He glanced back at her and followed her gaze from the brown beams arched above to the dark warm carpet beneath their feet. Though the room was large, the subdued lighting that shone from corner lamps gave it a sort of cozy feel. Well, that was what his girls had told him, anyway.
“This is very nice,” Lauren said as though she meant it.
“Thanks. My girls offer the feminine touch with the plants and fluffy pillows, all that. If I had my way, I’d have bear heads mounted on the wall.”
Lauren grimaced.
Garrett laughed. “Yeah, that’s kind of what my daughters thought.”
“How old are your girls?”
“Macy is nineteen and Molly is sixteen,” he said. “Macy had a childhood illness that caused her to start school late.”
“Won’t be long until you will have an empty nest—well, except for your visitors.”
He thought a moment. “It’s funny. My wife and I were working hard to make the adjustment easier—you know, dating, still making time for each other so that we wouldn’t grow apart and then be strangers once the girls were gone. With my wife’s death, I’m afraid the adjustment won’t be quite as easy.” He didn’t like the vulnerable feeling that swept over him. Walking over to a large wooden desk, he made a couple of notes in the log book and handed Lauren a key. “Would you care for a snack before you settle in? It’s on the house,” he said with a smile.
“No, thank you. I’m pretty tired.”
“Here, let me help you to your room,” he said, grabbing her luggage.
In silence they climbed the small spiral staircase together. Garrett opened the door to her room, allowed her entrance and placed the luggage just inside the door. She turned to him. “I will need to take Nocchi out. Is there a preferred area?”
He thought a moment. “You’d better let me know when you’re ready. I have a black Lab outside.” Alpha dog, he wanted to say. The thought made him feel proud, even a trifle studly. “Bear is chained, but I don’t want him to startle Nocchi.” One look at Bear, and she’d wish she’d left her dog at home.
“Thank you,” she said before closing