“Laura’s back in town,” Bear protested. “She’s been helping. ” His tone was firm, but it sounded to Billy like the man was beginning to lose steam.
“You need to hire someone,” Billy insisted. “In addition to dealing with things like repairs, and budget, and reservations, you’ve got Sorrow on room-cleaning duty. For God’s sake, Bear. If you hired someone, if you had more help around the place, you could handle more business. You’d eventually bring in more tourists. Think on it. ”
“You done?” The man’s expression no longer made him look like he’d swallowed a box of nails.
Billy breathed a sigh of relief to see it. “All done,” he told him with a decisive nod. He suspected he’d gotten through, just a bit.
Bear was the one person around here who could use some standing up to, and yet not many people did. His kids knew how to rebel against him, maybe. But rebelling against the man and challenging him were two different things.
“Then if you’re finished flapping your jaw, let’s go see what happened to my power. ” The man was proud; he wouldn’t admit anything, but hopefully an attitude adjustment was in their future.
Billy clapped him on the back. “Lead the way. ”
They huddled in the dimness of the garage, with Bear flicking the fuses on and off. Billy tipped the flashlight, illuminating a tangle of frayed wires under the circuit breaker panel. “It’s all chewed up. ”
Bear grunted. “Raccoon maybe. ”
“Maybe. ” Billy peered closer, certain that what he was looking at wasn’t the work of any animal. Raccoons just weren’t interested in fuse boxes. “Either way, you’ll need to call an electrician. ”
Bear creaked to standing. “That’ll cost a pretty penny. ” His lip twitched as he considered this news. He didn’t look pleased. “Nothing for it, though. I’ll get Eddie on the phone. ”
Just a couple of hours later, and it was all patched up. Eddie Jessup had come straight over—one half of Jessup Brothers Construction, his schedule had been miraculously open.
“You’re all set,” Eddie said, joining everyone in the living room.
“It’s done?” Doubt was written across Bear’s face. “All fixed?”
“Bear Bailey. When I say ‘all set,’ I mean all set. ”
Bear harrumphed, admitting under his breath, “I guess we didn’t need Damien after all. ”
Billy looked over the man’s shoulder to catch Sorrow’s eye. They shared a smile. “I guess we didn’t,” he said expansively.
Suppressing a giggle, Sorrow stood and handed Eddie a foil-wrapped bunch of fresh-baked cookies. “I made these before the power went out. Spice molasses. ”
Eddie took them eagerly. “I’d have done the work for free if I’d known I was going to get some of your cookies. I swear they get better every time. ”
“It’s to thank you for getting here so fast. We have some guests arriving tonight, and the last thing we need is a power outage. ”
“No trouble fitting you in,” Eddie said. “I had a hole in my schedule. ”
Billy grinned. “I’ll bet. ” It wasn’t hard to guess why his schedule had a hole in it. “I saw those skis tossed in the back of your pickup. ”
Eddie laughed, and it was an easy, rolling sound. The guy lived and breathed outdoor sports, and had the snow-tan and premature smile and squint lines to prove it. He was the type to veer off the side of the road whenever he spotted a hill that looked dangerous enough to be interesting, hikeable enough to climb, and snowy enough to ski back down.
“You caught me,” Eddie said. “What can I say? It snowed last night. Not much, but just enough for some fresh tracks out east of the falls. ”
Bear was staring at the cookies in Eddie’s hands, apparently stuck on the concep
t that he might’ve somehow wrangled the electrical work for free. “That mean you’re not going to charge extra for coming early?”
“Bear. I’m offended. But”—Eddie put down his toolbox and pulled on his jacket—“I will accept partial payment at the tavern in the form of something tall and cold. ” His smile froze as Laura walked into the room. His eyes tracked her, and Billy heard him mumble, “Speaking of tall and cold…”
The guy was looking slack-jawed, and no surprise there. Clad in only a pair of short shorts and a see-through mesh top over her jog bra, Laura was dressed—barely—for a workout.
“You can shut your mouth now,” she said, not meeting Eddie’s eyes.
That brought the guy out of it. A huge smile split his face. “Well, well, well. The Big Bad Bailey Sister is still here. Whatcha running from on that treadmill, little girl?”