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“I thought you had to work,” I said.

“I changed my mind.”

A few hours later, I curled up on my couch with a mug of hot chocolate and some of the cookies I had baked the other day.

Huxley went back to the city for a few days, leaving me with some sexy memories to hold me over until I saw him again. As I gazed up at the ceiling, I noticed the water spot that looked bigger than it did last week. I needed a new roof.

Keeping the fantasy of running a successful bed-and-breakfast in my grandmother’s name was becoming less of a reality and more of a nightmare. Every day something else fell apart here. A sign from the other side would be good about now.

Tell me I’m making the right decision, Gram Cracker. Keep the family home or sell it? What should I do?

A quick knock at the front door jolted me into a seated position. My sign? I laughed as I hopped off the couch and headed to the door. When I peeked out the front window, Travis stared back at me. Not exactly the divine intervention I searched for, but I couldn’t be choosy at this point.

What did he want?

I took a settling breath and tugged opened the old wooden door. “Uncle Travis, I didn’t expect you today.”

“After last night, you should have.” He entered my house without being invited inside. I guess he’s not a vampire, but that doesn’t mean he’s not an omen. “I’d love to know how you managed to get yourself involved with Huxley James.”

“You already know.” I closed the door before more of a draft could escape the front porch and invade my house. “He bought out all the houses around here and he’s waiting for me to give in.”

“You know that’s what he’s doing?” He made his way to the kitchen as if he still lived here. When his mother was alive, he and Kent were always welcome, but as the years went by, they visited her less and less.

I followed him into the kitchen just as he took a seat at the table.

“Can I get you a cup of tea or hot chocolate?” I asked. “I made Grandma Mable’s sugar cookies.”

“Did you?” Mable was my great-grandmother and his grandmother on his father’s side. She was a sweet, old lady who stayed with us the summer before she died. She taught me to make banana bread when I was eight.

“I make them every year for the women’s shelter.” I took the storage container from the counter. “You can take these home to the kids if you want. I decorated them like candy canes and Christmas trees.”

“I’m sure they’ll love them.” He opened the container and took out a cookie. “Thank you.”

“What brings you by?” I asked.

“Kent and I are curious about your plans for this house.” He bit into the cookie. “James offered you a lot of money for it. Why didn’t you take it?”

“I don’t think Gram would have wanted me to.”

“My mother wasn’t always practical when it came to this place,” he said.

“So, you think I should take Huxley up on his offer?”

“I didn’t say that.” He finished the cookie. “But it’s obvious this house and the property need a lot of work. It hasn’t brought any significant revenue in for several years. How are you keeping up?”

“It’s paid off.”

“The mortgage is, but the maintenance…well, you’ve clearly dropped the ball there, and then there’s the utilities, the taxes, your living expenses.”

“I pay the bills.” Taxes? I would have to look into those. Maybe I had let those slip. “I agree, things around here are falling apart. I ran through the funds Gram left to maintain the property. I try to fix what I can.”

“But you turned down a lot of money,” he said. “And now you seem to be dating the billionaire who wants the property. What’s going on?”

“We’re not dating.” At least I didn’t think we were. According to Huxley, he didn’t know what we were doing either.

“I’d rather not know what you’re doing.” Travis leaned back in his chair. “You do realize the guy is older than your parents would be today.”

“My parents had me when they were seventeen, so that’s kind of a skewed comparison.” I shrugged. “Age is only a number.”