LITMIR.BIZ

      Chapter Two

      Alexis arrived at Bride Mountain Inn on Thursday afternoon ten minutes earlier than she’d agreed to meet her clients. She parked in the lot in front of the building, noting that few other cars were there. It was off-season in the bed-and-breakfast business in the Blue Ridge Highlands—a little past the peak snow sports time and just a few weeks early for the popular spring and summer outdoor activities. From conversations they’d had during their collaborations, she knew Kinley had been working on ideas for boosting business for next year’s off-season. Still, the inn stayed quite busy during peak season and seemed to be performing to the Carmichael siblings’ satisfaction thus far.

      The gray-sided, white-trimmed inn really was lovely, wearing its years well thanks to the loving care it had received. Multiple gables and windows and roof peaks combined with white gingerbread trim provided traditional Queen Anne charm, while the bright red double entry doors served as a warm, cheery welcome. The wraparound porch that merged onto the back deck was finished with a white post-and-spindle banister and lined with rockers from which to admire the spectacular views of the mountains against the horizon. One middle-aged couple, dressed warmly for the cool afternoon, sat in rockers on the side porch sipping something out of big mugs and engaged in a lively conversation, clearly relishing a day of relaxation.

      During the past months, Alexis had learned some of the history of this place from Kinley and Bonnie, who took great pride in their establishment. Built in the 1930s by their great-grandfather, the inn had then been passed down to Leo Finley, great-uncle to Logan and his sisters, who’d operated it with his beloved wife, Helen, until her death. After Helen died, Leo closed the inn to guests and lived alone in the downstairs apartment for the remaining eighteen years of his life. Upon his death, he left the inn to the great-nephew and great-nieces who had visited him often from Tennessee and whom he had loved very much. It had taken them almost a year to have the inn ready for guests again, and they’d invested everything they’d had to do so. Just this past November, they had celebrated their two-year reopening anniversary with a reception for local travel agents, events planners, caterers and other business collaborators. Alexis had attended, and it had been very nice.

      She and Logan had barely spoken to each other during that event. He had participated with almost visible reluctance peeking through his deeply ingrained Southern manners. She suspected his sisters had coerced him into being there. Alexis hadn’t stayed long, but she’d enjoyed the reception and had left confident that, though she and Logan had been lovers for almost a month by then, no one else in attendance had suspected they were anything more than cordial business associates. Four months later, no one was any the wiser. She saw no need to discuss their affair with anyone, either now or after its inevitable ending.

      Only one person knew about her trysts with Logan—her best friend, Paloma Villarreal. Despite living in different states since Alexis had returned from New York to Virginia to start her new career, she and Paloma had remained in close contact, still sharing secrets during long, candid phone conversations. Paloma had been intrigued to hear that Alexis was seeing someone. Being somewhat of a commitment-phobe herself, she totally understood why her friend was so leery of getting too emotionally involved. She didn’t ask too many questions, leaving it up to Alexis to decide how much to share. They respected each other’s privacy, a trait Alexis valued highly after growing up with a mother who wasn’t big on boundaries.

      Alexis’s mother, who had no clue about Logan, had spent the past year and a half throwing one single doctor or lawyer after another in her only daughter’s direction, pointing out in frustration that Alexis was rapidly approaching thirty without a respectable marriage prospect in sight. No matter how many times Alexis asked her mother to butt out of her social life, her mom still managed to work in a few nags each time they were together.

      She loved her maddening mother, and truly believed all the pushing and stage-mothering had been well-intended. Paula Healey loved her children—maybe a little too much—and wanted only the best for them, even if it meant stepping in to handle their affairs herself if she thought it necessary. She was the very definition of a “helicopter parent.” Alexis tried to remind herself of those things whenever her mom drove her crazy. She supposed her exasperation was normal, considering. Their family had always been complicated, to say the least.

      She locked her car door by habit after taking out the leather tote that held her computer tablet and other business items. The afternoon was cool but sunny, requiring no more than a light jacket over her thin sweater and slacks. The first green shoots of spring had appeared here and there in the gardens, and she spotted a few very early daffodils in the beds.

      A bright yellow sports coupe drove into the parking lot and stopped in front of her. Paul Drennan, Bonnie’s new husband, opened the driver’s door, climbed out and leaned back against the car with his arms crossed over his chest, smiling down at her from his six-foot-four height. He looked more like a rangy cowboy than the high school math teacher she knew him to be. She would bet he was the subject of more than a few teen fantasies, she thought with a faint smile, remembering a harmless crush she’d once had on a high school history teacher. “Hello.”

      “Hi, Alexis.” He glanced around the otherwise empty parking lot. “Are you looking for Kinley and Bonnie?”

      “I’m expecting clients to arrive shortly, and then we have a meeting with Kinley.”

      He nodded. “She’s probably inside. Bonnie’s at the hospital with her brother, but she should be back soon if you need to see her, too.”

      Alexis felt her diaphragm give a little jerk. “Hospital?”

      “Yes. Zach, a college student who works part-time for Logan, had to have an emergency appendectomy today. He was working here this morning when he doubled

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