Page 90 of Forty, Flirty & Fall Inn

"I should go.Mira's probably wondering why I'm not at the desk."

"Sage, wait?—"

"Talk later?"

"...Okay.Later."

I hang up and look at the inn—my family's legacy, my grandmother's dream, my spectacular failure.

The morning sun makes it glow despite the peeling paint and sagging roof, and I feel a love for it so fierce it physically hurts.

Eighteen thousand dollars.

Twenty-two thousand for the roof.Who knows how much for the electrical.

I think about Luke's train car, about the casual way he talked about buying it, about the gulf between his world and mine.

He could write a check and solve everything without even checking his balance.

But I can't ask.Won't ask.

Because I've already taken too much under false pretenses.

"Come on, Buttercup," I say, scooping up the troublesome goat."Let's go pretend everything's fine."

She bleats in what sounds like sympathy.

Or maybe judgment.

With Buttercup, it's hard to tell.

18

FORECLOSURE AND SEVEN YEARS AGO

LUKE

It's Thursday evening, three days since I fled Sage's bed for an ambassador crisis, and I'm sitting in my office at 7 PM discovering that my entire company has apparently been running itself while I've been distracted by auburn hair and midnight goat chases.

The November sunset paints Seattle in shades of amber through my office windows, but I'm focused on the damning evidence spread across my desk.

Decisions I didn't make.Documents I didn't sign.

Meetings I didn't attend.

"You want to explain this?"I hold up a contract with my signature—except I've never seen this document before.

Daniella doesn't even have the grace to look guilty."Which one?The Tokyo expansion approval you missed while installing security systems in a barn?Or the board presentation you skipped for goat yoga?"

"There was no goat yoga."

"No, but there was a goat.I've seen the Instagram posts."She pulls up her tablet."Sixteen thousand likes on the one where you're in a tuxedo trying to coax a goat down from furniture."

"That's—Sixteen thousand?"

"Focus, Luke.The point is, you've been MIA for weeks.Someone had to keep the lights on."

"By forging my signature?"