Page 4 of Lovewell Lane (Honeyfield Dreamers #1)

Derek

“How many times do I have to tell you not to slam my door?” I called, without even looking at who I already knew the culprit to be. I swore he hid rocks in his shoes just to stomp louder.

Sam smiled wide and held up a wooden crate overflowing with vegetables. “Sorry, old man. Just excited for family dinner,” He said.

My dad laughed across the kitchen island from me. Slick was the Weston family’s oldest member, but he certainly didn’t act like it. “When did I lose that title?” he asked.

I cringed. “You’re no better than him.” I stopped chopping to point my knife at Sam. “When you stop frolicking around the country in a van like a teenager, maybe you can have the title back,” I decided.

The thought of me acting older than my age jogged my memory. I sat down the chef’s knife and wiped my hand on my pants before fishing my phone out of my pocket.

“Sam, what the hell is this app?” I asked.

He bounded over, his friendly gait reminded me of a golden retriever. Putting down the box he held, he reached for my phone and took a look at the message that popped up on my phone earlier in the day.

“Uh, it’s a rental app. You planning on going on vacation?” Sam said sarcastically. He knew I never left this place.

“Oh, that must be our guest. I forgot that was today,” my dad mused.

My head tilted up and my eyes flicked over to meet his. Through gritted teeth, I asked, “What do you mean?”

My dad righted his posture and cracked his knuckles. Something he often did when he was dolling out information I wasn’t going to like. “I’m going on my trip to Alaska soon, so I figured we could make some extra money.”

Tessa, my daughter and favorite member of the Weston family strolled in, and the atmosphere immediately cooled off. “Can I help cook?”

“Of course, honey,” I answered. I smoothed down her cowlick that made her hair stick up in all different directions out of habit. “Wash your hands first.”

When she turned around to face the sink, I shot my dad a look. “You rented out your house to a stranger?” I reiterated.

“Technically, son, this is my house. I just rented out the guest house.”

Tessa took a step up on her stool next to me. “She’s really nice, Daddy.”

“You met her?”

“She was scared of Ducky, so I helped her.”

“Huh,” I muttered. Then I turned back to my father. “Where are you going to sleep in the meantime? Upstairs?”

“I’ll sleep in my RV.” I made a mental note to lecture him later about acting like a responsible adult. I rolled my eyes just thinking about it. Parents.

Sam, who was quiet in all this, continued to scroll through my phone. He set it down and looked at me with a smile. As his older brother, I knew it meant nothing good.

“Your new guest needs light bulbs and cleaning supplies,” he said.

“She isn’t mine ,” I corrected. I handed Tessa a pair of kid-safe scissors so that she could help me cut some basil. “It’s the woman from earlier today. Isn’t it.”

It was a statement, not a question. There weren’t many tourists in Honeyfield in recent years. And there certainly weren’t many who planned on staying long enough to want to rent a place.

Sam’s smile widened in a way that answered my question.

Great. Now I didn’t just have to avoid the woman who was opening a business across the street, I had to avoid looking into my own backyard, too. Perfect.

“I’ll go grab the light bulbs for you,” Sam said.

He returned in a flash and set them in front of me. “Slick, you should do it. This is your mess,” I said.

“Son, she’s paying you. I set it up through your phone for a reason.” How he figured out how to do that was beyond me. Slick continued, “I’ll be out of here soon anyway, you should get to know her since she’s staying on your property. What if she’s a wrong’un.”

“Huh. Yeah, what if,” I grumbled. I gave him a pointed look before swiping the light bulbs off the counter. Leaning down, I placed a kiss on Tessa’s head. “Uncle Sam is going to help you finish this while I go help our new neighbor.”

“What’s a wrong’un?” Tessa asked.

“Your grandad was just joking, Tess. It means someone who’s tricky,” I answered. “Be right back.”

I swiped the box of lightbulbs off the counter and made my way to the back door to greet our Guest of Honor with a frown on my face. I had enough on my plate. The last thing I needed was a tenant to look after. Tessa already had a habit of bringing in strays. We didn’t have room for another.

The door opened after a couple of knocks, and I was greeted with a newly familiar face. Margo looked shocked to see me. I handed her the box of light bulbs and braced myself for an awkward conversation.

“Nice to see you again. Unfortunately, there’s been a miscommunication here. My father rented out this guest house without informing me,” I said.

Her confused smile fell into that pout that she had earlier. It looked unnatural for her to frown.

Margo spoke slowly, “Okay, but I need to stay here. There isn’t anywhere else in Honeyfield that rents.”

“There’s an inn right in town.”

She crossed her arms and narrowed her gaze up at me. “My diner doesn’t have any equipment yet, which means I need a kitchen to practice recipes.”

I sighed. “I don’t know what to tell you,” I said honestly.

“Do you need this place for a reason, or do you just want me to leave because you don’t like me?” she asked. Her pout was gone and replaced with a knowing look. Turned out she wasn’t all sweet smiles; she had bite to her.

That made me pause. Technically, I didn’t need the guest house for anything since Slick was leaving on his trip. She got me. And the smile that grew on her face told me she knew she was right.

I let out another sigh. I was doing a lot of that lately. “I don’t want to so much as hear a peep after 11 o’clock,” I grumbled. “No loud music, especially.”

She smiled happily and her head bobbed up and down like a bouncing ball. “Got it!”

“And you’ll make me sourdough from scratch?” I confirmed. Might as well get something out of this.

“Mhm,” she affirmed with a big smile and more nods.

“No visitors,” I added. How do I put this? Might as well be blunt. “Especially men, I have a daughter. She plays out here, and I don’t want any weird men around her.”

“Of course,” Margo chirped.

I nodded to myself and tried to think if there was anything else. While thinking, I peeked around her to see the guest house was left a complete mess. I walked past her to get a closer look and spun around the room in a circle, dumbfounded.

“Fucking hell,” I muttered. “Did he not even clean it for you?”

Margo hummed behind me. “Would it be okay if I borrowed a vacuum and a broom? I can buy my own cleaning supplies, it just seems like a waste to buy those if you already have them.”

“Hold on,” I answered.

I didn’t even acknowledge my family who all looked at me intrigued as I reentered the house.

My little sister, Calliope nudged my other brother, Jack, and pretended to eat popcorn while Sam did his best to fight a smile.

Minutes later, I greeted Margo by lifting up a vacuum in one hand and a plastic bin filled with cleaning supplies in the other.

“Let me help,” I said. I handed her the vacuum and picked up the window cleaner with a paper towel.

“I can do it myself,” she answered. “I really appreciate you letting me stay.”

I didn’t give her a response and got to work.

We both cleaned in silence. I glanced over at Margo a few times only to make awkward eye contact with her.

This would be the only time I would need to be around her, so I just focused on getting the job done.

After that, we could go back to our separate lives.

Even though she was now living in my backyard.

She gave me a shy thank you as I gathered the cleaning supplies. I left her with a broom and some cleaner and a short nod goodbye. Letting her stay couldn’t hurt as long as she followed my rules. We would hardly ever need to cross paths.

Back inside, I found dinner finished. Time must have passed a lot faster than I thought while we were cleaning. Tessa was setting the table while my sister, Calliope, helped her.

“You couldn’t have cleaned the damn place before she moved in,” I complained to my father as I walked toward the bathroom.

He only smiled back at me. “You’re a good man, son.”

What the hell did that even mean?

“Can you hurry up? I’m starving,” Jack criticized.

“Let me wash my hands and change. I have about ten layers of dust covering me. Y’all go ahead and sit down without me,” I answered.

In fresh clothes and no longer feeling gross, I rounded the corner to enter the open-plan kitchen and dining room only to find— Margo. I shut my eyes. Maybe when I opened them she would be gone.

“I thought we should welcome Margo to town with a homemade dinner,” Sam said with a shit-eating grin. “I was just introducing her to everyone.”

He turned back to Margo and gestured to my father. “This is our Dad, but everyone calls him Slick.”

“Why do people call you that, Grandaddy?” Tessa asked. I watched her look cautiously at Margo before stepping closer to Sam.

“Ask me when you’re older, kid.”

Margo laughed and looked incredibly uncomfortable. Something told me this city girl had never been to a family dinner quite like this.

I silently cursed Sam for inviting her. He knew I was attracted to her from when we met earlier.

I doubt he’d invite her otherwise. Then again— maybe he would.

He loved social gatherings. But something about his smile made me feel like he knew something.

His ability to read me better than anyone annoyed the hell out of me.

I walked over to the dining table where Margo stood next to everyone else.

I was raised right, so I pulled out a chair and waited for her to sit.

She avoided eye contact for a few seconds until she caught me staring.

Glancing back and forth between me and the chair a few times, she finally got the hint and sat down.