Page 141 of Slumming It

"There's this orthopedic surgeon staying in the same hotel, and he needs some painting done on his beach house."

"Oh. So that's good, right?"

"Not justgood.Reallygood. He's talking about a work exchange."

I still felt like I was missing something. "What kind of work exchange?"

"Well, the way it's looking, your brothers are gonna paint his beach house, andhe'sgonna do your dad's hip replacement."

I smiled in surprise. "You don't mean for free?"

"Free enough," my mom said. "The way it sounds, we'd only have to pay a couple thousand dollars, and we've gotthatalready from the painting job."

I was still trying to understand how the pieces fit together. "You mean from painting the beach house?"

"No, from the hotel, the one they're painting now." Her voice picked up steam. "They just got a really nice bonus, which will more than cover the cost of the surgery."

I was beyond elated, but now just a little suspicious. My gaze drifted to the doorway of Reese's temporary office. Just last week, I'd mentioned in passing that my dad needed a hip replacement, and Reese had told me in return how one of his junior executives had needed a knee replaced after some weekend sports injury.

But the conversation had ended there.Hadn't it?

I hadn't been hinting for help. But had Reese taken it that way? And if so, had he actually done something about it?

If this was the case, I was beyond grateful and just a little confused. If he had somehow made this happen, why was it such a secret?

Chapter 53

Emily

"It's got possibilities," Reese said. "But we would need more land."

We.He'd been saying that a lot lately, and every time he did, a small thrill raced up my spine. Against the odds, today was no exception.

He and I were standing near the edge of a wooded waterfront parcel that had just come on the market yesterday. The afternoon was warm for mid-October, and the autumn colors were bursting around us in glorious shades of yellow and orange as we gazed out over the shimmering blue waters of the pristine lake.

At his comment, I had to laugh. "What? Five acres isn't enough?"

But Reese wasn't laughing. "Ten would be better."

"Yeah, but even with five, you'd still have plenty of privacy. And the lake is huge. From here, you can barely see the other side." I gave him a playful poke in the ribs. "And last week, didn't you say something about skinny-dipping?"

He didn't even smile.

In fact, he hadn't smiled or laughed once during the past two hours, ever since he'd emerged from his temporary office while I'd been talking on the phone.

Now as I studied his grim profile, I couldn't stop myself from asking, "Hey, is everything alright?"

He turned to look at me. "I told you in the car."

"No, you didn't." I stared up at him. "When I asked youthenif everything was alright, you changed the subject." I forced a laugh. "Don't think I didn't notice."

"Yeah, well if you noticed, maybe you should've taken the hint."

His words stung, and I took a little step backward. "What's with you today? You've been acting funny ever since I got off the phone with my mom."

His mouth tightened. "Yeah, well maybe parents aren't my thing."

What?I'd talked to my mom a bunch of times during the past few weeks – and to my dad, too – although not quite as often. And while Reese never took part in any of these conversations, he had never acted likethis.