Page 4 of The Inn Dilemma (Give a Bookish Girl a Biker)

“Well.” I swallow the lump in my throat.

“I ran into her in Denver one day and we got to talking. While I was away, she’d send me letters and care packages.

When I’d come home, I’d take her out, and as time went on, it got a little more serious.

As soon as I was called overseas, instead of putting our relationship on pause like a normal person, I proposed. ”

Nova blinks at me in what I assume is surprise. “Oh?” Her throat bobs with a swallow. “So…” She leaves the response open for me to finish.

“Claire visited me every day when I was shipped to a hospital back here after the explosion, but a few days after I was discharged, she ended things. Said she changed her mind about being married to a SEAL. That she just got swept up in the romance of it. She said being apart was easier than she expected, and it made her realize her love for me wasn’t marriage-worthy.

Looking back, I can see that what we had was a shallow, whirlwind romance and not true love. ”

Nova rests her hand on mine, the silence that stretches between us comfortable.

“I don’t know what to say other than Claire is an idiot.” Nova squeezes my hand. “The right woman will come along and sweep you right off your feet.” She moves her other hand in an exaggerated sweeping gesture.

Raising my brow, I ask, “Isn’t it supposed to go the other way around?”

“Why can’t the woman do the feet sweeping?”

Before I can answer, there’s three knocks on the door in warning before Aunt Birdie swoops in.

Whatever she was about to say appears to die on her lips as her eyes drop to Nova’s hand gripping mine.

A slow smile spreads across her face. Nova quickly pulls her hand away as if she forgot she was touching me.

Or maybe it was because she didn't want to give anyone the wrong impression.

“It looks like the two of you have already gotten reacquainted,” Aunt Birdie says, giving her brows a brief wiggle. The mischief in her expression gives me the sneaking suspicion that this whole scenario was set up to be a matchmaking scheme.

“Thanks for letting me know someone was living here.” I give her a deadpan look.

Aunt Birdie doesn’t look one bit sorry. “I thought it would be a nice surprise.”

“It was.” I look over at Nova, who sits up proudly with her shoulders pushed back.

“Well, I came here to drop off some towels, washcloths, and other odds and ends.” She sets down a large basket on the table next to the door. “I won’t keep you two any longer.” Aunt Birdie sends a wink my way, then whisks through the door and gently closes it behind her .

When I face Nova, she’s smiling after Aunt Birdie. “I missed her and her contagious joy.” There’s a look of longing in her eyes. “She helped me feel a little less awful about myself when she welcomed me back with open arms.”

“You shouldn’t feel awful about yourself at all.” I place a comforting hand on her knee. “People make mistakes. And with how you grew up, I can understand why you left. I just wish you didn’t cut everyone out of your life in the process.”

She hangs her head. “I know. You have no idea how much I regret taking off like I did. My goal wasn’t to hurt anyone, but that’s exactly what I did. And I didn’t even benefit from it. I made my situation worse.” She shivers.

“So Beau wasn’t the boyfriend you were hoping for?”

Nova scoffs. “Not at all. He put on a good show when we first met, acting as if he would love and cherish me like the heroes in the romance books I read. But that was a silly dream. Beau just wanted me for two things.”

All the breath halts in my lungs. Parts of me want to know what those two things are. But a bigger part of me dreads hearing her answer.An unexpected surge of jealousy washes through me. Instead of focusing on the inappropriate emotion, I shift our conversation.

“Well, you’re home now,” I say. “And you look quite different from the girl you were before you left.” I lift a strand of hair that came loose from her bun and let it fall back down.

“The last time I saw you, you were a nineteen-year-old girl with short purple hair. Then, a few months later, your brother told me you moved to Paris with your French boyfriend.” The few times I got to speak to Christian while I was away, he mostly talked about business with only a few mentions of his rebel sister.

He was clearly irritated by his sister’s spontaneity.

Christian never explicitly told me, but I got the sneaking suspicion that he and his younger sister had a falling out before she left.

She gives me a gentle smile. “Yeah, I don’t know what I was thinking with that purple hair.”

“It wasn’t awful, but I much prefer this honey blonde on you.” I didn’t mean to let those words out, and I feel the tips of my ears heat.

Nova bites her lip and looks away shyly. “I’d like to keep myself natural from now on.” She plays with the hem of her T-shirt. “And I’m trying to become the woman God created me to be.”

“From where I’m standing, you’re moving in the right direction.”

She looks up, her focus shifting between my good eye and my glass eye. “You don’t know me anymore, so I don’t think you can confidently tell me that, no matter how encouraging it is.”

“You’ve always been tenacious, never giving up until you achieve your goal.”

A light pink tinges her cheeks as she looks down. It’s then that I realize one of my hands is still on her knee and my thumb is rubbing circles. I pull back.

“Well, thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” It’s time to pivot this conversation again. “So all the church services your mom took you to finally stuck?”

“I mean, she took us, but it never really made sense to me at the time.” She shrugs. “It didn’t sink in until I talked with Beau’s assistant, Elise, who shared the gospel with me at the art gallery.”

“So that’s when you left? ”

“After Elise started meeting with me for Bible study, I told her the whole story about my family. In a loving way, she told me it was time for me to come home and try to make things right.” A shaky breath leaves her lips.

She takes a deep breath before finishing.

“It took me a few weeks, but I bought a plane ticket, packed my bags, and came home.”

“You just up and lefthim?”

“Yep. I left a note on the kitchen table. He tracked me down at the airport before I got through security and told me I was making the biggest mistake of my life. That no one else would be able to give me all that he had.” She scoffs.

“I wasted so much time on him. It’s just my luck I’d choose a guy who only saw me as arm candy.

But I’m done with that. I’m attempting to rebuild the bridges I’ve burned, trying to make amends and eat crow when needed.

Unfortunately, Daddy Dearest has no interest in forgiving me. ”

Interesting that she uses the same name for Kent Price—Daddy Dearest—as Christian. To most of the outside world, the Prices are the poster children for the picture-perfect family. But anyone who’s spent time behind their closed doors knows what a mess their situation really is.

“He hasn’t forgiven you yet. He’ll come around,” I say with finality, even if I don’t have a shred of evidence confirming that statement.

She shrugs. “I hope you’re right. But anyway, Beau and I are done, and I’m taking a dating sabbatical for the foreseeable future.”

“Why a dating sabbatical?” I ask.

She looks at me as if I asked her the dumbest question ever. “Let’s just say Beau was the straw that broke the camel’s back after a long string of poor boyfriend picks.”

Nova never had good taste in guys from what I remember. It seemed like she was always jumping from guy to guy, searching for love in all the wrong places. Now that she’s come to Christ, my prayer for her is that she finds her worth in Him and not a man—or even herself.

“So now I’m back home.” Her eyes drop to where she fiddles with her hands in her lap. “Well, not home-home.”

I reach forward and grip her shoulder. “You’re welcome to stay here as long as you want.”

Nova appears to compose herself, then looks up at me. “Thanks. Aunt Birdie taking me in was a huge weight off my shoulders. I love Reese and appreciate what she did for me more than I can say. But she needs her space just like I need mine. Besides, I’m already enjoying working here.”

My brows draw together. “You’re working here?”

She perks up. “Yeah, in exchange for room and board, I’ll be helping around the inn with whatever needs done. Cleaning bedrooms, bathrooms, getting cabins ready for guests. Anything she needs.”

“We have plenty of staff to do all that. I don’t know why she’d ask you?—”

“She didn’t. I told her I’d be working around the place to earn my keep. Dad never let me get a job in high school, not even to work at his company, and neither did Beau. I want to feel useful. Do things to help others. Earn my place here.”

Now I understand it. “That’s fair. Even though you’ve always been useful and absolutely no earning is needed when it comes to this place. ”

Nova gives me an irritated look. “I refuse to just sit around and do nothing. I know people think I’m some pampered princess, but that’s not who I want to be. Not before and definitely not now.”

“I never thought that about you.”

She looks down and picks at a thread on her shirt. “Well, you’re one of the only people who doesn’t. Even Chris thinks–” Nova stops herself from finishing.

I hook my finger beneath her chin and tip her face up. “Even Chris thinks what?”

She turns her head away, and I drop my hand from her face.

“Chris hates me. And he’s going to hate me even more now.”

“Why do you think that?”

“Because I abandoned him and ignored all his calls. Dad will never forgive me, and neither will Chris.”

I grit my jaw. I can’t speak for Kent, but I know Christian will be happy Nova has finally come home. There may be some lingering anger, especially with everything going on with their dad, but Chris will forgive her.

“Nova,” I say gently.

“What?” she asks.

“Things with Chris may be uncomfortable at first, but your brother has missed you. He’s a lot more forgiving than your dad. And Roxy, his new wife, is great, and so is her nephew, Axel. You practically have a whole new family waiting for you. Including a broody teenage boy.”

She blows out a slow puff of air. “I’m not ready, Holt. Let me live in this private little bubble for a few more days. I promise I’ll talk to him when I’m ready.” The vulnerability in her words has any further protests dying on my lips.

Nova wants to be more—to do more—than what the previous men in her life expected her to be. I saw it even when we were kids, but now I understand it. Now the purpose of our relationship has been made clear.

Lord, give me wisdom to help her and be the friend she needs.