Page 83 of Dreams and Reptiles

“Make fun of me all you want. I never spent time in the outdoors until now. Unless you count the times Mom took us to the zoo, where apparently, I encountered a giant tortoise. I don’t remember, but I guess John Wayne wasn’t my first.”

“I won’t tell him. Pretty sure he has a crush on you, too. The Warren men were expected to spend lots of time in the outdoors. I used to go hunting with my dad as a kid. I didn’t love it, but it was a thing we did because Dad said so. I didn’t hate it though, and it made handling the Navy easier.”

“Did you take Tyson? I’m sorry, is it okay to ask about him?”

“Yeah, you can ask me whatever you want, Francis.”

“Okay, I just didn’t know. You don’t talk about him very often.”

I rubbed at my chin. “You’re right, I guess I don’t. Tyson loved hunting and being outdoors. He was great at everything the first time he tried it. He and my dad got along better than my dad and I ever did. Eventually, I let Dad take him camping and hunting. I preferred working with reptiles rather than encountering them in the wild and killing them. Tyson used to come with me to help out my buddy and his dad at their place. He loved it, was so brave. A little too much sometimes. He was a little daredevil from the start.”

“And you weren’t?”

“Not really. Guess I had a little more self-preservation even as a kid.”

“My dad and I did math together.”

We both burst out laughing at that. We could have stayed out there all night, but then we started yawning repeatedly.

“I need to let you rest,” he said. “But I have an idea. I wanted to run it by you first.”

“Lay it on me.”

“Rude. Stop teasing. Anyway, if Shay decides to stay, what would you think if I offered her a job as my assistant? She mentioned that she was in charge of events at her job, private parties and live music. What do you think?”

“I don’t know. She is very persuasive and a hardworking go-getter when she knows what she wants. You sure you want to get further entangled with Warren Family Drama?”

“If it’s got your name on it, I’m all in.”

I let out a dramatic breath. “It could be a disaster.”

He groaned. “What about our lives together couldn’t be a disaster?”

“True. God, I love you, baby. I wish I could take you to bed.”

He gazed up at me with a dreamy expression. “I love you, too, Kendall mine. We’ll make it work. If she stays, we’ll work it out. Whatever you feel comfortable with.”

We kissed good night at the break in the fence, and I felt a little better walking back to the house. Everything seemed doable when I talked to Francis. I knew I could handle all the things on my plate. I’d handled much worse before, but knowing I had time with him to look forward to gave me a push of motivation, of positivity, that made it all seem possible.

Guess that’s what it felt like to have a real partner. I wanted that and so much more with Francis.

CHAPTER

NINETEEN

Francis

Two Months Later…

It was the best of times, it was the weirdest of times, but it seemed as though the worst of times were behind us.

Mostly.

It turned out that I was indeed spoiled by the romance writers, because the next two retreats that came through were unquestionably difficult to work with. I hosted a quilting guild from Sacramento, and though they’d been kind old ladies, there had been numerous complaints about the facilities (the beds were too tall), the food (the dishes were too spicy), and the heat outside (as if I could control the weather?). And they may have been kind old ladies, but they didn’t tip the housekeeping staff, which was suggested in the contract, and one of them was tech savvy enough that she left a three-star review on Google. Since I was just getting started, it brought down my average. Aggravating, indeed.

The other retreat was the leadership team from an environmental nonprofit, and all they did was fight with each other. Then they spotted me talking to Kendall outside, and he happened to have Richard Burton on his shoulder. One of the men started grilling me about Kendall’s operation and whether he had a permit for exotic animals, “because that’s how these things get out of control.” I assured him that everything was on the up and up. They didn’t give a bad review, but I’d probably be “all booked up” if they ever tried to book again.

The blessing of not needing the income was that I could be picky about my patrons.