Page 8 of Not Home Alone

“You can literally afford to buy any house in town—” she exclaims, so exasperated. “Why did you have to buy my favorite?”

I don’t answer that because she wouldn’t believe me right now even if I told her.

“Why don’t you stay at the inn?” she asks.

It’s a fair question. “Because it would be way too easy for…” I stop before naming Quinn, whose family owns that establishment. “For people to find me there.”

She pauses on the landing for a moment.

Shit.

I’ve said too much.

Narrowing her eyes at me, she says slowly, “So you’ll leave if people find out you’re here?”

“Didn’t say that.”

“Interesting.”

“No, it isn’t.”

She attempts a nonchalant shrug, but she doesn’t have a nonchalant bone in her curvy body. “If you say so.”

“Look, you’ve probably been traveling all day. You’re probably tired and frustrated.”

“Ya think?”

“I will allow you to stay here tonight, but you’ll have to find somewhere else to stay tomorrow.”

I reach for her suitcase, but she jerks it away from me.

“Let me help you carry something,” I say. Why is she like this?

“You’ve already taken over the master bedroom, haven’t you?” she asks, like I’m a rat infestation or black mold.

“I wouldn’t say I’ve taken it over, but I have unpacked my things in there and showered in the master bathroom. Water pressure’s amazing.”

She rolls her eyes and shakes her head. “I’ll take the room next to the other upstairs bathroom then.”

“Fair enough.”

“And I will be taking a long, hot bath, so please be as far away from that part of the house as possible when I do.”

“Not a problem. I was on my way to the kitchen to get something to eat when I was rudely interrupted by an intruder.”

She sighs loudly and rolls her eyes again, which is redundant and unnecessary, but also aggravatingly cute. Merrily Tucker grew up feisty. It’s interesting. But she still can’t stay.

I reach for her suitcase again.

She yanks it away from me again.

The coat falls from under her arm, and when she bends down to pick it up, the bag slips off her shoulder.

The amount of stuff that tumbles out of the bag is comical. A phone, charger, earbud case. Laptop, e-reader, backup batteries. Clear plastic case containing carefully labeled bottles with liquids. Another toiletry bag. Freezer bag containing protein bars, bottled water, unopened bag of airplane pretzels, baby carrots, red and green Hershey’s Kisses, and candy canes. Another freezer bag with thick, rolled-up socks, rolled-up cotton undergarments, a sleep mask. A freezer bag with a bunch of silky, satiny, lacey items that I guess she didn’t want to risk going without in case the airline lost her checked baggage.

I bend down to pick things up and put them back inside the shoulder bag.

She is so huffy. “I’ll do it, I’ll do it.”