"So this place is yours now?"
She grinned as she turned to take in the Victorian building, painted a cheery yellow with purple trim. "It sure is." He could see how proud she was, and he wanted to tell her how proud he was of her too. He could only guess at the work she must have put in to make the B&B look so sparkly and welcoming. "I can't tell you how fun it is that you're my first guest." She cleared her throat and asked in an officious way, "May I help you with your bags, sir?"
He laughed, glad for the easy emotion. He hadn't laughed much these past years, not the way he used to whenever the two of them were together. "I'll grab my things from the car later. How about a quick tour before the rest of your guests show up?"
"Tonight it's just you and the Belmonts, a family of four, so hopefully we'll get some time to catch up. I'll show you around the house first, and then we can head out into the backyard."
He reached to grab her hand, a touch that was instantly electric, at least for him. There was so much he had to apologize for, but first he needed her to know, "I was sorry to hear about your grandfather."
Her face fell, and she gripped his hand tightly. "I really miss him. And I still can't believe he left his home to me."
"He knew how much you loved it."
"I really do. Even more now that I've had these past few months to make it mine."
He hadn't yet let go of her hand, couldn't quite bring himself to break contact. "Why didn't you tell me about him? And your new career?"
A guilty look crossed her face. "Last we talked, you were on the verge of a big breakthrough in the lab. I figured I'd tell you about everything when you came up for air. And with Drew and Ashley's wedding, I knew I'd at least see you there."
He ran a hand through his hair, feeling like a complete ass. She wasn't the one who should be looking guilty, he was. "I'm sorry I've been such a bad friend." All because their one drunken kiss hadn't turned into the happy-ever-after he'd been hoping for. "I have no excuse for the way I've behaved since leaving the country. I should have made more of an effort."
"Stop it." She might look like a ray of sunshine, but she could be surprisingly firm. "I won't let you beat yourself up for doing such important work. You're on the verge of curing breast cancer. That's more important than helping me figure out the best paint color for my B&B."
He wasn't surprised that she didn't want to hear his apologies. She'd never been one to hold a grudge--if she had, maybe she would have dumped Boring Bruce one of the many times he'd disappointed her. Justin hated knowing that he was no better than her boyfriend.
Which was why he made himself say, "Much as I wish I was actually curing cancer, I'm not quite there yet. My research is just one piece of the puzzle."
"A really big, important piece."
"What you're doing is important too, Taylor. Your grandfather's legacy is living on because of you. And," he added with a grin, "the purple paint looks great with the yellow."
"Thank you." She beamed at him as if he'd just given her the greatest compliment ever. "I just made chocolate chip cookies, if you're hungry after your drive."
His mouth was already watering as he asked, "Double chunk?"
"I wouldn't make them any other way."
How he didn't kiss her then, he had no idea.
Somehow, he kept his mouth off hers as they headed up the porch steps and she pointed out the fountain she'd installed in the garden, along with new floorboards on the porch and new sashes in all of the windows.
"You did all of this by yourself?" He'd always loved working with his hands--his father had passed on his love of woodworking to Justin when he was just a little kid. This would have been a heck of a great project.
"I never knew I had any of it in me until I got here," she said as they walked into the bright and welcoming entry. "Never even held a hammer before. At first, I was really intimidated by each new thing I needed to learn, but along the way, I realized that as long as I don't give up, I can do almost anything I set my mind to."
"Of course you can." He'd known that about her all along. The only thing he was surprised by was that she hadn't known it too, until she'd decided to open the B&B.
She gave him another radiant smile, then picked up a tray of cookies sitting on a table by the front window and held it out to him. The sound that came out of his mouth as he bit into one would have been embarrassing if he'd made it in front of anyone but Taylor. "Thisissoogood." He shoved the rest of the cookie into his mouth while he was still talking, already reaching for another.
She laughed, looking delighted as she watched him gorge on the cookies. "Do you have any idea how much I've missed you? If you're not careful, I might not let you get back on that plane to Germany next week."
His chest ached at the thought of leaving her. His vow not to fall head over heels in love with her again hadn't lasted even ten minutes.
"I won't be on the other side of the world forever."
"I know you won't. It just feels like it sometimes." Her phone buzzed in her pocket, and after she looked at the message, she said, "My other guests will be here in fifteen minutes, so let's do a quick tour, and then I'll come find you once I've got them settled in. Come into the kitchen, and I'll show you what I've done to it."
She gestured to the tiled countertops, white cupboards, and old-fashioned red oven. "I was able to salvage the cupboards by sanding and repainting them. Most of the tiles were in pretty good shape, thankfully, and I replaced the ones that were too badly cracked with special accent tiles. And the Heartland dual-fuel range is a
classic that I would have never gotten rid of in a million years." She ran her hand over its glossy surface. "It took a while to stop burning everything, but now that I've got her figured out, I can't imagine going back to cooking with a modern stainless-steel oven."
"Apart from making the best double chocolate chunk cookies in the world, I didn't know you could cook."
"I couldn't. But evidently, bed-and-breakfast guests expect a well-cooked meal in the morning," she said with a crooked grin. "Fortunately, the Culinary Institute of America is just up the block. I've taken so many classes there in the past few months, I'm on a first-name basis with the entire staff. Like I said, tenacity is my middle name lately." She led him from the kitchen into a dining room, set up with several small, square tables that could be combined into larger ones if necessary. "Here's the breakfast room. It's also where I'm planning on doing afternoon tea for more than just guests a couple of times a week once I've got the rest of this B&B gig down." The windows looked out on the back garden--complete with a swimming pool. "We came in through the parlor." She grinned at him as she added, "Just like today, that's where the cookies will be every afternoon, along with coffee and tea."
"Good to know." He grabbed another cookie as they headed outside into a riot of color. "Your grandfather must have been a heck of a gardener."
"He was certainly ambitious. Even after cutting everything back a ton, I ended up having to pull out about half of it. I've been poring over gardening books at night, but when it comes to the outdoors, I'm just faking it until I make it. Turns out I'm way better with a hammer than a trowel."
"You're a woman of many hidden talents, aren't you?"
"More like a desperate woman." She picked a lavender stem and held it up to her nose. "I wasn't happy in Silicon Valley anymore, but I didn't want to go back to Rochester either," she admitted in a soft voice. "So when Grandpa left me this house, I pretty much decided I would do whatever it took to make it work."
"What about Bruce?" Despite the fact that Justin wasn't going to be an idiot again and make another play for her, he still needed to know where things stood between Taylor and her boyfriend. Namely, how close were they to the altar? Even the thought of it made his gut twist. "Is he still in Rochester, or has he moved out here?"