A Cold Creek Reunion Read Online Free PDF Page A

Laura.
    “To tell you the truth, I’m itching to get my hands dirty. I think I’ll head over to the house and put in a window frame or something.”
    Ridge nodded. “I know you’ve got plenty to do on your own place, but I figured this was worth mentioning, too. I heard the other day at the hardware store that Jan Pendleton is looking to hire somebody to help her with some renovations to the inn.”
    He snorted. As if Laura would ever let her mother hire him. He figured Ridge was joking but he didn’t see any hint of humor in his brother’s expression.
    “Just saying. I thought you might be interested in helping Laura and her mother out a little.”
    Ah. Without actually offering a lecture, this must be Ridge’s way of reminding Taft he owed Laura something. None of the rest of the family knew what had happened all those years ago, but he was pretty sure all of them blamed him.
    And they were right.
    Without answering, he shoved away from the table and grabbed his plate to carry it into the kitchen. First, do no harm. But once the harm had been done, a
stand-up guy found some way to make it right. No matter how difficult.

Chapter Three
    L aura stared at her mother, shock buzzing through her as if she had just bent down and licked an electrical outlet.
    “Sorry, say that again. You did what? ”
    “I didn’t think you’d mind, darling,” her mother said, with a vague sort of smile as she continued stirring the chicken she was cooking for their dinner.
    Are you completely mental? she wanted to yell. How could you possibly think I wouldn’t mind?
    She drew a deep, cleansing breath, clamping down on the words she wanted to blurt out. The children were, for once, staying out of trouble, driving cars around the floor of the living room and she watched them interact for a moment to calm herself.
    Her mother was under a great deal of strain right now, financially and otherwise. She had to keep that in mind—not that stress alone could explain her mother making such an incomprehensible decision.
    “Really, it was all your idea,” Jan said calmly.
    “ My idea?” Impossible. Even in her most tangled nightmare, she never would have come up with this possible scenario.
    “Yes. Weren’t you just saying the other day how much it would help to have a carpenter on the staff to help with the repairs, especially now that we totally have to start from the ground up in the fire-damaged room?”
    “I say a lot of things, Mom.” That doesn’t mean I want you to rush out and enter into a deal with a particular devil named Taft Bowman.
    “I just thought you would appreciate the help, that’s all. I know how much the fire has complicated your timeline for the renovation.”
    “Not really. Only one room was damaged and it was already on my schedule for renovations.”
    “Well, when Chief Bowman stopped by this morning to check on things after the excitement we had the other day—which I thought was a perfectly lovely gesture, by the way—he mentioned he could lend us a hand with any repairs in his free time. Honestly, darling, it seemed like the perfect solution.”
    Really? Having her daughter’s ex-fiancé take an empty room at the inn for the next two weeks in exchange for a little skill with a miter saw was perfect in what possible alternative universe?
    Her mother was as sharp as the proverbial tack. Jan Pendleton had been running the inn on her own since Laura’s father died five years ago. While she didn’t always agree with her mother’s methods and might have run things differently if she had been home, Laura knew Jan had tried hard to keep the inn functioning all those years she had been living in Madrid.
    But she still couldn’t wrap her head around this one. “In theory, it is a good idea. A resident carpenter would come in very handy. But not Taft, for heaven’s sake, Mom!”
    Jan frowned in what appeared to be genuine confusion. “You mean because of your history together?”
    “For a start. Seeing