Tags:
Literary,
Romance,
Literature & Fiction,
Contemporary,
Saga,
Sagas,
Family,
Contemporary Fiction,
Contemporary Women,
Women's Fiction,
Literary Fiction,
Relationships,
Attraction,
falling in love,
boroughs publishing group,
plain jane,
against the odds,
heart of montana,
katy regnery
if Jane wasn’t going to make the
most of them.
***
Lars pulled up in front of Samara’s
on-location housing in Gardiner, Montana, and all Jane could think
was: Samara is going to have a fit .
A month ago, after looking at the four or
five motel options in Gardiner, and as politely as possible, Jane
had insisted that Trend rent a house for the entirety of
Samara’s stay. She reminded Trend that Samara Amaya was
accustomed to a two-bedroom suite at the finest hotels in the world
when on location, and she would not be comfortable in a motel room.
The magazine had graciously arranged for a house to be leased while
Samara was in Gardiner, and while they didn’t have a photo for
Jane, they had assured her it would be the local equivalent of a
two-bedroom suite.
Jane lowered her Chanel sunglasses, looking
up at the shiny, new fluorescent sign over her head that read “Kozy
Kabins” with a jaunty red arrow that blinked cheerfully toward the
four brand new housekeeping cottages.
On one hand, she could see why they had been
chosen. The construction was new, that was obvious. Obvious by the
fact that there was not one blade of grass, bush or tree to be seen
around the full perimeter of the solitary four cottages, whose
medium-toned, orange-hued logs were almost a perfect match to the
dust at her feet. There was no driveway, no patch of grass, no
other sign of life. Just four log cottages with green metals roofs
plopped down in the middle of nowhere with a view to an expansive
meadow that extended to a faraway mountain range.
“This is…for Samara ?”
“Yep,” he nodded, standing next to her. “Got
it all fixed up just in time too.”
Oh, my God, he doesn’t even realize how
unacceptable this is.
“Are those,” she gestured to the other three
cottages, “for her staff?”
Lars shook his head. “Nope. We were only
asked to secure a cottage for Miss Amaya. Those three aren’t even
finished yet. I’m not sure they even have the electric wired in
yet.”
Jane turned to face him, her eyes wide.
“This is a vacation cabin.”
Lars furrowed his brow, and then shrugged.
“We don’t exactly have six-bedroom, million-dollar houses lying
around Gardiner waiting for someone to come rent for a week. The
travel department at Trend said that the minimum requirement
was a two-bedroom suite. None of the local hotels have suites, let alone a two-bedroom suite. We figured if we fixed this
up, it’d be the closest to what Ms. Amaya requires.”
“Yes, but—” Jane rooted around in her bag
until she found a Tootsie roll pop, unwrapped it, jamming it into
her mouth and letting herself out of the van. She cringed at the
dust and dirt that surrounded the small cottage and swirled around
her feet. This is a disaster.
She made her way toward the front door of
the cottage, waggling her lollipop at Lars. “You want one?”
“Umm, a lollipop ?”
“Yeah. They’re not just for kids. There’s a
secret in the center…” she cajoled, in a sing-song, husky
voice.
“I don’t remember the last time I had a
lollipop.”
She fished another out of her bag. “Then
you’re missing out.”
While he unwrapped his treat, Jane took a
better look around.
“So those are…empty?”
“Yep. This one here’s the only one that’s
furnished. It’s brand new. Wasn’t supposed to even be open until
next spring. They rushed this one and got it all set up nice for
Ms. Amaya.”
Jane looked up and noted two satellite
dishes on the roof, shiny and garish in the mid-afternoon sun, they
looked ridiculously large on the small roof. She gestured to them
with her lollipop. “What’s with those?”
“TV and Internet. Said you needed them.”
She glanced at him and realized he was
staring at her, so she nodded. Samara would have plenty to say
about that, starting with the fact that they weren’t aesthetically pleasing perched on the green tin roof over
the front door. That was after she got finished screaming about the
Kozy Kabins,