Roommating (Preston's Mill #1)
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Authors: Noelle Adams,Samantha Chase
Roommating
Preston’s Mill, Book One
Noelle Adams
Samantha Chase
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters,
places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used
fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or
dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2016 by Noelle Adams and Samantha Chase. All
rights reserved, including the right to reproduce, distribute, or transmit in
any form or by any means.
Contents
Heather Carver was finally moving
back home.
She’d been born and raised in Preston, a small town in
eastern Virginia, but she’d been living in Charlottesville for seven years as
she went to college and graduate school. She’d always intended to return to her
hometown and join her father in business, and now that she’d finally earned her
MBA and packed up her little apartment near campus, she was ready to come home.
This weekend, she was staying with her father, but on Monday
she’d head back to Charlottesville, collect her little Yorkie named Lucy from
the friend who was watching her, load up a U-Haul, and drive back to a gorgeous
two-bedroom unit in Preston’s Mill, an old cotton mill her father had converted
into apartments.
Everything was going according to her plans, and she
couldn’t have been happier or more excited as she pulled a chicken and rice
casserole out of her father’s temperamental old oven.
He owned Carver’s Restoration and Construction—a very
successful company that specialized in high end and historical restoration
work—but he couldn’t be bothered to replace the appliances in his own kitchen.
“It’s done,” she called out to her father, who was watching
the news in the living room. “No oven catastrophes tonight.” One never knew
whether the oven would decide to complete a dish in half the time or not at
all.
“Great. Get me a beer, will you?”
Heather smiled and shook her head as she dished up casserole
for her father and carried it out with another beer. Whenever she visited, she
ended up waiting on her dad, but she didn’t really mind. He’d worked really
hard in his life, and he’d basically had to raise her on his own, since her
mother had walked out on both of them when Heather had been eight.
Her mother had never been around to take care of them, so
Heather was happy to bring her father dinner in his recliner.
After she’d returned to get herself some food, she noticed
her father looking at her out of the corner of his eyes. “What?” she asked.
“This is great.” He nodded toward his plate. He’d been a
handsome man most of his life, and he was still in good shape, with
salt-and-pepper hair and the same blue eyes that she had.
“Good. But it looked like you wanted to say something else.”
“I’m about ready to retire.” He said the words like he was
announcing he wanted to play golf that weekend.
Heather almost choked on her bite. “What? Already? I thought
you were going to wait until you were at least sixty-five. You’re just turning
sixty this year.”
“I know. But I’m tired, and I want to have the freedom to do
the things I want to do. Play more golf. Maybe travel some.”
Since she’d finally processed what he was saying, she was
able to smile at him encouragingly. “Of course. I totally understand. I’m ready
now to take over. You know how I’ve been looking forward to whipping all your accounts
and processes into shape.”
Her father had carried the business on the strength of his
construction and carpentry skills and his personality. His paperwork had always
been very sloppy, and Heather had been helping out with the business aspects of
the company since she was in high school.
When he just took another bite of casserole, she added, “You
should definitely retire and take it easy now, if that’s what you want.”
“Yeah, but I’m worried.” He wasn’t looking at her. His eyes
were focused on the newscaster on the television.
She’d been about to take a swallow of beer, but now she
stiffened her shoulders, feeling a flicker of worry for the first time. “What
are you worried about? I’m really good at this stuff. I was near the top of my
class in the MBA. You know that.”
“I know. But you can’t do the hands-on stuff.”
He’d taught her some basics when she was a girl, but she’d
never been particularly interested in working with tools. Even as a little
girl, when her parents had made birdhouses together and tried to get her interested
in their hobby, she’d been more inclined to organize the birdhouses into rows
by size than actually build them.
She tried to fight a wave of automatic defensiveness, since
it felt like her dad was telling her she wasn’t good enough to run his business,
when this was what she’d been planning for and looking forward to most of her
life. “I know. But you’ve got crews to do all the construction work. I’d just
supervise and take care of the business end.”
“But you need someone who knows his stuff to head up the
work.”
“I could hire someone to do that, if none of your guys is
ready yet.” She did her best to control her voice, so she didn’t sound too
emotional. But ever since her mother walked out on them, her father was the one
person she could completely trust to never leave her, to be completely loyal,
and now it felt like he was abandoning her because she wasn’t good enough.
It had been her dad who had fixed her school lunches and
gone to her ballet recitals. It had been her dad who’d volunteered to help with
her field trips and who’d cheered the loudest at her high school and college
graduations.
She’d always assumed she’d be the first person her dad would
turn to when he was ready to retire.
She’d been hungry before, but she couldn’t bring herself to
take another bite.
“I’ve got someone in mind who’d be perfect.” Her father
still sounded relaxed, laid-back, as if none of this was a big deal.
She took and released a quick breath, feeling better again.
Of course her dad wouldn’t try to push her out. What had she been thinking?
“Oh, that’s good. I’d be happy to hire anyone you think best.”
“I wasn’t thinking of hiring him. I think he needs to be a
partner.”
“What?”
“It’ll only work if he has an equal share in the business.”
“You’re not going to leave things with…with me?”
“Sure, I am. Of course I am. I just think you need a
partner.”
It hurt—that he didn’t trust her enough to take care of the
company he built. But she’d always prided herself on being a good-natured,
reasonable person, and she made herself think through the situation before she
reacted emotionally.
He had a point. She might think she could hire someone to
supervise the actual construction work, but her father would probably feel
better if there was someone who had a genuine vested interest in seeing the
business succeed. He wasn’t betraying her. He’d never do that. He just wanted
to protect the company he’d worked so hard to build.
“Okay,” she said. “Whatever you think best is fine with me.
It’s your company, after all, so it’s obviously your decision. Who did you have
in mind?”
As soon as she asked the question, she knew—she
knew
—who
he had in mind.
Her attempt at being reasonable flew out the window as she
saw her father slanting her another look.
“No,” she choked, putting her plate on the coffee table so
she wouldn’t accidentally dump her food on the floor. “Not Chris! Please tell
me it’s not him.”
“Of course it’s him. Who else?”
“But he abandoned you! After all the years you spent
teaching and training him, he just walked out on you.”
“He had his reasons.”
Like Heather, Christopher Dole had been raised in Preston,
and he’d started working for her father in high school. He’d taken to the work
quickly, and her father had soon become his mentor, teaching him everything he
knew. Chris was three years older than Heather, but she’d gotten to know him
really well—since he was always hanging around the house and the company
offices. She might have had a little crush on him, on and off through her
teenaged years, although he’d never acted at all romantically toward her.
He’d been an important part of her life, though—hers and her
father’s. Until three years ago when he’d walked out on them to take a
high-risk, high-paying construction job in Alaska.
Heather was naturally easy-going and personable. She wasn’t
in the habit of holding grudges or getting into arguments. Most of the people
she knew she liked—even the annoying ones. But Chris was the one person in her
life she couldn’t forgive. He’d hurt her father. He’d betrayed all her dad’s trust
and emotional investment.
He didn’t get to waltz back into their lives now and grab up
half her father’s company.
“Well, his reasons aren’t good enough,” she said, not able
to keep her voice as level as she had before. “I know he was upset when his mom
died, but that doesn’t mean you give up everything and everyone. That doesn’t
mean you betray someone who was like a father to you.”
“He didn’t betray me.”
“Yes, he did. He
did
.”
“It’s time to let all that go. We’ve been talking, and he’s
decided to come back home and help me out.”
“Why didn’t you tell me you’ve been talking to him?”
“‘Cause I knew you’d be mad and upset about it. I didn’t
want to bring it up until I had it all worked out.”
“So it’s a done deal then? You’re going to give him your
business?” She was trying very hard not to cry. She didn’t want to be one of
those children who expected all of their parents’ success to fall their way
just because they were related, but it was hard not to feel hurt by her
father’s decision.
They’d always talked about her taking over the company when
her dad retired. She’d been planning on it for so long, loving the idea of
preserving part of her father that way.
“Not the whole thing. I want you and him to be partners.
It’s the best way to keep the business a success.”
She swallowed hard. “Okay. I know it’s your decision. I’ll
try to get along with him—for you.”
When her father slanted her another quick look, she knew he
wasn’t finished with his revelations. “Yeah, see, that’s the thing.”
“What’s the thing?”
“It’s never going to work unless I know you two are able to
work together.”
“I’ll do the best I can.”
“I know you will, but I need more assurance than that. So I
came up with this idea.”
“What idea?”
“Since I need some concrete proof that you and Chris can get
along enough to run the business when I’m gone, I figured you two could live
together for six months in that apartment in Preston’s Mill. If you can make it
that long in close quarters, then you’ll do fine with the business.”
She’d lifted her beer to take another swallow, but now she
froze with it halfway to her mouth. Her eyes widened about double their normal
size. “
What
?”
“You heard me. Chris needs a place to stay anyway, and the
unit has two bedrooms. After six months, he can move out, and I can pass on the
company to the two of you, knowing you’re not going to destroy it because you
two can’t get along.” Her father’s eyes were still on the news, and
ridiculously he looked almost amused, as if this were some sort of game.
It
wasn’t
a game. “You’ve got to be crazy!”
He arched his eyebrows at her.
“I’m sorry, Dad. I don’t mean to be rude, but seriously this
is just…crazy. I can’t live with Chris!”
“Then you won’t be able to work with him.”
“Working is different than living with him. I promise I can
get along with him. We don’t have to go through a ridiculous stunt like this to
prove it.”
“I’m not so sure. You’re usually the nicest person in the
world. Everyone in town adores you. And yet you’ve always had this animosity
toward Chris. I want to make sure that goes away.”
She took a few deep breaths and tried to rein in her
outrage. “You’re serious about this?”
“Dead serious.”
“So if I want to take over your company when you retire, I
need to…”
“Live with Chris for six months.”
“And this isn’t some little joke you’re playing on me?”
“No joke. I’ve already run it by him, and he’s willing.”
“I don’t believe that. He was just as mad at me as I was
with him when he left.”
“That was three years ago. I’m sure he’s gotten over it.”
“Like I have?”
Her father seemed to hide a laugh. “Okay. Maybe not. But you
both are reasonable people. I’m sure you’ll learn to get along at such close
quarters. You can do something else if you’d rather—move somewhere else, get
another job. I don’t want you to, but you’re free to do that if you’d rather.
Otherwise, Chris is moving in. He said he’d be in town on Tuesday or
Wednesday.”
She stared at her father for a minute, trying to read his
expression. Finally, she concluded he was absolutely serious.
It was his company. He could do whatever he wanted with it.
And he could make any sort of conditions he chose on the people he wanted to
leave the company with.
She didn’t have a choice.
If she wanted to be a partner in her father’s business—which
she’d been planning on since she was ten years old—then she’d have to live with
Christopher Dole for six months.
For six months.
In one fairly small two-bedroom
apartment. With one bathroom. And one big, handsome, obnoxious, disloyal man.
This wasn’t at all what she’d expected for her return to
Preston.
She made it through the rest of the evening with her father,
mostly by trying to forget what he’d told her, but she left the house with a
heavy clench in her gut.
She wished Lucy was with her. Her dog was the most faithful
of companions. She never dropped bombshells like her father just had, leaving
the foundations of her world rattled.
As she walked down the sidewalk, she paused when a glint of
light hit a delicate birdhouse hanging in one of the trees that lined the yard.
She remembered the day her mom and dad had made that
birdhouse. She’d been seven, and they hadn’t shut themselves into their bedroom
to argue all day—which meant it was a very good day for Heather. Her parents
making those birdhouses on the weekends had been the best times she could
remember. They’d been happy. She’d felt safe. The world had functioned the way
it was supposed to for those few hours.
