The Bachelor Next Door

“Hi, sweetheart.”

Looking, Brendan noted wryly, not at him but at the overweight basset hound nibbling on the laces of her pink hiking boots.

“How are you two getting along?”

Also directed at the dog.

Brendan decided to answer the question anyway. Since he was the one who had opposable thumbs—and actually could speak. “She shredded my favorite tie yesterday.”

“Good girl, Missy,” his mother whispered. “I never did care for that tie.”

“You’re the one who bought it for me,” Brendan pointed out.

“Only because I knew you’d like it.” Bending down to give Missy’s glossy head a pat, Sunni spotted the dog bed and basket of toys stacked neatly beside the door. Shook her head. “What seems to be the problem?”

She didn’t add the words this time. They were implied.

“Missy is a great dog.” A slight exaggeration, considering her penchant for turning everything into a chew toy. “But I just can’t give her the attention she deserves.” Brendan braced himself for the fallout. Again.

Sunni smiled. Smiled. “I understand.”

“Really?” Because he remembered saying the same thing the day she’d dropped off Raquel, the incontinent Yorkie, and Bette Davis, a Doberman pinscher who’d hidden under the bed whenever someone knocked on the door, totally undermining his mother’s claim that she’d be a great watchdog.

“I’ll take Missy with me to church tonight and introduce her to Ed Wilson. His wife passed away a few months ago, and I heard him tell Pastor Tamblin the house is too quiet.”

Brendan’s eyes narrowed.

That was it?

“She’ll be happier,” he said. “You know that, right?”

“But will you?” Sunni murmured.

Brendan took a moment to think about that.

Yes. Yes, he would.

“I’ll put this stuff in the car for you. I’m sure Missy and Mr. Wilson will get along really well.” He grabbed the box of toys before she could change her mind.

“Thank you, sweetheart. I have some last-minute packing to finish up before choir practice starts.” Sunni followed him outside to the gray Subaru parked in front of the house, Missy happily chugging along at her heels.

Brendan popped open the trunk and blinked. “What’s all this?”

“Paint.” His mom grinned. “The house is long overdue for a makeover. I figured the best time to tackle a project that size is while I’m away on my birthday cruise.”

Brendan couldn’t argue with the timing or her claim that the rooms would benefit from a fresh coat of paint. The walls were still the same color they’d been when he’d moved from Detroit to Castle Falls at the age of fifteen. Six months after he and his brothers unpacked their belongings, Sunni had been more worried about keeping the bank from foreclosing on the house than she had about decorating it.

“Mark which color goes in which room.” Brendan silently rearranged his schedule to accommodate a new project. “I can’t promise I’ll have it finished by the time you get home, but I’ll do my best.”

“Oh, you don’t have to do a thing, sweetheart. I made other arrangements.”

Brendan slowly pivoted to face her. “What kind of other arrangements?”

“You’re always saying how busy you are—” Sunni flashed a smile that rivaled the July sunshine for brightness “—so I hired someone.”

* * *

Lily Michaels tapped on the brake, and her car rolled to a stop on a crack in the asphalt where the road ended and a narrow wooden bridge began. Leaning forward, she squinted at a hand-painted sign framed between two pine trees on the other side of the river.

Castle Falls Outfitters.

She pulled in a breath and held it.

This was it. The beginning of a brand-new adventure.

Or the biggest mistake of your life.

Lily refused to listen to that negative inner voice—a gruff baritone that sounded suspiciously like her father’s.

But the contract in her purse, signed by Sonia Mason, proved that God was directing her steps. Even if Lily had never actually met the woman in person.

She glanced at the clock on the dashboard and sighed.

It didn’t look as if she’d have the opportunity to meet her very first client today, either. Lily’s plan to get an early start that morning had been sabotaged by a nail that had found its way into her tire as she’d backed out of the driveway of her apartment complex.

Please make yourself at home if I’m not there when you arrive, Sunni had written in her last email.

At home.

Another answer to prayer.

There were no hotels in Castle Falls, so Sunni had offered the use of her guest room until she returned from her Caribbean cruise. Lily had agreed to the arrangement without hesitation. The town was too far from Traverse City to commute back and forth—and too far away for her father to drop by.

Something he’d been doing on a daily basis for the past few weeks. Nolan Michaels made no secret of the fact he wasn’t happy with Lily’s “impulsive decision” to change careers, even temporarily.

Her hands tightened around the steering wheel as the wooden bridge shuddered beneath the weight of her compact car. Once she was safely on the other side, it was easier to appreciate the unspoiled beauty of her surroundings. On the map, the river had been a tiny blue thread embroidered along an edge of national forest in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. She caught a flash of sapphire through the trees and heard the water humming a cheerful melody as it spilled over the rocks.

Lily couldn’t wait to explore. If there was one thing she’d learned from Shelby, it was to view every day as a gift from God, meant to be unwrapped and enjoyed.

The thick hedge of trees began to thin out, and the late-afternoon sun winked off a metal roof. Rounding a curve, Lily drove past a large aluminum pole building and caught a glimpse of a rustic cabin tucked in a stand of trees behind it.

Sonia had mentioned she ran a home-based business, but Lily had been too busy concentrating on her own list of last-minute details to ask questions.

When the house came into view, she realized she probably should have.

The Craftsman-style Foursquare, dating back to the ’50s, wore a shaggy coat of iron-gray paint. Its patchwork roof dipped low over the front porch like an old tweed cap, shading the windows from the sun. It looked to Lily as if the pink petunias planted along the sidewalk were nodding a welcome as she hopped out of the car.

Underneath the sisal welcome mat, she found a key to the front door. The small piece of metal felt heavy in the palm of Lily’s hand.