The Dreammaker. Judith Stacy

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СКАЧАТЬ “First, I want to go over our partnership agreement.”

      Kaitlin sighed heavily. “We’ve gone over that already. We split everything fifty-fifty, and sell out when we’ve made our money back.”

      Tripp shook his head. “It’s not that simple.”

      “If it were any more simple, a dog with thumbs could run the place.”

      Tripp glared at her, then flipped to the next page. “I’ve done some figuring on expenses—repairs, buying the inventory, things like that. We need to decide on a budget.”

      Kaitlin shrugged. “We’ll spend what money we have, and that should be enough to get things going.”

      “What the hell kind of idea is that?” Tripp reared back.

      “What more can I tell you, Mr. Callihan? I’m putting every dime I have in the world into this place. Aren’t you?”

      “All the more reason for us to make a plan.”

      She bit down on her lip. “We have a plan.”

      “We need to decide on the extent of the repairs, how much we can spend on them, what kind of inventory to buy.” Tripp tapped his finger on the tablet. “We have a lot of decisions to make.”

      Kaitlin pressed her lips together, holding in her rising temper. “Are you this methodical about everything you do, Mr. Callihan?”

      Their gazes collided, and the implication of what everything might entail sprang up between them as if it were a living thing. Kaitlin blushed and looked away. Tripp cleared his throat and shifted on the crate.

      “Well, uh, maybe this can wait a while,” Tripp said.

      “Good idea.” Kaitlin hopped off the crate and hurried across the room.

      “As long as we’re straight on this deal.”

      She whirled around. “You’ve made your position perfectly clear, Mr. Callihan. And the fact that I want to get to work while you want to discuss things should prove my position. Now, can we please get your wagon unloaded?”

      Tripp just looked at her, all puffed up with emotion. His belly began to ache.

      “All right, let’s get to work.” He headed across the room. “Are you hungry?”

      “Hungry?” Kaitlin shook her head and hurried out the door. “Good grief.”

      Tripp opened the tailgate of the wagon and unloaded some of the lighter items onto the boardwalk, crates, cane-back chairs, a trunk, a small table. Charlie scooted over.

      “Can I help, Papa?”

      Tripp handed him a small box. “Take it inside. And be careful.”

      “I figured you’d use the room upstairs,” Kaitlin said as she picked up a chair. “We’ll need all the space downstairs for the stock.”

      Tripp lifted one of the heavier crates. “Let’s have a look.”

      Inside the kitchen, Charlie waited at the door to Kaitlin’s bedroom.

      “That room’s mine, Charlie,” Kaitlin said. “You and your papa will be upstairs.”

      They placed the items they carried on the other side of the kitchen, and Kaitlin led the way up the narrow staircase. The room was dirty like the rest of the place, with two windows along the back wall.

      Tripp walked around studying the floor, ceiling and corners while Charlie ran to the window and looked out.

      “Are we gonna have this room, Papa?”

      Kaitlin stood in the center of the room watching Tripp circle around her. “It’s plenty big enough for you both.”

      “I like it, Papa.” Charlie bounced on his toes.

      “If you don’t want it, you can look at the room downstairs.” Kaitlin pushed a lock of hair behind her ear. Gracious, this man took forever to decide anything. She felt her patience slipping away. “Mr. Callihan, do you like the room, or not?”

      Tripp continued to pace. How could a room this dirty, closed up for this long, smell so sweet? His gaze landed on Kaitlin. She was how, of course.

      The room that appeared so large only a second ago seemed to shrink around him. Tripp headed for the staircase. “The room’s fine. I’ll get the wagon unloaded.”

      “Good idea,” Kaitlin muttered as she followed him down the steps. “I wish I’d thought of that.”

      Tripp was already lifting items from the wagon when she reached the back boardwalk. He held up his hand.

      “You go inside. I’ll take care of this.”

      She reached for another chair. “It will go faster if we work together.”

      “No, you might hurt yourself.”

      Tripp reached for the chair and his hands brushed hers. He jumped back. God, she was soft.

      Kaitlin moved away, carrying the chair. “I’ll be fine.”

      But she wasn’t really fine. Kaitlin hurried into the store, her stomach in jitters. What was wrong with her?

      She put the chair in the corner and drew in a deep breath. Something about Tripp Callihan put her on edge. At first she’d thought it was only that he was helping her reach her long sought after dream, but now…

      Kaitlin squared her shoulders. This wasn’t the time for such thoughts. Too much needed doing.

      Outside, standing in the wagon, Tripp focused all his energy and thoughts on his work. But it was so damn hard. Time after time Kaitlin appeared, bending over, stretching, lifting. It just wasn’t right that a woman could smell so sweet and look so pretty while working. How was he supposed to concentrate?

      “Hello, neighbor!”

      Rafe and Julia Beaumont stepped out the rear entrance of their millinery shop next door, waving.

      “Could you use some help?” Rafe asked.

      “Sure could.” Tripp leaned against, the bedsprings. “Things slow down at the livery?”

      Rafe inclined his head toward the west. “I was down looking at the widow Smith’s mare when I saw -you drive by. Figured you could use some help.”

      “That’s a fact.”

      “This is the first time I’ve seen him so early in the day in a month of Sundays.” Julia smiled sweetly at her husband and rubbed her palm up his arm.

      Rafe blushed and eased away from her. “Let’s get these things unloaded.”

      “Papa! Papa!”

      Charlie ran out the back door, then slid to a stop when he saw Julia СКАЧАТЬ