Blue Heaven (Blue Lake) by Cynthia Harrison Page B

and an unknown person to erect an addition. But Frank had sworn he’d done plenty of construction besides roofing and that his builder buddy was as good as they came. As she checked out the sorry steps, and a slice of sky above, a girl in shorts and a crop top came in to the office without knocking.
    “There’s no toilet paper in my cottage,” she told Bob, ignoring Eva. “And it smells like mildew.”
    Bob blushed. He looked from the girl to Eva.
    “I sort of rented out one of the cottages,” Bob shrugged, not looking Eva in the eye but casting his baby blues out to the lake as if watching for whales.
    “Are you the owner?” The girl addressed Eva. “Because I need some toilet paper. And you,” she pointed to Bob, “have got to open my window. It’s painted shut.”
    “I don’t have a business license yet,” Eva told Bob. “So, I can’t rent you a room,” she told the girl.
    “I can’t pay for the room anyway,” the girl said, “so you’re not really renting it to me per se.” She held out her hand. “Lily Van Styke.”
    Eva shook Lily’s perfectly manicured hand.
    Bob went into the bathroom and came out holding out a roll of toilet paper to Lily.
    “Lily’s going to help us paint,” Bob said.
    Bob hiring another crew member was fine, but only if he paid her out of the budget she’d already provided him. Lily staying in one of the cottages wasn’t a good idea. She started to say as much when Lily interrupted her.
    “Where are the sheets?” Lily walked through the kitchen and into the hallway to rummage through the linen closet. Eva didn’t even have a washing machine yet, let alone proper linens. She’d need them soon. Another trip to Port Huron was on the horizon. But not today. Today she’d get Peach ready to occupy and move in. Her website was just waiting for photos and a few final bits of code. She wanted it up and running tonight as well. But what to do about this girl?
    “This is not going to work. I’m not set up for you,” Eva said, wondering how much credit she still had on her Sears card. She really should arrange delivery of a heavy duty washer and dryer.
    “These will do, for now,” Lily said, coming out with Eva’s second set of queen-sized sheets.
    “You don’t even have a bed,” Eva said.
    Bob shrugged. “I gave her one from my house. We have so many bedrooms nobody uses, Daniel will never even notice.” He turned to Lily. “Those sheets should work fine.”
    Lily sat down, plunking her roll of toilet paper on the chair next to her. “And you need mousetraps.”
    They both ignored Eva’s remark about Lily not staying. It was as if she hadn’t spoken.
    “Forget the mousetraps. I’ve got a cat with kittens,” Eva said. “They’re just a bit too small to start working for their keep yet.” The same could be said of Lily. “I’m sorry, Lily, but the cottages aren’t ready to be lived in.”
    Lily shot off the chair. “Kittens! Where?”
    Eva pointed to the living room. Bob followed Lily and Eva trailed after them, wondering what she could do to get rid of this girl who seemed oblivious to Eva’s strong hints that she had to go.
    “God, this room is gorgeous.” In spite of herself, Eva warmed incrementally toward Lily. She’d loved decorating her living room even though she’d maxed out her Visa to do it.
    A squeal indicated Lily had spied the kittens. “Awwww.”
    Eva didn’t know how to contain this exuberant woman-child, so instead she scratched a purring Mama cat under the chin. Cats were easy. A baby would be easy compared to this teenager. Eva and Marcus were supposed to be starting their family now. She had wanted it, had pushed for it. Maybe too hard. He’d backed off, backed out of everything. Never mind. For now what she had were baby kittens and, apparently, a human teenager.
    “They’re still too small to handle,” Lily said, when Bob reached out to touch a kitten. Eva wondered if Lily had been raised on a farm, or at least a place