Off the Hook by Laura Drewry Read Free Book Online

thing to do would be to pretend he wasn’t there. That’d work, right? He hadn’t said a word since they’d sat down anyway, so Kate focused on Jessie, pulling all sorts of information from her, most of which had to do with the Buoys, but every now and then a tidbit about Liam and his brothers came out.
    “Mr. O’Donnell built this place himself?”
    “Jimmy, yeah. He built the main lodge, and then once the boys were big enough, they helped build the cabins and do whatever else needed doing.”
    “Wow.” Kate didn’t even try to hide how much that impressed her. “Well, Mr. O’Donnell sure picked a beautiful spot to build on. Are there any other people or businesses here?”
    “Nope. The only other living things on or around Welch Island either swim, fly, or walk on all fours. There was talk of a temporary mill going in on the west side five or six years ago, but thankfully that was shot down, because it’s all old-growth forest here.”

    “What do the other two do now? Ronan and Finn?”
    “Ro’s a laborer for the city of Calgary, and Finn was a heavy-duty mechanic up in Fort Mac until the plummeting oil prices sent a tidal wave of panic over everything.”
    “Laid off?” Kate sighed when Jessie nodded. “Been there myself a few times; it’s not a lot of fun. Do he and Ronan get down here very often?”
    “Finn’ll be back tomorrow, but Ro…well…it’s not easy for him to get time off.”
    The sound of Liam snorting, as quiet as it was, made them both look, and even though he lifted his head only long enough to roll his eyes, neither he nor Jessie said anything else about it and Kate didn’t ask.
    “And Mrs. O’Donnell?”
    Neither Jessie nor Liam looked at her, but both forks froze in their bowls as the earlier awkwardness immediately shot up another notch. Or six.
    “Sorry,” Kate scrambled. “Is that…I—”
    Jessie shook her head slightly as she wiped her napkin across her mouth. “Maggie left when the boys were little.”
    “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.” A normal husband would have shared that with his wife, but clearly there’d been nothing normal about Liam and Kate’s marriage. Best thing she could do was steer the conversation back to the lodge. “So tell me how this works. I’ve seen the list of repairs you all sent Paul, but I assume there are other things that didn’t make the list.”

    “Yeah,” Jessie laughed. “There are a few things.”
    After a quick sip of water, Jessie explained how the general upkeep and maintenance worked and then started rattling off the bigger jobs that needed tackling: giving the three fishing boats much-needed overhauls, reroofing the three guest cabins out by the cove, painting, plumbing upgrades, landscaping…It got to the point where Kate wondered why they didn’t just torch the place and start from scratch.
    “We also need to scrub everything down, top to bottom, and get a complete inventory of what’s here, what we can make do with, and what’s going to need replacing.”
    Liam swallowed what was in his mouth and pointed his fork at Jessie. “Fish shack first.”
    “Roofs first, then the fish shack.”
    It didn’t take long for Liam to concede with a slow nod.
    “Well, okay, then.” Kate grinned. “What do you want me to start on?”
    “I’m not actually sure yet. We were all together here when Ro set up this arrangement with your boss, but then we all had to go home to sort our lives out before we could start here. I had to give notice at work, we all had to figure out what to do with our living arrangements, blah blah blah. Liam and I just got back yesterday.”
    There was nothing in Jessie’s voice to hint either way, but that didn’t stop Kate from wondering again if maybe Jessie and Liam were together. If they were, Jessie had taken the news about Kate and him pretty well.

    Pushing another smile, Kate glanced around the bar and out toward the lobby. “I’m guessing you’re still a little overwhelmed,