Mistletoe Daddy. Deb Kastner

then dragged you into the mess.”

      Nick suspected it wasn’t just moving back to Serendipity from Houston that had kept Vivian’s mind busy. It sounded like she was getting over some big emotional hurdles, too. But there was no way he was bringing her past or her hurt feelings into the conversation.

      “Like you said, it’s Main Street. It was a reasonable assumption to make that the property would be in workable condition when you bought it.”

      “Yes, but I thought I was only going to have to modify it from a barbershop to a salon and spa. I knew I’d have to paint and wallpaper but I didn’t expect that I would have to fix a bunch of holes in the walls. Maybe I could just stuff bouquets of fake flowers in the holes and call it art.”

      She frowned but her eyes were bright and it was clear from her tone that she was making light of the circumstances.

      It was more than he would have done under the same conditions. It was more than he was doing. He felt frustrated, angry and discouraged for her and her crazy spa idea.

      But somehow, he’d fix the problem. Because he was a man, and that’s what men did. His family had so many issues he was helpless to resolve: his father’s death, his uncle’s dementia, Jax’s single parenthood. It was almost a relief to face a problem—no matter how large—that he could actually do something to fix.