Free Griffith Tavern (Taryn's Camera Book 2) by Rebecca Patrick-Howard

lighthouse they just got restored, you’ll like it a lot, and the pavilion at the beach has live music every weekend until the end of October–“
    She let Matt continue making his plans while she laid back on the bed, tired. Matt loved playing tour guide when she was there, and most of the time she enjoyed it, but at the moment the thought making her the most excited was crawling into the bed in his guestroom, shutting the black-out curtains, and falling asleep under the hum of his window unit air conditioner. She thought if she could do that, she might just sleep for a week.
    “I’ll let you know when this job wraps up,” she promised before she hung up. Of course, she had no idea where the money would come from to go down there but something usually came up. She’d drive if she had to and just pull over and nap at rest areas. She’d done that before.
     

     
    D aniel sat in the grass at Taryn’s feet, his long legs stretched out. Today he was wearing shorts that showed off his muscular, but ashen, legs. He had a long look on his normally cheerful face as he fiddled with a blade of grass and twirled it around. Taryn felt sorry for him.
    “So they didn’t give you a reason at all?” She hoped she sounded compassionate and disappointed for him. The truth was, though, she wasn’t too surprised. Grants of the caliber they were applying for had a lot of competition.
    “Not a thing,” he mumbled. “Just a standard form letter.”
    “I’m sorry, Daniel.” This she said with conviction, because she was sorry. “Surely there’s something else…”
    “Yeah, maybe,” he shrugged. “If we had more time to look. But we don’t. No way we’re going to find the money in a couple of weeks. I think we just have to face the fact it’s going to be bought, torn down, and nobody even cares.”
    Taryn knew when it was time to work and time to talk and Daniel obviously needed to talk. Although she’d been making steady progress all afternoon, she laid down her brush and knelt on the ground next to him.
    “I care. And, you know, others will. They may not know it before it’s too late, but they’ll remember it and talk about it.”
    “It’s not the same though,” he sighed. “The building will be gone.”
    “I know what you mean. In my job, I fall in love with a new place almost every day. Well, it feels like it anyway,” she smiled. “Unfortunately, most of them get demolished. It breaks my heart every time. I’ve tried to learn new ways of coping with it, but that doesn’t mean I don’t care.”
    “I think there’s something special about the tavern,” Daniel stated. “I know you see a lot of these things and it might just look like another old building, but it feels like there’s something here. I can’t put my finger on it. I just feel drawn to it. It’s hard to explain. Sometimes I feel like maybe I was there in another life or something. I believe in that stuff.”
    Taryn came close to telling him about the pictures she’d taken the day before. She had a hunch he’d appreciate them and they might improve his afternoon. But she wasn’t ready yet. The only people who’d seen them was Matt and Rob, the owner of New Age Gifts and More in Lexington. She didn’t know if she could show to them anyone else at the moment. They were for her, of that she was sure, and she didn’t know what the “rules” were for sharing them.
    “Oh, I’m very interested in it, too. I was just reading about the history of it. It’s pretty fascinating. I didn’t know much about the stagecoach stations until I got here,” she said instead.
    “Not too much written about this one, but I’ve talked to some of the older people here in town and recorded them for an oral history project. Some of them still remember when it was a tavern. Not the original one, of course, but they still remember. And others remember their grandparents talking about it. Kind of unusual to have a woman running it all those years,” he