Noah poked his head in. “You okay?”
“I will be.” She reached for the tea and tried to put on a more cheerful expression. She was fine.
“So, he’s leaving?”
“He is. Has to get back to Seattle.”
Noah crossed over to her. “I… I was afraid you were going to get hurt. You’ve fallen for him. Haven’t you?”
She looked into the teacup, then back at her uncle. “A bit.”
Noah scowled. “He should have left you alone instead of hanging around you every minute he was in town. He knew he was leaving.”
“Noah, I love you for caring, but just… I enjoyed spending time with him. I had fun. It was an incredible few weeks.”
“I just hate seeing you hurt.”
“I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me.”
Noah snorted a laugh. “As if that will ever happen.” He turned to leave. “I’ll let you rest. Call out if you need me.”
She settled back on the couch, sipping the tea and trying to imagine what her life would be like now that Mason was gone.
And she didn’t really like the picture she saw. But there was nothing she could do about it. It was life. Life threw curves and the best a person could do was learn to adapt to them.
Chapter 23
Lillian watched Gary pack early the next morning. He’d put on dress slacks and a button-down long-sleeve shirt. He’d tucked a tie in his carry on. So different than the shorts, t-shirts, and sandals she was used to seeing. This was Gary the business owner. Gary the CEO.
“You sure you’re going to be okay here? You’ve got the re-opening under control?” His forehead creased with worry.
“I do. And Jay and Robin will help with what’s left. I’ll be fine.”
“I still feel bad leaving you to deal with the rest of it.” He straightened and looked at her. “But I’ve left this hanging long enough. And since Mason has the jet heading back today, it seemed like now was a good time.”
“You’re going to tell them you’re coming back as CEO, aren’t you?” She got up and rested her hand on his arm.
He took her in his arms. “I’m still not certain. I need to talk to Mason and sort it all out.”
“I’m fine with whatever you decide. We’ll work it out. If you need to be there some of the time, we’ll figure it out.”
“I don’t know what I did to deserve you, Lil.”
She reached up and touched his face. “I’m the lucky one. Lucky to have found you. We both had our own lives before we found each other. We’ll figure out a way to make this new life work.”
He kissed her gently, then turned to close his suitcase. “I’ll call when I get there. And probably way too many times. Enough that you’ll get sick of me calling.”
She laughed. “I doubt that.”
She walked with him out to the lobby where Mason was waiting for them.
“Ready, Dad?”
“I am.”
“Lillian, you take care,” Mason said as he grabbed his suitcase.
The front door of the inn swung open and in breezed Camille with Delbert Hamilton in her wake. “Lillian. Good. There you are. Could Delbert and I have your best suite?”
“We’re not quite opened yet, Camille.” Camille Montgomery was the last thing she needed right now.
“But Mama’s house doesn’t have electricity and I just can’t abide by staying there another night. There’s no air-conditioning. And our cook can’t come to make us any food.” Camille looked truly distressed. “You have to let us stay here.” Camille stopped just short of stomping her foot like a two-year-old throwing a tantrum. Just short.
Lillian sighed. “Okay, as long as you know we’re not fully functional yet. Jay has been putting out sandwiches for meals. We weren’t planning on opening for a few more days. There’s still some cleanup to do.”
Delbert walked over and took her hand. “Anything’s fine, Lillian. Really. We’re very appreciative of it, right Camille?” He looked over at Camille.
She just flipped her hair on her shoulder. “Well, it is an inn, right? A place where people can stay? I don’t know why she wouldn’t want us here.” Camille turned to Lillian. “And you do have a decent suite, don’t you? We’ll need two bedrooms, of course. But it must be a nice suite.”
Lillian clenched her teeth, rolled her shoulders a bit, then forced a smile. “Yes, of course. The rooms are cleaned, but not quite ready. I’ll get a room made up for you.”
“Nonsense. We’ll make it up ourselves. You have enough to do getting the inn ready. You point me to clean towels and sheets and I’ll have that suite ready to go in no time,” Delbert insisted.
“Delbert, really. You’re going to clean the room and make the beds? Have you ever even done that?”
Delbert laughed. “Of course, darling. I told you I started at the bottom with Hamilton hotels. My father made sure of that. I’d venture to say I’ve done about every job a hotel has at one point in time or the other.”
Lillian turned back to Gary. “I better get them settled in.”
Gary wrapped an arm around her and gave her a quick kiss. He whispered in her ear. “I’ll miss you. Oh, and good luck with Camille.” He winked at her as he pulled away.
A sudden wave of loneliness swept through her as Gary and Mason left. Oh, that was ridiculous. She’d be busy. She had the inn to run. She turned back to Delbert and Camille.
“Okay, let’s get you all settled in your room.”
“Do you have someone to take our bags up?” Camille frowned.
“Nope.”
“I’ve got them, darlin’. Lillian is already doing us a favor letting us stay here before she’s quite ready to open.”
Camille let out a long-suffering sigh. “Well, we are paying guests.”
Lillian turned her back on Camille and headed to the reception desk to get the key. Maybe Camille would spend
