“Thanks for the tea. And the conversation.”He tossed her one of his easy smiles.
“It was nice.”
He crossed over to his house and paused to wave before he disappeared inside. She slowly closed the door and turned to go wash the dishes in the sink.
What a nice evening she’d had.
Very nice.
She smiled again at the easy, comfortable camaraderie they’d developed between them. Barry Richmond was an interesting man and she very much enjoyed spending time with him.
Chapter 14
“Barry, you should see the paintings I found.”
Barry looked up to see Emily at his office door the next afternoon, her eyes lit up, holding up a painting in each hand.
“I looked on the back of them and they’re all labeled. It’s a bunch of Cabots. And a family portrait too. Looks to be maybe three generations of Cabots in one portrait.”
He came around the desk to look at them.“Those are great finds. We should definitely put them up in the history alcove.”
“I thought so. We could get some nice labels made to hang under them to say who each person is. Maybe a little write-up of when they owned or worked at the hotel.”
“That’s a great idea. Can you take care of that?”
“Of course.”She nodded enthusiastically.“And some workers moved those display cases to the library for me. I have some things set up in there. Not sure where I’ll place everything yet, but it’s a start.”
“Come on, why don’t you show me what you’ve done.”They headed to the library and Emily leaned the two paintings against the wall.
“I thought the big family portrait could go over there.”She pointed to a blank wall between two large built-in shelving units.“And across from that, on this wall, we could do a series of the other paintings.”She twirled around and pointed at one more area.“And there, on that small wall, I thought we could put up a bunch of the old black and white photos I’ve found of the hotel through the years. I found one from when the hotel first opened before they’d added on any of the additions.”
“I like all your ideas. You just let me know if you need something to make it happen.”
“This is like my best job ever. For sure.”Emily’s genuine smile stretched across her face.
“And I like to hear that.”Delbert Hamilton strolled into the library, with Camille holding onto his arm.“Hi, Barry, you remember Camille. And Emily, I’d like you to meet Camille Montgomery.”
Camille barely nodded his direction. Okay, then.
“Miss Montgomery, nice to meet you.”Emily walked up, the smile still large on her features.“Del, you should see what I’ve found for the history alcove.”
“Del?”Camille peered down her nose at Emily.“You mean Mr. Hamilton?”
“He…he said to call him—”Emily’s eyes widened.
“Camille, darlin’. I told her to call me Del. We don’t need the formalities here.”
Camille didn’t look like she approved and thought that all formalities should immediately be reinstated.
“Ah…so…do you want to see what I found?”
“I’m sureMr. Hamiltonis too busy to be bothered by all the little details of your job.”Camille frowned.“What is your job? You look…young.”
“I’m putting together the history alcove here. Sorting through all the historical memorabilia and finding some Cabot family portraits.”
Camille turned to Del.“Delbert, seriously, you’re not going to have this young girl put together the history alcove are you? I mean, you need to use an interior designer, make sure everything looks…well…”A shadow of disapproval etched her face.“You need to make sure it looks…professional. Classic. Refined.”
Emily took a step back and stiffened, her hands slowly balling into fists before she jammed them into her pockets. Her cheeks flushed crimson.
