Is she sleeping or lying with her gaze stuck on the ceiling because we’re breathing the same air under the same roof, and that alone can cause an earthquake.
8
SUMMER
I’m more agitated than I should be today. While Bo slept like an angel, I barely slept a wink. Knowing Nash is on the other side of my bedroom wall will not be great for the lines under my eyes.
“So, how’s it going with the brother-in-law? I’m beginning to wonder if you think he’s from hell,” Lexi asks casually as we walk down the hall of the inn toward the event room. She sometimes visits Holden during the day, but lately she’s been decorating the place for fall and Halloween, as she’s an interior designer.
My eyes slide up for a mere second then focus again on my list of upcoming events. “Fine. Barely. Okay. Whatever.”
She stunts a laugh. “Sounds peachy.”
I sigh and give up on trying to work and drop the list, and it hangs by my side in my clasp. “I’m trying to adapt to this whirlwind that my late husband seemed to have insisted he throw my way as a parting gift.” Cynicism is my coping method.
“Makes sense. It’s just you seem completely, well, almost… I can’t pinpoint it, but it’s a mix of good and bad.” She reviews me then extends her palm up. “I mean, you have total right to feel every emotion under the sun lately.”
I throw her a glare because she knows not to treat me like delicate goods. She gawks at me at the reminder.
“Sorry,” she apologizes before she presses the button on her watch. “Shit. Sorry to cut this short, but I need to meet the PTA moms for planning a fundraiser.”
Ah, I needed to hear that because it makes me burst out with a laugh. “I can’t believe you actually had a campaign to be voted head of the PTA.”
“There’s no shame in using cupcakes and bottles of wine to sway the vote,” she defends.
“It’s just… I can only imagine what they all think of you. The hot younger stepmom who infiltrated their circle.”
Lexi shrugs. “They needed a new direction. Their former committee president wasn’t upping her game in school events and was being a total bitch to half the population.”
That whole situation has been fun to see. She loves Holden’s kids like they’re her own, because sometimes a parent comes in many forms. It causes a thought in my head, wondering if Nash will have this sort of feeling with Bo one day in the absence of Zac. The moment I process what I just imagined, I shake it off.
“Oh, hey.” Harlow approaches us, and she looks as though she’s heading to the gym.
“Bye, you guys, gotta run,” Lexi greets her and scurries away.
My smile remains, and Harlow looks over her shoulder and her thumb directs toward Lexi who is turning a corner. “Another kid crisis?”
“Something like that.” She hums a sound in understanding. “What brings you here?”
“Wanted to walk on the treadmill and use some tinyweights to stay in shape.” She glances down at her protruding belly. “Besides, Stone wanted to meet with Holden and your new houseguest apparently. A Dizzy Duck executive meeting.”
I stand in attention. “Oh.”
Crap. I must look uncomfortable with the information that she’s brought to light.
“Is that a problem?”
I bite my bottom lip as she observes me peculiarly.
Assessing the area, I decide mornings are sometimes too quiet here. That’s the tranquility of Lake Spark, right? Guess it’s a good time for a sounding board. “Hey, can I ask you something?”
“Of course.”
I draw my tongue along my lip and tap the nails of my free hand against my dark fitted jeans. The perks of working at a boutique hotel is we can wear what we want within reason.
“Have you ever, I don’t know, thought or known something, and as much as you want to keep it to yourself, you know you shouldn’t? But if you do, then it can kind of turn the tide of daily life?”
Harlow exhales deeply and offers me an empathetic look. “I have.” I’m an idiot, of course she has; past life events that she doesn’t share often because they are just plain horrendous.
