“It was only stage 1, so they’re pretty confident they got it all, but she had more tests on Friday, and she’s waiting for the results,” Reese informed her before she let out a scoff. “Myfatherdidn’t even spend time with my mom today. Didn’t help take her to the appointment yesterday. Didn’t stay tonight, even though I’m sure my mom would have appreciated not going to bed alone, worrying about the results like she is.”
Reese’s words made Sydney feel sick, and she pulled her in even closer, intertwining their legs. “That’s awful.”
She could feel Reese nodding against her chest. “I know. I was trying to be on my best behavior today, but once I knew that, andthen when my dad started pretending like he’d ever welcome me at The Devereux Group, I sort of lost it.”
“I think it would have made complete sense if you’d flipped the table,” Sydney said seriously. “I’m so sorry you have to deal with him.”
“I’m more sorry this means that you have to deal with him,” Reese responded before she let out another strangled sound. “I can’t believe that I ever wanted to be like him. That I looked up to him growing up. God, I’m so stupid.”
“No, you aren’t,” Sydney said. As she felt Reese starting to get worked up again, she ran a soothing hand up and down her arm. “You aren’t. He’s the stupid one. Throwing away an amazing daughter like you for some outdated gender roles and ideas about business? He may be the dumbest man on the planet.”
They lay there quietly, with Sydney stroking Reese’s temple again.
Finally, Reese’s soft voice floated up from where Sydney had wondered if she’d fallen asleep against her. “I think I’ve seen too many ‘Florida Man’ articles to believe he’s thedumbest.”
Sydney’s heart stuttered when she felt Reese smile against her chest, and without thinking, she leaned down and kissed the top of Reese’s forehead.
“That was a friendly kiss, to be clear,” she said quickly, hoping Reese didn’t pull back into herself.
Reese nuzzled in closer, her voice sleepy when she said, “I don’t care what kind of kiss it is. I just know that I appreciate it, and you.”
In seconds, Sydney could feel the even rise and fall of Reese’s chest.
Before she drifted off to sleep herself, she thought about how this was what she’d always wanted, to hold someone close, just two people finding comfort with one another in the world.
It wasn’t how she’d expected to have it, but she wouldn’t change a single thing.
Twelve
The daybefore the Fourth of July was the busiest Reese had survived—or was trying to survive—yet.
More accurately, all week had been a slew of nonstop check-ins, checkouts, and problems with guests, staff, and vendors.
They were also, at Reese’s insistence, opening their patio to the public to watch the fireworks show that the city would be setting off tomorrow at dusk.
The Stone’s Throw Inn oozed charm and stayed busy during the summer, but after poring over the finances, her hope was to improve the property’s visibility to encourage higher occupancy rates year-round.
The first step was getting more people in the door to test handling a bigger crowd, at which point she’d move on to planning specialty weekends to attract specific types of guests. Fall foliage tours. Whale watching. Microbrew tours. Gallery shows for local artists in the great room, set to the side of the lobby where guests generally had afternoon tea or read a book.
Everything was on the table, and even though they were in the throes of summer, she already had fall and beyond on the brain.
She was barely keeping her head above water responding to all the emails.
Which was why she didn’t immediately look up when a shadow fell across her laptop, checking her schedule, as she was, for the dozenth time that day to make sure that everything and everyone were where they were supposed to be.
“I did the whole speech and everything.” It was Hallie, her voice a mix of confusion and frustration that was at odds with her usually bubbly demeanor.
Reese looked up then, giving the lobby a quick once-over to make sure they were alone. “What speech?”
She racked her brain, trying to remember what Hallie could have told her in the last few days. She knew how to use the software, blessedly. Candace and Greg had spent the first part of the week in another lovers’ quarrel but as of this morning were back on the mend. And Reese had given up any false ideas about firing Candace, having seen her speed and efficiency firsthand. She’d pushed any vendors coming on-site back to the week after the Fourth, knowing she wouldn’t have time to deal with them anyway.
Honestly, she thought she’d been killing it this week. Between spending time with her mom in the evenings, who, she’d learned, spent most of the week alone while her dad stayed in Boston, and staying on top of her first holiday week as owner, she’d barely slept more than six hours a night since coming back from Bingham.
Hallie looked down at her, lips pursed.
It sent a skittering, nervous feeling through Reese.
Her lifeline to running the inn leaned in closer, and the churning in Reese’s stomach intensified.
