‘Elliot’s good. I just needed…’To get thoroughly fucked by a sweet man who loves me? Nope, not gonna say that.‘I just needed to see him. And I felt like taking a… walk.’
‘In a storm?’ Her mother waited with raised brows.
‘I like the rain.’
Mom laughed.
‘We had a nice night,’ Daisy insisted. ‘And that’s all I’m telling you,mother.’
Her mom rolled her eyes again. ‘We’re all adults here, Daisy-girl. A few details wouldn’t kill you.’
Daisy just shook her head and went back to poring over the books. She wasn’t in the mood to spill her guts to her mom. Especially not about everything she and Elliot had done that night. And nearly every night since. And most mornings. And yesterday afternoon… They’d been making up for lost time. And it had been amazing and wonderful and so freaking perfect that Daisy had been pinching herself every day.
She wasn’t going to panic. She wasn’t going to assume Elliot would eventually tire of her and leave. She was going to take what the universe was giving her.
Or at least that was what she told herself in the mirror every morning. Even when, deep down, this thing with Elliot felt so new and fragile that she didn’t even want to breathe around it. She didn’t want to talk about it for fear of jinxing it.
Breaking the curse was still a work in progress.
But Elliot showed up every day for her, and she was going to do the same for him.
Maybe she had to trust the universe more. It had brought her Elliot, maybe it would bring new business too. She just hoped it happened soon.
‘Mom, give me some of those crystals.’
Her mother’s face lit up as she reached into the deep pockets of her dress and pulled out a few crystals. ‘I picked these for prosperity,’ she said and Daisy couldn’t help but return her smile. The women in her family had been running this shop for decades. Maybe it was time she trusted the process.
‘Thanks, Mom.’
‘Love you, Daisy-girl.’ Her mom planted a kiss on her cheek.
‘Love you, too.’
‘Okay now let’s think of the best placement for these.’
‘Sure.’ Daisy wiped the sweat from her brow and got to work.
* * *
‘I can finally visualize everything!’ Mary said as she wandered through the newly framed motel-style rooms. They’d gotten the asbestos taken care of, which had set them back about a week, but now they were actually starting to make progress.
‘I’m glad,’ Elliot said, following along behind Mary and Joseph. He wanted to point out that he’d shown them multiple 3D renderings of what everything would look like, but he was just happy that the owners were happy. He’d learned over the past few months that Mary had a tendency to spend a lot of time second-guessing herself while watching home reno shows. It was a bad combination. And Joseph agreed with whatever she wanted, even when she didn’t know what she wanted. It hadn’t exactly made things easy, but Elliot was excited to see his plans begin to come to fruition.
‘I agree,’ Joseph added, surprising no one. ‘Things are really shaping up.’
He took Mary’s hand and the two of them stood in what would someday be room number 7, beaming at Elliot. They were both younger than what he’d been expecting when he took the job. He’d pictured an elderly couple, but neither of them were over fifty and both considered running half marathons to be a good use of their time. A sentiment Elliot could not relate to. But they were full of energy and buying the inn had been their big new adventure when their kids went off to college. They’d only been running it for a few years now, and Elliot knew they were putting a lot of their hopes and funds into this renovation.
‘I’m really glad you guys are pleased,’ he said. ‘It’ll only get better from here.’
‘Thank you for taking us through it,’ Mary said. ‘I’ll sleep better now,’ she added with a chuckle.
‘Of course.’ Elliot walked them out, feeling more than a little proud of himself for the successful meeting. He was still in a good mood when Caleb showed up an hour later.
‘How’d the walk through go this morning?’ he asked.
‘Joseph and Mary are happy which is not something I get to say a lot, so nice work.’ Elliot clapped his brother on the shoulder, and Caleb stopped in his tracks.
‘What’s going on with you?’ Caleb asked.
