Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 85565 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 428(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85565 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 428(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
“I’m Sawyer Gilley,” I said, offering my hand when they reached the desk. “And that’s my cousin Karlie. Our family owns and operates the Sea Sprite.” I felt a pang in my heart at the thought that soon I would have to use the past tense whenever I talked about the inn.
The older man took my hand. “Wells Grange. And this is my husband, Conor.”
There was something about the names that triggered the hint of a memory, but before I could try to make the connection of how I might know them, Conor’s eyes brightened. “You’re Sawyer?”
I nodded, wondering if they’d stayed with us in the past and that’s why their names were so familiar. “Sure am. Have you stayed with us before?”
Conor elbowed Wells, who shot him a look before explaining, “No, but we have a friend who stayed here not too long ago, and he couldn’t stop talking about his visit, so we decided we had to come see the place for ourselves. He’d mentioned you by name as being particularly helpful.”
I felt my cheeks begin to warm. “Oh, well, that’s nice to hear. What’s his name? We don’t get a ton of guests, so I’m sure I’ll remember him.”
Wells looked to Conor, whose expression turned slightly alarmed. “Um, NiteRyder.” He visibly cringed. “It’s his screen name. I uh… know him from online.”
“Huh. Well, unfortunately that’s not ringing a bell, but please thank him nevertheless.” I pushed a sign-in form toward them as I turned to grab a key. I hesitated as my hand hovered over the key to what I now thought of as James’s room. Especially after Karlie’s confession, it felt a little weird to be booking anyone into that room. But then again, it was the nicest in the inn, and it felt stupid to just leave it sitting empty.
“It looks like y’all are decorating for an event,” Conor said as Wells filled out the form.
“Yea, sort of a baby slash farewell party,” I said.
Conor chuckled. “Hello baby, farewell sleep?”
“Sleep and I already parted ways, unfortunately,” Karlie piped up from where she was cutting lengths of ribbon to tie off the balloons.
“Yeah, it’s more of a farewell to the inn itself,” I said. “After being in our family for eighty years, the Sea Sprite will be shutting down soon.” I tried to get the words out without my voice breaking. The last thing I needed was to spread my misery to what may end up being our very last guests.
A frown creased Conor’s forehead. “It sounds as if this place means a lot to you.” He slipped his hand into Wells’s. “It must be difficult to let something so important go.”
For some reason his comment made me think of James, and my heart squeezed impossibly tight. I had to swallow twice before I was able to answer. “It is,” I said softly. “I have a lot of memories tied up in this inn.”
I noticed Conor’s eyes begin to glisten in sympathy, and I immediately forced a smile onto my face. “But tonight we celebrate all the good times, and we’d be delighted if you two joined us. There will be plenty to drink and eat, and by sunset’s end half the town will be showing up.”
The two men exchanged a look, a question passing between them, and I noticed Wells nod his head slightly which caused Conor to beam. “We’d love that, thanks,” he said. “Wells has a quick errand to run, but I’d love to stay and help decorate if you’ll let me?”
“Yes!” Karlie shouted before I could answer. “We have like five thousand more balloons to inflate, and we could use all the help we can get.”
Brantley, the photographer, walked in just in time to overhear her plea. “Oh, uh… can I help too? You shouldn’t be holding those… balloons…” His face flushed and he seemed to roll his eyes at himself. “I mean, here, let me help with that.”
Karlie brightened by a thousand watts. “Hey, Brant. You’re here early. Are you shooting another family before us?”
“No, actually. I was wondering, that is… I was hoping you might let me capture some pregnancy photographs of you before the big family gathering. I thought…” He glanced at me, at Conor, at the pile of balloons, at the floor, and at the exit door before looking back at my cousin. “I thought you looked particularly beautiful these days and you might want to capture this moment in time to show your baby one day how lovely his mother was.”
We all stopped and stared at the guy. A split second later, Karlie burst into tears and bolted out the door. The poor photographer almost melted into a mortified puddle of horror right there in front of all of us.
“Here,” Ana Lucia said drily, wandering out of the back office and handing him a travel pack of Sour Patch Kids candy from her pocket without even pausing as she made her way to the parking lot. “Go after her with these. Works like a charm.”