Chris #2
My eyes widened and I blazed past him. "Oh my god! Are you really telling me you don't know about the Kringle comet? Also, I need to check you in. Oops, I forgot."
"I hope your boss is better than you," he muttered behind me. I stopped in the doorway and stomped on his very expensive loafer.
"Your shoes suck and so do you," I snapped and returned to walking as he yelped in pain behind me.
My cheeks were burning as I slipped behind the small counter with the check-in tablet.
Guilt rushed through me, but I didn't appreciate what he said.
I sighed and looked over the tablet with a fake but tight smile.
"I'm sorry. You've been fairly dismissive of me the last few minutes.
Or maybe it's this place? This place is amazing and if you can't see it, you're a little lost."
"I had heard about another B&B, The Kraken, when I was coming through. That's where I wanted to stay."
I made a face as I tapped around different rooms. "Card?"
He pulled out a wallet and slid a platinum card towards me. Yep, he was rich rich. "Chris Edwards."
I tapped the card on the reader before I started typing his name. "That B&B isn't in business."
"But it's on the land in the zoning region, right?"
I sighed and rolled my eyes. "It should have been preserved as a historical thing, but it wasn't. It was in ruins which is why Lou opened this place years ago. It was..." My eyes darted away from his smug and too handsome face. "...her dream."
"What about Lou's dream?"
I waved around the room before I grabbed a key. "Wouldn't this be an amazing dream to own? Anyways, we at this B&B are hosting a Kringle comet event when it's supposed to cross the sky. You should come." I passed him his room key before stomping up the stairs. "This way!"
"I'll only go if you promise to hit me some more."
"I already apologized for that," I muttered. "And that's not even a smooth line. Plus, I've been really clear on what sort of romance I want, not a one-night stand."
"You don't think I could be romantic?"
"I have thoughts about who you are." Those thoughts were: he was part of the business that wanted to buy the land my B&B was on.
I couldn't flirt with the enemy. Quickly, I stopped at his door and pointed to it.
"This is your room. I'm on this same floor unless for some reason we get overwhelmed with guests. "
Chris
My brows furrowed. The tall and plump maid in front of me shifted her feet before glancing at another door. My guess is that it was hers. She rolled her eyes and sighed as if the silence between us was bothering her. "What do you mean?"
"There's another secondary building. There was a plan there, but we've never had enough people to use it. I—I mean, Lou has always offered if staff wanted to stay there. For a minute last year, a maid stayed in one of the rooms, but she left to go to college."
"Seems like that buyout might be best for Lou," I said as I turned the handle of my room.
Sticking my foot in the door, I threw my bags inside and leaned against the frame instead of going inside.
I crossed my arms and watched her eyes follow my arms. I smiled at her as her cheeks darkened in a lovely fashion.
With her blush, the idea of pulling off her jacket and seeing all her curves exposed and licking every single one of them seemed like a tempting idea.
Thoughts of gripping her wide hips as I pounded her filled my thoughts.
She brushed her long brown hair behind her earring-covered ears and a peek of pink streaks were exposed.
This woman had layers and I wanted to reveal every single one of them.
As if she realized she was staring, she looked up and glared. "This is Lou's dream. So shove it. I'll kick you next time. And if you happen to know who wants to take the land, I'll also kick them, too."
"You seem kinda bratty," I said with a smirk.
The fire in her eyes shifted and she blinked. A tight smile filled her face. "I'm not a brat."
I shrugged. "What time is breakfast?"
"I guess eight. I've got some stuff to do tomorrow." Her eyes drifted away from mine as if she was calculating things in her head.
"Who's gonna show me around town?"
"Uh, yourself unless you want to decorate the park with me."
"I can do that. I would have been skiing if I hadn't wrecked. Unless I can convince Randall to fix my car."
She giggled. "Good luck."
"What's your name?"
Her eyes narrowed. "Lulu."
"Nice to meet you. Guess it's a good thing that you're not named Lou, right?"
Lulu rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Anyways. I got some googling to do and sleep. Whatever."
"I'll help you," I said.
Her smile tightened as she looked over her shoulder at me. "There's a lot of things I need to do and need help with. But I don't want to lose this B&B. It's my job and I love it," she whispered.
My heart fell, because after the holidays, the plan was to buy this land for my client. I couldn't help her with this. "Just let me help you with your Kringle Night."
Lulu turned around and closed one eye as she was thinking. "Uh, you want to dress up as Santa? I need a Santa for my event, too."
My eyes shot up because this wasn't what I planned, but something inside me wanted to help her. "I could do it."
A real smile that reached her eyes graced her pretty face.
"Awesome. After breakfast, we'll go!" She turned on her heel and walked towards her room.
Once her door shut, I looked around the hallway.
This B&B was cute, and I could understand why she loved it.
I pulled the B&B pamphlet out of my pocket as I stepped into my room.
The brochure bragged about the hiking trails in the area that featured the historical Kraken B&B.
Whoever created this brochure—and this B&B—really loved it.
A brush of guilt flowed through me. Frowning, I wondered if I could work something out with my client to save this B&B.
I pulled out my laptop and started to look at the lands and send some emails to my co-workers.
Lulu
Sighing, I leaned over the kitchen counter as I watched Molly pull out some new scones from the oven. They sent a smell washing through the air and caused my stomach to rumble. "Thanks for coming in so quickly. I know I told you I had no one at the B&B."
Molly smiled and started stacking the scones onto the cookie rack.
"It's no problem at all. Anyways, I was planning to come over here before the holidays to make sure you had some food, real food.
Your mother would kill me if she knew you were eating TV dinners on Christmas.
Like I said, you're invited to Christmas breakfast with me if you want leftovers all day long. "
"I want to sleep in on Christmas," I whined.
Molly cackled. "You know just as much as I know that if you have a guest, you're not gonna sleep in. You should have enough scones for tomorrow and the next day. After that I'll come over with a fresh batch. I'll give you some during Kringle night."
"You know I won't be able to do this without you."
A flash of sadness passed Molly's face. "You know you're like another daughter to me and I know that your mother would want me to help you as much as I could. Coming over and making some scones and muffins and pancakes is the least I could do. You're doing it all and you're doing an amazing job."
The silence spread around us, almost engulfing us in our combined sorrow.
I lost my mom years ago, but the insurance claim allowed me to start the B & B.
In a twisted way, her death inspired Molly to run for various positions in our government until she was mayor.
Shaking away the unspoken misery between us, I announced, "The guest here is kinda like a dillweed.
I think he's part of the company that wants to buy the land that the B&B is on. What do you think about it?"
Molly fiddled with the edge of the frilly apron she wore while cooking and looked away from me. "Well, you know the town needs a little bit of growth and this is really good land. We just have to see what the board says. I can't really give you anything."
"Are you not gonna fight for this place? It was my mom's dream. Y'all were going to open this B&B together and life went other ways."
"You know I will fight for this as much as I can, but I do have to think about my constituents, too."
Molly was right because Molly wasn't just an old friend of my mother's, she was also the mayor of the sleepy little town, which probably worked out good for me sometimes, but not all the time.
Her coming over and making breakfast for the B&B was a favor to my mom.
In all honesty, everything about the B&B was because of my mom.
It was my mom's dream, but I grew up listening to her talk about the B&B and how amazing it could be, and it became our dream too.
I wouldn't have been able to do it without her, but unfortunately that meant I was only able to do it because of the life insurance money.
I turned away from Molly and looked out the window. Small flakes of snow peppered the sky.
The snow swirled around outside and I tapped my phone. She was the mayor and sometimes she had to think about the town more than me. "I understand but you know how much this B&B means to me."
"I will do my best to make sure that everything works out exactly the way that's best for everyone involved."
"You're playing with fire, girly," Molly said. "But it's your life, and I am not your mother. If this is how you want to do things, I'll support you. And I'll make sure, if I see Mr. Mysterious Dillweed, to call you Lulu instead of Lou."
I beamed at her and straightened up as I stuffed a scone into my mouth. The burning pastry melted as I moaned softly while chewing. "You're the best, Molly."
"Of course I'm the best. Now, I have to go to work. You text me if there are any new updates, and I'll see you tomorrow night. How does that sound?"