Chapter 5

When I went for my run this morning on the Monroe property, I had the nudge to give Daphne a tree. She was so down last night. I wanted to do something for her, to lift her mood, to remind her why the holidays can be magical.

I can't say I'd felt that way in a long time. Not when I was living with my parents or later when I was enlisted in the military. But I saw how the guests reacted to the inn's ambiance. It made people feel better, and I wanted to lift Fiona's spirits.

Fiona was so hard on herself, feeling responsible for how her siblings felt after their mother's death. But she was just a teenager herself.

Now I was alone with her in her room, and there was nowhere else I wanted to be. It was a nice respite from the day-to-day of the inn.

"Do you need to be at the front desk? If so, I can handle this."

I grinned. "Marley's down there for now, and I wouldn't give you a tree and leave you to decorate it yourself."

"Always a man of responsibility," Fiona said, and I wasn't sure if it was meant as a compliment.

"I suppose that's true." I had a strong sense of right and wrong. My parents were impossible to please. But the military was cut and dry. I knew exactly what was expected. While others struggled in that environment, I thrived. For the first time, I belonged. I learned skills and contributed to something bigger than myself.

The downside was that I wasn't around for Marley and Gram. And I'd let Fiona go, but I was here now. I had a lot to make up for. I wanted to ease the guilt, but I also wanted Fiona to be happy.

I arranged the lights on the tree, then plugged them in. "How does it look?"

Fiona adjusted one row of lights, then stepped back. "That's better."

This entire scene was domestic. If I'd said yes to Fiona's proposal, would we have stayed together? Would we be decorating our own house for the holidays? Would we have kids? Or would Fiona have regretted her decision? I cleared my throat. "Are we ready for ornaments?"

Fiona smiled softly. "I think so."

We worked together for several minutes. I hung the ornaments on the higher branches, and she covered the lower ones.

"We should play some holiday music to get us in the mood." Fiona grabbed her phone from the nightstand and hit Play. "Is this okay?"

"It's more than okay." I hadn't anticipated that decorating a tree together would spark so many hopes and desires. So many what-ifs. There was no way to know what the future might have been. We made our decisions—right or wrong—and we had to live with them.

Fiona had moved on, and I had too.

We worked in silence, Fiona occasionally asking me for my opinion about the placement of one of the ornaments. I never cared about decorating before, but I wanted this to be perfect for her. I wanted her to lie in her bed at night and stare at the twinkling lights, knowing I'd given them to her. I wanted to make her life beautiful.

I couldn't reconcile my feelings for her. My desire to make her life better with the idea that our relationship was in the past.

When Fiona placed the last ornament on the tree, we stepped back to consider our work.

Fiona pointed toward the top of the tree. "We're missing a tree topper."

"I'll have to look for one. I'm sure we have extras somewhere."

Fiona shook her head. "Don't worry about it. This is fine."

But I wanted her to have everything.

Then Fiona's stomach rumbled, and she covered it with her hand.

I raised a brow. "Did you eat breakfast?"

"Just coffee," Fiona said sheepishly.

"Come down and grab a muffin. Then we can take a look at that old theater."

Fiona clapped her hands together. "We can do that this morning?"

"I have to take advantage of Marley working the front desk."

I waited for Fiona to put on her shoes. Then we went downstairs to the kitchen. There weren't many guests milling about. By this time of the morning, most were already exploring the area, visiting historic Annapolis, shopping, or even taking the drive to Washington D.C.

In the kitchen, I pulled the cover off the pastries, waiting for Fiona to choose a croissant before I covered it again. Then I poured her more coffee.

Fiona sat on the stool at the counter. "I could get used to the service here."

I winked at her. "Especially when your server is so handsome."

She chuckled. "If you say so."

"You never complained before." She'd always said how good looking I was when we were dating.

Fiona frowned as she pretended to consider me. "You're okay."

I shook my head. "I should come over there and kiss you. Remind you how things were between us."

Her lips parted. "We can't."

I shook my head. "Sorry. I don't know where that came from."

"Our relationship is in the past. We can't be anything more than friends." Fiona's tone was unyielding.

"I can handle that." I wasn't so sure I could be friends with her and not follow through on my promises. Spending time together in her room decorating that tree brought out all the dreams and hopes we'd had for our future. I was supposed to wait for her to graduate. Then we'd move in together, get married, and start our life.

The one thing we always missed in those plans was what I would do. That was one of the reasons I'd looked into the military. I couldn't afford college, and my parents wouldn't fill out any of the paperwork so I could apply for scholarships. I wasn't sure I was college material, but I'd wanted to be with Fiona.

Fiona blew air over her coffee. "Good. Because that's all I can handle. I'm on break from my job and my last relationship."

"What do you mean?"

"The guy who got the promotion was my boyfriend."

I sucked in a breath. "He broke up with you?"

She shook her head. "I did the honors. I was upset that he didn't stand up for me, ask why he'd gotten the job over someone who'd been there longer and had more experience. He was happy to take the promotion, no questions asked. Maybe that was unfair."

I chuckled without any humor. "I don't think so. It doesn't sound like he deserved the job. He should've stepped back. A better man would have."

"You always see things so black-and-white, right or wrong."

"It was easy to see those lines when you grew up the way I did." Dodging insults, hunting for food in my grandmother's house to feed my little sister. I'd crossed many lines back then by necessity. I tried to be better about that now.

"We didn't have a good relationship. We were together because we worked together and it was convenient. I wasn't even upset after I broke up with him. I wasn't invested in him."

A guilty expression crossed her face. I wondered what that was about.

I cleaned the counters, and when she was done eating, I said, "Let's check out the theater. Then I need to take a shower."

I'd completed my run, then detoured to Heath's to ask him about a tree for Fiona. I hadn't had time to take a shower, and I didn't want to put this off for later. I was worried Fiona would come up with some reason why it wasn't a good idea.

Fiona placed her dish in the dishwasher.

I moved closer to her. "You don't need to clean. You're a guest."

"You're not treating me like a regular guest. Unless you provide freshly cut Christmas trees for everyone else? Then stick around and decorate it?"

I chuckled. "You're right. I'm not."

"Then I can clean up after myself while I'm here."

Time seemed to stand still. I wanted to reach out and brush the strand of hair on her forehead away. I wanted to see if kissing her would be any different than when we'd kissed as teens. But now wasn't the time.

Fiona took a step back, breaking the spell. "Should we check out the theater now?"

I cleared my throat, trying to erase the desire for her out of my head. "Let's go."

I led her down the hallway to the door for the basement. "When Marley renovated, she focused on the guest rooms and the common area. But we didn't touch anything down here."

At the bottom of the stairs, I turned on the lights. The hallway was wide and the ceilings tall, so it didn't feel like a basement. Although it was musty from disuse. When we were kids, this area was open for hotel guests.

"What else is down here? I can't remember anything but the movie theater and maybe a room with pool tables."

As we passed each doorway, I opened the door and let her get a glimpse before we moved onto the next. "A bowling alley, a game room, a bar, and the theater."

"This could be amazing," Fiona said, her voice filled with awe.

"You think we should open it up again?"

Fiona reached for my hand. "I got tingles when I came down here. I can see the guests getting a drink at the bar, bowling, or playing pool. It sets your inn apart from regular hotels. This place has so much history, so many possibilities." She turned so we were facing each other.

Her energy was contagious.

I flicked on the lights for the theater. The seats were covered in white cloths. "We'd need to do a lot of work. The carpet needs to be replaced, the curtains, maybe even the seats."

Fiona walked down the aisle and came to a stop before the stage, then turned to face me. "I'd want to preserve everything we could. You said you work with Heath in his contracting business?"

I nodded as I stuffed my hands into my pockets. "When I have time."

"Would you be willing to put in a little sweat equity here?" Fiona gestured around the room.

Her entire body radiated excitement in a way I hadn't seen since she'd been back. I wanted to see more of her passion for this project. "I don't think we have money for something like this. But we could look into fixing the carpet in the hall and the theater. Then we can add on as we go."

"I wish we could do it all. I'd love to bring this place back to life."

I wanted that too. I wanted to keep Fiona in this heightened state of passion. I had to curl my hands into fists so I wouldn't cross the room and kiss her.

"What are you doing down here?" Marley's voice came from the doorway.

I felt like we'd been caught doing something we shouldn't when all I'd been doing was showing Fiona the space.

Fiona crossed the room toward Marley. "I hope you don't mind. Aiden mentioned the theater, and I had to see it again. This place is more gorgeous than I remembered."

Marley grimaced as she looked around. "It's something all right. It's dusty and worn. No one's been down here in years."

"What do you think about restoring it, keeping as much of the original architecture as possible?" Fiona asked.

"I told her we didn't have the money for a full renovation now. But maybe we could look into what it would take to have a working theater again," I said to Marley.

Marley looked at Fiona. "Tell me what you're thinking."

I didn't want to get Fiona's hopes up, but Marley had an instinct for this kind of thing. She knew when something was valuable and when it wasn't. So I backed away while Fiona took her through the theater, telling her everything she wanted to keep: the chairs, the curtain, and even the wood on the floor of the stage.

"We'd have to get a contractor's opinion. Maybe have Heath take a look at it and give us an estimate," Marley said.

"I can help with the work," I offered.

Marley raised a brow. "How are you going to do that and run the front desk, fix whatever needs to be repaired, and handle breakfast for the guests?"

I let out a breath. "If you're on board with renovating the theater, I'd consider hiring someone to handle the front desk."

Marley nodded. "I think Cole's sister, Charlotte, is looking for a job. She's been helping around the shop and the farm. We could talk to her about it, but are you sure you're ready to give up the day-to-day running of the inn?"

"I'll still be around. I'll fix things as issues arise, but it would be nice to have more freedom and not be tied to the front desk." Marley and Heath used to live at the inn to assist with the daily operations. When I got more comfortable with it, Marley and Heath moved back to his cabin. It wouldn't be easy handing that duty over to someone who wasn't family but I wanted to free up time to work on the theater.

Marley grinned at Fiona. "I've been trying to get him to hire someone for ages. I guess we have you to thank."

Fiona's eyes widened. "I don't know about that."

I waved Marley off. "Let's not make a big deal out of it. You wanted to show movies to the guests, and we can play them in the great room on a projector, but a theater would be even better."

It was small, nothing like a regular movie theater, but it could hold a decent amount of people.

"If you want to keep the original seats, we'd be able to get more people in here for showings. Most theaters have those recliner-style seats, and they take up more room."

Fiona peeked under one of the cloths, sending dust into the air. "I think we should keep them. They add to the ambiance."

"I agree."

"Do we sell tickets, or is it something we offer for free?" Marley asked Fiona, and I could tell she was testing Fiona's knowledge of marketing and business.

"I think people expect to pay for a movie, especially in a setting like this. Hotels host movie nights, but guests usually sit on the floor, and they're directed toward kids." Fiona leaned a hip against the arm rest. "This will be a full-service theater. There's even a concession stand."

I was positive it was the tone Fiona used when she consulted with various hotel managers on site.

Marley nodded. "Let me think about it. I'll get Heath over here to inspect the space. I suspect we'll need to add larger bathrooms to comply with building regulations."

From what I remembered, there was only one individual bathroom down here, but there was plenty of space to expand.

Fiona considered Marley. "What do you think about renovating the entire space?"

"Fiona worked for a large hotel chain in management."

"I dealt with a lot of red tape and bureaucracy that doesn't exist here. We have the freedom to do whatever you want. There's a lot of exciting potential here. If you renovated this space, it will place Matthews Inn above the rest, and you have a lot of competition in Annapolis with all the historic inns."

"I think so too. But this time, I don't want to do this on my own. Hotel management and renovations are not in my wheelhouse. If we decide to go forward with this project, will you partner with me on it?"

Fiona's mouth opened then closed. Finally, she said, "I'll have to think about it. I can get you started, and maybe even consult long-distance. But I suspect you want someone on site."

"If we do the entire project, yes." Marley waved a hand in her direction. "But we have time to think about it. We don't know what Heath is going to say or what the estimate will be."

I was positive Heath would give her a good deal, but he'd need labor which I was happy to provide. I wanted to see Gram's inn restored to its original glory. Some part of me wanted to prove that I was no longer that kid who lived in a trailer. I was better than that. And if it meant Fiona would be working beside me, I was all for it.