Chapter 19

NINETEEN

Emily approached Diana’s office door on Wednesday morning with a spring in her step and butterflies flapping in her stomach. When Diana had asked on Monday if Emily would be interested in helping her interview candidates for the new manager position, she’d been floored. And thrilled. And…overwhelmed.

She’d just gotten used to having Diana here at the inn, and already it was time to hire her replacement. Still, it meant a lot that Diana was letting her help. It showed that Diana still wanted Emily’s family to have a voice even though they didn’t own the place anymore.

The office door was open, and Diana looked impressive as hell in a royal-blue blouse and dark gray slacks, eyes squinting slightly as she stared at the laptop in front of her. Emily knocked on the doorframe to get her attention.

Diana looked up, a warm smile softening her features. “Perfect timing.”

Emily looked around the office that her grandmothers used to share. It had sometimes felt a bit cramped then, but it seemed almost spacious with just one desk in it. Diana had added a couple of guest chairs, and Emily moved toward one of them.

Diana shook her head. “We’ll go to the break room so we can sit around the table together. I’ve got five candidates coming today. They’re my top five after conducting phone interviews, and I’m fairly confident we’ll find our new manager in this group, but I have a B list to consider tomorrow if not.”

Emily nodded. “Sounds good, but I bet you’ve got a winner in these five.”

“I hope so.” Diana stood and handed Emily a manila folder. “Résumés. I’ve also added notes from the phone interview after each one.”

“Of course you did,” Emily said with a little laugh.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” There was a slight edge in Diana’s tone, as if she’d taken offense. She seemed to have embraced the decision they’d made during the hike on Sunday and had been even more friendly with Emily than before while keeping things completely platonic between them, but this was a reminder that some tension still lurked beneath the surface.

“It means you’re super prepared as usual, and I think you’re very impressive,” Emily told her, loving the way Diana softened in response.

“Oh. Thank you.”

“You were right when I met you, you know,” Emily said. “You’re meant to be a CEO. It suits you.”

“I don’t feel like much of a CEO yet,” Diana said as she came out from behind her desk. “Only a small business owner, but this is just the beginning for Aster, I’m sure.”

“I’m sure too. Now let’s go find our new manager.”

Three hours later, Emily sat beside Diana in the break room as the second candidate left. The next person wasn’t scheduled to arrive until after lunch. She looked at Diana. “What did you think of Eric?”

“He’s not the right fit,” Diana responded. “I hope you agree.”

“I do. He’s qualified enough, but he just…I can’t put my finger on it.”

“It was his attitude.” Diana stood, smoothing a hand over the front of her slacks where wrinkles had gathered over the course of the morning. “He seemed more interested in profit than in preserving the character of the inn. He hid that from me on the phone, but his body language today gave him away. His heart wasn’t in it when I brought up the inn’s LGBTQ legacy.”

“His heart wasn’t in it,” Emily mused. “Yeah, I think that’s exactly it. My grandmas were right to sell to you, Diana. You’re going to do them proud.”

Diana’s eyes sparkled. “Thank you.”

“Want to grab lunch together?” she asked. Mariah was covering the front desk today, while Emily helped Diana with interviews, so she was free to go out for lunch if she wanted.

“I’d like that,” Diana agreed.

They drove to the café, where Emily ordered a cup of corn chowder and a BLT while Diana got a salad with local smoked trout and goat cheese.

“I was surprised to see Carter in town yesterday,” Emily said after the waitress had taken their orders. “Is he staying in Vermont until you leave?”

Diana sighed, lifting her water for a sip. “I think he might. He…we had a disagreement on Sunday night.”

“Really?” Emily felt her eyebrows go up. She’d always been so impressed with how well Diana got along with her nephew, so this was totally unexpected .

“He was supposed to drive back to Boston on Sunday evening, but instead, he just announced that he was going out, that I shouldn’t wait up, and that apparently, he’d brought his laptop and planned to work here this week. As if that’s his decision to make.”

“Uh-oh,” Emily said. “Does it matter whether he works here or in Boston?”

“Of course it matters.” Diana frowned. “He’s researching a hotel in Maryland for me this week, which can be done anywhere, but the landline dedicated to my company is in Boston. We can dial in to the voicemail from here, but no one’s there answering the phone. I have plants that need to be watered and errands that need to be run. And mostly, it matters because I’m the boss and he should have asked before he decided to just stay here because he met a guy he likes.”

Emily flinched. “Yeah, he should have. Is it because of Drew, you think?”

“I do, but now he’s defensive about it and won’t talk to me.” She threw her hands up in frustration. “I’ve never fought with him like this before. Maybe it was a mistake to hire him. Right now, I miss just being the fun aunt.”

“That’s hard.”

“I’m glad he’s met someone. I truly am,” Diana said. “And he’s still doing a good job for me at Aster, so maybe everything’s fine. I don’t know. I wouldn’t accept this behavior from any other employee, but I don’t work for Devlin Hotels anymore. It’s just Carter and me, and the whole idea with Aster was to have a fresh start, to make my own rules.”

Emily pondered that for a minute. “I think your roles have shifted, and that’s probably hard for both of you. He went straight from his parents’ house to yours, and now you feel a little bit like a parental figure to him at a time when he wants to feel mature and independent. I bet things will settle soon.”

“I hope so. I’m going to talk to him tonight. I’m done letting him avoid me. It’s childish.” She wrinkled her nose.

Emily laughed. “So you’re looking at a hotel in Maryland next?”

Diana nodded. “I’ve got four I’m considering, but I think this one in Maryland will be my next purchase.”

“Cool. Will you work there for two months too?”

“No. In most cases, there will be a manager or managers already in place, so I’ll only stay for a week or so during the transition. With your grandmothers in a hurry to head out and see the world, and since this was my first solo purchase, it made sense for me to step in temporarily until I’d found a new manager.”

Emily’s phone dinged with a notification, and when she looked, she saw that her mom had tagged her on Facebook again. She tapped it, bringing up a photo of her mom sipping from a steaming mug in an eclectically decorated coffee shop. “The colors in here remind me of your paintings, Emily,” the caption read.

Emily stabbed the screen again to close Facebook, discomfort crawling over her skin. She exhaled, refocusing on Diana.

“It was great to see you at the meeting the other day, Diana,” Cheryl O’Malley, the owner of the café, said with a warm smile as she passed their table.

“You too, Cheryl,” Diana responded. “Thank you for the invitation.”

Cheryl nodded. “Hope to see you again next month.”

“What was that about?” Emily asked once Cheryl had gone in back. “What meeting? ”

“Cheryl invited me to join the local women-in-business group,” Diana told her. “It was really interesting and a great networking opportunity.”

Emily’s heart melted just a little bit more to know that Diana had done so much to ingratiate herself to the community…that maybe Diana was starting to enjoy herself in Crescent Falls. She was making real connections here.

They talked through the rest of their lunch break, and Emily was fascinated to learn more about Diana’s new business and all the things she planned to accomplish over the next year. Emily hadn’t been able to ask her about it before, when they were still avoiding personal conversations. Diana’s business plans were as impressive as she’d expected.

Diana was as impressive as she’d expected.

After lunch, they returned to the break room to meet their next candidate. Emily had hoped the new manager might be someone local, but she’d already looked over the résumés, and all five candidates were from out of town. That wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. After all, Crescent Falls was a tiny town, perhaps too small to contain the right person for this job, but it was also a town that liked familiarity. And none of these names were familiar.

The inn felt less personal to Emily with every new decision made. Maybe it was time for her to move on too. “Change can wait until tomorrow” had been her motto for entirely too long. She needed to do the work to allow herself to make a full-time living as an artist.

Mariah knocked at the doorway with a brunette about Emily’s age standing beside her. “Ms. Devlin. Your next guest is here.”

The brunette extended her hand. “Paige Seton. Nice to meet you.”

It was past five when Diana and Emily finished the last interview. Diana felt the beginnings of a tension headache squeezing her skull. The day had been long, but productive. At least, she hoped it was. “What did you think?” she asked as she stood, stretching her back. The chairs in this room weren’t comfortable enough for a full day of use like this. She was sore. Hopefully, her evening jog would help.

“I know who I’d pick,” Emily said as she stood as well, rolling her shoulders.

“Who?” Diana asked, hoping it was the same person she had decided on. All five candidates were qualified. She felt confident that three of them could do well in the position, but there was one who stood out in her mind.

“Paige,” Emily said. “She has the experience, the enthusiasm, and she’s queer. I know we can’t hire her based on that, but it sure doesn’t hurt.”

“No, it doesn’t,” Diana said, “and she’s my pick too.”

Emily beamed at her. “Really?”

Diana nodded. “Which means it’s an easy decision. I’ll call her in the morning and offer her the position.”

“Awesome. I think she’s going to be a great fit,” Emily said. “Thanks so much for letting me help.”

Diana reached for her hand and gave it a quick squeeze, her fingers tangling with Emily’s. It was surprisingly hard to let go. “I was glad to have your input.”

They smiled at each other, and the energy in the room seemed to shift. Diana could still feel the warmth of Emily’s skin on hers, and her mind was searching feebly for excuses to prolong the moment. She wanted to ask Emily to dinner, even though she knew it couldn’t happen. The two of them couldn’t go to dinner without it feeling like a date, for Diana, at least.

This was more than attraction. She’d developed real feelings for Emily, which was completely unexpected. She clasped her hands behind her back to remove the temptation to fidget…or to reach for Emily again. “I’ll see you tomorrow, then.”

Emily nodded before heading toward the door. “Bye, Diana.”

Diana watched her go, and then she exhaled, surprised to realize her heart was pounding. When had she developed such strong feelings for Emily? Perhaps she’d mistaken her feelings for awkward tension before, but now that she and Emily were hanging out together as friends, there was no more hiding from the truth.

Nothing to do about it either. Diana was mature enough to know she’d get past this. Once she was back in Boston, she’d put her energy into moving on. Maybe this was a wake-up call, though, a realization that she was ready for a serious relationship now that she no longer feared career retribution. Maybe now she could focus on fully realizing her potential, both at work and in her personal life.

She’d start by addressing the conflict between her and Carter. This had gone on long enough. She picked up her phone and sent him a quick text, telling him she expected him home for dinner at seven. That gave her enough time to go for a run and fix something for them to eat. She was pretty sure she had a chicken in the fridge that she could roast.

She gathered her laptop from the table, stopped in her office to collect her purse, and then she was on her way to the rental cabin. Once there, she seasoned the chicken and put it in the oven, along with some potatoes, and then set out on her run.

She sweated through her frustration as she completed her usual two-mile loop. Her mountain stamina was definitely improving. She was panting but not exhausted when she finished. Even better, when she came out of her bedroom a few minutes before seven to check on dinner, Carter was in the kitchen carving the chicken for her.

“Hi,” he said sheepishly as he placed a serving of chicken and potatoes on a plate and handed it to her.

“Thank you. I hoped we could talk over dinner.”

“Yeah. I figured that was coming. Sorry for how I acted on Sunday.”

She nodded, gesturing for him to join her at the table. They took a minute to collect drinks and cutlery and then sat across from each other. “I know things seem casual because it’s just you and me at Aster so far, but this is a business. You have to talk to me before you decide to stay up here for a week. I had things I needed you to do in Boston.”

“I’m sorry. I guess I didn’t think it would be a big deal.”

“Carter, I just left behind the security of a position that was supposed to have seen me through retirement. I’ve invested my life savings into a risky new business. Everything is a big deal to me right now.”

He looked up at her, eyes wide, forkful of chicken suspended halfway to his mouth. “I…I never thought of it like that. For me, this was just a fun new adventure.”

“It is a fun adventure, but it’s also a big fucking deal. If this business fails, it could ruin me. I honestly don’t know what I would do. I certainly couldn’t afford to try again with something new. I’d probably have to crawl back to Devlin Hotels and beg for whatever position they would give me, which undoubtedly wouldn’t be as good as what I gave up. ”

Carter gulped. “I get it now. I…I’m really sorry, Aunt DD.”

“When I say I’m counting on you, this is what I mean, okay? I really am counting on you.”

Carter’s eyes had gotten shiny, his cheeks red. “I’ll take it more seriously from now on, I promise.”

“I appreciate that.” She cut a bite of her chicken. “Things are going well for you and Drew, then?”

“It’s not just about Drew,” Carter said quickly. “I mean, I’ve been hanging out with him, yeah, but I’ve never had queer friends before. I’ve never even been out to my friends before. I just feel like I’ve finally found somewhere I fit, you know?”

Her heart clenched. She remembered how it felt to be newly out and how tightly she’d clung to the first people who accepted her, especially when she hadn’t received that same acceptance at home. Of course he had done the same. “I do know, and I’m so glad you’ve found that with the adventure group. I hope you can find a similar group in Boston. This part of your life is just starting. You’re going to find so many people who love and accept you for who you are.”

“I hope so.” He looked down at his plate. “I don’t know anyone like that in Boston. I’ve lost touch with all my so-called friends from college already.”

“I’m sorry.”

“So can I stay as long as you’re in Vermont?” he asked. “Dad still won’t talk to me. I don’t have anything waiting for me in Boston. I just want to be here in Crescent Falls with you and my new friends for now.”

“Oh, Carter…” Her voice sounded rough from the lump that had risen in her throat. “Of course you can. But from no w on, you’ll clear your work schedule with me first, okay?”

He nodded vigorously. “I won’t let you down again.”