by Kaci Hart
“No, no Chelsea, you misunderstood me. You are one hundred percent correct that my dad is not a fan. Not of any sport actually, except investing in the monetary gains he can get from it. He has no time for what he calls the ‘frivolous games that are eroding our culture’--his words, not mine.”
“Then what are you talking about? You said that you wanted me to go with your dad.”
“No I didn’t. That’s what you heard. What I said was ‘pop’. Your father Chelsea.”
“My father? Wait, he’s here?!”
“Yup.”
Chelsea couldn’t believe it. Of all the gifts he had given her for her birthday that had to be the best. It was a dream of hers to be able to send him to a game there. She had felt so bad that she was coming to London without him, but he had assured her that he just wanted her to have a good time. Very matter-of-factly actually. All he asked her for was an authentic jersey directly from the stadium. No wonder he was so nonchalant about it.
“How is he here Ryder? And why?”
“He’s been here the whole time. I invited him and your mother last month before I even told you. They flew out on a commercial flight after ours. They’ll fly back with us next week on the private jet. I didn’t want you to know that they were here yet so I had them go to Rome the days we were in Sicily and vice versa. It was working out pretty well until this morning. Remember that old man waiting outside the ladies’ room that you said looked just like your father?”
“No way!”
She laughed, remembering that she had called her parents phone, leaving a voice mail for her father about how she had seen his exact twin in a hotel lobby she was staying at.
“Definitely. I tell you that our cover was almost blown. He played it off pretty well though.”
“Wow. But why Ryder? Why go through all that?”
The demeanor on Ryder’s face completely changed. No more jokes or playing, he was as serious as she had ever seen him.
“Because then it might have given away my secret.”
Chelsea saw him glance behind her and then she heard music playing. She had no idea when they had even come up behind her but there was a small band behind her, playing music that was directed solely at her.”
“Chelsea, I wanted your parents to be here to celebrate with us on the night that I pray you say yes to me.”
Her throat tightened and her heart started to race. Her hand flew over her mouth in astonishment as he slid off of his chair and got on one knee before her.
“You have been the most wonderful thing that has happened to me in all my years of life. The time we have spent together, I have laughed and cried and smiled and everything in between. And I did it all with you. Beyond that, you helped me find out who I am and who I want to be and for that I will be eternally grateful. If you were to say no to me right now, I would not be angry with you. You’ve already made me happier than any man deserves to be. But if you say yes, I promise to be everything you could ever want and need. We’ll learn about us and grow old together, and that is something that I look forward to more than anything I can think of. So …”
He looked in her eyes, unwavering and determined. He reached into his coat pocket, pulled out the small white box and opened it.
Chelsea couldn’t believe it was happening to her. It was like a dream and she didn’t have to wake up from it. Happy tears streamed down her face.
“Chelsea Blair Warner, will you do me the honor of marrying me?”
“Yes! Yes, yes, yes! I love you Ryder.”
“I love you too Chelsea.”
He slid the ring on her finger and picked her up, pulling her into a tight embrace.
“Congratulations honey.”
Chelsea turned around and her parents were there, her father grinning from ear-to-ear and her mother possibly crying even more than she was. As she embraced her parents, she realized that her life was everything she could have ever asked for.
*****
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Continue reading for an excerpt from SUMMER IN STANTON, from the Stanton Falls series.
Chapter 1 (Excerpt)
“We’re running out of time on this guys. I mean we are literally hours away from losing one of our biggest clients and if that happens, it’s on us. All of us. So let’s pull this together and get it done. Nick, Rachel, I need something big like yesterday. Robbie and Jo, you run point on the sponsorship angle and for goodness sakes, call me back soon with something good.”
Tessa pressed the hang up button on her speakerphone--abruptly ending the conference call that she was on with her direct team members.
This is not good. Definitely not good.
She moved her hair from her face. She was so frustrated that she was about ready to pull it out. In fact, she was so desperate that she would have seriously considered doing just that if she thought it would help make a good enough Product Placement Proposal to keep the client happy. She figured that she at least had a little more time to right the ship before she had to present it to her boss. When her phone rang no more than ten seconds after she finished her conference call, she was surprised. She had specifically asked her secretary to make sure she not be disturbed this morning. She pressed the button on her phone.
“Beth, I thought I said no interruptions.”
The girl sounded flustered.
“Right. I-I wouldn’t bother you Ms. McGuire but it is important. I just took a call from Mr. Atwell’s secretary. He wants to see you in his office as soon as possible.”
Tessa looked at the watch on her hand. It was eleven a.m.
“Okay. Let them know that I’ll be there before noon.”
“I’m sorry ma’am. I probably should have said exactly what she told me.”
Now this woman is just frustrating. Why doesn’t she ever just spit out what she has to say instead of making me pull it out of her.
On more than one occasion, Tessa had seriously considered replacing the woman. This only made her mind up for her. Here she was working the biggest client the company had and her secretary apparently thought she could read minds. Still, she didn’t want to fire her. No one deserved that. She gave herself a mental note to have her moved to a role that would probably be better for her and get herself a new secretary. In the meantime, she sighed in frustration before responding.
“Which was what exactly?”
“Oh, sorry. Mr. Atwell wanted you to come immediately but I told her you were on a conference call. She said you were to head over once you were finished.”
“Okay then. Tell them I’m on my way up now.”
“Yes ma’am.”
The phone clicked off and Tessa grabbed some of her documents. She didn’t want to keep them waiting any more than she already had but she had to show them that there were going to be positive results.
She walked down the long hallway, her heels clicking as she made her way across the shiny, tiled floor. She looked around as she walked.
You’d think someone died by the looks I’m getting.
People who normally talked to her at length every time they saw her were averting their eyes. All around people were pretending to be working when she knew they were watching her. No. This was really weird. It was quiet. That was the last thing that an ad agency in the heart of New York City should be.
I haven’t seen it like this in here since the day . . . oh no.
The door to Mr. Atwell’s office opened slowly and a very displeased looking man walked out. It was David Drabst, the CEO of the company she worked for. Her boss was the head of her division but he reported directly to Mr. Drabst. Unfortunately, Mr. Drabst was never seen on this floor unless there was really bad news. He walked right past her without looking at her or saying a word. That was when she realized why everyone was looking at her like that. They all thought they were looking at a woman who was on her way o
ut.
Boy did they have the wrong woman. She was not going out without a fight. That was the thing about her job. She had to scratch and crawl to make it to the top. It took hard work, sacrifice and time but it was worth it. Being a top marketing executive for a major advertising firm in a city like New York had its perks. She was paid a handsome sum of money and commanded respect from anyone in the industry. The job was basically a doorway to all the things she could want in life.
Of course, that was when things went like they were supposed to.
When it didn’t work out right, there had to be someone to blame. Naturally they had to be high enough up the chain that they could show that when the company did take action, they were taking the right person accountable. At the same time, they couldn’t really fire someone who was so important that the firing made the company look like they were in disarray.
Tessa knew how things ran in the city all too well. She knew the risks of taking the position before she took the promotion two years ago. Like her predecessor, she was well aware before she signed on the dotted line that she was going to be the person in everyone’s crosshairs whenever something went wrong. It was a given. For her part, she was always determined to never make that happen.
She did that well for two years but she was in trouble now and she knew it. That didn’t discourage her. All she had to do was make Mr. Atwell see things from her perspective. She walked up to his secretary’s desk and smiled and listened to her while she notified him of her arrival.
“You can go in now.”
Tessa walked over to the door of his corner office and turned the handle.
“Mr. Atwell. You wanted to see me sir.”
He looked up from his paperwork with tired eyes. She almost felt bad for him after having to deal with Mr Drabst.
“Yes. Come on in.”
“Yes sir.” She took the offensive. “Now I realize this is probably about the Yamaguchi Company Toy Proposal and I can assure you that they will completely love what we have planned. If you’ll take a look at--”
He interrupted her.
“There’s no need for that.”
Huh?
“I’m sorry sir?”
“Sit Tessa. Please just sit.”
She saw the serious look on his face and her countenance dropped. She was no fool.
Definitely not good.
***
The tall ladder leaned against the side of the great house as Connor worked on some repairs. He looked down from the top of the ladder when he heard a car door slam. There was an older couple walking towards the building. He was glad to see that they finally would have some business.
Oh no.
The couple had been inside for about a minute before it hit Connor. Libby was at lunch. That meant that there was no one downstairs watching the front desk. That’s what he was supposed to be doing but he got caught up in some handyman work since it was so slow. He climbed down as quickly as he could, being careful not to fall. As exciting as it was to have a guest at the Cammelia, him getting hurt rushing to check them in was not a good idea.
When he reached the bottom rung of the ladder, he hopped off and ran to the large wooden door. The old door creaked in protest as he tugged to pull it open. He took a mental note to oil the rusted hinges pretty good later, but first things first. He heard them before he even saw them. They were at the front desk making enough noise to wake up the other guests.
If there were any.
Connor tried not to roll his eyes, but the way the woman was repeatedly dinging the service bell would make a person think they had been waiting forever for service. The truth was that it couldn’t have been more than a minute or two. He had to hold his tongue. There was a part of him that truly wanted to tell her that she could take her annoying attitude and leave his bed and breakfast. Instead he shook his head as he watched her.
“Hello? Oh never mind. This is a stupid waste of time. Let’s go.”
For his part the old man, most likely her husband, was trying his best to keep her in check. Chances are he was used to this kind of behavior.
“Calm down Dorothy.”
“Don’t you tell me to calm down Jack. I told you we should have gone to that big place we saw on the way here but you wanted quaint and cozy. You need to listen to me sometimes. As you can see, that equals poor service. Now let’s go.”
Connor saw the resigned look on the man’s face as he grabbed his bag and turned towards the exit. Connor sighed before putting on his most welcoming face. As unpleasant as it may be, he needed to keep them there rather than letting them take the twenty-mile drive that he hated.
“Hi there. Sorry for the wait. Can I help you?”
“Not now. Two minutes ago you could have but I don’t have time for this backwater town. Excuse us.”
Connor didn’t try to stop them. He was pretty sure of where they were going and it was probably more their speed than The Cammelia. She wanted to go to one of the cookie cutter, frequent stayer, chain hotels in the town next door. He didn’t have anything against the big chains. They had their place with the corporate types or people that were making a stop on their drive to one of the major cities.
Those were never his customers. He catered to the people who wanted to get away from all that. The problem was that it seemed like less people were looking for what his place had to offer. Recently it had gotten pretty bad and the traffic to the bed and breakfast had become practically nonexistent. He had to stop it or The Cammelia would go out of business permanently and he couldn’t let that happen.
It had been in his family for generations. The inn, as well as his family, had been a mainstay of the very close town since his grandfather bought the old great house. It was named after his wife whom he constantly called the single love of his life. Despite all of its rich history in the area, the bed and breakfast had fallen on hard times. In a community so loyal, most local businesses did well because everyone bought from one another. That was a major problem for Connor.
Call it whatever, but a bed and breakfast is nothing more than a hotel and in Stanton Falls that meant a great majority of their business had been historically based on travelers looking for a small town getaway. For the past year and a half, tourism in the area slowed down and the inn was going through a serious drought.
Of course, Connor did have options. He could have sold the place to Mr. Anderlien the hotel renovator and developer. The problem was that he didn’t like the man at all. Anderlien wanted to modernize the place but Connor wasn’t stupid. He knew that was code for tearing down the building and replacing it with all the cutting edge technology and design. Basically, guys like him would rip the heart out of the bed and breakfast and make it no different than the big chains. While it may make more money, it wasn’t what Connor wanted. There was no way he was going to sell. His pride simply wouldn’t allow it.
That’s why Connor had taken on every task he could to make things work. Still, he was having a hard time with it. If the fact that he was behind on most of the bills wasn’t enough, he hadn’t been making enough money to pay for the upkeep of the place so it felt like it was falling apart bit by bit. If he just had the money, he could fix the worn down parts of the building but that still wouldn’t change the sad truth that the customers simply were not coming.
As much as Connor didn’t want to give up on his family’s legacy, he knew the hard truth was that with the strain he was under financially, he needed things to change fast or he’d have to consider whether it made sense to keep it going.
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