“May I ask you something then?” Gail asked hesitantly.
“Sure.”
“Are you still happy running the inn? Do you think you’ve lost focus because there aren’t any new challenges to tackle?”
Jess regarded her with surprise. “What makes you ask that?”
“When I took the job here and you and Abby told me about the ADD, I read up about it on the internet. Sometimes when things get to be too routine, boredom sets in. Has that happened for you?”
Instead of taking offense that Gail had been studying her disorder, Jess thought about what she was suggesting. Was it true? Was she more distracted lately because she was tired of the same routine now that things were running relatively smoothly? It was certainly true that there weren’t the kind of daily challenges she’d faced when she was trying to get the place up and running. Back then, there’d been something new every day to keep her on her toes. Of course, then her crime, according to Abby, had been making too many expensive, impulsive purchases without regard for any sort of budget.
“You could be right,” she admitted slowly. “I took on fixing up the attic for that very reason, but then Dad took over all the work, so I haven’t even had that to occupy my time.”
“Do you want to sell this place?” Gail asked. “Move on to something new?”
“Absolutely not,” Jess said, as sure of that as she was of anything. “The Inn at Eagle Point was always my dream. Will reminded me of that just recently. And I do love this place. Running it, seeing everything I envisioned fall into place… Gail, it’s the happiest I’ve ever been.”
“Then how are you going to keep it new and exciting for yourself?” Gail asked.
Jess sighed. “I honestly have no idea. I didn’t realize until just now that I was slipping back into my old ways, ignoring stuff that didn’t interest me, losing track of things.”
“I have a thought about that,” Gail said. “If I’m not overstepping.”
Jess had to swallow her pride, but she said, “Of course not. Tell me.”
“We could sit down sometime and brainstorm some ideas, if you want to,” Gail began cautiously, then warmed to the subject. “Maybe we could come up with some new promotions, a few events, like wine tastings, that kind of thing. I’ve been jotting down notes for a while now.”
Hearing the excitement in Gail’s voice, Jess caught her enthusiasm. She nodded eagerly. “Let’s do that. How about first thing tomorrow?”
“I’ll meet you in the kitchen at six,” Gail said. “We’ll brainstorm over scones and coffee. How’s that? I think I can make those orange-cranberry scones you love almost as well as your grandmother now.”
“Don’t let her hear you say that,” Jess warned. “But that sounds perfect. And thank you for being understanding about all this.”
“I love this place as much as if it were my own,” Gail said. “It’s the perfect job in the perfect location. And I love working with you.”
“When I’m not making your work a hundred times harder,” Jess replied ruefully.
“Hey, I live for challenges, same as you,” Gail said. “Lunch, by the way, is going to be amazing. Apparently I do my best work when I have to be inventive.”
“Then I’ll call the family and get them over here,” Jess told her. “I know a jam-packed dining room, full of people singing your praises, will make up for a lot.”
Gail laughed. “Indeed, it will. I live for an appreciative audience.”
Jess managed to keep smiling until Gail had left, but then she put her head down on her desk and let the tears flow. Somehow she’d convinced herself that the inn was going to be her personal savior, that these episodes of slipups and distractions were under control. History should have taught her otherwise.
She allowed herself five full minutes of despair and self-recriminations, then sat up. Even though the promise of brainstorming new ideas tomorrow sounded great, she had a feeling it was going to take more than that to get herself back on track. Whatever she and Gail came up with would be fun, but she needed a more absorbing challenge. Maybe what she needed was to expand her business, to find another small inn that needed to be refurbished and brought back to life.
She turned on her computer and, ignoring the piles of paperwork on her desk, started looking for real estate in nearby bayside communities, even a couple of available properties by the ocean suitable for bed and breakfast locations.
When she finally glanced at her watch and realized the entire morning had sped by and she’d never called her sisters, her sisters-in-law or her mother to join her for lunch, she railed against herself all over again. If she didn’t get on this, it was going to be one more thing for Gail to hold over her head.
“What the devil is wrong with me?” she muttered under her breath as she dialed her mother’s art gallery. Hadn’t this morning been a wake-up call, after all?
“Mom, Gail just told me our lunch menu today is going to be spectacular. I know it’s last-minute, but can you come over?”
Megan seemed taken aback by the invitation, but there was a pleased note in her voice when she responded. “Give me twenty minutes, okay?”
“Perfect. See if Heather can get away, too,” she suggested, since Heather’s quilt shop was right next door to the gallery. “Maybe she can ride over with you.”
“Will do,” Megan promised.
She called Bree and Shanna next. Shanna said she couldn’t leave the bookstore on such short notice, but Bree sounded ecstatic about having an excuse to get away from Flowers on Main.
“It’s been a zoo in here this morning,” she complained. “Half the town’s apparently sick and the other half is sending flowers. I’ve been desperate for a reason to escape. My employee’s pretty new, but she can handle it for an hour. I’ll have to bring the baby, though.”
“No problem,” Jess assured her. Cuddling her new niece might be just what she needed.
The more the merrier, in fact. Hopefully in all the commotion, she’d be able to forget about the disastrous, frustrating way her own day had started.
Will knew there was something going on with Jess. She’d been unusually quiet all evening. The mere fact that she’d shown up at his office with dinner was proof that she wasn’t herself. After that one visit weeks ago, she hadn’t willingly come inside the place.
Once they’d finished the excellent beef stew and biscuits she’d brought and had a good start on a bottle of excellent red wine, he set his glass down on a corner of his desk, leaned forward, and looked into her eyes.
“What’s going on, Jess?”
She gave him a startled look. “I don’t know what you mean.”
He gestured around. “You came to my office.”
“I figured you’d be working late. I brought you dinner. What’s the big deal?” she asked defensively.
That defensive note in her voice only confirmed his suspicions. Of course, calling her on it might not have been his smartest move. It might fall into that category she despised, evidence he was analyzing her. Still, he hated seeing her like this. Whatever was going on, she needed to get it out.
“Something happened today, and you’re trying very hard not to talk about it,” he guessed.
“True,” she conceded, though she didn’t look especially pleased that he’d hit the mark. “And I’m still not a hundred percent sure I want to talk about it with you.”
“Why is that?”
“Because I’m not sure if you can separate being my boyfriend from being a shrink.”
“Are you worried about me not being able to differentiate, or are you the one with that problem?”
She looked vaguely startled by his suggestion, but then to his surprise, she nodded. “Me,” she admitted.
“Okay, let’s attack this from a different direction,” he suggested. “If I were just your boyfriend, what would you expect from me if you brought me a problem? Sympathy? Understanding? Advice?”
Her expression turned thoughtful. “Sympathy and understanding, fo
r sure.”
“No advice?” he asked, trying not to smile.
“I think that sneaks over the line into the whole shrink thing.”
“Well, to be honest with you, I don’t give a lot of advice in my business. I just help people to work through their problems. They do all the hard work. I pretty much keep my opinions to myself.”
She regarded him with surprise. “Really?”
“Most of the time,” he confirmed. “Does that help?”
“Yes, I think it does.”
“So, what happened today?”
She launched into a description of all the mistakes she’d made, the litany filled with the kind of self-loathing that made him want to gather her in his arms, but she didn’t need consolation. She needed to find a way to restore her faith in herself.
“Why did this hit you so hard?” he asked when she’d finally wound down. “You’ve handled much tougher slipups. Look at the whole foreclosure episode when you had to get Abby to bail you out. This was nothing by comparison.”
“I guess I’d gotten used to thinking that my system for managing things was perfect,” she admitted. “When Gail came to me about the order, then reminded me of all the other things I’d let fall through the cracks recently, it shook me up.”
She met his gaze. “More than that, it made me start to think that I need a new challenge, that I’m never going to be satisfied just to have the inn open and running smoothly. I’m always going to need something else to tackle.”
Will had some idea where she was headed with this. “By extension, are you thinking that applies to your relationships, as well? Do you think I won’t be enough for you once we get into some kind of a routine?”
She looked startled by the comparison. “After yesterday, how can you ask that? I think you’ll be able to keep things fresh and exciting for a very long time.”
He smiled. “Good to know,” he said, though he doubted it would be that easy. He imagined that making love, even spectacularly, could drift into a familiar pattern after a while unless a couple really worked to keep the sparks alive. He’d never been with anyone long enough to test that theory, though. Neither had Jess.
He looked into her troubled eyes. “Jess, what’s really going on in that head of yours? This isn’t just because you forgot to place a couple of orders or messed up a reservation.”
“Probably not,” she admitted. “I guess it made me realize that I’m never going to grow out of the ADD. It’s always going to be with me.”
“More than likely,” he agreed.
“How can you put up with that?” she asked plaintively.
“Because it’s just one piece of who you are. You have to stop defining yourself by your ADD. You’re Jess O’Brien, owner of a successful inn. You’re beautiful, smart, funny, impulsive, just a little crazy and quite possibly the most exciting woman on the planet.”
She finally allowed herself to smile. “You’re just saying that because you want to get lucky again tonight.”
“I got lucky enough yesterday for a week, though I certainly wouldn’t say no to a repeat performance,” he told her. “My point is that I love you, Jess. The whole package.”
“But I’m so flawed,” she said.
Will knew she was serious, but he laughed. “Aren’t we all? Your flaw just happens to have a name. I have a whole list of my own. Stick with me long enough and you’ll have to deal with all of them.”
She regarded him with amazement. “Do you have any idea how good you are for my battered ego?”
He grinned then and beckoned to her. “Come over here and show me.”
She laughed. “Seriously?”
“Seriously.”
She glanced around his office. “You know, Will, this is one of those times this place could benefit from a couch,” she said as she settled onto his lap.
“I’ll get right on that first thing in the morning,” he promised, then lowered his lips to hers. “Until then, we’ll just have to do the best we can.”
It was amazing to discover just how clever they could be.
Thomas had suddenly vanished, or so it seemed to Connie. She hadn’t seen him since the Sunday dinner at the O’Briens, and she’d heard from him only once. She had no idea what to make of it, and she was almost afraid to call and ask him what was going on.
Now that they had Nell’s blessing and the fear of family conflict had abated, was he bored with her? She hated that so many doubts had surfaced, and hated even more her unwillingness to make the call that could resolve them. What was she? Sixteen?
Unfortunately, as she sat staring at her phone, willing it to ring, or maybe trying to convince herself to pick it up herself and use it, Jake walked in.
“You look gloomy,” her brother declared. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“Connie, you’ve never been the kind of woman to sit around and sulk with no reason.”
“I am not sulking,” she retorted indignantly. “I’m just thinking about a few things.”
“Such as?”
She frowned at him. “Since when do you want to have deep, philosophical discussions about the state of my life?”
“Since you started dating a man I’m not convinced is right for you,” he said. “Is that it? Are you having second thoughts about Thomas?”
“Not at all,” she said at once, then drew in a deep breath. “But he may be having them about me.”
“No way!” Jake said at once.
Connie smiled. “Thanks for the vote of confidence.”
“Come on, sis. What’s not to love about you? You’re beautiful, you’ve always had your head on straight, you’re the ultimate nurturer, you’re a terrific cook, and you handle things around here for me as if the job were next to nothing, when I know otherwise.”
“Gee, if I were looking for a new job, that would be great on my resume,” she said wryly. “Are you so sure any of that is what keeps a man interested?”
“Of course it is. Well, except for the part about how smoothly you run this place.” He grinned. “That probably matters more to me than it would to Thomas.”
“Unless I decided to take a job with his foundation,” she said idly.
Jake immediately looked alarmed. “You can’t be serious.”
“No, not really,” she admitted. “Though I do love working with him. It’s probably best, though, if I continue to do that as a volunteer. I’d hate to go to work for the foundation, then have our relationship blow up. How awkward would that be?”
“Has he asked you to consider a job there?” Jake persisted, still looking concerned.
“No, I was just thinking out loud,” she said. She patted his hand. “Not to worry. I’ll still be slaving away here when I’m in my dotage.”
“I know this might not be the most fulfilling job you could ever have, but your being here handling the day-to-day stuff has been a godsend for me. I know everything is under control so I can concentrate on the landscaping part, which is what I love the most. We’ve been a good team, don’t you think?”
She smiled. “I told you, you can stop fretting. I’m not leaving.”
“But I don’t want you to hate your job. How about a raise?”
She laughed. “I’m not about to turn down a raise, but I wasn’t angling for one.”
“I could make you a partner,” Jake said, his expression turning thoughtful. “Then you’d have a real stake in the company.”
Though the conversation hadn’t started about her career path, Connie couldn’t help being intrigued by the idea. “I certainly don’t have any money to invest,” she reminded him. “Not with Jenny in college.”
“I’d say you’ve earned plenty of sweat equity in the place.”
“Not enough to have controlling interest, I’m sure,” she said, grinning.
“Heaven save me,” Jake said fervently. “No, you don’t get to take over. Let me think about this some more, see what I can work out that’s fair. You interested?”<
br />
“Will it mean more work?”
Now he grinned. “No.”
“Just more money,” she said. “Yes.”
“And a bigger say than I have now.”
“You have plenty of say right now,” he said. “You just don’t have control, and you still won’t. My vote will always count more than yours.”
She rolled her eyes. “It’s been that way since you were a baby. You had Mom and Dad wrapped around your finger the day you were born. When you got a little older, you started working on me.”
“Stop complaining. Have I not been the best brother in the entire world?” he taunted. “Was I not there for you when Sam left? Was I not the best uncle ever for Jenny? I even kept her groping boyfriend’s hands off of her.”
“At least as far as we know,” Connie said wryly. “I try not to think about what’s going on now that she’s away from home.”
Jake winced. “Yeah, let’s not go there.” He studied her. “So, are you feeling better about things?”
He looked so hopeful, she could only nod. “I’m feeling a whole lot better about work,” she said truthfully.
Fortunately, Jake was a typical guy. He missed the subtext completely.
“That’s great,” he said. “We’ll talk more in a day or two.”
She shook her head as he left the office whistling, obviously pleased with himself. Then she scowled at the phone on her desk. “Ring, darn it!”
But the other man in her life remained stubbornly silent.
21
Will was having lunch with Mack and Jake when Laila approached, her expression troubled.
“Do you have a minute?” she asked him, after greeting the other men.
“Sure,” Will said. He turned to Mack. “Order a grilled ham and cheese for me, would you?”
“As if you needed to say it,” Jake taunted. “That’s what you have every Thursday.”
Will frowned. “Are you suggesting I’m predictable?”
“Disgustingly so,” Mack agreed, laughing. “There have been bets placed on how long it will be before you actually shake things up and order something different.”
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