I should cup her face, look her in the eye, and beg. I don’t. “You said the inn’s closed to guests right now.”
“It is, but it’s Christmas. My family has plans, and I promised my nieces we’d…” She stops, pressing her lips together for a few seconds. “You can stay here.”
“I can’t do that.” The statement is a reflex, but it’s true. While I have great senior staff, Annette and I both going off-grid for days could have set a dozen fires I need to put out.
“I’m pretty sure a guy like you can do whatever you want. So it’s not that you can’t—it’s that you won’t.”
In the silence that follows, while I try to think of something—anything—I can say to salvage the conversation, I hear the crunch of tires on the driveway.
“That’s not Lyla,” Natalie says, getting up to walk to the window. “It’s a big, black SUV, so I assume it’s for you.”
I know Mom and Judy like to get on the road early when they’re traveling, but their timing today couldn’t be worse.
“Natalie,” I say, standing and taking a step toward her.
“Don’t make this harder,” she says, and my stomach knots. “We had fun, Donovan. We made some memories, and now it’s time to go back to our lives. Now, go greet your mom and her wife, and I’ll make you another coffee in a to-go cup.”
A to-go cup. Just like that. Here’s your coffee and there’s the door.
I’m on the front porch when the driver opens my mother’s door and helps her out of the SUV. She smiles when she sees me, but whatever she sees on my face sobers her. She waits for Judy and then they walk up the steps together, with Mom slightly leaning on her for support because of the plastic boot she’s wearing.
“It’s fine. I’ll follow up with my doctor when I get home, but it’s nothing to worry about,” Mom says after I kiss each of them on the cheek. “How are you doing?”
“I’m fine, thanks to the Byrnes’ hospitality.”
“Welcome to the Charming Inn,” Natalie says from behind me, and my body tenses. “Please come in and I’ll show you where you can freshen up if you’d like. And we have some leftover goodies from the Christmas fair, so I packed some into a basket.”
Watching my mom interact with Natalie as she gets a brief tour of the historic inn, I can see that they’d get along really well. But Mom is taking her cues from me and isn’t as warm and open as she usually is.
I’m not ready when I find myself at the door with a coffee in one hand and my briefcase in the other. Natalie hands Judy a small wicker basket with pastries and other snacks tucked under a cloth.
“I put a few snickerdoodles in there,” Natalie tells me, and I can see the effort it’s taking her to smile at me.
“Thank you.” I clear my throat, but it doesn’t seem to clear the lump of emotion making my voice hoarse. “Natalie, I—“
“We should go if we want to have time to stop at that yarn store you read about,” Judy says, oblivious to the vibe in the room as usual.
“Safe travels,” Natalie says, taking a step back. “It was a pleasure to meet you all.”
I don’t want to go.
But somehow I’m swept up by Mom and Judy, and before I quite realize what’s happening, I’m in the front passenger seat of a hired SUV. I’m reaching for the door handle—I can’t leave like this—when the driver puts it in gear, which triggers the door locks.
Then we’re moving and as the driver takes the turn onto the main road, I get a glimpse of Natalie still standing on the porch with her hand pressed to her mouth, watching us leave.
And then she’s gone.
Chapter Seventeen
Natalie
* * *
Monday’s a nightmare. With the fun of the fair behind us, the sugar high over, and Christmas in one week, there’s a frantic energy in Charming Lake I find stressful. I love the holidays, but the panic that sets in toward the end isn’t my favorite.
And I’m nursing a broken heart after a sleepless night, so I’m not at my best. I’m pretty sure that’s why Mom has me out running her errands. The tape she forgot to buy. Mailing the cards she always means to send out the day after Thanksgiving and never does.
And I don’t even stop at the general store for coffee because it just reminds me of Donovan. With everything crossed off the list Mom gave me, I’m ready to go home, claim a headache, and hide in my room for a while.
