I followed her out, leaning against the railing as I watched her take a long drag. “Are you serious?”
“About the work that needs to be done on the rooms?” She blew smoke toward the sky in lazy circles that floated up before dissipating. “I never joke about this place, honey. Kit loved it and so do I, but before long, it’s going to be so out of date that no one will want to stay here anymore.”
I couldn’t argue with that. As it was, I knew most travelers slept in any town other than ours, social media pointing them toward places that wereauthenticorquirky. The Blossom Ville Extended Stay Motel didn’t currently qualify as either of those things.
“I’ll write the check right now,” Frieda said, surprising the heck out of me. “You’ll need to get licensed and bonded, of course.”
“Yeah.”
“I’m sure you’ll also need some personal work supplies.” She pointed the cigarette at me. “Oh, and a truck, right? For the business.”
I cleared my throat, anxiety threatening to choke me now that she’d spelled it all out like that. This was going to take a lot more than just taking another quick trip to the hardware store. “Right.”
“It’ll probably be, what, about a hundred thousand to get your new business off the ground?”
As I gaped at her, the world seemed to tilt slightly. “Oh my God. Are you a witch or something?”
She grinned. “Get started, honey. Avery’s driving a sinking ship and I’m throwing you a life raft, but it ain’t going to drift forever.”
CHAPTER 37
THEO
Ever since I’d gotten back, I’d been feeling a little like I was visiting a museum exhibit dedicated to my former life.Here we have a Westwood in his natural habitat. Observe as he answers emails and dies quietly inside.
I sat in my office and looked out at a view most people would kill for, at a desk big enough for a small airplane to use as a runway, while working on client profiles that would give any Wall Street guy a raging boner, and yet, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I wasn’t meant to be here.
Which was ridiculous.
This was literally what I’d been born to do. Dad had taught us how to assess risk before we’d even begun to develop emotional intelligence and our offices had practically been assigned at birth. My exact role might not have been pre-decided the same way as Alex’s, but that had never mattered.
Westwood and Sons had always been my future, irrespective of what I would wind up doing here.
I finally brought my gaze back to my computer and tried to get excited about the acquisition Zach had sent my way. It was a good one, the company involved a large, family-owned enterprise, and I’d even get to work with Colin since it wasin manufacturing, but no matter how hard I tried to motivate myself, I just didn’t feel that spark inside.
A knock sounded against my open office door, followed immediately by Alex walking in. I looked up at him and arched an eyebrow. “If it isn’t our fearless leader. To what do I owe the pleasure of a visit from on high?”
He held up a piece of paper pinched between two fingers. “This is confirmation of your reservation at La Table Royale. You’re taking Belle there on Saturday night.”
“Right.” I took the slip of paper when he handed it to me, shoving it in my pocket without even looking at it. “Who is she again?”
“Only the daughter of one of our top clients. We talked about this. Belle Thurston of Thurston Security Solutions.”
“Oh. Yeah. The internet people.”
He rolled his eyes at me. “Those internet people own a cyber security company worth billions. She’s smart, blonde, and from the sounds of things, pretty fun to be around. Her dad mentioned that she even has a motorcycle.”
“That so?” I asked flatly. “Wow. Imagine that.”
Alex ignored my lack of enthusiasm. “Just give it a chance, Theo. You never know.”
Only, I did know, but I nodded anyway. “Sure. I’ll be there.”
“Excellent.” He grinned, bracing his hands against the chair opposite my desk as he leaned over. “This is a match I feel really good about. I wouldn’t be sending you on this date otherwise. Seriously. I’m not trying to make your life difficult. Belle could be the one for you.”
“Yeah. Okay.” If her name had been Raquel and she’d been a mechanic, she would’ve been the one for me, but Belle whose family was in security didn’t sound nearly as promising.
Even so, I waited until Alex left before I shook my head at myself. None of this was his fault. Belle probably did seem like a good match to him, but I’d been a mess since I’d gotten back.
