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My friends had these amazing suggestions that I needed to implement on my tiny budget. I’d gotten bookings but nothing earth-shattering. It was like people were waiting for word-of-mouth referrals or reviews. Piper said they wanted social proof, evidence that the place was amazing, and I could only get that with people staying at the inn and voluntarily reviewing it.
It was too much pressure.
Mac interrupted my train of thought. “You need to rest.”
I sighed. “You don’t understand. You’ve never had to build a business from scratch.”
“That’s true, but I’ve seen enough people do it to recognize you’re racing toward burnout.”
I grimaced. “I don’t believe in that word. I have to believe I’ll succeed if I put in the work.” But my biggest fear was that all my work would lead to nothing. That no one would book the hotel. That I’d struggle to bring in business. It was the fear that kept me awake all hours of the night, making more lists.
I felt like I was drowning. For every one thing I crossed off the list, I added five more. It was never-ending, and I didn’t know if what I was doing would amount to anything.
“What did Juliana say?” Mac finally asked.
“I haven’t had a chance to talk to her since we’ve been back.”
“You should. She’s been through the same thing.”
“She had her sister to help. It wasn’t the same.” She was a realtor, so she had a good grasp of the business world already.
“She might still be helpful.”
“I’ll ask her,” I said to appease him, knowing I didn’t have time to chat about my problems. I just needed to put my head down and get to work.
“Will you go to sleep now?”
“I will.” Soon. I just had a few more things to do.
“I just wanted to check in, but I don’t want to be the reason you’re not going to sleep.”
“You’re not,” I quickly added, because I’d barely seen or talked to him in weeks. Delaney was asking for him, so I let him take her to Rocky’s obedience classes on Saturdays, and we still attended family dinner on Sundays, but otherwise, my time was limited.
It sucked because I missed him, but at the same time, he was the one who’d tell me to take a break when I didn’t have the time. I needed to do this my way.
“Don’t be up too late.”
“I won’t.”
“Night, Natalie.”
“Good night,” I said softly, missing Mac in my space, working and coming to my apartment at night. I just needed to get through the opening and then things should slow down, and I could spend more time with him. Surely, he understood how busy it was for me.
I stayed up for another hour, approving the photographs for the marketing and website. When I was finished, my head hurt, and I was exhausted. Maybe Mac was right about not making the best decisions when you were tired. But I just needed to keep moving.
When I fell into bed, I struggled to fall asleep. My mind was still turning with ideas and unfinished to-dos.
* * *
I barely hada second to breathe the last week before opening. My list grew to insurmountable levels. With the website finished and ads running, I’d seen an uptick in bookings, but we weren’t sold out by any means. Hopefully, the hoopla surrounding the opening itself would push it over the edge. The fear of any other outcome kept me up at night.
On the morning of the ribbon-cutting ceremony, I let Delaney stay home from school so she could be involved. Kylie and Alice came over early with possibilities for dresses. I was grateful because I’d been so busy, I hadn’t even thought about what I should wear or what I’d look like.
But the B&B itself was cleaned, decorated, and shined. A lot of people would be walking through today, and I wanted it to look its best. Maybe locals would book the rooms for a weekend away from the kids.
Thinking it was another marketing angle, I paused to write the idea in the notes section of my phone, but Kylie lifted it right out of my hands.
“Hey,” I protested.
