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“That would be nice. The basement is scary. I never went down there as a kid.”
We stopped in front of the door to the first room. “You’re going to need to do laundry if you stay for a while.”
I shuddered. “I’m hoping I won’t need to be here for that long.”
I opened the door to the first room. The curtains were drawn, and the space was musty from being closed up.
Heath moved around the room, taking measurements. I held one end of the tape while he made notes of the numbers.
“I’m surprised you don’t use a tablet or a laptop,” I said as we moved down the hall to the next room.
“I’m old-school. When I design a room, I’ll use a program that brings it to life for the clients. That’s what people expect, but when I’m starting a new job, I like pencil and paper.”
I grinned. “Not even pen. I like that.”
Heath winked at me as he waited for me to open the next room. There was something about that mannerism that brought me back to when we’d run into each other in public as teenagers. He wouldn’t acknowledge me, other than a wink when no one else was paying attention. It never failed to make me feel special, even when we had to keep our relationship a secret.
This room was larger than the first. “I’m going to need to air out the rooms.”
Heath flashed me a grin. “I’m used to working in dusty places.”
“It doesn’t mean you should have to. Will I need to haul this furniture out of here? Maybe I could store it in a barn.”
“Are you keeping it or getting new furniture?” Heath asked, moving to the windows, where he attempted to lift one.
“I think it would be best to save whatever’s salvageable for now. I can stage the rooms with the furniture I have.” Money wasn’t an issue for me, but I wasn’t used to spending frivolously. The beachfront home was the one thing I’d splurged on.
Heath ran a hand over the headboard. “It’s sturdy. They don’t make them like this anymore. Not unless you find someone who makes them by hand.”
“I like that each piece of furniture has history, and maybe even a story to tell.”
His lips quirked. “I do, too.”
“As kids, we had so much fun hiding in these rooms when there weren’t any guests.” We saw the hotel as our playground, with so many rooms and exciting new guests arriving every few days. The grounds were fun to explore, too.
We didn’t realize we should be ashamed of living here until the kids realized we lived in a trailer on the property and not at the big house. Then I felt like a charity case. My grandmother had essentially taken our parents in, providing us with a place to live.
“I bet this place holds a lot of memories for you and Aiden.”
“I still expect Gram to be sitting in the kitchen, drinking her tea and asking me what adventures I was going on today.” I blinked away the tears.
“She was a special woman.”
What did it say about me that I’d stayed away over the years? I’d eschewed the one woman who’d cared about me, who made sure I had food to eat and got to school on time.
“Where are your parents now?” Heath asked as we headed to the next room. This one was the largest, on the corner of the house with a bay window. The window faced the woods and Heath’s cabin.
I shrugged. “I don’t really know. They’re not together anymore. They went their separate ways after we left. I think Gram was the reason they stayed as long as they did.”
“Why do you think that?”
“When I graduated from high school, I came home to find them packing up their things. Dad said I didn’t need them anymore. I was an adult. As if graduating from high school signified that you could take care of yourself. But oddly enough, I felt older than my years. I’d already figured out that I was responsible for myself. Not my parents or Gram, but me, and I wanted to do something meaningful.”
“What do you mean?” Heath asked as he jotted down the measurements in his notepad.
“I wanted to empower other women who came from nothing. Who didn’t have parents that positioned them in the world with wealth and opportunities.”
Heath set his pad aside and moved closer to me. “Did you accomplish that?”
