An Unexpected Love Story (Love Story Book Two) (30 page)

“You have hope,” I corrected. “Because you know you’ll be installing them yourself if their price is too high.”

Paul gave a mock shudder and we finished lunch, discussing plans for the inn as I tried not to think about what was happening that weekend. Paul walked me out to my truck, wrapping his arms around my waist and looking down at me. “Drive careful, okay?”

“I will,” I said.

He kissed me soundly before sending me on my way and promising to meet me for the penultimate dinner at the inn at six.

“At the inn,” I stressed. “Not somewhere else in town. Murray’s Inn, the place where you work, remember?”

He rolled his eyes. “I’ll see you there. Promise.”

It took me nearly that long to finish my mom’s errands. She called me twice more while I was out to ask me to complete other random tasks. By the time I got back to the inn, I was feeling good and ticked off.

“Oh, sweetie,” she said, meeting me in the lobby. “You look a little rumpled. Why don’t you head back to the apartment and take a shower.”

“I look rumpled because you’ve had me driving all over the county today,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest. It was hard to be rude to my mom, but I was about ready to give it a try. “I’d like to go in and get a drink, seeing as how we’re closing in two days and I haven’t been here all day.”

“I’m sorry, Brooke,” she said, putting her arm around me and steering me in the direction of the apartment door. “I’ll bring you up a cocktail, how’s that? You can go up and take a bath, get fresh for dinner.”

“Mom—”

“Oh, don’t argue, dear. Dad and I invited a few friends for dinner. You don’t want to look all wrinkled, do you?”

“Fine,” I said, deciding that a bath might be nice after all.

She kissed my cheek. “Thank you for your help today. I promise you won’t have to leave the inn again for the rest of the weekend, if you don’t want to.”

“Okay,” I grumbled, leaving her in the lobby.

She was right; I did feel better after I’d taken a bath. Knowing Paul was downstairs and had been working hard all day, I decided to put forth some effort; I slipped into my favorite little black dress, a DKNY sheath I’d bought downstate the first time I’d gone to visit Emily. It hugged my curves without being too obvious about it, and looked great with a pair of purple stilettos that Paul loved. I stared at myself in the mirror, trying to decide if I should wear my hair up. In the end, I decided to leave it wild and curly down my back; it was just more me that way.

I glanced at my watch, surprised to see it was already ten past six, and hurried down the stairs to meet Paul.

I found him in the lobby—along with dozens of other people. A quick glance over the crowd told me it extended into the dining room. There must have been more than a hundred people in the inn.

“What’s going on?” I asked Paul, flabbergasted by the sheer number of people. He beamed at me.

“Why don’t you come see?”

He led me through the lobby. Several people called out to me, wishing me luck and thanking me—for what I wasn’t sure. As we entered the restaurant, the entire room erupted in applause. I gazed around at the crowd, confused and overwhelmed. Slowly, I began to pick out individual faces from the masses. Mr. Donovan, Paul’s whole family, my aunts and uncles—I even thought I saw the mayor.

“What is this?” I asked, reaching for Paul’s hand to steady myself.

“Everyone wanted to come out and give this place the send off it deserves,” he said in my ear. “Half the town is here. Amongst others.”

Just then I caught sight of Emily rushing across the room. She threw her arms around me. “Congratulations, Brooke,” she said, squeezing me hard. I hugged her back, still feeling confused.

“For what?” I asked, pulling back to look at her face.

“For this,” she said, waving around. “For everything you did here. Don’t you understand? We’re here to celebrate this place—and your family. Everyone here loves the inn, and we’re all going to miss it. We wanted to come out to thank you for all the years you’ve given us, all the memories.”

I just stared at her. I couldn’t believe that these people had all shown up just to celebrate our little inn. I saw my parents approaching me through the crowd, both beaming.

“Did you know about this?” I asked.

My dad nodded happily. “People started calling weeks ago, asking how we were going to commemorate the end. We decided to throw a proper party and it seemed like everyone wanted to come. Lots of people even wanted to stay for the whole weekend. People from town, some regulars, people who haven’t been here in years, even. We’re all booked up, both nights.”

The idea of the inn full for the weekend made a lump form in my throat. I had hated the idea of her standing mostly empty, as if abandoned, on her last nights.

To cover my emotion, I looked at my dad sternly. “And you didn’t tell me about any of this?”

My dad put his arm around me. “We wanted to do something for
you
for a change. You’ve been working so hard, for so long. We thought it’d be nice if you had the chance to just relax and enjoy this place, for once.”

“Dad…” I was suddenly quite sure that I was going to cry. He wrapped me up in his arms, pulling me in tight the way he had when I was little.

“Thank you, Brooke,” he whispered in my ear. “Thank you for everything.”

* * *

It was a great party. There was plenty of food for everyone, which we put out on several of the tables so that the wait staff could relax as well. Elliot and Chris, who had come up with Emily, even helped Paul tend the bar, so he could enjoy the party.

“Are you happy?” he asked, catching me in a rare solitary moment. It seemed like everyone in the building wanted to tell me about their favorite memory at the inn. It was a little overwhelming, but extremely gratifying all the same. For the first time, I was starting to feel some peace about the whole thing. Just because the inn was gone wouldn’t mean that it was forgotten, not for the people who had loved it.

“I’m pretty happy,” I told Paul, putting my arms around his waist so I could rest my head on his chest. “But sad, too.”

“I figured as much,” he said, kissing my head. “Hey, what did the contractor say?”

I gave him a triumphant smile. “I get to keep the tubs,” I said.

“Excellent,” he said, holding up his hand for a high five. “Like I told you, Brooke—just the way you want it.”

“I just want them to get started,” I said. “I’m getting impatient.”

“Are you saying I’m too slow?”

“No, baby,” I said, patting his chest. “You’re doing a wonderful job. But a whole crew is bound to be a bit faster.”

“Don’t worry,” he said. “We’ll be choosing paint colors in no time. And in the meantime, we have our trip next week.”

I smiled. In the excitement of the night I had almost forgotten our trip. Now that the inn was closing, Paul had convinced me to take a real vacation for once, and we were heading to Cozumel in a matter of days, and would be back in plenty of time to oversee the work on the inn. I had never been out of the country before, and I could hardly wait. Paul said he wanted us to spend some real time together but I had a feeling he was also hoping to shield me from the sight of the inn’s demolition, which was to begin first thing on Monday.

“I cannot wait for our trip,” I said. “I am less excited to move into that apartment when I get back.” Though Paul had encouraged me to just move in with him, I had resisted and had rented a cheap little place in town to stay in until the inn was done. I had a feeling that by the time the owner’s suite was ready, I wouldn’t be living in it alone.

“You’ll be with me most of the nights anyhow,” Paul said confidently.

“True. But the thought of my beloved clothes in that crappy apartment is all the more reason to get our inn done as soon as humanly possible.”

“You’ll be in your suite and open in time for the fall color,” Paul assured me, pulling me back to his chest. “And we’ll throw you another party, just like this, to celebrate.”

“There will never be another party like this,” I said, looking around at the gathered family and friends. Across the room I saw Chris and Ashley talking to Mr. Donovan. Emily was sitting with my parents, laughing about something. Elliot was behind the bar, pouring drinks. Paul’s parents were even there, slowly swaying over on the dance floor. Everyone looked happy—really, really happy.

“We should go and mingle,” I said, suddenly scared I might miss something. I wanted to enjoy every bit of this night, and all of the people who were here with me.

“Okay,” Paul said, kissing me one last time. Then he took my hand and led me out into the crowd, through the people we loved, to the future.

I wasn’t sure what we would find there. Part of me was scared—scared I would fail, scared things wouldn’t work out. But somehow, with Paul’s hand firmly around mine, I knew we were going to be okay.

Better than okay. Maybe even perfect.

THE END

Catch up with Emily, Brooke, and Ashley in the final installment of the Love Story series, now available on Amazon:

An (Almost) Perfect Love Story

Interested in reading more from this author?
Check out the best-selling
Three Girls
series, available now from Amazon.com

Come along for the crazy ride as Ginny McKensie and her best friends deal with an unexpected pregnancy in
Three Girls and a Baby
, available now!

Three Girls and a Baby

Follow Jen Campbell as she struggles to plan the perfect wedding—and find her very own happily ever after.
Three Girls and a Wedding
is available now!

Three Girls and a Wedding

Join Annie Duncan as she continues her search for the perfect leading role—and the perfect man to go along with it. The third book of the series,
Three Girls and a Leading Man
, is available now!

Three Girls and a Leading Man

Reunite with Ginny, Jen, and Annie and catch up with Kiki Barker-Thompson as she attempts to create the perfect fairy tale life. The Truth About Ever After (a Three Girls Book) is available now!

The Truth About Ever After

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Rachel Schurig is the best-selling author of the
Three Girls
series, available now in paperbook and ebook. Rachel lives in the metro Detroit area with her dog, Lucy. She loves to watch reality TV, and she reads as many books as she can get her hands on. In her spare time, Rachel decorates cakes.

To find out more about her books, visit Rachel at
rachelschurig.com

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