Open Your Heart (Kings Grove #4) - Delancey Stewart Page 0,16

honest woman’s presence. “It is,” I agreed. “Though it’s been years since I’ve spent any real time up here. I was seven when we left.”

We talked for a few minutes about all the things that had changed since I’d been little, and then moved into reviewing some of the events that had been booked at the inn—mostly weddings, family reunions, that kind of thing. “The real test,” Mike said, “will be Maddie and Connor’s wedding at the end of the summer. I’m not completely confident the Outpost will be finished, and I know Maddie is counting on having the reception out there. I think one of the first things I’d like you to do is meet with her and come up with some ideas for the event and hopefully iron out a plan B, just in case.”

“I can do that,” I said. As we talked a bit more, I began to understand that Maddie was Cam’s sister—and a little part of me jumped in excitement at the idea that being tied in to her event might mean more time with him. Another little part of me kicked that first part in the shins. I was not up here to nurture a ridiculous crush on my landlord and I needed to focus on accumulating enough cash to escape.

“I’m also hoping you might have some ideas about publicity and press,” she continued, unaware of the silly battle going on in my head. I forced myself to focus on her words. “We need to keep the event side of things healthy to provide a cushion in case room bookings aren’t strong this first year. Since we’re just getting everything operational, I’d really like to move everything closer to the black. I know this inn can succeed, but it’s definitely go time.”

“Got it,” I said, my brain already turning to attack this issue. “I handled the back end of event management in New York—the financial side of things—so I’ve got a pretty solid grasp of where costs can get out of control and where we can recoup expenditures.”

“That will be huge,” Mike said.

“I’m eager to get started.”

“Great. I’ll show you around, and we’ll end at your desk so you can get right to it.”

“Perfect.”

The inn was meticulously decorated and planned, with a big open event space and restaurant off the main lobby, a fitness room and a little spa. The rooms were perfectly decorated in a way that was high-end but not overdone—perfect for the mountains, and the sports center sat around the back of the main structure, selling and renting hiking gear, kayaks, maps and trail food for summer; cross-country skis, snowshoes and sleds for winter.

“The store generates a lot more than I initially thought it would,” Mike said. “We just have to be careful to offer a different selection than the gift shop in the main village or Adele gets a little touchy about competition.”

“Who’s Adele?” I asked.

“She runs the diner and owns the gift shop. I think she’s been up here for like a hundred years . . . has a line on every little bit of gossip in town, that’s for sure.”

“Sounds delightful,” I said, an image of a woman with a beehive standing behind the podium at the diner flashing through my mind. It couldn’t be the same woman who’d been there when I was little, could it?

“She’s harmless, mostly. She’ll pretend to hate you, but she’s a softie. Can’t stand me, though,” Michaela said, grinning at me.

“Why not?” I couldn’t see anyone hating Mike—she was great.

“Because I’m marrying Chance, and she’s got a crush on him the size of a Sequoia, even though she’s married.”

“I’m sure her husband loves that,” I said. “And from what I remember, everyone on the planet has a crush on Chance Palmer.”

Mike sighed in the way a happy woman confident in what she had would, and I felt a little pang of jealousy. I didn’t want Chance Palmer—the traditionally good looking guy had never been my thing. I tended to like the oddballs, the underdogs. And the shiny corporate managers, evidently, but that had been a one-off for me. Cameron Turner was way more my speed. Not that I was in the market. At all.

We hopped into a monstrous golf cart with huge tires and followed a rutted dirt road from the back of the inn up the hill and out to where the outpost restaurant was rising impressively from the forest floor. The structure was two stories high, and appeared solid from