Was I really jealous of a hotel? No. That would be ridiculous.
“It’s my dream,” she said. “But it’s been in our family for five generations. I’m not the only Eden who loves that hotel. My parents, my siblings, my extended family. The town. Failure isn’t an option.”
“And you think you’ll fail?” Or was that coming from her parents?
“No.” She sighed. “Maybe. I had an issue a few years ago and it rattled my confidence. Mom and Dad’s too. Hence why they wanted to give the hotel to Knox.”
I shifted, turning sideways in the couch to put an arm across the back. Then I crossed a foot over my ankle, wanting to be able to see her as she spoke. “What happened?”
Eloise traced a pattern on the leather cushion between us, drawing imaginary squares and rectangles. “My tender heart. Or that’s what my mother calls it.”
Not once in my life had anyone called my heart tender. I liked that about Eloise. That she was affectionate. Genuine. Unguarded. I liked that she could ramble when she was drunk, saying whatever was on her mind, and lose herself in a moment of passion.
“I had an employee,” she said. “It’s not easy to find reliable, hardworking people all the time, especially those who are willing to clean rooms and scrub toilets. Maybe that’s because Quincy is small. Or maybe I’d have the same problem in a large city. I don’t know. But it’s difficult. I don’t have the luxury to always be choosy. If I don’t have employees . . .”
“Then you do the work yourself,” I said as she trailed off.
“Exactly.” She glanced up but her fingers kept skimming the couch’s leather. “I hired a guy to do housekeeping a few years ago. He seemed nice. He was sincere in his interview. He didn’t have any previous hospitality experience, but it’s rare to find someone who does. And he was only working part-time. I figured we could train him along the way, and if the fit was right, we could bump him to full-time.”
This asshole had taken advantage of her, hadn’t he? “I’m guessing the fit wasn’t right.”
Eloise gave me a sad smile. “I thought it was. At first. He showed up on time. He was nice to me and polite to guests. He didn’t go above and beyond but he did what I asked him to do. Until one day, he skipped a shift. I’d been doing some schedule changes and thought maybe he just missed the calendar update. So I covered for him. The next day when he came in, he apologized over and over. Said he had a lot happening and had gotten confused about the schedule.”
He’d probably seen an opportunity to exploit Eloise’s tender heart.
“It happened again. And again. And again.” She tensed, her shoulders curling inward as that fingertip kept drawing patterns. Circles now, instead of squares. “My mom found out. Which means my dad found out. He came into the hotel one day, called the guy into the office and gave him a warning. Another skipped shift and he was gone. Guess what happened?”
“He skipped another shift.”
“Yep.” Eloise sighed. “Dad fired him. I would have done it, but Dad said he’d take care of it. Mostly, I think Dad was worried I’d cave and give the guy another chance.”
“Would you have?”
“I wish I could say no,” she said quietly. “But I’m honestly not sure.”
“So your parents got mad because they had to fire someone for you?” That didn’t seem like a big deal.
“Oh, no. It gets worse.” She scrunched up her nose. “Back then, most of us would go out to Willie’s for a drink once a month. I invited him to come along. I didn’t want anyone to feel left out. He came once, that first month after he’d started. There was a whole group of us at the bar. We had a few drinks. Played pool. Laughed. And at the end of the night, I hugged him goodbye. I hugged everyone. No big deal.”
There was shame in her voice, like someone had made her feel bad for who she was. For that heart. It pissed me off instantly. Especially if that someone had been in her family.
“I was trying too hard to be a friend instead of a boss. Professional boundaries weren’t exactly my forte.”
“Who told you that?” I asked.
“Well, my parents. But mostly, experience.” Her lip curled. “The week after Dad fired the guy, we were sued for wrongful termination and sexual harassment.”
“Damn.”
“He said I propositioned him.” Eloise’s arms wrapped around her waist. “I’ve never felt so dirty. And you know the worst part? I started to doubt myself. I replayed that night at Willie’s a thousand times. Every smile. Every laugh. Every word. I wondered if I’d gone too far. If anything I’d done could have made him feel uncomfortable. When all I wanted was to be nice. Include him.”
I leaned forward, dropping my elbows to my knees, shifting just a bit closer toward that hand drawing on the couch. “I doubt you did anything wrong.”
“We still got sued. If I had fired him after the first shift he’d skipped, it would have been done.”
“He probably would have sued you anyway.”
She gave me a sad smile. “That’s what my dad says. That no matter what, the guy was always going to be trouble. He got a smarmy lawyer and thought he could get rich suing my family.”
“What happened with the lawsuit?”
“We won.” There wasn’t an ounce of joy in her voice. No victory. “It was stressful and horrible, but at least we won. Mom and Dad dealt with most of it. They knew it was hard on me so they took care of it.”
But in doing so, her parents had decided she couldn’t handle the hotel.
“I’ve worked hard these last few years,” she said. “Really hard. No more friendships with the employees. No more nights at Willie’s. Whenever my parents need a favor, I drop everything to say yes. And I’ve apologized to them more times than I can count. My life is that hotel, and it’s paying off. We’re having one of the best years ever.”
“Then isn’t that enough?”
“It should be.” She blew out a long breath. “My parents came to me last month. They think I’m ready. And in my heart of hearts, I know I can do it. I know I’m the right person to do it.”
“So what’s the problem?”
“It’s taken three years. Three years of being perfect. No mistakes. No reckless decisions. Until—”
“Me.”
Her finger stopped moving. “Please don’t take that the wrong way.”
All that, and she was worried her confession would hurt my feelings. That I didn’t see our marriage as a mistake.
That tender heart was as beautiful as the starry night sky outside.
“I don’t.”
She brought her hand to her lap to fidget with her fingers. “My parents think I’m soft. Too trusting. Too naive. Maybe I am.”
“You’re worried they’ll think I’m taking advantage of you.”
“Yes.”
“Do you worry about that?” I held my breath, waiting for her answer. Waiting to hear what kind of man she thought I was.