A sadness filled her chest. Being an only child, she had been close to her parents. The moment that the police had told her of their passing, Peyton had felt the world fall beneath her. The pain had made her forget about the hurt that she’d felt when Callum had left town.
She placed the frame back in its original position and logged into her emails. A few business ones would have to be answered today, as well as some from previous guests. After minimising her screen, Peyton logged into her Facebook account and saw a tag notification from one of her best friends, Madilynne Woodside. Clicking on the notification, she tensed at the picture.
“Summer before year twelve! Miss this!”
She swallowed hard at the picture of her group of friends standing by the trees near the hotel and his arm around her waist as they smiled at the camera. Peyton blinked quickly at the picture. Three days later, they had made love under the stars, and then two days after that, he’d broken her heart.
Unable to help herself, Peyton read the comments to see that he had not made one. She hovered her cursor over his face before clicking to close her browser. Then she closed her laptop and took a deep breath in and then out.
He’s gone, Peyton. He left. You need to remember that.
“I really don’t want ‘work’ in my pub, Peyton.”
She set down the guest list for the Reynolds’ wedding to see a beer placed on her table. Three hours of going over the wedding plan and she’d been done. She knew one thing: weddings like this one were going to be charged more for such outrageous requirements. Deciding to take a break, Peyton had gone for a walk to go over the list in a new environment. That’s how she found herself sitting at a table in the Daylesford Pub. Squinting her eyes, she stared at the dark-coloured beer in front of her.
“Jay, you know I hate beer,” she stated and eyed him, his hand behind his back.
He stroked his short beard before setting another glass on the table. “Yeah, I know. The beer’s for me. The Coke’s for you. Don’t know why you come here if you hate beer. You offend and break my heart every time you walk through my door, Peyton.”
Jay sat in the seat next to her, and she reached over for her glass, taking a long sip. The twinkle in his warm, chocolate eyes had her rolling hers. It wasn’t that Jay was unattractive—it was the opposite. Any young female who stayed in Daylesford wanted in his bed. But he wasn’t the type to use women. He was the settle down type.
Jay was just like Peyton and Graham. He had stayed behind because his family owned the local pub. But, unlike them, Jay liked what he did. Ever since he had graduated from high school two years ahead of Peyton, he had strived to fulfil his role as pub owner.
Putting the glass down, Peyton returned to the Reynolds’ wedding list. When one had money, one lavished. And bride-to-be Marissa Reynolds had money—her parents’ money, to be exact.
“Ugh, she really chose our town to be the place for her wedding?” Jay asked with much disgust. He sat back in his chair and reached for his beer, almost drinking the entire glass in one pull.
Peyton’s eyebrows furrowed, and she tapped her finger on the table. “Don’t like Marissa?”
Jay’s lips parted and his brows met, bewildered by her question. “You do?”
“I’ve never met her or her fiancé. Aunt Brenda took the booking a few months ago while I was studying for exams. Should I be worried? Is she a bridezilla?”
She didn’t need an uncooperative bride. Peyton knew the importance of the day, but from past experience, the most challenging brides were the ones where money had absolutely no limits.
“She wanted to tear down my pub because it wasn’t an ideal backdrop for her wedding pictures. I bloody love the woman! What’s she got you doing? Putting fancy Japanese fish in the lake?” Jay set his now empty glass on the table and folded his arms over his chest.
“Just the guest list is substantial. I don’t think that I have the staff to cater for so many people. It’s meant to be a private wedding, but she’s got half of the Collingwood football team coming.” Peyton sighed and returned the papers back in the folder and then her folder in her bag.
“Be careful of them, Peyton. I see you near any of them footy boys and I won’t make any promises of not breaking their legs.”
Jay’s tense body had Peyton rolling her eyes.
“Don’t go all protective over me, Jay,” she said as she got out of her chair and picked up her bag. Her break from the hotel was already long stretched. She needed to return.
She looked down and met Jay’s concerned face.
He stared at her for a moment before he closed his eyes and sighed. “Someone has to be, Peyton.”
Before she was able to ask him what he meant, Peyton felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. When she pulled it out, she saw a new text message.
Marissa Reynolds: Peyton, since you are now dealing with the wedding and my fiancé doesn’t think your hotel is suitable, I will be sending him down tomorrow to have a look over it.
Peyton glared at the message and let her shoulders sag. “Bridezilla’s fiancé is coming tomorrow. I better get back and make sure the hotel’s of ‘suitable’ manner for their wedding. I’ll see you, Jay.”