Grand Hotel by Mary Davis

Author:Mary Davis
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Barbour Publishing, Inc.
Published: 2013-02-22T05:00:00+00:00

Nine

The next morning, Aimee headed toward the office she shared with Dillon. Would he be there? What would she say? What would he say?

She hadn’t seen him since he stormed off the hotel porch the night before. She had wanted to go to his place and apologize or something but wasn’t sure what had happened. She would apologize today. She took a deep breath and knocked lightly on the door.

“Come in.”

She put on a smile and opened the door. “Good morning.”

He looked up. “Good. You’re here. I wanted to talk to you.” He stood up from his chair.

She stood next to his desk. “First, I need to say something. I’m really, really sorry about last night. I know I did something wrong—I’m not exactly sure what and I don’t want to pry—but I wanted you to know that I never meant to offend you. Please forgive me?”

The look in his eyes conveyed understanding. “I am the one who needs to apologize for my behavior. Running out on you like that was inexcusable. I’d like to explain. Would you like to sit down first?” He motioned toward her chair.

She backed up and sat.

He sat on the edge of his desk and faced her. “This is really hard for me.”

“You don’t have to explain anything to me.”

“You deserve an explanation after my rude behavior last night.”

She noticed his hands shaking but didn’t want to mention it.

“When I was seven, my mom developed breast cancer. It spread rapidly through her body, and she died within the year.”

She took in a quick breath. “I’m so sorry. My mom died, too, when I was seven. It’s awful to lose your mom at such a young age.” She felt an instant deep connection with him.

“Then you can understand the heartache. The one thing Mom wanted was to visit this hotel. We planned a trip, but she got too sick to travel. I told her that if she lived I would buy her the Grand Hotel. At seven, I didn’t understand how impossible that was. She died, of course, but asked me to watch the sunset for her from the hotel.”

A lump formed in her throat at his heartache. “So you wanted that to be special. Something you did alone with her memory. I can understand that. I never meant to intrude.”

He shook his head. “I haven’t done it.”

She furrowed her brow. “Why not?”

He took a deep breath and blew it out slowly. “When I do it, I’ll be saying good-bye to her. I’m not ready to do that. I’m waiting until I’m the general manager and am running this hotel. If I can’t own it for her, I can at least be in charge of it.”

That was so sad. He had kept his grieving for his mom fresh. He hadn’t let go. No wonder he worked so hard. He was trying to sooth his guilt. “It’s not your fault she died.”

He nodded.

She saw moisture pool in his eyes just before it did in her own and blurred her vision.

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