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Heath shrugged his shoulders. “You know how it is. Once she gets back into work, she’ll be busy. She won’t get back as often as she’d like. Can you handle that? Do you have the time to visit her?”
I cleared my throat. “Not really. Charlotte has been working weekdays, and I take the weekends.”
Heath shook his head. “It sounds like you have a lot to talk about then. Where is she?”
“She went to see her family. She’s been so busy here that she hasn’t seen them as much as she’d like to.”
“The thing about relationships is that you need to let the other person thrive. If that means opening a new business, going into a different career, or even moving. Are you prepared to meet her where she’s at?”
I thought back to how she’d so effortlessly proposed to me when I was nineteen and how I hadn’t been ready for that gift. I’d thrown it back in her face. I’d registered the hurt, but I hadn’t let myself absorb that, to think about how it might damage her for relationships going forward. I sighed. “I’ll have to be.”
Heath touched my shoulder. “I want you two to make it.”
“It worked out for you and Marley, and her home was in California.”
“She hated it here. Initially, she wanted to renovate and sell the inn. But she fell in love with the inn and the farm. She remembered how much she loved me. You have to make it so Fiona won’t want to leave.”
“Are you saying that I need to show her how great it is to live in an inn?” I’d done a good job of that during the storm, and I was positive she was on her way to falling back in love with me, if she wasn’t already there.
“You couldn’t ask for a better time of year. There’s something about the holiday season. Women can’t resist it.”
I scoffed. “I’m hoping she can’t resist me.”
Heath moved toward the theater doors. “Come on. Let’s take a look.”
The original chairs have been cleaned, the worst of the chairs recovered. The curtains would be in soon. The old ones had already been removed, leaving the space brighter. The walls were a soft gray. There was new red carpet on the floor and the electrical had all been brought up to code.
Tiny lights lined the aisles, and Heath had kept the original sconces on the walls. When he turned on the lights, there was a soft glow to the room.
He hit a button, and the projector screen came down. “We need to fix the projector room. Then we can have a showing.”
“You want to do it before Christmas?”
“I think you need to. Invite the Calloways.”
“Should I invite the Monroes?” It was as much Heath’s project as it was mine and Marley’s.
“If you feel comfortable doing that. I’ll talk to Emmett, see if he can be slightly less grumpy than usual for one night.”
“You do that.” I walked around the room, taking it all in. It felt grand for such a small space. “Tomorrow, the repairman for the bowling alley will be here.”
“Marley can take pictures of the showing and post it on the website. With the holiday decorations, it will be perfect. I think you’re going to be busy soon. How many hotels can offer an onsite movie theater, a game room, and a bowling alley?”
“Not many.”
“I’m confident we can utilize the game room too. We’ll recover the pool tables, add a few foosball tables and maybe an air hockey table for the kids.”
“Do we want to make it more kid friendly? We could add a few basketball-hoop arcade-style games.”
Heath grinned. “I love Skee-Ball.”
“It has a gentlemen’s club feel now with the bar and the grand interior. Do you think Marley will want to change it that much?”
“I think Marley likes the idea of making the entire hotel more kid friendly.”
I was pleased we’d planned so much in one evening, but I wish Fiona were here. I’d come to rely on her input. She had a feel for what people wanted. It was too bad her superiors couldn’t see how brilliant she was. We were lucky to have her support and advice.
My heart hurt at the thought of her leaving or me not being able to see her because I was tied to this place. I loved it, but I wanted her more.
