This mystery-guy thing was starting to bug me. Usually Vanessa couldn’t wait to brag about whom she was dating. But she had been very close-mouthed about the whole thing, even going so far as to avoid me, and spend all her time with whoever it was.
“Is he married?”
“No, he’s not married,” she snapped. “You really think a lot of me, don’t you?”
“Right now you’re about my least favorite person in the world,” I said.
“How on earth do you run a successful inn with that smart mouth of yours?”
“Oh, so you finally acknowledge that I run a successful inn.”
“Ugh!”
“You say that word one more time, I swear to God—”
“Ladies.”
We turned around to find Aydan standing in the doorway. Her arms were crossed over her chest and she was tapping her foot on the floor in irritation.
“Do you want to wake our guests?”
Embarrassed at having to be scolded by my manager I shifted uncomfortably. “You should have seen what I just woke up to.”
Aydan glowered at Vanessa. “I can only imagine. But, Bailey, you’re in tiny pajamas that will give Mr. Sykes heart failure if he sees you, so please go get showered and changed before our guests come down for breakfast in”—she glanced at her watch—“thirty minutes. Vanessa, why don’t you take the day off? Again.”
“Don’t talk to me that way in my own inn or I might just have to get physical.” Vanessa threw her hands on her tiny hips. “I’m stronger than I look.”
Aydan stepped up beside me, showing solidarity. “Yeah, well I’m willing to bet I could take you. I’m also not your sister and therefore not obliged to put up with your crap or stop myself from causing you physical harm. On that note, you have five seconds to get out of your sister’s face before I put my job in jeopardy. Five. Four—”
“Ugh, I don’t need this.” Vanessa stormed by us. “And I’m telling Mom what kind of trash you hired to run this place.”
I lunged at her and Aydan held me back.
“She’s not worth it,” she said as Vanessa disappeared out of the door.
“What did I do to deserve her?”
“Don’t think about her. Let it go. Go get showered and I’ll go check in on Mona in the kitchen. She more than likely heard all the commotion and is terrified to come out.”
I knew Aydan was right. My kitchen staff hated Vanessa. All of my staff hated Vanessa. I was guessing it had to do with the way she talked to them like they were her servants.
“And Bailey,” Aydan called to me as I wandered back down the hallway.
“Yeah?”
“No work for you today. You are way past due for your day off. Get showered and go out. Do something, anything. Just get some R&R, okay?”
I nodded, even though I dreaded the idea of being alone with my thoughts.
The day was overcast so I half expected it to downpour, but I held out hope as I wandered from boutique to boutique on Main Street, attempting to relax as Aydan suggested.
Problem was I wasn’t much of a shopper. There was also the matter of my thoughts; my thoughts that kept wandering to all the crap in my life that I didn’t want to deal with. I’d been so focused on keeping my mind on work that I hadn’t really spoken to Jess and the girls. We’d checked in about wedding stuff but we hadn’t had a long, meaningful conversation in which I revealed how close to the ledge I was so they could talk me off it.
When the heavens broke and thunder clapped in the skies tourists rushed for cover into restaurants, shops, and hotels, and I hurried down the slick boards to Emery’s.
Her place was busier than I’d hoped, beachgoers having rushed inside to shelter from the weather. Emery looked a little flustered so I joined her behind the counter. “Can I help?”
She nodded gratefully, and while she dealt with coffee, I quickly got a grip on her cash register.
When the line was dealt with and everyone seemed settled in the sitting area of the bookstore Em turned to me and handed me a dish towel. “Not that I’m not glad to see you but what are you doing here?”
I dried the ends of my long hair with the towel. “Aydan made me take a day off.”
“You have been working really hard lately. What’s going on?”
I glanced around to make sure we had privacy. “I’m a little low right now. I just . . . sometimes I can’t believe this is my life at thirty-four. I always thought I’d have it all by now, you know?”
“And Vaughn? Has he finally admitted he cares about you?”
I shook my head. Over the last few weeks, with no contact from him whatsoever, I’d started to grow angrier, more frustrated by him. Any trust that might have existed between us, however small, had been obliterated by the daily turmoil I felt over my unrequited—
No, it wasn’t love. I didn’t know him well enough to truly be in love with him.
But I still felt something. Something undeniable.
And very painful.
“He’s too closed off, Em. I need someone who trusts me. Someone who will let his guard down with me. And he won’t because . . . I’m not the kind of woman he’ll ever let his guard down with. I’m not the right kind of woman.”
“Or maybe he hasn’t let his guard down with you because you haven’t let your guard down with him?”
“Of course I have. I slept with him.” I wrinkled my nose. “Plus, I’m Bailey Hartwell. I don’t even have a guard, let alone one that’s up.”