Page 4 of Heart & Hope

She scans the computer screen with a half-baked smile.

Too harsh?

“I only have a reservation for a Mrs. Robbins, and it says here you’re our new events manager?” Her eyes light up. Guess she likes a good party. A door to the side pushes open, and an older lady wearing some god-awful vest over her crisp white blouse steps up beside the young attendant.

“Ah, I am she, but?—”

“Mrs. Robbins! So glad y’all arrived safe. I’m Mary-Sue, new co-owner.” She beams. “We have you in one of our best suites, and I can show you this wonderful old building. Oh, wait, what am I sayin’! You must be exhausted. I’ll let you settle in, and we will see y’all at breakfast. Bill—my husband—and I have you slotted to meet about the gala first up tomorrow.”

I stare at her. Neurons are firing in my brain right now, I’m sure. They’re just not connecting in any meaningful way. Mrs. Robbins? Opening? The place appears up and running to me. “I?—”

“Is Mr. Robbins with you? A super successful gal like yourself; I bet he follows you around all over the countryside. It’s no bother if he arrives later, we have an after-hours attendant and a twenty-four-hour call button right out front. Miley, show Mrs. Robbins to her suite, I’ll get her checked in. No need for charges, your boss phoned ahead.”

“Oh, wonderful, thanks.”

Miley is by my side a second later, scanning the foyer for the bags that she must have assumed I would haul in myself.

“They’re in the trunk of the rental outside,” I offer.

“Sure. I’ll meet you at the elevator, Mrs. Robbins.”

Before I can get a word out to correct their mistake, the young girl is out the front door and popping the trunk. Decidingto let it go, I wander to the elevator foyer with a smile and a wave to Mary-Sue.

Grunts come from behind me as I tap out a message to Adds. I turn back to see Miley dragging my bags behind her. All four of them. I drop my phone into my tote and relieve her of two of them. Louis Vuitton should not be dragged. Ever.

“Wow, y’all’s luggage is?—”

“Expensive, please be careful.”

“I was goin’ to say heavy.” Miley’s gaze swings to the elevator as it bings.

I step inside and turn back, settling the two bags on either side of me. The young woman’s focus is fixed on the floor.

“Your boss is lovely,” I say, trying to crack the frozen tundra between us after my lack of tact with the bag.

“She’s the best,” she says, a little too deadpan, the smile on her face forced. “Her and Bill, they’re kind of traditional.”

“Oh, in what way?”

“The traditional way? I don’t know. It’s a good thing your husband is coming soon. Bill ain’t real big on unmarried women traipsing across the country. Even less fussed on us having a career, so to speak.”

I press my lips into a thin line, my now dropped brows a good half an inch closer to my nose. “It’s 2024.”

“Yeah, they know. But reckon some things are best left to the old ways. And women workinginsidethe home is one of them.”

“But you work here, and Mary-Sue?”

“Yeah, that’s just until I’m married, I guess.”

My face twists.

“What about Mary-Sue?”

“Well, Bill is here and he’s my uncle’s cousin, so . . .”

“You can’t be serious. Just how far back in time have I traveled in four days?”

She chuckles, running a hand over the now fingerprint-spotted brass of my luggage. “I mean, I’m all for it, you know. Going off to college and seein’ the world. Maybe one day.”

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