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“Oh, I’m sorry. Did you think I still hated these little things?”

He’s laughing, and I can’t even be mad because the way his face lights up when he does brings a warmth to my chest I don’t want to let go of.

“I learned to love them, just as you will learn to love this place. Just you wait and see.”

ChapterSix

Nate

Rémy walks me through the entire hotel, talking over the plans he and my uncle had for this place, and around every corner we turn, there’s a new memory surfacing of my childhood summers spent here with my mother and with him.

“I remember this,” I say, laughing and pulling open the door to the dumbwaiter that runs from the kitchen on the ground floor all the way up.

“You should. We got stuck in there for an hour when we were hiding from my aunt.”

The memory of being squashed beside him in the dark, his leg against mine, face so close that his breath tickled the skin of my cheek when he turned to whisper to me.

“I can’t believe we both fit in there,” I say, sticking my head through to look down.

“We didn’t, that’s why we got stuck,” he laughs, and a voice clears their throat behind me, and I bang my head on the way out.

“Are you okay?” Rémy asks.

“Fine, it’s just a tap.”

Seline is standing in the doorway, arms folded over her chest, one eyebrow cocked. “No messing with the food elevator or you’ll be carrying up the room service yourselves until it’s fixed.”

“I was just looking,” I say, rubbing my head. There is a small bump forming.

“Dean called from the farm up the road to check on the order for the week. If you want to have enough to feed these guests, you might want to give him a ring,” she says, and Rémy nods.

“We’ll head down now and see them.”

“We will?” I ask.

“They’re our biggest supplier. It would be good for you to meet them.”

“I don’t know…”

“Look, you promised to think about not selling, and to do that, you need to know how many people make this place run. It’s not just us, our staff, and the guests who visit. We have connections with farms and small businesses all over.”

“So your plan is to guilt me into not selling?”

He shrugs. “Whatever gets you to see that you can do this, that we can, together.”

I have no idea if he’s right, but what I do know is that I haven’t smiled like this in months, and if visiting this farm means spending more time with Rémy, then I’m in.

“Okay, I can drive.”

He laughs.

“How about you let me handle the driving?”

Seline is shaking her head. “Be safe.”

“Safe? What kind of car do you have?”

“I don’t own a car.”

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