Page 1 of In Your Dreams, Holden Rhodes

1

Sadie

“Sadie Waters?”

“That’s me.” I gave the receptionist a bright smile.

She emerged from behind the desk and gestured for me to follow her. “We’re still waiting for the others but I’ll get you seated in the conference room.” She glanced over her shoulder with a sympathetic expression. “The celebration of life was lovely yesterday.”

I nodded with a sad smile. “Katherine would have loved it.”

A few weeks ago, my aunt Katherine had passed, and yesterday, half the town of Queen’s Cove had gathered on the grounds of her inn to celebrate her. The event had been more like a town fair than a funeral, with people spread out on picnic blankets, food sizzling on barbecues, and a crowd of kids chasing bubbles from the bubble machine. People read poems about my aunt. Several bands played her favorite songs. A troupe of interpretive dancers performed jerky, writhing, sensual choreography to honor her. That part made people uncomfortable.

It was the weirdest celebration of life I’d ever been to, and it was exactly what she wanted.

My heart panged. Katherine had been so fun, weird, and bubbly, and I missed her.

“Are you in town for long?” the receptionist asked as she led me down the hall.

I shook my head. “Nope. I’m heading back to Toronto after this.”

Dread trickled into my stomach at the idea of driving home. Yesterday had been a welcome distraction from my clusterfuck of a life back in Toronto.

Outside the door to the conference room, the receptionist paused. “We’re all very interested in who will inherit the inn.”

I held back a snort. A hundred people must have asked me who the inn was going to. This tiny town on the coast of Vancouver Island was exactly how I remembered from when I was sixteen.

Holden Rhodes wandered into my head.

He had worked at the inn the summer I stayed there. Katherine had hired him to do landscaping, general handyman tasks, drive guests to and from the marina, and take them on hikes in the local trails and the mountains. Before my trip, Katherine had talked my ear off about him, and I couldn’t wait to meet him. He was three years older than me, but she was certain we’d be friends.

When I met him, he wanted nothing to do with me. I still cringed, thinking about the scowl on his unfairly hot face.

Katherine would suggest he take me into town, and suddenly his truck was full and he didn’t have any room for me. A guest at the inn would ask if I wanted to join their hike, and Holden said I didn’t have enough hiking experience, so wouldn’t be able to keep up. One afternoon, I was laying out on the porch, reading magazines and painting my nails. Holden was in the yard, weeding the gardens. I stepped inside for a snack, and when I had returned, he had sprayed my magazines with water.

He made sure I knew how unwelcome I was here. Every time I even thought about coming back, I remembered how he couldn’t bear to be around me that summer.

Dick.

I had thought I’d run into him yesterday at the celebration of life, but I didn’t. I knew from Katherine he owned a construction company in town and dropped by the inn to help her out. His mom, Elizabeth, was Katherine’s best friend and the executor of her will. She organized the celebration of life and had scooped me up into a warm hug the second I saw her.

He was probably married with six kids by now. Not that I cared.

“Sadie?”

I blinked and smiled at the receptionist. Right. The inn.

“I’m sure it’ll go to my parents, or Elizabeth,” I told her with a shrug.

Katherine didn’t have any kids and never married, and I was the closest thing she had to a daughter, but there was zero chance in hell she’d leave the inn to me. The six-bedroom inn was on a huge waterfront property in a busy tourist town. My life was in Toronto. She knew that.

Or, my lifewasin Toronto. Two months ago, I had a gorgeous apartment, a business loan for my new interior design firm, and the perfect fiancé.

Now I had none of those things.

I was so fucked. So, so fucked.

The receptionist slid the glass door open and gestured inside. “Everyone else should be here shortly. Can I get you anything to drink?”

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