Page 55 of Through the Dark Night
“Hey there, have a minute?” Lance stuck his head in the kitchen door where Marina and Shannon were talking about the menu for the next weekend. The guests had left on Monday morning, and they’d cleaned everything. While they had two guests staying in rooms currently, she anticipated that the weekdays would be less busy than the weekends.
“I sure do,” she said, giving Marina a glance with lifted brows. Marina smiled and nodded. There was a glow about her that a woman in love often had. She hadn’t heard anything else from her ex or from Morison, and the police report had been filed. Hopefully that was all it was going to take to keep her ex from bothering her again.
“You might wanna put on a coat, we need to go outside.”
“Okay,” she said, mystified as to what would cause him to need to go out.
It was a nice, beautiful, sunny day, but the temperatures were definitely cool enough that one would want to wear a coat for any extended activity outside.
“Can I ask where we’re going?”
“You can,” Lance said with a wink.
She laughed and then rolled her eyes.
Her hand slipped into his as he opened the door for her, and she stepped out into the beautiful fall day.
Thanksgiving was the next week, and both of her children were coming in for it.
She hadn’t spoken to her ex and hadn’t asked either one of them if he was doing anything. She really didn’t care. He had his own life now with his new girlfriend, and she heard that the girlfriend was expecting a baby.
She wouldn’t want to be starting over with a new family at her age. Not like she even could. But she supposed with James’s twenty-five-year-old girlfriend, that was probably something James was going to be dealing with—children who were decades apart.
Maybe she’d get a chance to talk to her children about how they felt about that, but there really wasn’t anything she could do.
“It’s a beautiful day, isn’t it?” Lance said as they started out.
“It sure is. And I’m glad that the hustle and bustle of opening day is over, but… I can’t believe the reservations that are pouring in. We had a whole rash of them this morning.”
“It might be because of this,” he said, holding up his phone and scrolling until he found what he wanted, then started to read, “‘The grand opening of the Sunset Inn was a spectacular extravaganza, showcasing the close-knit community of the town of Raspberry Ridge, along with the brilliant culinary mastery of Marina Castellano, renowned chef from the Corella family, hailing from upstate New York. This little gem along the gorgeous, majestic shores of Lake Michigan is the perfect weekend getaway for any couple interested in romance, as well as the slower pace of a rural community, while still having plenty to do.’”
The review went on, talking about the amazing decor in each room, the beautiful views, amazing food, and the quaint town, but the atmosphere was something that the reviewer touched on more than once.
“It sounds to me like I have the whole town of Raspberry Ridge to thank for the total success of opening day.”
“Yes. That was one of the reviewers. The other two had glowingreviews as well. They all posted this morning. I wasn’t sure whether you knew or not.”
“I hadn’t even thought to look. I guess for some reason I was thinking it would be weeks before they got the reviews in and up.”
“It’s the age of the internet. Things happen a lot faster now,” Lance said with a knowing look.
“I suppose they do. Wow. I don’t even know what to say. That’s truly a testament to the spirit of Raspberry Ridge.”
“And you. Because you had a vision to begin with.”
“I don’t know if you could say that, considering that it was a spur-of-the-moment decision at two o’clock in the morning from a woman who was rather depressed about her divorce and unsure about her future as her children were all making their lives away from her, and she felt abandoned and alone and over the hill.”
“That doesn’t describe the woman I’m looking at,” Lance said as he slowed their pace, and she realized that they were standing on top of the bluffs where they’d spent so much time in their youth.
“I love this place,” she said, lifting her face to the breeze and closing her eyes as the sun shone down on her, and the clean, fresh air filled her lungs.
“And you’re beautiful. I love you,” Lance said.
She opened her eyes, smiling up at him and expecting him to kiss her, but instead, he dropped to one knee.
Her eyes widened as she realized what he was doing. A hand went to her throat.
Was she ready for this? She hadn’t really thought about it, other than… Yes, she’d longed to have a marriage and a life with this man.
