Page 94 of Fall Into Temptation
Eva plowed on as if she hadn’t heard her and opened the front door. “Naturally with your parents in town, I had to tell everyone about our ‘relationship’ for the past few years. And Grandpa thinks it’s only fair that you pay me back for all the loans I gave you. We can work that out later. But, just a head’s up, Emma and Gia have a lot of questions for you. Like alot. So it’s probably best if we head over there now.”
Agnes’s crepey skin flushed an angry pink. “You’re going to regret this, Evangelina.”
“Oh, not as much as you,” Eva promised. “But life is full of regrets, isn’t it? I think I’m done regretting things.”
“Is everything okay?” Eden asked. She was standing in front of the now closed door to the dining room.
Eva winced. She hadn’t meant to have her showdown so publicly in Eden’s place of business. “Everything’s great,” Eva said, trying to telegraph an apology to Eden. “My friend Agnes here is checking out today.”
“We’re sorry to see you go, Agnes,” Eden said without a hint of sincerity.
“Now, go pack your things. Everyone is going to be so excited to see you,” Eva promised.
“You’re going to be sorry,” Agnes said, pointing a jagged fingernail in Eva’s direction as she backed away from her. She turned and stormed toward the stairs.
“What. Was. That?” Eden asked, her eyes wide.
“I’m so sorry,” Eva whispered. “I can’t explain it yet, or possibly ever, but I’m so, so sorry for putting you in the middle of this.”
“Hey, everyone’s got shit, right?” Eden shrugged. “I’m not saying I won’t be throwing an internal party when that woman leaves. But I’m also not going to charge you the $500 penalty for her smoking in a non-smoking room.”
Eva winced. “I owe you so big for all of this.”
“Yeah, pretty much,” Eden agreed, leading the way to the desk. “I’m just glad I didn’t have to call the cops on the two of you or hose you down.”
Eva was glad too. Especially about the cop part. “Thank you for your restraint.”
“Well, I figured if you wanted the cops to be involved, there would be a very tall, very broad-chested sheriff already with you. Plus, your makeup is seriously flawless today. Hosing you down would have been a travesty.”
Eva laughed. “Thank you on the makeup. The rest of it is this planetary crossing. Everyone is insane,” Eva explained.
Eden printed out the room invoice, and Eva gaped at it. “Christ. This woman ate like a high school football team. Corn nuggets?”
“Yeah, I had to barter with Shorty’s to get them for her. She wasveryinsistent. Traded him for my Belgian waffle recipe for an emergency delivery.”
“I think I owe you at the very least a really nice purse. This definitely feels like a purse-level apology,” Eva mused.
“How ‘really nice’?” Eden asked, swiping Eva’s credit card.
“I think we’re looking at a Michael Kors level.”
“I knew we’d be friends,” Eden laughed.
They both turned toward the front windows at the sound of tires screeching.
“There she goes,” Eden observed as a rusted out blue coupe careened around the first turn of the winding drive.
Eva grinned as she watched the little car disappear. She felt lighter than she had in years. She’d done it. Vanquished the enemy. Now the only thing to do was to come clean to Donovan. And if she could scare her mother out of her life, then she could be brave enough to give Donovan a real shot.
Eva scrawled her signature across the receipt. “We should go out for drinks to celebrate that thing that I can’t tell you about.”
“We definitely should. I’ve had a stressful day. A hard-to-please guest left under mysterious circumstances.”
Eva glanced around at the lobby’s soaring ceiling and thick molding. The staircase was a spectacular combination of ornately carved wood and plush carpet. “Can I have a tour while I’m here?”
“You going to write about an innkeeper?” Eden asked.
“Depends. How sexy is your life?”
