CHAPTER TEN
Zane
On Saturday morning, I paced back and forth across that ugly rug in my room while I waited for my meeting with Becca. I was very rarely nervous about seeing people and even more rarely nervous about how I looked, but with each pass by the mirror, I wondered if I should change my shirt from the blue one I’d chosen.
I didn’t necessarily feel insecure, but I wanted to be someone more than the person she thought I was. I looked good, but I wanted to be more than that.
More than just an attractive outside like I’d always been.
Stopping in front of the mirror, I looked at the man in the reflection and saw what I’d always been. Dark brown hair, brown eyes, my mother’s son.
And that was the problem, wasn’t it? Zane Gilford, the spoiled son of Deidre Gilford was all I’d ever been, so how could I expect to be something more now, even if I wanted to be for Becca?
I ran my hand through my hair and tried to dismiss those thoughts from my mind. I could be more than that person.
Pep talk finished, I walked downstairs and immediately was bombarded with employees in my face asking me questions as soon as I stepped foot into the lobby.
“Mr. Gilford, a man called today asking when you were planning on sending the payment for the repairs in the bungalows. What should I tell him?” Mandy asked.
“Mr. Gilford, I need next weekend off to go help my brother move. Is that okay?” one of the maids asked.
“Mr. Gilford, for the Saturday night meal, what should we be preparing for dinner? No one has sent me any menu, and as such, I have no idea what to order,” Tim, one of my two diva cooks, asked.
Nothing like being met with a cacophony of questions the moment my feet hit the dark red carpeting. I suspected they thought I’d snap at them, but I needed to keep trying not to be that man.
Even if I wanted to walk right past all three people right out the front door.
In turn, I answered each of their questions. “Mandy, if he calls back, tell him I’ll send the payment out tomorrow morning. If you need time off, talk to Kathy about scheduling or try to switch shifts with someone. As for dinner, I honestly don’t know, so I’ll leave it to your expert judgment. Cook what you want, Tim.”
It may not have been the happiest version of myself, but it was certainly civil. I was trying, if not always succeeding, at making an effort at being the kind of owner The Gilford House Inn needed.
While they hurried off to do their jobs, I headed to my office to get ready for my meeting with Becca. I’d compiled all the data I could find on the inn going back for the past five years. Tapping the papers on the top of my small desk to straighten them, I wondered if my mother had ever thought of doing any advertising for her beloved inn. Somehow, without spending anything, she had been able to keep the hotel filled most months out of the year.
But now, I wanted to see if I could do better.
A knock on my office door pulled me out of my daydreaming about how my mother had built a successful business on little more than word of mouth, and I stood to open the door.
Mandy smiled at me and said, “Becca Fox is here. She’s waiting at the front desk.”
I grabbed the papers and headed out to see Becca standing in front of Mandy, the two of them talking like they knew each other. She looked good in a pair of black pants and a pink shirt that hugged her body perfectly. Suddenly, the last thing I wanted to do with her was talk advertising.
“Becca, thank you for making the trip. I truly appreciate it. Can we get you anything? I’ve got a cook or two around here somewhere who I’m sure would be happy to whip you up something.”
She smiled and looked a little surprised at first before shaking her head. “No, no I’m fine, but thank you so much for offering. It’s very sweet of you.”
“I’m sure you’d like to relax after your drive, so what do you say to meeting up for dinner at seven?” I asked, changing plans and hoping this time she wouldn’t say no to my offer.
She smiled and nodded. “Well, since it’s for business, I don’t see how I can say no.”
“Seven o’clock it is then. I’ll meet you right here,” I said, my smile growing larger as I saw a look of confusion come across Becca’s face.
“Why wouldn’t we just meet right here in the dining room? What better spot to talk about how to advertise this wonderful place than right in the thick of things?” she asked.
“Because I’ve got another place in mine that I think you’ll love. I’ll see you at seven, Becca.”
I left her standing there with her key in hand, her mouth hanging open, and her eyes wide. Good. That’s exactly what I wanted. She was curious, which was a good thing. The more Becca was unsure about what I wanted, the better.
A few steps away from my office just as two kitchen staff were about to scurry out of my way, I smiled and said, “Good afternoon guys. How’s it going?”
They stared at me with confusion on their faces, but I just kept walking with a pep in my step to my office. It was just about lunchtime, so I decided to grab my food and head back to my desk, but as I spooned out a bowlful of macaroni and cheese from the buffet in the dining room, I saw one of the servers struggling with a stack of dishes as she tried to place them on the end of the buffet, so I took them from her and set them down myself.
“It’s okay. I’ve got it.”
She stared at me with her mouth hanging open just like Becca had a few minutes earlier, and I realized it felt kind of good to surprise my staff sometimes. As I walked away back toward my office, I heard her tell one of her coworkers, “He just took the dishes. Like he wasn’t angry at all. He was…he was nice.”
“No way. Mr. Gilford nice? Why?” the other woman asked.
“I don’t know. Do you think he’s sick?”
“Maybe, I mean, he could be, I guess…”
“Let’s just hope it lasts,” I heard the girl I’d helped whisper, and I couldn’t help but smile to myself. I hated admitting when other people were right, but it didn’t feel terrible to be the guy no one hated for the moment.
A few hours later as I sat in my office finishing some work, I heard the fire alarm in the kitchen go off. I jumped up from my chair in a hurry and rushed into the kitchen to find black smoke billowing from a stove and guests rushing down the hallway toward the front door.
“Just what I need,” I muttered to myself.
Not until the fire department arrived did I find out that Frank, the beefier half of the twin diva cooks, had started a grease fire. Luckily, there wasn’t too much damage.
I stood on the front porch next to him in the chilly late October air as he began to grovel, and I shook my head. “Hey, no one was hurt. It’s going to be fine. I just need you to be more careful next time.”
He stared up at me like at any moment he’d break into tears and said, “Mr. Gilford, I promise it won’t happen again. Please, just don’t fire me.”
I couldn’t help but chuckle a little. “I think we’ve had enough fire for one day, Frank.” I took a deep breath, still holding back the twinge of anger I’d kept bottled up inside me, and said, “Everyone makes mistakes. Just don’t let it happen again. Got it?”
Frank had been cowering the whole time, nearly shaking in his boots, but when I let him know things were all right between us, he shook my hand and thanked me with a huge smile before everyone around us started going back in the building as the firemen gave us the all clear.
A small group of older women remained outside on the porch even after the word came that they could return to their rooms, so I made my way over to them and said with a smile, “It’s all clear inside, so head on in and get yourself a warm cup of coffee or hot cocoa. It’s the perfect thing on a chilly day.”
The women smiled at me, and one of them said, “We love staying at this place. It’s things like what you just said that keep up coming back year after year.”
I didn’t exactly know what she meant, so I simply nodded and smiled even broader. Each woman in turn told me that they loved the inn, and with each compliment, I just nodded.
The woman who first spoke to me patted me on the shoulder as she followed her friends inside. “Your mother would be proud of you, Zane. She always hoped you’d love this place like she did.”
Alone, I looked out at the vivid reds, oranges, and yellows nature had colored the trees around the inn and thought of my mother for a moment, wondering if she would have been proud of me. I hadn’t done much to honor her memory.
Not yet, but at moments like this when things at the inn didn’t make me want to strangle someone, I wanted to prove to her that I was more than the spoiled son she died thinking I was.
* * *
At seven o’clock, I stood waiting at the front desk for Becca. As minute after minute ticked by, I wondered if she’d changed her mind and wasn’t going to come to dinner with me after all. In all honesty, I couldn’t have faulted her too much if she didn’t show up. I hadn’t always been good to her, after all.
Lost in thought as to what I’d do if she didn’t show, I heard her voice as she said hi to one of the staff and turned around to see her walking towards me looking absolutely stunning in a little black dress and high heels to match. As usual, she didn’t wear much jewelry, just a gold necklace and earrings. Some women looked great with diamonds and jewels dripping off them, but Becca had that natural beauty that didn’t need anything gaudy. It wasn’t her style.
“I’m sorry I’m late. I didn’t know what kind of restaurant we’d be going to, so I wasn’t sure what to wear.”
I let my gaze slowly travel from her face down her body and smiled. “You look perfect, Becca.”
She looked more than perfect. That little black dress accentuated her gorgeous legs and beautiful ass that gently swelled from her tiny waist. I’d always loved it when a woman’s body was shapely.
“Thanks. You look pretty nice yourself,” she said, beaming a smile.
“Ready for an incredible dinner?” I asked as I slid my hand down her back to guide her toward the front door, dying to cup that beautiful ass in my palm.
“And talking about what we can do to keep this wonderful place filled to capacity,” she said, arching an eyebrow.
She wanted to talk business, and I wanted her. If I had my say, we’d both get what we wanted.
We headed out to my Mercedes, and as I opened the passenger door for her, I joked, “See? You were wrong about me. Not a Beemer at all. I’ve always been much more of a Mercedes guy. Beemers don’t last as long, and the maintenance costs are out of this world.”
She nodded as I helped her into the car and looked up at me with those big dark eyes I’d always loved. “Maybe I was wrong about you after all, Zane.”
I smiled and shut the door, and as I walked around the back of my car, I couldn’t help but feel like things were working finally. I’d gotten through a whole day and even a fire without losing my temper on my staff, and now I had Becca dressed to the nines in the passenger seat of my car. The only place better would have been in my bed, but a guy could wait for something so good. Now all I had to do was get her to fall for me again.
Sliding into the driver’s seat, I glanced over at her and liked what I saw. Those legs went on for what seemed like miles, and it took me back to the days where they’d been wrapped around me.
If things went well, maybe I’d have that again that night. I could certainly imagine that dress being tossed aside as I laid her down on my bed. That would definitely make being at the inn a whole hell of a lot better. Really, anything would at that point, especially losing myself in a beautiful woman for a while.
We didn’t speak much on the way to the restaurant, and that was fine by me. It just meant more time for me to reminisce about her being all over me. She came off all quiet and reserved, but I knew better.
Becca Fox, like any woman, liked to feel good and I had something that would guarantee that feeling. It was hard to stay focused on the road while I thought about being with her again, and I couldn’t help but wonder, was she thinking about our time together in the past too? She and I had rocked each other’s worlds back then, and I’d only gotten better with time and practice.
If I got the chance, I’d show her how much better that night.