Page 115 of Loving the CEO

"I have an idea."

"Fantastic. I'm all ears," she said.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Tory

"This place really is fantastic," I exclaimed as Mom and I stepped inside the B&B. "I kind of thought it looked too good to be true in pictures."

"I scouted it before sending you the pictures," she said.

"Of course. Um, thank you for putting in all the effort." Even though Mom and I hadn't parted on good terms, I was determined to be civil.

"And thank you for coming so quickly. Let me give you the tour.”

We walked forward, taking in the house.

"Okay, so the living room has a lot of potential," Mom said as we passed a huge empty room.

"I agree. For breakfast, dining, or serving tea.” I felt like Vanna White the way my arms were moving this way and that. I was nervous. For as nice as this place was, I just wasn’t into it.

After inspecting the first floor carefully, we went up the staircase to the bedrooms. It was obvious that we’d need to upgrade the air conditioning—it wasn’t even a particularly hot June evening, and we were cooking inside.

“These rooms are large enough for people to comfortably spend time in, but not too big."

Usually, people preferred B&Bs over hotels because they had a homey feeling. But no one wanted to be cramped.

"I like that they have en suites already," I said.

"Exactly. No one likes to share the toilet. And it’s a hassle to create a new bathroom."

Even though I liked this place, I wasn't feeling it. I couldn't envision myself being here the entire day with Mom. I didn't have the heart to tell that to her yet, though.

Once we got back downstairs, she turned around and said, "Um... so, listen, we haven't spoken about the price yet."

"I noticed that it wasn't anywhere on the listing."

"Well, I took it off because..." Mom glanced at her perfectly manicured nails, and I knew bad news was coming. She rarely hesitated when she had something to say. "Walter is helping us out."

I stilled. "I'm sorry, what?"

"He's very sorry about everything. He even broke up with his—"

"Mom, I'm not interested," I said. I knew she thought she was doing me a favor, but just because her life didn’t turn out the way she wanted, it didn’t mean she had the right to try and influence mine. I couldn’t help but feel upset about this whole thing now.

"Don't be like that." She shook her head. "He's really trying to make amends."

"I'm not interested. I don't want to ever talk to him again, and I certainly don’t care to be in business with him in any capacity."

She bit her lip. "Well..."

I groaned. "Mom, what did you do?"

"He's actually waiting outside. He really wants to talk to you. And, well, since he offered to actually pay for this, I figured the least I can do is—"

"Drag me here under false pretenses so I can talk to him? How could you?” I was mad now. “I won't do it." I slammed my arms to my sides.

Damn it, why did she do this?

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