Page 24 of The Main Event

“Besides, you still haven’t told us what Jax is doing,” Levi said, giving me a significant look. I didn’t want to know what he was insinuating with that look. Not even a little.

“He’s in the lobby looking at all the artwork,” Brittany replied. “He doesn’t get it. He thinks it’s depressing. He wants to change it out.”

Oh, well, now she had my full attention. “He can’t change that art out. Sabrina Sutton painted that before she lost her head and got locked up. That art is authentic … and people come to the hotel just to see it.”

“He believes it frightens people.”

I pushed myself away from the bar. “He so doesn’t get the point of Salem,” I muttered.

“I tried telling him.” Brittany’s demeanor was sunny. “Maybe you’ll have better luck.”

I could only hope. I waved at them before leaving the bar. I only had to make a single turn to get to the lobby, and when I entered—sure enough—I found Jax standing behind the tufted velvet couch staring at the biggest piece of art in the room.

“That’s a Sabrina Sutton original,” I volunteered as I moved up behind him.

“It’s weird.” Jax didn’t look impressed in the least when he turned to face me. “There is a woman in the middle of that painting and there are bodies of men all around her.”

“It’s empowering.”

“Not if you’re one of the men.”

I had to bite back a sigh. “Salem is all about the witches.”

“I’m aware. I was thinking we could lean into a different Sabrina.”

It wasn’t hard to figure out what he was talking about. “You mean Samantha. Not Sabrina.”

“Um … I’m pretty sure her name was Sabrina.”

“No.”

“How do you know?”

“I just do.”

“Whatever. It doesn’t matter. We need cute witches. Not scary ones.”

Yup. He definitely needed a crash course on Salem. “Okay, I think we have to do the obvious thing here.”

He swallowed hard. “There’s an obvious thing? What obvious thing are you referring to?”

“You don’t know anything about Salem,” I replied. I opted to ignore how pitchy his voice had turned. “I don’t understand how you could have grown up in Boston and not know anything about a town thirty minutes away, but that’s obviously where we’re at.”

He looked taken aback. “I know all about Salem’s history. It’s terrible. I don’t agree with what happened. I don’t think we should lean into dark witches, though.”

“Yeah, you’re clueless.” I refused to apologize once the words were out. I was right. “Come on.” I motioned for him to follow me toward the main door, the one that led to Hawthorne Boulevard.

“Just where do you think you’re taking me?” Jax demanded.

“You need to see the town.”

“I’ve seen the town. It has a lot of good restaurants.”

“It does,” I agreed. “It’s also a town that works in a very specific way. You need to understand that if we’re going to move forward.”

He hesitated. “Move forward how?”

Was he kidding me right now? “We have to work together. We have to plan parties to bring in enough money for you to update the hotel.”And then sell it,I added bitterly. I couldn’t focus on that part, though. George had wanted his hotel to survive and thrive. I could only see one way forward to guarantee that happening. “I need to show you the real Salem.”

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