Page 134 of Return to Us
“I own about two hundred acres with a lake on it.”
“You own a fucking lake?” Josh asks.
“I do, I bought it when I had Amelia.”
Oliver laughs once. “That’s one hell of a birthday gift. How come I only get an empty card?”
“Because you’re the spoiled brat,” Stella says. “Focus. This is about Grayson opening his own inn—without us.”
“Guys,” I break in, “this isn’t what I planned, but I can’t be around him. I’m done, and I don’t want his money or anything to do with him.”
“Grayson, none of us want that,” Josh speaks before anyone else.
“No, but if you’re opening your own inn, why the fuck wouldn’t you take us with you?” Alex asks. “Also, fuck not taking his money. He’s got enough of it. We can all sell our shares.”
Jessica looks to me, and I don’t know what to think. They want to do this too. They want to leave my father’s company and start over with me?
“Wait. You all want to leave your very comfortable lives and jobs making good money to come open an inn that we have no idea will do well?”
In unison they all speak. “Yup.”
I turn back to Jess, who is smiling. “You could all be partners.”
“And they’d all be here,” I say.
“If we needed funding or another investor, I know Jacob would come on.”
As great as it would be to get the money from outside, it would be awesome having my brothers all back here. We loved running the Park Inn before my father started branching off.
I turn back to the screen. “You know that this isn’t going to be easy. We will be competing against a very well-known establishment.”
Joshua’s smile is wide, and he looks almost giddy. “Yeah, and how sweet will it be when it closes and his kids are who brought him down.”
“Exactly,” Alex says. “Plus, I’ve missed home.”
Oliver nods. “I have money saved, this is a much better investment than a boat.”
I laugh. “Stella?”
“I have been hoarding money since I was eighteen. There’s nothing I’d love more than to own an inn with my brothers. Plus, our shares have value, Gray. A lot of value.”
Well, it looks like I’m going into business with my siblings.
* * *
Jessica and I watch Amelia run along the lake. “Do you think I can have a house here?” she asks.
“No, Monkey, we’re going to fix up that house and have our own inn.”
“On Melia Lake?”
“Yup.”
“Can we call it Amelia Inn?”
I laugh. “We’ll put it on the list.”
The last two weeks have been a whirlwind. We told Amelia that we were together, and she started crying because she was so happy and wanted Jessica to be her new mom. Since that went well and Jess was already there every night, I asked her to just stay with me.
