Page 49 of Falling Inn Love
I pour myself a cup and go over our bookings and schedule. Everything looks great and I’m so excited. I feel like I have a purpose here and I’m helping. It feels really good to feel needed again.
Just after 6 a.m, Mellie comes in. I pour her a cup of coffee and we sit on the couch together.
“Why are you up so early?” she asks me.
“Caleb was admitted and they need to do his transplant as soon as Evan can get there.”
Mellie’s face falls and worry shrouds her face. “Where is he?”
“I took him to the airport a few hours ago. He took a flight first thing this morning.”
“Wow. I can’t even imagine. This is so scary,” she says.
“He promised to give us an update as soon as he has one.”
“Okay, so I guess now we wait,” she says.
“That’s all we can do,” I agree.
Now the corners of her mouth curl up in a sly smile. “How was your first night at his place?” she asks.
“It was good.”
“It wasgood?” She raises one eyebrow at me.
“Okay, fine, it wasgreat,” I relent. “But then we got the call about Caleb and now I’m just so sad and worried.”
I don’t want to tell her too much. I’m still not sure what Evan and I are doing. I still have a lot of processing to do with all this new information. And he’s still her boss. I don’t want to make it weird.
Luckily, she changes the subject. “I hope Caleb’s okay,” she says, looking concerned. “He’s practically the same age as Kase. I can’t even imagine what Allie is going through. She must be worried sick.”
I don’t tell her that I can well imagine what Allie’s going through. Instead, I say, “I know. There’s not much we can do to help with Caleb, but we can work hard on the fall festival to make more money for the inn. Has Evan talked to you about the loan situation?”
“Not really, though I know we need that festival to bring in money, and I know Sasha’s been cutting back. How can I help?”
“I’m so glad you asked.” I grin at her as I flip open my notebook.
“I think we need to do things up big. Like before, when Mr. Harper was running it.”
“I love it. I haven’t ever planned anything like this, but I’ll do my best to help any way I can.”
“You’ll do great. I have it planned for October 14th and 15th. Pete is checking our insurance policy and making sure that it is still up to date with all of this. I have a signup list for vendors and volunteers in the community. And I made signs.”
“How can I help?”
“Can you distribute the signs in town? I may also need help nailing down a few of the games, vendors, and donations for prizes.”
“I can do that.”
“We’re doing a corn maze, a pumpkin patch with a local farmer, inflatables, and a paintball gallery.”
“Oh, wow. This is going to be so fun.”
“Yeah, and the best part…” I lean in. “Don’t tell Sasha, but Pete made a pumpkin cannon, and he wants to surprise her with it.”
“Okay, he does not want to surprise her with that. He wants to quietly create it in the hope she won’t say no.” She laughs.
“Exactly.” Watching the way Pete and Sasha razz each other but seeing how much they love each other at the same time has been fun. They’re definitely couple goals.
