Page 88 of Fall for Me

I jerked my face to Eli, my stomach twisting. “What?”

“Didn’t Cass tell you? We’re going to award the east wing reno job to him and his dad. No question. We were already going to go with them, but Griff took the time to pick apart the other proposals over a video conference. From China. Wanted to prove, unequivocally, that it wasn’t just because we know them.”

“Griff’s in China?” I asked, my voice distant.

But my mind wasn’t on my brother’s mysterious international trips, or his thoughtful analysis of the contracting proposals, which was a very Griffin thing to do.

It was on Seamus. Seamus, who would be at the hotel every day. Where I worked. I could brush off Eli saying Seamus loved me—that was just his overly romantic interpretation of the situation. But this, this constant proximity, that would be real.

“Yeah, don’t ask about what the hell he’s doing there because, as usual, I have no idea.”

It took me a minute to realize Eli was talking about Griffin. I nodded, my mouth dry, suddenly.

“But speaking of weird businesses and hobbies, I guess, maybe I’ll tell you first.”

I blinked, coming back to my kitchen. I wiped my damp palms on my legs. “Tell me what?”

“I started a side hustle,” Eli said.

I raised my brows.

“I’m buying commercial real estate.”

Now my jaw fell open. “Eli, what? That’s not a side hustle, that’s a full-on side career.”

“I’m not going to leave the resort. Not yet anyway. But I thought it was time I put my degree to good use.”

That part made sense. Eli had a business degree, but when he’d married Kelly, he’d gone to her hometown in upstate New York, and decided he wanted to work with his hands. He’d worked on renovating the house they’d bought together, and he’d been so keen on it, he’d gone out and gotten his electrician’s ticket. We all thought he was nuts, but he’d started his own electrician business out there, and seemed happy, until everything all went mushroom-shaped with his marriage.

But commercial real estate? I still couldn’t understand how he was quietly doing something so involved. “I didn’t know you had any money?” I said, confused now.

Eli shrugged. “You don’t know a lot about me.”

“Evidently.”

“Anyway,” he continued, now animated, the way he got when he was talking about something he was deeply interested in. He’d completely transformed from the Eli I’d found out in the hallway, and was like fourteen-year-old Eli talking about baseball.

“I bought my first property last month. It’s just coming out of escrow now. Needs a little work, but I’m going to hit up Jamie for it, seeing as Seamus will have his hands full with our place. Jamie loves me. He’ll make room for it. I hope.”

My mind was still reeling at all this information, but I blinked then. “Jamie Reilly?” I said.

“What other Jamie would I be talking about?”

Pieces began clicking together then. A construction site. Jamie’s party. Suddenly, the worry I’d been gnawing on took a step backward. Maybe I wouldn’t be launching my own business. Maybe I was freaking out at the prospect of being close to Seamus. But, I could help Jamie throw an amazing party.

And maybe, by doing that, I could acclimatize myself by spending more time with Seamus, before I didn’t have a choice.

I pushed down the tightness in my chest and let myself catch some of Eli’s newfound enthusiasm.

“I think I might be able to help convince Jamie to help squeeze you into their work schedule.”

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