I also found myself enjoying helping Fiona clean the kitchen at the end of the night. Even though she did have one employee, a college girl, she was flaky at best.
Something I wasn’t prepared for was the handle on the bathroom door breaking off. I’d left the bathroom window open, causing the door to slam shut. Then I must have grabbed it too forcefully and it snapped off. Now I couldn’t even use the bathroom. And the worst part was I had to bother Fiona, which I tried not to do.
I made my way through the bed-and-breakfast, smiling at the guests in the lobby before heading to Fiona’s tiny house. This place had become a home. It was nothing like The Plaza. My world had been pristine hotel suites with crisp white linens and room service. Even my childhood home was more of a museum than a home. I preferred real life, warm, homey, lived-in.
The cottage sat behind the bed-and-breakfast, tucked beneath an old oak tree. The paint was peeling in places and the garden was overgrown. It had character, much like the woman who resided there.
I knocked on the door and heard a faint, “Come in.”
Inside, the air smelled of old books and flowers, but beneath it was something else—something stale.
I never had a reason to visit Fiona in her cottage, so I never saw what a mess it was. The place was cluttered, not just with things but memories. Stacks of newspapers, a chair covered in laundry, dishes piled in the sink. It wasn’t dirty, per se, but it was too much for her to handle.
Fiona was sitting at the small kitchen table, a cup of tea in front of her, her gray-streaked hair pinned up with a fresh perm from the salon. She barely looked up as I stepped in, letting out a small sigh of annoyance to acknowledge me.
“I thought I told you not to need me … ever,” she muttered.
I smiled, pointing at the doorknob. “Bathroom door broke.”
She huffed. “Call CJ and tell him to fix it.”
My eyes widened and I opened my mouth to ask how she knew but was quickly cut off. “I know everything that goes on in this town, Fancy Pants.”
I laughed softly. “Noted.” I glanced around. “Looks like you could use some help around here.”
She eyed me, her lips pursing. “You ever cleaned a house in your life?”
Shaking my head, I answered, “No. Not like this.” I met her gaze, trying to convey understanding in my tone. “But I know what it’s like to feel like everything is too much. Not knowing where and how to start.”
Something flickered in her expression, and she glanced away. “Yes. Well, I know all about your mess,” she grumbled, and my heart sank. “But if you’re gonna be here, you might as well start on those dishes. Then we can sort through some of those newspapers and magazines. I’m sure your face is on half of them.”
“Fiona, I—” I started but she held up a hand and spoke.
“Your secret is safe with me. I have my own secrets, similar to yours.” Fiona’s chin jutted toward me.
“Thank you,” I said softly, smiling.
“Now let’s get to work.”
We worked in silence until we came across a box labeled “NYC” and only then did Fiona speak. “I was a journalist, Fancy Pants. I learned a famous actress was having an affair with an engaged guy. I just didn’t realize the engaged guy was my fiancé. After that, people ridiculed me. They said I didn’t do my due diligence. I came to Grand Haven and bought The Grand with the little money I saved.”
“Fiona, I’m so, so?—”
She shook her head. “I didn’t think you’d last here, you know.”
I paused my sorting of the papers and glanced at her. “What do you mean?”
Fiona gestured around the room. “Small-town life. This place.”
“And now?” I asked, gulping, unsure if I wanted the answer.
“I’m glad you’re here for CJ.” She scoffed and folded a dish towel. “Also glad to have the help.”
That was as close to a compliment as I expected to get from Fiona.
Okay, so I’d officially lost my mind. I had no idea what I was doing. But I was doing it.
Caleb Jameson had turned my whole world on its head. I should have probably been more unsettled by this—having everything I’d known to be true called into question, seeing things with new eyes, finding joy in things that I had always thought to be so outside of my reality—but I wasn’t. I’d found that if he was upside down, then that was exactly where I wanted to be.
