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“Yeah. But Mom was home for Christmas that year they were looking, and saw it was for sale. Her sister worked at the town hall and casually mentioned there were some tourism grants available—”

“Revitalization grants,” Eli said.

“Right. Anyway, one thing led to another, and they let go of the other place they were considering in Ohio—a ten-room inn on a farm—and ended up purchasing the 300-room resort right in their hometown.”

“Wild,” Blake said.

“It really was,” I said.

“Literally,” Lila said. “I saw some of the old photos in the files. The golf course was almost completely grown over.”

“And half the windows were boarded up,” I said. “I guess some of the east wing was closed off back when the resort started losing guests, and nobody opened them back up again.”

“That’s where the haunted ones are,” Jude explained. Then added a ghost sound: “Oooooooooo!”

Eli and I groaned.

“Anyway, Mom and Dad got the place fixed up,” I said, “and it turned a profit in their… third year?” I glanced at Eli for confirmation.

He nodded. “Yep—once Dad ended up staying home with us. They figured it would be better if they saved money on daycare by stepping down from the business.”

I picked up my fork again. “Dad never really cared about running the hotel, anyway. He went along with buying it for the history.”

“The hotel was always Mom’s baby,” Eli said. “Now it’s yours, Cass.”

I swallowed the forkful of food I’d put in my mouth, oddly touched. Eli wasn’t usually sentimental with me, being my twin. He always said he hadn’t planned on staying on as CFO. He’d come home to help us, but he’d run away before, working in a completely different field despite his business acumen. I wondered when he’d leave this time.

We were all quiet for a moment, and I didn’t know about Eli and Jude, but my throat felt thick with emotion.

“This was never your dream either, was it?” Blake asked.

I shook my head. “No, but I think I was being obstinate. I wanted to try my own thing. Now it feels like the right decision but… I want it to function in a way that doesn’t keep me awake at night. At least not all the time.”

“That’s why we’re here,” Blake said, smiling.

I’d smiled at him, suddenly beyond grateful they were.

That Blake, specifically, was here.

While the others started chatting—about ghosts, or the hotel, or lunch—Blake held my gaze. “You know, I think your mom would be proud of you,” he said, soft enough that none of the others looked our way.

My chest bloomed with warmth, both at what he’d said, and that he’d said it.

“Because we hired you?” I said, my lips twisting. I couldn’t stand not teasing him.

“Exactly,” he said. But his eyes kept that same genuine hold. And when his leg brushed up against mine when we turned back to the others, I didn’t move it away.

* * *

The endof Week Three was significant—it was our last week in the office before we shifted out into the field. It also marked the end of the first half of the review. But I tried not to think about that.

I was proud of the work we’d done so far. Lila had completed the financial review with Eli, and the department manager interviews. Blake meanwhile had pored over everything process related I’d shared with him, both executive and departmental.

Next week, Lila was going to meet Reese to go over the restaurant and food services, while Blake and I launched a physical tour of the property before I passed him off to Jude to shadow all the recreation facilities.

I was looking forward to the change in scenery, but I was also a wreck, knowing that next week—at least for the first couple of days—Blake and I would be fully alone together, away from the safety of everyone else in the office.

By the time the weekend came around, that heat I’d tamped down had come back full force, and I spent Sunday evening tossing and turning, my mind going everywhere except sleep. Half of it was nerves, but the other half, surprising me, was a revival at my earlier anger: at Blake, irrationally, for being him and having this ridiculous life of his, and at myself, for caring.