Page 28 of Searching for Sunshine (Crestbrook Cove #1)

STELLA

“ T hank you so much for coming. We hope you enjoyed your stay,” I tell the couple checking out, as I hand them their final bill.

“Oh, yes. Everything was wonderful. We’ve already booked our stay for next year,” the wife gushes, and I feel a swell of pride rise inside of me at how well the hotel’s doing.

“I’m so happy to hear that. We look forward to seeing you again soon. Be safe traveling,” I say, sitting down behind the counter as they make their way outside.

Today has been one of the longest days I’ve had since I started at the hotel.

A bingo tournament pulled most of our volunteers away for the day, which left Avery and me to run everything.

Thankfully I was able to get one of the housekeepers we recently hired to come in and turn over the rooms, but Avery and I have filled all the other responsibilities on our own.

On top of that, I didn’t manage to get much sleep last night—my mind was too consumed with the revelation that I’m actually in love with my husband—and my body is feeling it today.

I reach down and check the time on my phone, sighing in relief when I see it’s almost seven.

Chloe agreed to take the evening shift for me tonight, and she just sent me a text that she’s on her way.

All I can think about is how much I’m looking forward to eating dinner and taking a shower when Wyatt pushes into the lobby.

“Oh, hey,” I say, smiling at him as he makes his way over.

“Hey, Stels. Are you almost done here?”

“Yeah, I’ll be good to go as soon as Chloe gets here. Everything okay?”

“Oh, everything’s fine. I just wanted to talk to you about something. But it’s no big deal. I’ll wait for you at the cottage,” he says, and I notice he’s fidgeting with his wedding band.

“Are you sure everything’s okay? You seem nervous about something.”

His eyes widen and he shakes his head. “Nope, I’m good. I’ll see you at home in a few.”

“Okay,” I say, still trying to figure out what’s gotten into him. “I’ll see you then.”

He leaves, and I spend the next few minutes wracking my brain for what he could want to talk to me about.

I thought that everything was going so well between us, and he seemed happy spending time with me, but a wave of anxiety rolls through me at the thought of him deciding to end things between us.

Before I can start to spiral, Chloe walks in through the front door of the lobby, and I sigh in relief.

“Hey, Stella. How are you tonight?” she asks, sliding onto the stool beside me.

“I’m good. Honestly, just exhausted. It’s been a crazy day here.”

“No worries, you head on out and I’ll meet you for brunch tomorrow morning. We can chat then,” she offers, and I smile at her appreciatively.

“Sounds good. Thank you again for doing this. You seriously saved me today.”

“No problem. I didn’t work today so I spent the day napping. I promise I’m good to go. I’ll take care of everything.”

“Thank you again. Miss Clara will be back tomorrow, and she should be in pretty early. And I’ll get you a check next week for all the hours you’ve been putting in.”

“Perfect, now you go get some rest, babe,” she says, shooing me out from behind the counter.

I grab my bag and head toward the cottage, trying to convince myself I’m getting worked up over nothing. But by the time I reach the front door, I feel like my heart is going to beat out of my chest.

I push the door open, and pause when I hear Wyatt talking from the bedroom. “…totally in love with you and I can’t imagine spending a single day without you,” he says. I feel like my heart stops at the words.

What the hell?

I burst into the bedroom, not sure exactly what I’m expecting to find, but it definitely isn’t Wyatt sitting on the bed talking to my chocolate lab. He looks up at me in surprise and I freeze, trying to piece together what’s going on.

“Wait, what? When did you get here? I didn’t hear you come in,” he asks.

“Were you just telling Duke that you’re in love with him,” I blurt, unable to stop myself.

Wyatt blinks and I wait for him to say something before he groans. “Oh my god, tell me you didn’t hear that.”

“I definitely did, and I’d love to know what the hell is going on.”

“Damn it,” Wyatt mutters before confessing, “I was in here talking to your dog like a fool, practicing how to tell you that I’m completely in love with you when you walked in and heard me.”

I freeze, unsure if I heard him right. “You…you love me?”

He stands and makes his way over to me, pulling me into his arms as he sits back on the bed.

“Fuck, I feel like an idiot. I realized tonight I’m completely in love with you, Stella.

And I know it’s not what we agreed upon and I probably should wait until we’ve spent more of the year together, but I just need you to know that I love you and I don’t ever want to let you go. ”

I remain silent, trying to let his words sink in as he continues to ramble.

“I can’t ask you to stay married to me if it’s not what you want.

But I’m just asking if we can give this a real shot, because you’ve become the most important person in my life and I can’t imagine letting you walk away at the end of this year. ”

“Wait, you’re in love with me?” I ask, trying to keep up with how fast he’s talking.

“Yes, Stella, I’m completely in love with you. This was absolutely not how I saw this going, but I guess nothing about us has been conventional so why start now, right?”

I stare at him for a moment before his words finally register and I feel my face break into a smile.

Running toward him, I wrap him in a hug and lean up to press a kiss to his mouth.

“Wyatt, I’m in love with you too. I spent all night last night trying to figure out how to tell you because I can’t stand the thought of this thing ending between us in ten months either.

“Oh, thank god.” He sighs before bringing his mouth to mine and kisses me hard. Before I can get too lost in the moment, Duke barks behind us and moves to nudge me in the leg with his nose.

“Are you feeling left out, sweet boy?” I ask with a laugh. “You know we love you too.”

Our dog barks again and both Wyatt and I lean down to pet him. After a moment, Wyatt asks me, “Should we try this whole thing again? I wanted it to be a little more romantic, but I got nervous and went and screwed it all up.”

“Nope, it was perfect,” I say, leaning in to let him hold me in his arms. “Never a dull moment, right?”

“Come on, Duke, we need to clean this place,” I tell my pup, looking around at the cottage I’ve neglected to clean for the last week.

Wyatt and I slept late after spending most of the night kissing and fucking, and he left a few minutes ago to grab our groceries for the week before we meet our friends for brunch.

I’m giving myself a mental pep talk to get off the couch and start on the mountain of laundry that’s accumulated when my phone pings.

Avery: We got three more bookings overnight. The second week of March for next year is officially booked already for spring break.

Stella: Shut up!

Stella: Are you serious?

Avery: Yep, I checked twice to make sure. I think we’re gonna need to up our search for more staff.

Avery: The knitting club ladies are great, but Miss Clara almost took out one of the guests with her cane on accident yesterday and Miss Eleanor keeps hitting on the guests.

Stella: Shit, okay. I’ll ask around and see if we can get the listings pushed out to some of the neighboring towns. And up the ads we’re doing online too.

Avery: Already taken care of.

Stella: You’re the best.

Avery: I know ;) See you in an hour.

After reading her text, I throw my phone onto the sofa, start the washing machine, and run the vacuum through the living room.

“Duke, I love you, but between the sand you track in and all the shedding, I don’t think I’m ever keeping this house clean,” I say, pausing to empty out the vacuum for the second time.

My dog lets out a loud sigh at my feet and rolls onto his back, looking over at me expectantly. I bend down and pat his stomach with a laugh. “I know, I know. I’m not complaining. But it’s a good thing you’re cute,” I tease.

After running the vacuum for a while longer and finally deciding the floors will have to do for now, I turn to the bookcases in the living room that are still full of Memaw’s romance novels.

I’ve avoided them for the last two months, feeling like going near them is the last remaining hurdle for coming to terms with her really being gone.

But even from the other side of the room, I can tell the shelves are covered in a light coat of dust, and today feels like as good of a day as any to knock this off the to-do list.

I spend a few minutes going through the stacks as I dust the shelves, and I smile at some of the fun names on the titles in front of me.

I take one off the shelf and flip through it, immediately noticing my grandmother’s loopy cursive in the margins throughout all the pages.

It makes me smile when I read her thoughts, and for the first time since she passed, I feel like I have a little piece of her back.

“God, Memaw, you really were one of a kind, weren’t you? I guess I’ve got some reading to do, huh?” I whisper as my eyes catch on a cream envelope peeking out of an alien romance.

Pulling it out, I feel my breath catch as I see my name written in all caps across the front. Taking a steady breath, I tear open the envelope and start to read.

Stella,

Hi, my sweet girl. I hope this letter finds you happily married and running this hotel with all the determination and excitement you’ve met every other challenge and opportunity with. But I couldn’t go without leaving you this note, further explaining the choices I’ve made.

By the time you read this, I’m certain you’ll have made a decision on what to do with the Hideaway. You know an old hag like me couldn’t go without having a little fun with this old place. But I want you to know whatever you decide to do, I’m so proud of you.

I worried for months that you may hate me for the decisions my final wishes required you to make, but I knew if you had the option to keep the Hideaway without ever stepping foot back here, you would take it. I hope you can forgive me but just know all I’ve ever wanted is what’s best for you.

I also knew if I let you take this on by yourself, you’d lose yourself in running this place and forget to fall in love or see your friends along the way.

I hoped the provision of marriage forced you to find someone to shoulder some of this weight with.

And I’ve always said there’s just a little bit of magic in the walls of this hotel, so I selfishly hoped these walls would lead you to your soulmate the same way it led me to your pops all those years ago.

But if not, I hope you at least found a friend to make you smile and keep you from withdrawing away from the rest of the world when times get tough.

Over the last few years, I’ve watched you lose a lot of the light you had for life. You took on everyone else’s problems and let the world dim a lot of that sunshine you always had inside you.

But, my sweet girl, if you can promise this old woman anything, promise me you won’t ever stop searching for sunshine.

Storms can come along and shake us to our core, but they don’t have to define us.

I hope that moving here reminded you that sometimes you have to choose yourself, and in doing so, it’s also okay to ask for help from your friends.

I love you so much, my girl. Keep choosing joy and keep choosing you.

All my love always,

Memaw

P.S.—Just in case my intuition was right on who you picked to marry, tell Wyatt I said thank you for taking care of my girl. You two always had something special, and I hate that Meredith and I aren’t there to give you shit for how right we always were about the two of you.

I finish the letter, wiping tears from my eyes. Duke comes over and licks my leg in concern, and I pat his head. “It’s okay, buddy. These are happy tears.”

I reread the letter again and I can’t help but smile at how well my grandmother knew me.

She had no way of knowing I’d lose my teaching job at the same time I had to make a decision about the Hideaway, but I know she’s right.

If she hadn’t put any of the stipulations in place, I probably would have taken ownership of the hotel and continued to avoid this place.

And I definitely would have tried to do it by myself.

Just as I’m wiping the last of my stray tears, the front door opens and Wyatt walks inside.

“Hey, Stels, I missed you today. I thought we could—” he starts, dropping his keys on the table by the door and stopping when he sees my tear-stained face. “What the hell happened? Are you okay?”

He rushes over to me and I smile at him. “I promise, I’m fine. I was cleaning and I just found this letter that Memaw hid for me.”

I hold it out to him and he takes it, reading it quickly and smiling when he finishes.

“Damn, that woman really was something. But she’s right.

My granny was always swearing up and down that we’d end up together.

She actually pressured me to reach out to you right before she died, but I was already dealing with so much here, it just didn’t seem like the right time. ”

“Well, thanks to Memaw’s scheming, it worked out anyway,” I tell him, dropping a quick kiss on his lips. “Now, are you ready to break the news to our friends that this fake marriage actually isn’t so fake anymore?”

Wyatt groans and runs his hand over his face. “God, don’t get me wrong, Stels, I’m so happy we’ve worked this out between us, but what if we just don’t tell them anything? They’re never gonna let me hear the end of this.”

I giggle at his expression and pretend to think about it. “Well, we definitely don’t have to tell them. But there’s no way I’m keeping this from Avery. Do you think she can keep it a secret?”

“Fuck, we definitely have to tell them.”

“That’s what I thought,” I say with a laugh. “Now, let’s get ready to go.”