I took a deep breath. “I can’t fault you for feeling that way. It makes sense.”

“I don’t want you to feel like this is your loss, Lane. The inn was a sinking ship before you ever came on board. There wasn’t anything you could have done.”

“I do know that. I still wish there was something I could do now.”

“You keep right on doing what you’re doing. Whoever buys this place will see how vital you are. I can’t imagine them not wanting to keep you on staff.”

“I hope so,” I said. “Because I really don’t want to go anywhere else.”

The next afternoon, Ida’s youngest son flew in and spent three days wandering the property with a guy I could only assume was a commercial real estate agent and someone they only identified as a consultant. Thankfully, I spent the last half of the week prepping for Chloe’s Saturday reception, which provided just enough distraction to keep me from noticing all the assessing and appraising happening all over the inn. The following Monday, Ida made the announcement. The inn was officially up for sale, and she was actively pursuing interested buyers.

By Halloween, I was ready to escape the unknowns of my life. Work was the worst, not knowing who would buy and what they would do with the property. But the angst in my relationship with Jamie was only slightly better. I’d been waffling back and forth all month between feeling like things were great and thinking things were seconds away from crumbling. Jamie would show up with a novel he thought I might like—Ariana Franklin’s Mistress of the Art of Death was a pleasant surprise—and I would feel seen and heard and understood, but then he’d disappear to California and ignore me for a week, texting nothing but soccer stats and pictures of the ocean, and I’d be scratching my head again. California. That was the biggest source of angst. Was he moving? Not moving? For all my pressing, he would commit to nothing and avoided the subject whenever he could.

I had done so much pondering on both issues I was ready to forget all of it and party my way to Atlanta for a couple of days with Randi and my beloved BOYBAND 2.0. The plan was to drive down early Wednesday morning so we had two full days together before the concert on Thursday night. After that, I’d drive up to Raleigh in time for Dave and Katie’s rehearsal dinner on Friday and the wedding on Saturday.

In that regard, all the upheaval at the inn worked to my advantage. Ida and her sons had decided to keep bookings at a minimum until the transition—whatever that was going to be—was complete so my job responsibilities were scaled way back. It made taking several days in a row off really easy.