Inn Love Chapters 18 &19

Chapter Eighteen

            The laughter in the kitchen was loud and Jane found herself smiling despite the terrifying news Anders had just given her. Should she put the insurance money into this new venture or give it to Ellie and buy her a new chair? This might be the last chair they would need to buy for a while, so that was a consideration. Her heart leapt a little, but she wasn’t sure if it was because of this turn of life that was happening to her, or if it was because Anders looked so good in the jeans he was wearing. Okay, fine, she admitted it to herself that she was attracted to Anders. But that was it, she was not going to do anything about it. He was effectively forcing her to end her business, and so what if she was going to get the chance to help him build something bigger, and maybe even better. He was forcing her to change her life and she was not happy about it. She liked things to be the same, to be stable. Her safe cocoon of predictability where she kept Ellie and her mom sheltered and where she would never have her heart broken again. 
            She pulled herself back from her racing thoughts when they turned the corner and she looked in the kitchen. Ellie was standing at the kitchen counter with a small paring knife in her hand. She smiled, again. Ellie was helping to make dinner, which was natural enough, but suddenly it dawned on her that Ellie was standing. How was she standing? Jane looked again and saw that her daughter was strapped into a P.V.C. pipe frame that had an angled support pressed against Ellie’s back that held her daughter upright. Jane’s heart sank. 
            “What’s going on?” she said with mild panic pushing past Anders who was in the hallway in front of her. 
            “Mom!” Ellie cried, obviously overjoyed with being able to stand at the counter and help cook. She had a cutting board filled with sliced mushrooms in front of her and a huge smile on her face. Jane walked quickly over to where Ellie stood to look at the contraption that surrounded her daughter. There were wheels at the bottom of the frame, along with a belt that held Ellie against the back support, and two padded supports for her shins to press against and support her legs. This was attached to a u-shaped frame that travelled around Ellie’s backside.  There was an open space at the front, so her daughter could press right up to the counter, along with arm rests in case she needed support on the side. She thought it looked safe enough but was unsure. 
            “Alec built it for her Jane,” Fae spoke quietly from the kitchen table. “I thought it would be alright to let her try it.” Her mother was cautious, knowing how protective Jane was of her daughter. 
            “Yeah Mom, isn’t it great?” Ellie said, smiling wider and wider every time she looked at Jane. Inside Jane screamed to herself that no, it wasn’t alright. None of this was alright. Who are these Brookstones anyway? Coming here and changing her life all around. 
            “You should have asked me first,” Jane said to the whole crowd. Alec cleared his throat to draw her attention. 
            “My apologies if I overstepped Jane,” he looked at her. Jane felt annoyed because he had a kind face and was obviously trying to help. “When we were here the other day I saw how much Ellie enjoyed cooking with Valentina and I thought I could help make it easier for her to learn and help you. I promise I made it as safe as possible.” Alec said. He looked so sincere that Jane felt another hard piece shift in her heart, only to be replace with guilt that she, Ellie’s own mother, had never thought of getting something like this made for her own child. 
            Before she could respond, Ellie spoke up.
            “Don’t be mad Mom, I like it,” Ellie said, looking worried. 
            “Yeah, it’s cool,” Sally said from the kitchen table. Ellie smiled at her, and they both smiled at Jane. Jane felt defeated, guilty, tired, and confused. She also felt so proud of her daughter for being brave enough to try something new, and that’s more than what she could say for herself lately. Not sure what to say she ended the conversation with a lame “Well, just be careful.” She went over to the freezer, pulled out her bag of peas, and went out to the couch to sooth herself and her now throbbing head with the frozen vegetables. 
            The rest of the evening went along without incident. They enjoyed a tasty dinner of mac and cheese with a side of summer vegetable salad, Ellie’s mushrooms featured prominently in the bowl. They topped off the meal with slices of one of the rescued strawberry pies from the café.  Most things, what would fit anyway, had been packaged and stored away in the freezer. The rest were in the fridge or on the counter, waiting to be eaten in the next day or so. 
            Ellie and Sally declared the evening’s party a success, and went off to figure out how to use Iris’ video camera, which she’d brought along to upload the footage of the storm damage of the café to Anders’ tablet for it to be sent to the insurance company and for him to have on file for Brookstone Inc. The adults sat around the kitchen table for awhile chatting and enjoying the company. Anders told the others about his plans for converting the café building into an inn. Fae shot Jane covert looks across the table, which promised they would be having a lengthy discussion in the morning. Jane excused herself early and went to hide under the covers, promptly falling asleep after the pain killers kicked in. 
            Anders cornered Fae while Alec and Valentina tidied up the dishes. He wanted reassurance that Jane was alright. He didn’t want to think that he was the source of her need to leave and go to bed early. 
            “She has worked to make everything stable and the same since the day Tom died,” Fae said, looking a little past Anders to a place he couldn’t yet understand. “This is hard for her.” She said and patted his arm. Anders knew he would have to proceed with caution but had no doubt that he wanted Jane on the hotel project. Not only because she was clearly a fantastic cook and would make the new restaurant a sure- fire success, but also because he genuinely liked her.
 Yes, he liked her. 

Chapter Nineteen

            In the early morning, Anders met with the other tenants of the building. They liked his plan to expand the building to an inn. The salon decided they would invest their insurance money into adding a spa to the hotel, while the travel agents, who happened to be a married couple, decided they would move their office into their home. They had a daughter in college and wanted to use the insurance money to pay her tuition. He could understand that. The variety store agreed to invest as well, offering to run the gift shop inside the inn. After he finished this meeting, he prepared to meet his father. He felt a bit nervous, but Alec assured him that his plan was solid, and that he wanted to help to make the hotel the best place around. 
            At midmorning he went home, and laid out his plans again with Alec, making sure they were perfect. Their father was set to descend with his mother sometime in the early afternoon. They had preliminary drawings that Alec laid out, a land survey showing the large property that went all the way down to the creek and the beautiful old mill, that was included as part of the property. He laid out how they could refurbish the mill and use it as a backdrop for wedding pictures. They had drawn up some plans for a beautiful English country garden with rambling paths and a flurry of colourful flowers. The restaurant would seat one hundred, while the banquet hall could handle two hundred. The spa would have massage rooms, and an aqua bath where people could bathe in the healing waters of the countryside, the spa would also offer a full-service salon. The new hotel would employ one hundred fifty people year-round.  
 He estimated that the hair salon would receive thirty thousand dollars from their insurance company, the variety store around fifty thousand, while Jane would receive around sixty thousand dollars. Then, with that money in line, he would ask his father for another three million that he believed he would need to complete the rebuild and transformation of the property. He felt a sinking in his stomach when he realized how much money he was about to ask his father to provide to complete this build. If only he knew for sure that Jane was in. Not so much her money, though that was important, but more so her talent. He knew his father loved good food, and Jane was one of the best cooks he had ever met. 
            “What if Jane doesn’t agree to come along on the project?” Anders looked worried as he spoke to his brother, who looked casual as always. 
            “She will,” Alec assured him, as he draped his arm over the back of the wooden kitchen chair he sat upon. 
            “How can you be so sure?” Anders paced, doubtfully back and forth across the checkerboard floor of the large kitchen. 
            “If you’re not sure, ask her,” Valentina said. Ask her? Anders thought that was sensible and wasn’t sure why it hadn’t occurred to him earlier. He had asked her the day before, but she seemed to shut down. He didn’t want to see her do that again. 
            “I don’t think she likes the idea,” Anders said, and paced some more. 
            “I think she’s just nervous,” Alec said, looking decidedly not nervous. Anders wanted to punch him for looking so calm. 
            “What if father refuses the deal?” Anders said, feeling a worried boring in his stomach, images of Jane and Fae crying on their couch, while Ellie sat crouched in her too small wheelchair. He felt responsible for helping them, for making them smile, for making Jane smile. 
            “He won’t,” said Valentina, as she smiled. “It’s a great idea, I would love to stay in a beautiful hotel like the one you have described.” Anders paced some more and decided the only thing he could do was to phone Jane and invite her to come to the meeting with his father. He stepped outside onto the wide-open porch that overlooked the meandering driveway of his rented house and dialed. She picked up after two rings.
            “Hello,” she answered, sounding better than she had the night before.
            “Hi Jane, it’s Anders Brookstone,” he said, feeling formal and nervous.
            “Hello,” she said, sounding detached. Maybe that was just his imagination.
            “I was just calling to see if you had a chance to think about our discussion last night?” Anders found a seat on the porch swing, his view now landed on a field of corn that was about ankle high. 
            “As a matter of fact, I have,” Jane said. “I was going to call you actually. I heard from the insurance company earlier this morning. They are giving me $100,000 for the café.” Her voice grew colder and Anders knew he should proceed with caution. 
            “That’s wonderful,” he said. 
            “It is,” Jane agreed and sighed. She took a deep breath. “After discussing it with mom, she’s decided to retire, and I will continue on with you at the new hotel. But there is a catch.
            “Okay,” Anders said. He had unconsciously stood up with excitement when she said she was going to join her at the hotel. 
            “I won’t give you all that money. I can’t. You can have $80,000, and I’m keeping the rest, so I can buy a new wheel chair for Ellie and look after my family until the restaurant is up and running at the hotel. Anders smiled to himself. He liked how practical Jane was, and how fiercely she protected her loved ones. 
            “I think that’s great,” he said, noticing the suddenly bright green light shining off the corn. 
            “And one more thing,” Jane said, her tone growing even more serious, if that was possible. 
            “Yes,” Anders said, and held his breath. 
            “You better not screw this up,” she said. “I’m trusting you.” She sighed again, sounding shaky. “I don’t trust people, and I’m trusting you. I hope you understand how big this is for me, and for my family.”
            “I do,” Anders said. And he did. He felt a bead of sweat drip along his spine, realizing suddenly how humid the day was becoming. “I won’t steer you wrong. I promise,” he said, wiping his forehead. 
            “Alright,” Jane said. There was a pause as they considered the conversation. 
            “Great,” Anders said. Jane started to say her goodbyes when he called her back. “Oh, I was actually phoning to ask you something else too. Would you be willing to come over this evening to meet my parents and possibly cook them dinner? I wanted to show off my new restaurant chef to my father, help him see the value of his investment.” 
            “I’d have to bring Ellie along,” Jane said sounding concerned. “Mom has her date with Ed tonight. Uh,” she paused. “Is your place accessible?” Anders looked around. There were two steps up to the porch, but other than that the house was all on one level. 
            “Yes, absolutely,” he said, smiling into the phone. “I bet my parents will find Ellie just as charming as I find her.” Jane laughed a bit and he could hear her relax. 
            “Okay, what time would you like us there? And what would your parents like to eat?” she asked.
            “How about dinner at six thirty?” he said, feeling his stomach flip again. “I’ll put a key under the mat and you can let yourself in whenever you like. And make whatever you want. You’re a fabulous cook, whatever you make will be perfect.” 
            “I’m glad you have such confidence in me,” she said, smiling again, but sounding somewhat unsure. 
            “I have a good feeling about you Jane,” Ander said, softening his voice. “I promise you, everything is going to work out.” He said this to her but was not so sure himself. 
            “I hope you’re right,” she said quietly. “I’m putting all my eggs in this basket you’re weaving.”
            “I know,” Ander said. They both paused again, lost in the seriousness of the moment. 
            “Okay, I better start thinking about tonight,” Jane said as the silence stretched out a fraction too long. “See you later.”
            “See you later,” Anders said, feeling the world spin a little faster. “I’ll send you the address in an email. Bye.” He heard her disconnect. His heart beat a bit faster.