Part of Your World(47)

He was an excellent host. I felt confident that despite the squirrel/acorn debacle, he’d adequately redeemed the Grant House in the eyes of my friends.

I didn’t need any redemption from him. I was very happy with the service I got. All weekend. Seven times.

We were loading our bags in the car to go home, and I had the saddest feeling.

I didn’t want to leave. I didn’t want to go back to the real world and my crappy situation with Neil.

And the other thing. I didn’t feel like I got enough time with Daniel.

I started thinking about when I would come again, and I realized I was already canceling plans with other people in my head to make time to be here. I’d gone from being positive I was never going to see him again, to seeing him being the only thing I felt like doing.

Somewhere deep in the back of my brain, a warning signal flashed.

I was having more fun with him than I expected. I wanted to spend more time with him than I expected—and this wasn’t a good thing. It felt good, but it wasn’t.

I couldn’t develop a dependency on someone I couldn’t have long term. And Daniel I could not have long term.

Chemistry and things in common aside, Daniel would never work in my life. He was too young, too far away.

He was too different…

I knew this. But I was getting ahead of myself. All this was just the excitement of something new. These feelings would fizzle out. In a few months we’d get tired of each other, and this would run its course, and we’d both move on. I wasn’t going to worry about it.

I dropped my bag in the trunk and came around to the side of the SUV where Gabby was leaning, looking at her screen.

She had TripAdvisor up. There was a one-star rating at the top of the page.

When she saw me, she tucked her phone into her purse.

“What are you doing?” I asked, crossing my arms.

“Nothing,” she said quickly.

“Were you rating the Grant House?”

Jessica moaned, tossing her bag into the back seat. “Who cares?”

“She said she wouldn’t,” I snapped at her.

Gabby gave me a look. “Ali, people depend on my reviews. This is my honest experience.”

I pressed my lips into a line.

“Look, I was gentle, okay? And I made sure to mention that he comped our stay—”

“Wait. He what?”

She shrugged. “He comped our stay.”

I shook my head at her. “Why?”

She looked at me like I’d spoken the word in another language. “Uh, because I complained?”

“Why would you do that? He was perfectly polite to us.”

She put a hand on her hip. “Come on, Ali. A dog attacked you. A dang squirrel was in the house. We didn’t eat breakfast yesterday, and it was part of what we paid for. Jessica still has red marks on her arms from the acorns.”

“You’re holding him accountable for the damn trees?”

She crossed her arms. “Yeah. I am. If they drop acorns hard enough to hurt people, then they shouldn’t be where guests are walking around. One of us could have lost an eye. He could have at least had signs up warning us about falling debris. What’s with you?”

I let a shaky breath out through my nose.

I was furious.

I saw Daniel get up at 5:45 in the morning just to make sure we had coffee if we happened to be awake wandering the halls. I knew the cheese he put out for us every night came from Doug’s farm to help keep him in business, and Daniel had purchased that for our appetizer hour, and now he was losing money on that because we didn’t even pay for our stay.

Now not only was Daniel going to be dinged on his star rating, it had cost him money to host us. And he needed that money.

I hated that I’d come here with them. I felt ashamed by association. Had they always been like this? Or was I just now starting to find it unacceptable?

Had I been like this once?

And the answer to that made me feel ashamed too.

I blew a calming breath through tight lips.

Gabby would never back down from this. The more I pushed her, the more she’d dig in. She was way too entitled.

But I had a different idea.

“Okay. You’re right. It’s your experience,” I said. And then, “Hey, do you guys want to see something cool?” I asked.

Jessica looked at her watch and blew out an impatient breath. “Fine. But can we make it quick?”

I nodded. “Yeah. Come on. Follow me.”

I walked them to the garage and held the door handle, turning to them. “I saw this yesterday while you were on your bike ride.” I knocked and then peeked inside. Daniel was at his workbench. “Can I show them those freestyle projects you have?”

He blinked at me. “Sure.”

I let them in and took them to the pieces he kept in the corner of the garage.

“Oh, wow…” Gabby breathed.

“Aren’t these cool?” I asked. “He’s a sixth-generation carpenter. His great-great-great-grandfather actually built the house we stayed in.”

“Does he sell these?” Gabby asked.

I nodded. “Yup.”

Jessica was examining the mirror. “This would be great in Marcus’s office at the cabin. I didn’t get him a birthday gift. How much?” she asked, looking over at Daniel.