“Okay, honey. Sandwiches coming up.” He grins and I pad softly after him into the kitchen.
21
Garrett
“You have a beautiful hotel, Garrett,” Charlotte McKenzie compliments as she enters my temporary office here at Nirvana.
“Thank you. I think so too.” I grin as I move around my desk to join her on the sofa.
Once we’re both sitting with a cup of steaming coffee in our hands, she asks, “So, why did you want to see me without me mentioning it to Sirena?”
Chuckling, I admit, “Your sister is very observant and this needs to be kept on the down low.”
“I’m intrigued.”
“We’re getting married on Saturday.”
She chokes on her coffee, and quickly slams the cup and saucer back to the coffee table, her eyes wide with surprise. “Married.” She coughs and clears her throat. “Sirena doesn’t know that she’s marrying you on Saturday?”
“She knows that she’s marrying me as soon as it can be arranged. She just doesn’t know that it’s happening on Saturday . . . at our home.”
“Oh, wow!”
“I need you to make sure that all your family are invited and I need to know numbers on Thursday so I can give them to the caterers. It’s nothing formal and will just be a buffet with the short time frame. Think you can help me?” I grin at her hopefully.
Charlotte blinks a few times and then giggles. “I’ll help. In fact, let me really help you. I can liaise with caterers and whatever else you need doing. Does Sirena have a dress?”
“Um”
“I’ll take that as a no.” Charlotte raises a brow and pulls out a notebook. “So give me a list. I’m good at this.” She grins.
“Mmm, Sirena might have told me that.” I chuckle at her surprise, which turns into amusement.
She coughs and holds her pen over the paper, giving me a questioning look. Shaking my head, I start giving her the list she wants . . . twenty minutes later, I finish with, “Harry’s parents want access to the baby.”
Her pen hesitates over the paper. “Can they after Harry signed his rights away? And how is Sirena taking this? You?”
I’m thoughtful for a few minutes and finally admit, “It’s become more complicated than it needed to be.” I sigh. “I love your sister, Charlotte, so whatever she decides I’ll go along with.”
“Even if you don’t like it?”
Sitting forward, I lean on my desk and hold Charlotte’s gaze. “At the end of the day, I don’t think they’ve done anything wrong. Why shouldn’t they be allowed to spend time with their grandchild? I feel sorry for them, that because of Harry’s actions, they could loose that right.” I run my hand through my hair. “I don’t think they will though. Sirena is softening toward letting them be part of the baby’s life. We just need to talk it through and make sure no stone is left unturned.”
“I’m having lunch with Sirena, but why don’t you meet her instead and get the decision over with. I know my sister and she’s going to be worrying about this until it’s solved.” She gives a wry smile.
“I agree, but I think you need to meet her for lunch. She was excited this morning.”
“Okay.” She smiles. “I’m looking forward to seeing her too, and now,” she glances at her notebook, “I’m more excited than before because we have some shopping to do and I know just the store where Sirena will be able to relax.”
Rubbing her hands together Charlotte jumps up and quickly shoves everything into her purse. When she’s ready to leave she smiles and quickly gives me a hug. “In the end you’ll both make the right decision toward Harry’s parents.” She squeezes my biceps as she steps away.
“Thank you, Charlotte. For everything.”
She grins and then she’s gone—a whirlwind in such a small package.
Laughing, I step away from behind the desk and look out through the window and toward the city of Lexington. There really is no place like home and it fills me with so much joy to have a hotel in my hometown. I’ve finally accomplished what was my original goal. It really does make sense for me to take a step back and handover the reins to my managers. I’ll never be able to completely let go, but now I’m about to have a wife and child, maybe more children in the future, I want to be around to enjoy my life with them.
Staring at the picture on my desk of Sirena and me, which was snapped by Charlotte at the opening of the hotel, I smile and trace a finger along her beautiful smiling face . . . a light knock to the door distracts me. “Come in.”