Every Little Thing (Hart's Boardwalk 2)

“No shit,” one of the guys grunted. “Fucking fruitcakes.”

“Hey.” I shook a finger at him. “I have guests. Watch your language.”

“Move the counter, man,” the other one urged under his breath. “Don’t mess with the crazy lady.”

We stood in frozen silence as the men repackaged the counter and started maneuvering it out of the inn. Once their voices had faded down the garden I turned to my sister. “You haven’t even been here for the last week. You’ve been off gallivanting, without a care in the world, and then you think you can just come back in here, ignore everything I said, and start making changes? What planet do you live on?”

“My personal life is none of your business.” She narrowed her eyes.

“It is when it interferes with my life. Who the hell are you seeing anyway?”

This mystery-guy thing was starting to bug me. Usually Vanessa couldn’t wait to brag about whom she was dating. But she had been very close-mouthed about the whole thing, even going so far as to avoid me, and spend all her time with whoever it was.

“Is he married?”

“No, he’s not married,” she snapped. “You really think a lot of me, don’t you?”

“Right now you’re about my least favorite person in the world,” I said.

“How on earth do you run a successful inn with that smart mouth of yours?”

“Oh, so you finally acknowledge that I run a successful inn.”

“Ugh!”

“You say that word one more time, I swear to God—”

“Ladies.”

We turned around to find Aydan standing in the doorway. Her arms were crossed over her chest and she was tapping her foot on the floor in irritation.

“Do you want to wake our guests?”

Embarrassed at having to be scolded by my manager I shifted uncomfortably. “You should have seen what I just woke up to.”

Aydan glowered at Vanessa. “I can only imagine. But, Bailey, you’re in tiny pajamas that will give Mr. Sykes heart failure if he sees you, so please go get showered and changed before our guests come down for breakfast in”—she glanced at her watch—“thirty minutes. Vanessa, why don’t you take the day off? Again.”

“Don’t talk to me that way in my own inn or I might just have to get physical.” Vanessa threw her hands on her tiny hips. “I’m stronger than I look.”

Aydan stepped up beside me, showing solidarity. “Yeah, well I’m willing to bet I could take you. I’m also not your sister and therefore not obliged to put up with your crap or stop myself from causing you physical harm. On that note, you have five seconds to get out of your sister’s face before I put my job in jeopardy. Five. Four—”

“Ugh, I don’t need this.” Vanessa stormed by us. “And I’m telling Mom what kind of trash you hired to run this place.”

I lunged at her and Aydan held me back.

“She’s not worth it,” she said as Vanessa disappeared out of the door.

“What did I do to deserve her?”

“Don’t think about her. Let it go. Go get showered and I’ll go check in on Mona in the kitchen. She more than likely heard all the commotion and is terrified to come out.”

I knew Aydan was right. My kitchen staff hated Vanessa. All of my staff hated Vanessa. I was guessing it had to do with the way she talked to them like they were her servants.

“And Bailey,” Aydan called to me as I wandered back down the hallway.

“Yeah?”

“No work for you today. You are way past due for your day off. Get showered and go out. Do something, anything. Just get some R&R, okay?”