So Inn Love by Catherine Clark Read Free Book Online Page B

thought you were—uh—falling.” He looked very embarrassed, which was kind of an odd look for him.
    “No. I’m fine,” I said.
    Hayden leaned down to pick up the bike, while I refastened the elastic in my hair, which had come loose in all the excitement of the near-crash. “Maybe I should just walk,” I said. “If I run, I could—”
    “It was one pothole. Come on, get back on,” Hayden said. “You know that old saying about having to get back on the bike.”
    “No,” I said.
    “Well, there is one.” He grinned and patted the handlebars. “Come on, take two. And this time, when you see giant dips in the road? Tell me.”

Chapter Four
    M iss Crossley met me outside the door to her office. “Iced tea?” she offered as we walked inside, where she handed me a tall, icy glass, complete with lemon wedge.
    Somehow that made me even more uneasy and suspicious, even though she was having a glass as well, because she was being so nice to me. Too nice. “Sure,” I said. “Thanks.”
    “Elizabeth, here’s the situation,” she began abruptly.
    I sipped my iced tea and tried to slow down my breathing. Riding that bike with Hayden had gotten my heart rate up to a slightly dangerous level. Then again, the fact my heart was pounding probably wasn’t the bike. It was the fact I had only been here twodays and was already getting my second “talking to.” It was like being sent to the principal’s office, not that I would know much about that, except for a few dress-code violations.
    Or maybe it was my encounter with Hayden that was making me feel out of breath. I couldn’t explain what it was about him, but we clicked, as if I knew him already, only I didn’t. Unless I was his cat, from a former life, reincarnated or something.
    “Mr. Talbot Junior and I were talking at lunch,” Miss Crossley went on. “We were evaluating our staffing levels, and we seem to have overlooked a few things.”
    Don’t say my qualifications , I thought, or lack thereof . “You know, I’m really good at sports,” I said. “Is there anything you need help with in that area? I could teach volleyball, or—”
    But she wasn’t even listening to me, not really. “We realized we have enough housekeepers, if we juggle things a bit. And we don’t need you at the front desk, as we thought we did,” Miss Crossley said.
    “Right,” I said slowly.
    “And we’re covered in the restaurant, wehave enough servers around the clock,” she said.
    Last hired…first fired . I’d heard that phrase before. Was I about to find out what it meant?
    They didn’t have room for me. They didn’t have a job. And all because I was lousy at cleaning my room at home for my entire life. Why hadn’t I paid attention when Mom yelled at me all those times?
    “Is this just because I didn’t get all the sand out of the carpet?” I asked. “Or is it because I sucked that guest’s belt into the vacuum? Which completely and kind of ironically damaged the vacuum belt?”
    “You did what?”
    Oh. So she hadn’t even heard about that. I coughed. “We got it out. No problem.”
    “As I was saying. Every once in a while we discover we’re short somewhere,” Miss Crossley went on. “So I’ve rethought your position here. You seem like the perfect person to give this new theory a try.”
    What new theory? “I do?”
    “You have a lot of energy, and you’re highly adaptable.”
    “I am?” This was kind of news to me. Hadn’tmy ex-boyfriend called me the most rigid, uncompromising, stubborn person he ever met?
    But that was in a moment of anger, when I broke up with him because I wasn’t ready to move things to the next level, and he was, and he wouldn’t stop bugging me about it. Which is when my friends and I came up with our theory: You don’t really need guys. Until you sort of just, you know, want one around. But if he’s not good to you and won’t listen to you? Forget him. You can do better.
    “That’s what your recommendations