with an HRM program.”
Now he looked befuddled. Which was funny to see on this man who rocked a solid core of confidence. “Why did you go?” he asked.
Ella rolled her eyes. “I’m not an idiot. Come on, who turns down a free college degree? Even if it’s the wrong one. But I came up with a plan. A stupid, selfish plan, as it turned out. When I turned twenty-one, I got control over all my shares in the family trust.”
Gray sucked in a short, sharp breath. “You didn’t. Tell me you didn’t take away one-hundred-percent family ownership by selling your shares.”
Oh, how she wished she could deny it. Wished that she could go back in time and undo her complete idiocy. But thanks to budget cuts, NASA didn’t even have the space shuttle program anymore. Chances were slim that anyone was throwing millions of dollars at the possibility of time travel. Or that if there was a secret lab for it somewhere, they’d use it to solve her very first-world problems instead of going back and bitch slapping Hitler.
“I did. It took me a few months, but I secretly found a buyer. The day I graduated from college, I used that money to enroll in massage therapy school.” She’d felt so free and empowered in that moment. Which made the anger and disappointment that followed all the more painful in contrast.
Another dagger-stab of a breath from Gray. “Did your parents find out?”
“Of course. There are always consequences, especially to stupidity. Mom and Dad found out within an hour of the sale. But by then it was too late to stop it. My choice?” She let the word hang in the air, a toxic bubble of memory. “It almost destroyed them, and the hurt and betrayal they felt almost destroyed us as a family. You see, they’d already extended themselves financially to make renovations on the Lakeview Lodge. For the first time ever, they took on a mortgage in order to expand. Buying back my shares stretched the coffers pretty darn thin.”
“Why’d they bother? Didn’t your parents still hold the majority interest?”
Whatever Gray did for a living, he understood business. “That whole ‘legacy’ thing again.” She put air quotes around the word with her fingers. If there’d been a way to indicate bold and italics, maybe with her toes, Ella would’ve done that too. “Mayhew Manor belongs to Mayhews, and only Mayhews, now and forevermore.”
“Do you agree?” His blue eyes bored into her, a truth-seeking dowsing rod. Funny how her answer today was completely different than it had been at the time.
“The thing is, I kind of do, now.”
He balanced his elbows on his knees, letting his hands dangle, loose as his teasing grin. “You mean, now that you’ve gotten your way, along with your massage school certification?”
“Actually, yes. I fought so hard because I cared. A little maturity helped me see that my ancestors worked just as hard at keeping the hotel going. Selling off my shares was the same as thumbing my nose at their decades of hard work. It was thoughtless and selfish and I wholly regret it.”
No, that wasn’t all of it. Her ex-therapist Dr. Takeuchi would be disappointed if she couldn’t reveal the whole truth, after all their years of hard work. Ella scrubbed her hands across her eyes and whooshed a deep, cleansing breath in and out.
Gray gently tugged her hands down. He looked at her, but not with the pitying concern she was so darn sick of, the knowing looks people exchanged across the top of her head if she so much as blinked twice, which wordlessly said Ella’s too fragile for this conversation , or Ella’s too emotional for this conversation. Nope, Gray’s eyes held nothing but honest, basic curiosity. It made it so easy to talk to him. No judging, just two people, sharing.
“What is it?” he asked. His warm hands still cradled hers.
“I guess it’s that a connection to family—any connection, no matter how tenuous—became so much more precious to me once my whole family was
Now he looked befuddled. Which was funny to see on this man who rocked a solid core of confidence. “Why did you go?” he asked.
Ella rolled her eyes. “I’m not an idiot. Come on, who turns down a free college degree? Even if it’s the wrong one. But I came up with a plan. A stupid, selfish plan, as it turned out. When I turned twenty-one, I got control over all my shares in the family trust.”
Gray sucked in a short, sharp breath. “You didn’t. Tell me you didn’t take away one-hundred-percent family ownership by selling your shares.”
Oh, how she wished she could deny it. Wished that she could go back in time and undo her complete idiocy. But thanks to budget cuts, NASA didn’t even have the space shuttle program anymore. Chances were slim that anyone was throwing millions of dollars at the possibility of time travel. Or that if there was a secret lab for it somewhere, they’d use it to solve her very first-world problems instead of going back and bitch slapping Hitler.
“I did. It took me a few months, but I secretly found a buyer. The day I graduated from college, I used that money to enroll in massage therapy school.” She’d felt so free and empowered in that moment. Which made the anger and disappointment that followed all the more painful in contrast.
Another dagger-stab of a breath from Gray. “Did your parents find out?”
“Of course. There are always consequences, especially to stupidity. Mom and Dad found out within an hour of the sale. But by then it was too late to stop it. My choice?” She let the word hang in the air, a toxic bubble of memory. “It almost destroyed them, and the hurt and betrayal they felt almost destroyed us as a family. You see, they’d already extended themselves financially to make renovations on the Lakeview Lodge. For the first time ever, they took on a mortgage in order to expand. Buying back my shares stretched the coffers pretty darn thin.”
“Why’d they bother? Didn’t your parents still hold the majority interest?”
Whatever Gray did for a living, he understood business. “That whole ‘legacy’ thing again.” She put air quotes around the word with her fingers. If there’d been a way to indicate bold and italics, maybe with her toes, Ella would’ve done that too. “Mayhew Manor belongs to Mayhews, and only Mayhews, now and forevermore.”
“Do you agree?” His blue eyes bored into her, a truth-seeking dowsing rod. Funny how her answer today was completely different than it had been at the time.
“The thing is, I kind of do, now.”
He balanced his elbows on his knees, letting his hands dangle, loose as his teasing grin. “You mean, now that you’ve gotten your way, along with your massage school certification?”
“Actually, yes. I fought so hard because I cared. A little maturity helped me see that my ancestors worked just as hard at keeping the hotel going. Selling off my shares was the same as thumbing my nose at their decades of hard work. It was thoughtless and selfish and I wholly regret it.”
No, that wasn’t all of it. Her ex-therapist Dr. Takeuchi would be disappointed if she couldn’t reveal the whole truth, after all their years of hard work. Ella scrubbed her hands across her eyes and whooshed a deep, cleansing breath in and out.
Gray gently tugged her hands down. He looked at her, but not with the pitying concern she was so darn sick of, the knowing looks people exchanged across the top of her head if she so much as blinked twice, which wordlessly said Ella’s too fragile for this conversation , or Ella’s too emotional for this conversation. Nope, Gray’s eyes held nothing but honest, basic curiosity. It made it so easy to talk to him. No judging, just two people, sharing.
“What is it?” he asked. His warm hands still cradled hers.
“I guess it’s that a connection to family—any connection, no matter how tenuous—became so much more precious to me once my whole family was
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