It obviously worked, because Esma shrugged and pushed the work diary across the reception desk towards her.
‘I just meant with that potential investor arriving this week. Without Finn to worry about, you will have more time to spend winning him over, yes?’
‘Yes, of course,’ Sadie responded automatically, her eyes fixed on the red letters spelling ‘Investor Visit’ written across the next five days. How could she have forgotten?
Her priority for the week. The only thing she had time to worry about, at all, was this investor and all his lovely money.
She hadn’t wanted to resort to outside help, but things were getting beyond desperate, even if only she and Neal knew the true extent of the Azure’s problems. When their hunt for local investors had failed, Neal had suggested seeking investment from abroad—with similar results. But he’d had a last-chance possibility at the ready when she’d asked where on earth they went next. A business acquaintance, he’d said, who had interests in the hotel industry, and might just be interested enough to send an employee over to check out the Azure.
Sadie had been doubtful, but she was also running out of options. She trusted Neal—he was more than her accountant, he had been one of her late husband Adem’s best friends. And she had no doubt that Neal would have asked his acquaintance to go easy on her. Everyone always did.
She’s a widow. They always shook their head sadly as they said the word ‘widow’. Lost her husband in a car crash, tragically young.
These days, that was often the only thing people knew about her at all. Well, that and the fact that she was saddled with a white elephant of a hotel renovation that might never be finished at the rate things were going.
Sadie was almost sure there used to be more to know about her once.
Behind the reception desk Esma’s eyes were wide and worried, so Sadie reinforced her ‘in control of everything’ smile. She had to shake off the negativity. She loved the Azure, just like Adem had, and just like Finn did. It was her home, and she would make it a success—one way or another.
She’d made promises. Commitments. And she had every intention of fulfilling them.
She just might have to accept a little help along the way.
‘Did Neal call with the name of the guy the company is sending over yet?’ Sadie asked. ‘And we have a car collecting him from the airport, correct?’
‘Yes, at four o’clock,’ Esma confirmed. ‘I sent Alim.’
‘Good.’ Alim was reliable, and his English was great—far better than her Turkish, even after four years of living in the country and working hard to learn. Finn was a much quicker study than her, it turned out.
And just like that, she’d forgotten all her business worries again and was back to fretting about her son. Part of being a mother, she supposed.
She checked her watch. It was already gone five.
‘Has Alim texted to say they’re on their way?’ Sadie asked.
‘Almost an hour ago. They should be here any moment.’ Esma bit her lip. ‘It will all be fine, Sadie,’ she added after a moment. But it sounded more like a question than reassurance.
Sadie smiled broadly. ‘Of course it will! I’m certain of it,’ she lied. Then something occurred to her. Esma had only answered half her question. ‘And the name?’ she pressed. ‘Neal gave it to you, yes?’ How embarrassing would it be to greet this guy with no idea what to call him?
Behind the desk, Esma squirmed, shuffling an irrelevant stack of papers between her hands, her gaze fixed firmly on her nails. Something heavy settled in Sadie’s stomach at the sight. Something heavier even than her guilt about Finn being away all week. Something more like the magnitude of the fears and nightmares that kept her awake at night, wondering how on earth she would achieve everything she’d promised her husband and son.
‘Esma? What’s his name?’
Her face pale, Esma finally looked up to meet Sadie’s gaze. ‘Neal said it might be better if you...’ She trailed off.
‘If I what?’ Sadie asked. ‘Didn’t know the name of the person who might hold the future of this place in his hands? Why on earth would he—? Unless...’
Behind her, she heard the swoosh of the automatic doors and the clunk of a heavy suitcase on the marble floors. Her heart beat in double time, and that heavy feeling spread up through her chest, constricting her breathing and threatening her poor, laboured heart.
Sadie turned, and suddenly it was thirteen years ago. She could almost sense Adem beside her—younger, more nervous, but alive—hopping from foot to foot as he introduced his new girlfriend to his two best friends. Neal Stephens and Dylan Jacobs.
Except Adem was dead, Neal was in England—where she couldn’t yell at him yet—and only Dylan stood in the lobby of her hotel. Dylan, who was supposed to be thousands of miles away in Australia, where he belonged. Instead, he was at the Azure, as self-assured and cocky as ever. And every inch as handsome.
No wonder Neal hadn’t told her. She’d have been on the first flight out with Finn, and he knew it. He might not know everything, but Neal had to at least have noticed that she’d made a concerted effort not to see Dylan since the funeral.
But now she couldn’t run. She had commitments to keep—and she needed Dylan Jacobs of all people to help her do that.
Sadie plastered on a smile, stepped forward, and held out a hand that only shook a bit.
‘Dylan! How wonderful to see you again,’ she said, and prayed it didn’t sound like the lie it was.
* * *
Dylan’s chest tightened automatically at the sight of her. An hour’s drive from the airport and hours on the plane before that, and he still wasn’t ready. In fact, as he stepped forward to take Sadie’s hand he realised he might never be ready. Not for this.
Five minutes ago he’d been moments away from calling the whole visit off. Sitting in the car, as they’d come up the long, winding hotel driveway, he’d almost told the driver to turn around and take him back to the airport. That the whole trip was a mistake.
But Dylan Jacobs never shied away from an opportunity. And, besides, it was Sadie. So instead he’d checked his phone again—emails first, then messages, then voicemails then other alerts—his habitual order. Anything to distract him from thinking about Sadie.
He hadn’t seen her in two years. Two long years since the funeral. Hadn’t even heard a peep from her—let alone a response to his card, telling her to call, if she ever needed anything.
And now, apparently, she needed everything and she was calling in that promise.
He just wished she’d done it in person, instead of via Neal. Wished he could have spoken to her, heard her voice, sensed her mood.
Wished he had a better idea what he was walking into here.
She’s coping, Neal had said. Better than a lot of people would. But...she lost Adem, Dyl. Of course she’s not the same. And she needs you. The Azure is all she has left of her husband, and you can help her save it.
So in a rapid flurry of emails Dylan had been booked on the next plane into Izmir and now there he was. At Adem’s dream hotel. With Adem’s dream woman.
Glancing at the sign above the hotel doors, Dylan had winced at the name. The Azure. Why did it have to be that name? There were a hundred perfectly decent generic hotel names on offer. Why on earth had Adem picked that one?
A half-forgotten memory had flashed through his brain. Adem’s excited phone call, telling him all about his next big project, how he and Sadie were moving to Turkey to save some ramshackle old hotel that had once belonged to his Turkish mother’s grandfather