“No pain at all?” Chantelle’s sweet voice sang. “But what will it feel like?”
Emily pondered the question. “I think it will feel like that moment when you take a bite of your favorite food all the time.”
Chantelle looked at her through her tearstained lashes and giggled. Emily continued.
“Like eating chocolate cake forever but never getting sick. Each bite just as great as the last. Or like that feeling you get when you step back from something you’ve been working on for months and see your accomplishment and realize that you made it.”
“Like my clock?” the little girl asked.
Emily nodded. “Exactly. And it’s the perfect kind of warm, like being in the jacuzzi at the spa.”
“Does it smell of lavender like the spa?”
“Yes! And there are rainbows.”
“What about animals?” Chantelle asked. “It wouldn’t be any fun if there weren’t any animals to pet and play with.”
“If you think there should be animals,” Emily told her, “Then there are animals.”
Chantelle nodded. But her smile soon faded and she returned to her pensive expression. “That’s just make believe though. We don’t really know.”
Emily hugged her tightly. “No. No one does. No one can. All we have is what we believe. What we choose to believe. And I believe that that is what’s waiting for Papa Roy. And it’s what your aunt Charlotte has, too. And she looks down at us whenever she wants to, and sends us little signs so we know she’s thinking of us. Papa Roy will do the same when the time comes.”
“I’ll miss him,” Chantelle said. “Even if he does go to somewhere warm and happy, I’ll miss him being here.”
For all her reassurances about the afterlife, Emily couldn’t help what she felt deeply inside. That she would still be left alone, to live out her life without him. He would be gone from her forever and though for him it would be a wondrous step into the unknown, for her it would mean pain and loneliness and misery.
She squeezed Chantelle tightly.
“I’ll miss him too.”
Chapter Four
Lights from the town hall spilled down the steps as Emily ascended them. Even from here she could hear numerous voices coming from inside. It sounded like the whole town might have turned up to hear the zoning board’s decision about Raven’s Inn. It shouldn’t surprise Emily that every local would come. Even with the late announcement and the scheduling so soon after Thanksgiving, the people of Sunset Harbor cared so much about their town to make the time to attend all meetings.
She opened the door and saw that every available seat was taken. Raven Kingsley was all the way at the front, chatting with Mayor Hansen and his aide, Marcella. That didn’t bode well, Emily thought to herself. If Raven had got them on her side it would only be a matter of time before the rest of the town were turned over as well.
She felt a tug on her arm and turned to see Amy and Harry.
“I’m so glad you came,” Amy said. “There’s been some rumblings in the underground that Raven’s going to get the go ahead today. The zoning board aren’t going to challenge her tearing down the old house in favor for something more modern. It looks like it will all come down to the residents.”
“We have to fight this,” Harry said. “A hotel could spell disaster for the inn, and my restaurant. Who’s going to want to come all the way to our side of the harbor when there’s somewhere newer and cheaper in a more central location? With ocean views? Think of all those random business bookings we get at the moment. We’d lose all that custom, I’m sure.”
Harry’s concerns made Emily worry even more than she had previously. She didn’t want to stand in the way of Raven, especially after she’d confided in her about her bitter divorce. But she couldn’t just stand by and have her own livelihood destroyed in such a manner. Raven, from all she’d heard, wasn’t the type to take any prisoners. She had that ruthless New York business mentality – kill or be killed. Emily wasn’t much of a fighter. She really could’ve done with Trevor by her side right now!
“I don’t know what I’m supposed to do,” Emily told them. “I don’t want to stop her from doing her job just because I’m scared.”
“Then do it for your family,” Harry said. “For your friends and town. No one wants an ugly building on our oceanfront, and we don’t want our beloved inn to go out of business either. It’s not good for anyone.”
“How are most people voting?” Emily asked.
Amy pointed to the corner, at the Patels. “Against, of course.” Then over to the Bradshaws. “Against.” She pointed next to Birk and Bertha. Birk owned the gas station and was the first person Emily had met in Sunset Harbor. “I think they’re for. More cars coming in to town means more customers, as far as they’re concerned.”
Emily chewed her lip in consternation. The reality of a new rival inn arriving in town was starting to feel very real to her. The way Mayor Hansen was guffawing at something Raven had just said made her feel even worse.
Harry nudged her then. “Look, the meeting’s about to start.”
She turned towards the stage and the small wooden podium. The room fell silent as Mayor Hansen took his position. He banged his gavel, unnecessarily considering everyone was already paying him their undivided attention.
“Welcome everyone,” he said. “We’re here for the postponed discussions about Raven Kingsley’s proposition to clear the dilapidated ocean side lot and build a new hotel there. You may or may not know already that the zoning board met earlier this week and voted unanimously for the plans to go ahead.”
Emily looked at Harry and Amy. They were both grimacing. Emily felt her own face mirroring their expressions.
Mayor Hansen carried on. “Of course, we’re a small town and the views of our residents are as equally important as the zoning boards. More so, in fact, now that we’ve lost our dear friend Trevor Mann.”
He pressed a hand to his heart. There was a light-hearted ripple of laughter through the audience as everyone recalled Trevor’s fierce, sometimes menacing protectiveness over the town.
“I believe many of you had a chance to speak to Raven over the thanksgiving break,” Mayor Hansen finished. “So I’m looking forward to hearing all of your opinions. I suggest we here from Emily Morey first, since a new inn would have the greatest impact on her. Emily, would you like to take the floor?”
All eyes turned to her. Emily felt that familiar sensation of being put on the spot. And she really was in a bind. She didn’t want to trash Raven’s dream just because it might make things a little trickier for her. It wasn’t in her spirit. But at the same time, Harry and Amy’s tense expressions from beside her reminded her that there were people counting on her. All her staff, her family. They’d expanded the inn massively, having the luxury of no competition. At the very least Raven’s new venture would mean some cut backs for Emily’s inn, including staff reductions.
“I…” Emily began, feeling her throat becoming dry.
She looked over at Raven sitting on the stage beside Marcella. For only the second time since she’d met her, Emily saw a genuine smile on her face. Like Emily when she’d first arrived, Raven had encountered hostility and suspicion from the locals. Emily was probably the one person she counted as a friendly acquaintance.
“I’m for,” Emily suddenly blurted. “I think there’s a market that Raven’s inn could capture. She caters for the business and corporate end of the market, with conferences and the like. I cater more towards familie, weddings and festivities. There’s room for the both of us.”
She spoke very quickly, trying to get her explanation out before her voice