His father had washed his hands and took his place in his favorite chair opposite his wife’s. Pamela lay across the couch, still heavily engrossed in some television show.
“Sure, what is it?” His mother readjusted herself on the lounger.
Chris clasped his hands together. “Remember the old Whitfield place?”
“Of course. James Whitfield used to be the richest man in the county. That property has a helicopter landing pad out back for when he’d fly back and forth to Louisville. That was back in his heyday before they had to shut the plant down.” Nathaniel crossed his legs, ready to go down memory lane. “I used to make a delivery up there a couple times a year. You might not remember, Chris, but I used to take you with me.”
“Yeah, I remember going up there. I also remember peering out the window every day as the school bus passed the property. In the winter after the leaves fell from the trees you could see the house pretty good. I always said one day I was going to own that house.”
Pamela sat up on the couch, fully at attention now. “No, you didn’t!” she said.
“Chris, you bought that old place?” his mother asked.
Chris nodded. “Yes, I did.” He looked at his father who was sitting back in his chair, and thought about how hard he had worked for the Whitfields all his life and never got as far as the entryway of that house.
Nathaniel smiled from ear to ear. “Son, I’m proud of you. You’ve really made some strides in this town.”
Chris smiled and hoped his accomplishments would impress a certain woman who now weighed heavily on his mind.
“I can’t believe we sold every single tote with the state emblem embossed on it.” Corra pointed to the empty display.
“You don’t have any more in the back?” Kyla asked.
“No, I thought I had enough to get us through the month. But with the Kentucky Derby coming up, I guess I underestimated. I need to order more, quick.” She moved the display around, highlighting other bags.
“Mrs. Rita sent me over here to remind you about the sales guy coming at noon.”
Corra looked at her watch. “Thanks, I forgot all about that.”
“Yeah, she figured as much. She said you’d be at the front desk by now if you’d remembered. Tayler’s not back yet, and Tracee had car trouble this morning, so I’m helping out with lunch today. Got a full house.” Kyla turned to leave.
“Oh, Kyla, let me ask you something. Did Rollin say where he was going?”
“Nope.”
“Okay, normally any time Rollin and Tayler are gone, they’re usually together. Do you know where she went to this morning?”
“Nope. Rollin just said she had some business in town. Why? You think they’re planning on eloping?”
The excitement in Kyla’s eyes made Corra laugh. “Of course not. They wouldn’t do that to us. I’m just curious about where they went to, that’s all. Tell Rita I’m on my way over. I’ll close the shop for a little while.”
As Corra closed up she rethought the idea of Rollin eloping, but quickly dismissed the notion. He wouldn’t deprive her of the joy of watching them take their vows. She only wished her parents were alive to witness the ceremony. Her own courthouse ceremony was not a proper wedding in her opinion. This one they would do up right. She locked the door and hurried over to the house.
The dining room was abuzz with all the guests fixing their plates and discussing this morning’s events. Corra smiled and continued walking until she reached the private quarters of the house. In the office, she kept a pair of high heels she changed into when she worked the front desk. After a quick bathroom check of her makeup, she walked out and took her place behind the counter. She sat on a stool and turned on the computer. First, she answered a few emails, then logged into the program they used to manage guest check-in. Although she didn’t use the program every day, she knew how to use it. She quickly familiarized herself with what she could.
The front door slowly opened and Corra rose. The Coleman House might be small in comparison to other bed-and-breakfasts in the area, but they were known for their first-class hospitality, which had paid off in repeat business and referrals. She’d treat this sales guy like a potential customer.
When the door opened all the way and Christopher Williams stepped in, Corra almost fell backward off her stool. She hadn’t seen Chris since his last visit to her hospital room seven months and three weeks ago, to be exact. Afterward he called her a couple of times, but kept the conversations brief.
He closed the door and glanced around the entrance, smiling, before he noticed first the front desk, and then Corra. The look on his face was priceless. She crossed her arms and couldn’t hold back the sarcasm.
“Well, look what the cat dragged in.”
He recovered quickly and ran a hand over his mouth. “Corra, I didn’t expect to see you here,” he said, as he approached the front desk.
“Same here.” She tried to hold on to her sarcasm although she wanted to grin from ear to ear. Chris was a six-foot-two-inch, two-hundred-and-something-pound precision-honed man who looked like he could pick up a football today and get back in the game. He was still as handsome as ever. He locked his grayish-brown eyes on her as he crossed the floor, giving her a big smile. Her heartbeat raced.
“I’m scheduled to meet Rollin at noon. But I have a feeling he’s not here.”
She rose from the stool. “Nope. I’m your man, or woman. Whatever you planned to show him, you can now show me.”
Chris jerked his head back. “This is you?” he asked, pointing at the front desk.
She nodded.
“What happened, the grocery story wouldn’t take you back after you recovered?”
“Oh, they took me back. Then I quit. I promised Rollin if he didn’t close down the bed-and-breakfast I would join the staff and work to grow the business.”
Chris set his laptop case down and applauded. “Smart choice. If you can run a grocery store you can run any establishment.”
Corra rubbed her palms along the counter. “Well, I’m not actually running things, yet anyway, but I’ve learned a lot.”
Chris took a step back and widened his stance. “So my business meeting is with you?”
“Yes sir. And if it’s okay with you can we work right here?”
“Sure.” Chris picked up his case and pulled out his laptop.
Corra welcomed him to have a seat behind the counter. She pulled up another stool and they sat side by side while he showed her how he could improve their everyday lives with a simple program.
“Our system is cloud based, so you can access it from anywhere on any device.” He pulled the program up on his computer and Corra’s initial reaction was to move her head closer to the screen and raise one brow.
“Don’t worry, it’s a very approachable, intuitive interface that I can teach you.”
She sat up. “Let’s get started.”
In a little over an hour Chris gave Corra a demo of the system and had his first beta customer. She just had to clear things with Rollin and they would be installing the new test system within the week.
“See, that was painless, wasn’t it?” Chris asked, as he closed out the program.
Corra sat back, clasped her hands together and stretched her arms out in front of her. “No, that wasn’t bad at