Cassandra Cabot looked up as the driver pulled up the long driveway to The Cabot Hotel. The sight of it still made her heart trip and brought an automatic smile to her face.
Her beloved hotel. Even if it wasn’t hers anymore. Not her family’s. But after growing up and living here for so many years—although it had been a long time ago—it still felt like home to her.
She climbed out of the car and paid the driver, thanking him when he handed her the new suitcase she’d just bought with swivel wheels. So much easier to tote around on her travels. And she hoped to make many trips back to Moonbeam now that her uncle lived here.
On the wide front steps, she stood for a moment and looked up at the large front door. All those years ago when she’d lived here, she’d mostly used the side access door to her family’s living quarters. A spacious corner unit on the bottom floor with views out to the bay.
But no more. Now she was just like any other guest. Arriving by the front door and getting whatever room was given to her. She’d requested a room with a view and wondered which room she’d get. It was silly, but she’d always had her favorite rooms. Maybe, by some luck, she’d get one. She tugged on her suitcase and entered the lobby.
The lobby had been refurbished and looked exactly like it had for all the generations her family had owned it. Until one too many storms and the resulting damage had been all too much for her father. Too much expense to repair it and maintain it. And by that point, he didn’t really have the heart to run it anymore. Her mother had died by then, and it seemed like her father needed to escape. Which he had. He’d closed the doors and traveled the world until he passed away a few years ago. More than a few years, really. Maybe five or six?
She felt slightly like an orphan, though that was silly because she was a grown woman. The only family she had left was Uncle Ted.
They’d grown closer again the last few years after many years of being estranged because of some untalked-about rift between him and her father. But Uncle Ted had turned up at her father’s funeral, wrapped her in a big hug, and that had been the beginning of them finding each other again. The last two Cabots.
“Cassandra, welcome. I didn’t know you were coming here.”
She turned to find Delbert Hamilton standing there with a surprised and welcoming smile on his face.
“It was kind of last minute. My travel plans got cancelled, so I decided to come to Moonbeam to check on Uncle Ted. I’m hoping he’s getting all adjusted to his new home here. I worry because he was used to living in his big house, and now he just has that suite at Sunrise Village. It’s nice, but so much smaller. I didn’t want to impose by asking to stay with him.” Why was she chattering on so?
“So, you booked a room here?”
“I did.”
“How long are you staying?”
“About a week.” She was pleasantly pleased to see his eyes light up.
“Well, let’s go over to reception and make sure they give you one of our finest.” He grabbed the handle of her bag. “I’ll take this.”
“Oh, you don’t have to make a fuss. I reserved a bayfront room.”
“Of course, I do. Can’t have a Cabot staying in just any room.” His eyes twinkled. “Though all our guest rooms are very nice.”
She laughed. “I’m sure they are.”
Delbert talked to the man at the reception desk, then turned to her. “The Bay Suite on the top floor.”
“Thank you.” She didn’t know what to say. The nicest suite in the hotel and one of her favorite rooms. Well, it used to be. She wondered what it would look like now.
“Come, I’ll walk you up.”
She followed him to the elevator, and they went to the top floor. He led her down the hallway to the corner suite. He opened the door and let her pass by him and enter first.
She gasped in delight at the room. “Oh, Del. It looks the same as before. Only… better.” It did look like before, even down to the same shade of carpet, though it was plush and new now. The same paintings she loved hung on the wall. The drapes were new, but similar to what had been here before. It all felt so familiar. Like a well-loved keepsake. “Thank you. This is so wonderful.”
He gave her an easy smile. “I remember when we were kids. This was one of your favorite rooms. We used to sneak in here when it wasn’t booked.”
Her eyes widened. “You remember that?” The memory of those times flooded through her.
“Of course. I remember lots about our time at The Cabot. Those summers were some of the best days of my childhood.”
“They were fun, weren’t they?” Joy bubbled through her at the memories, at being here in this special room… at being here with Del again.
She walked over to the French doors and threw them open, eager to see her beloved view of the bay. She stepped onto the balcony and it was as if time had turned back to those days when she was young. The fresh air washed over her with that tangy, salty scent. For a moment she was frozen in time. Delbert came to stand beside her, like he had so many times before.
They stood like that, silent, staring out at the bay with the passing sailboats and a large cruiser sliding by as the past and present collided.
She sighed. “I miss The Cabot… living here, I mean. The sights, the sounds, the smells.” She turned to him. “But I’m very thankful you bought her and fixed her all up so nicely. It broke my heart to see her just sitting and decaying into ruin.”
“I’m glad I did, too. And I’ve made The Cabot my home base now. It just feels… right. I’ve moved into the living quarters. I think I remember that’s where you and your family lived? The ones on the first floor? And Ted and his wife lived in the upper floor family quarters?”
“That’s right.” She nodded, wondering if he’d redone her family’s living area, or kept it like it was.
“Three bedrooms is a bit more area than I need. But… well, I like it.” He smiled. “Got to have some perks of being the owner.”
She smiled. “Yes, I suppose you do.”
“I guess I should let you get settled.” He took a step back inside, then paused. “Do you think? I mean. Would you like to have dinner with me while you’re here?”
“I’d like that.” She nodded. She’d like that quite a bit. There was still some thread of connection between them, even after all these years. They were just kids back then when they hung out together summer after summer when he came here with his grandparents. But she’d looked forward to those weeks of summer every year.
Until things had started to fall apart. Her father and uncle were constantly arguing. Then she’d waited one summer for Delbert’s return, but he never came. She’d looked at the reservations and saw that his grandparents had cancelled, and she’d been so disappointed. The magic had gone out of that summer.
“Is there a night that works better for you?” he asked, oblivious to the memories racing through her mind.
“I’ll go see Uncle Ted tonight, but maybe tomorrow if that works for you?”
“It does.” A glint of eagerness lit up his eyes. “Would you like to eat here at The Cabot?”
“I’d enjoy that, yes.”
“Perfect. I’ll arrange it. Say, six o’clock?”
“I look forward to it.” She followed him back into the suite, pulling the doors closed behind her.
“Tomorrow, then,” he said and left.
She stood in the middle of the room, staring at the door. Tomorrow. She was going to dinner with Delbert Hamilton tomorrow. That almost qualified for a date, didn’t it?
And she’d waited for an actual date with Delbert Hamilton for over thirty years.
Delbert strode down the hallway of the top floor, whistling under his breath. He had a date with Cassandra Cabot tomorrow night. He never thought that would happen after he’d missed his chance all those years ago. That last summer that he’d visited, he kept trying to get up the nerve to ask her out.
But he never did.
He’d been afraid to mess up their friendship. Besides, she was beautiful and funny, and he was a gawky kid, a nerd. Still, he vowed to ask her out the next summer… but his grandmother fell ill and the trip was cancelled. Then he got busy with school and work, and life moved on.
But he’d never forgotten that girl with the red hair and the smattering of freckles across her cheeks. The girl he could talk to about pretty much anything. Those weeks he’d spent here, year after year, had been the best weeks of each year.
He didn’t have a lot of friends growing up. Went to public school but didn’t fit in. He always had his nose in a book, or he studied. He wasn’t into group sports. But those weeks here at The Cabot, he’d felt like he belonged. Felt like he had a really good friend.
Thankfully, he outgrew his gawkiness and made some equally nerdy friends in college. Then he started working with his father at Hamilton hotels. Now he was poised to take over the whole company.
Only… he really loved what he did. The day-to-day operations of a hotel. Buying up properties and renovating them to add to the Hamilton Hotel business. But The Cabot had been more than a business deal. It had been an emotional decision. Because of his memories. The good times with his grandparents each summer.
The good times with Cassandra.
If he did take over the business and become the CEO, he’d have to spend most of his time at the headquarters. And right now, he had absolutely no desire to move and live there. He’d come to love the town of Moonbeam. Or maybe he’d fallen in love with it all those years ago.
He rode the elevator down, his mood still flying from his good fortune. He hurried to talk to the manager of the dining room. He wanted to reserve the private dining room for tomorrow night. Make the evening perfect. Or as perfect as possible.
Delbert Hamilton had a date with Cassandra Cabot. And he had to make sure to remember he wasn’t that gawky, nerdy kid anymore. He was a successful businessman. So why did he suddenly feel like a schoolboy? He rolled his eyes. He just hoped he could remain cool and collected tomorrow night. Let her see this side of him instead of how she probably remembered him.
They had gone to Donna’s wedding, but he’d been a bit nervous there and Ted had been with them the whole time. Tomorrow night would be just the two of them. He wanted it to be perfect.
After he arranged the reservation with the dining room manager, he’d check in with the woman who ordered the flowers for around the hotel. He wanted an arrangement of yellow roses for the table. He remembered that about Cassandra, too. She loved yellow roses. Or at least she used to…