For Now and Forever (The Inn at Sunset Harbor-Book 1)

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

That night, Emily and Daniel rekindled their relationship, the drama of the day all but forgotten between the bed sheets, forgiveness coming in the form of caresses, ill feelings kissed away.

When morning arrived, shining a bright summer light in through the curtains, they both stirred awake.

"I guess I won't be making you breakfast," Daniel said. "Now that the toaster's exploded."

Emily groaned and let her head fall back against the pillow. "Please don't remind me."

"Come on," Daniel said. "Let's go to Joe's for breakfast." He leapt out of bed and pulled on his jeans, then extended his hand out for Emily to take.

"Can't we sleep in a little longer?" Emily replied. "It was a very trying evening if you recall."

Daniel shook his head. He seemed far too energetic for so early in the morning. "I thought you wanted to run a B&B," he exclaimed. "You won't be having many lie-ins when you're a hostess."

"Which is precisely why I need them now," Emily said.

Daniel plucked her out of bed, Emily squealing with laughter, and plopped her onto the stool by the dresser.

"Oh, looks like you're up now anyway," Daniel said with a cheeky grin. "May as well get dressed."

Once Emily was dressed, Daniel drove her to Joe's. They both ordered coffee and waffles, then got to work going through Emily's figures. She'd always been terrified of going broke and if she really did decide to give the B&B idea a go, she'd need to use all her savings. Her three-month buffer would be gone entirely. If this went wrong, she'd be left with nothing. Looking at the list of things she'd need to buy was daunting. From the ludicrously expensive things like getting the Tiffany window in the ballroom restored, to the cheap ones like replacing the blown-up toaster, Emily wasn't sure she'd be able to do it.

She threw her pen down. "It's too much," she said. "It's too expensive."

Daniel reached out and picked up the pen. He crossed the cheapest thing off the list, the toaster.

"Why did you do that?" Emily asked frowning.

"'Cause I'm going to go into the department store after breakfast and buy you a new one," he said.

"You don't have to do that."

"You're right. I want to."

"Daniel—" she warned.

"I have savings," he replied. "And I want to help you."

"But I should sell off the antiques first before you start making sacrifices for me."

"Do you really want to do that?" Daniel asked. "To sell your dad's treasures?"

She shook her head. "No. The sentimental value is too much."

"Then let me help." He squeezed her hand. "It's just a toaster."

She knew Daniel couldn't be particularly rich. Although the carriage house was decorated tastefully, he'd been living there without paying rent for twenty years. He hadn't received any money from working the grounds at the house and had probably only held down a few repair jobs here and there, just to get gas and food money and logs for the burner. Although it made her uncomfortable to know that Daniel was going to take money out of his savings, she nodded.

"And you never know," Daniel said. "People in the town could probably help. My friend George said he'd come and look at the Tiffany window and see what he could do about restoring it."