Sometimes Moments [Preview]

Chapter Two

Chapter Two

After they sat on the wooden bench, they walked to the hotel. Peyton had opened the main doors and was welcomed with the bright front desk. After placing her laptop bag on the desk, she followed Graham to the main sitting room.

“What are your plans for this place?” Graham asked as he sunk into the dark grey couch.

Peyton sat next to him and took in the large arched windows that provided the room with natural light. Though she was here the day before to checkout the last guests, it felt unfamiliar to her. Maybe it was the fact that she now owned it and had to run it. She knew her aunt and uncle would have been happy to run the hotel but Peyton couldn’t do that to them. It was time she accepted her responsibilities, just like Graham had with the farm.

“Aunt Brenda wants me to make the hotel my own. But I honestly don’t think I could do that. I start making changes and it wouldn’t be my parents’ hotel anymore. This is all that’s really left of them.”

Peyton looked up at the cream painted room. She remembered the day they painted the ceiling. Her dad had argued over colour choice, that cream was too plain but her mother won that argument with a victorious smile. That was true love. No matter the bickering or the arguing, Peyton knew her parents loved each other unconditionally. But for her, love was just a concept. She was far from accepting the notion, not after him.

“I think your aunt’s right on that one, Peyton. Maybe incorporate yourself in it.”

She turned her head to see his cheek in his palm. Graham raised his brow at her and then blinked twice.

“How do I do that, Graham? How do I do that and not make a mess of it all? What if I ruin everything they work so hard to create… what my aunt and uncle worked so hard to maintain?”

Sitting up, she stared at him as he pursed his lips.

“Trial and error,” he stated.

“Trial and error? Are you insane?”

Graham sat up and let out a short laugh. “I’m the definition of insane.”

Shaking her head, Peyton looked down at the lavenders that lay on the glass coffee table. For three years, Graham ran the farm, making it one of the most successful in the state. But that was Graham; he just knew business and excelled at it. As for Peyton, she lacked the creativity that would make her shine through.

“Change is inevitable. You have to let go and make mistakes and changes. You know your folks would always support you. Not trying is never going to get you to move forward with your life. You just have to try, Peyton. How long do you have till the next guest comes?”

Graham’s words burned through her heart.

Change is inevitable.

She didn’t want change. She never had. But change kept occurring. Slowly change happened around their town. Everyone started to leave for the city and the inner suburbs. Change caused too much heartache in her life. She eventually lost everyone she loved. But Graham, she wanted more for him. She knew he loved the farm but Peyton knew he was destined for more.

“What about you, Graham? You should be working for a big marketing agency or something. Not on a farm!”

“I can’t leave the farm, Peyton,” he said strongly. It was almost like a warning for her not continue.

“You’re a hypocrite, you know that, right? You can’t dish out life advice and not take them yourself.” Peyton got up off the couch and walked towards the front desk, annoyed with him.