Page 20 of A Taste of Paradise

Naomi was taken aback, but after her embarrassing utterance felt somewhat obligated to make up for it. ‘Sure.’

By the time they returned to board the bus, Naomi had almost forgotten her blunder. Holly’s precociousness had pretty much completely erased it. It was clear that the young girl had done her research on the island and seemed to know almost as much about the sites they were going to visit as Keisha did.

‘Holly likes to read. She did about two weeks of research on this place before we came,’ Will advised as they walked back towards the bus. Her daughter was running ahead, eager to be the first to get back on. ‘She’s a curious little thing.’

‘I can see that,’ Naomi replied smiling. ‘How old is she?’

‘Seven, even though she acts older than me sometimes.’ He chuckled.

‘She’s very sweet.’

‘I think so.’

‘Where are you staying?’ she asked as the coach door opened, recalling that the two were already on board when their gang had got on earlier.

She glanced around, but there was still no sign of Greg anywhere. He’d missed the entire stop-off, she realised, her heart dropping.

‘The Palms on the west coast. Holly’s choice, believe it or not.’

‘Oh, so am I!’ Naomi grinned. ‘And it’s a great choice too. Maybe we’ll bump into one other again there.’

Will smiled as he boarded the bus behind his daughter. ‘Hope so.’

Chapter 16

Erin truly didn’t know what to think – or do.

Having quickly explained to Molly last night that her late mother’s usual room had been accidentally assigned to another guest who’d checked in a few days before, now she tried to figure out how best to help. Assuming that the room in question had been reassigned to Shay Brady at Lily’s request when the reservation system went offline that time, now she struggled with how best to handle that.

Erin couldn’t realistically ask the jilted groom to swap accommodations yet again, nor could they even dream of sneaking Molly into another guest’s suite to check for potential hiding places. The best thing to do was to wait until Brady checked out, but according to the system he was here for ten days.

Though maybe not, if his wedding was cancelled?

She’d ask Lily; the events manager would surely know and, if it came to it, Erin figured she could potentially confide in her regarding the other issue too, since any threat to The Palms’ future involved her also.

Though what to make of Eugenie Cooke’s troubling claim about someone looking to discredit the hotel?

It made sense that an older property on such a prime site and idyllic location would be targeted by a bigger consortium looking to install more modern accommodation or even real estate for sale; that happened all the time back home, but would they go as far as to outwardly sabotage the resort?

But where money and big business were involved, anything was possible. Especially when, according to Eugenie, the existing shareholders had been holding out for some time. Plus, the island tourist trade in general was still trying to get back on its feet after sustained visitor bans and shutdowns, so it made sense that if the big guns were to try and kill off a struggling smaller business altogether, now would be the time.

And what of the staunch supporter the older woman had mentioned too, the one who was ‘recently lost’? Could she be referring to the retirement of Roger, Erin’s predecessor? She didn’t know the man well enough to ask, to say nothing of the fact that she had no idea where Roger lived or whether he’d chosen to take a well-earned post-retirement vacation elsewhere, but she supposed she could find out.

Until then, Erin had no idea what to do other than reassure poor Molly that she’d taken her concerns seriously and would do her best to help her out.

In more ways than one.

‘I really don’t know how to do what she’s asking me to do,’ Molly had confessed tearfully last night, once Erin had finished reading the letter. ‘I don’t know how to live every moment. My mother was all I had in the world, and now she’s gone.’

‘I know it all seems daunting, but if you’d let me, I’d like to help. First, let me try to figure things out with the key, and together we can work from there.’

‘Really? You would help me with all that? I don’t have the first idea where to start. Coming here in the first place already felt like a huge mountain to climb, let alone try to grapple with all the other business stuff.’

Looking back at the shy heartbroken woman, Erin smiled. ‘Let me handle that.’

She might have failed at her own mountain, but perhaps she could help Molly conquer hers. As things stood, it wasn’t as if things at the hotel had been running smoothly since Erin had taken over. What with all the teething problems she’d encountered so far – plus the Mack issue – she had honestly been half-wondering herself whether someone was out to thwart her.

Then she stopped short, as the thought struck her. Could he be somehow involved in any of this? He’d appeared this week pretty much out of nowhere, plus had shot her business suggestions down so quickly that time. And taken with his rather childish refusal to speak with her ever since …