“Not a big day if you keep me from working!” she scolded before untangling herself from him. Then she let out a laugh as she took the lavender from him.

Turning, she looked out over the still lake and then at her hotel. It daunted her. The idea that she was now the owner of what her parents had once called theirs terrified her.

She didn’t want to let her parents down, but she found it would be inevitable. All she could hope for was that she wouldn’t destroy the dreams they’d built. She didn’t want to tarnish what The Spencer-Dayle meant to her aunt and uncle and the town.

As if he knew that her fears were consuming her, Graham placed his hand on her shoulder and squeezed lightly to reassure her.

“They’d be proud of you, Peyton. We all are.”

And that’s when she let tears stream down her face. She knew she couldn’t let her family’s hotel by the lake falter. It was all she had left of her parents.

After they sat on the wooden bench, they walked to the hotel. Peyton opened the main doors and was welcomed with the bright front desk. Once she’d placed 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 sank into the dark-grey couch.

Peyton sat next to him and took in the large arched windows that flooded the room with natural light. Though she had been here the day before to check out 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 that she accepted her responsibilities, just as 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 that they had painted the ceiling. Her dad had argued over colour choice, that cream was too plain, but her mother had won that argument with a victorious smile. That was true love. No matter the bickering or the arguing, Peyton knew that 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 that they worked 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 straightened his back and let out a short laugh. “I’m the definition of insane.”

Shaking her head, Peyton looked down at the lavender that lay on the glass coffee table. For three years, Graham had run the farm, making it one of the most successful in the state. But that was Graham; he 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. You just have to try, Peyton. Not trying is never going to get you to move forward with your life. 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 had happened around their town. Everyone had started to leave for the city and the inner suburbs. Change had caused too much heartache in her life. She eventually lost everyone she loved. But Graham—she wanted more for him. She knew that he loved the farm, but Peyton knew that 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 to not continue.

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

“Peyton!” Graham called out to her, the irritation in his voice clear.

Upon reaching the desk, Peyton picked up the file that contained reservations and looked at him. She frowned at the sad look in his eye. She was sure he believed that he had hurt her feelings, but it took more to hurt her deeply. She knew what real pain felt like. This was hardly a pinch.

“I’m sorry. You’re right. I can’t stand here and tell you to make changes when I’m not willing to make them myself. I just think you deserve more than living in the shadow of your parents. Before the accident, you wanted more out of life. You wanted to travel, but now, you can’t even step past the town’s welcome sign. If this isn’t your dream, don’t settle for it. Not for the rest of your life. When the farm is settled enough, I’ll try the city, okay? I swear I’ll try.”

Peyton let out a sigh and placed the folder back on the desk, her fingers running over them. Two weeks until her first guest, the Swan’s—a young newlywed couple from the suburbs—arrived. And it was a month until the Reynolds’ wedding. In the space of a fortnight, Peyton would decide what her plans were for the hotel by the lake. Weddings at The Spencer-Dayle were what made money. Since it was an hour away from the city, most guests stayed overnight and enjoyed the town.

“I shouldn’t scold you, either. I’m no closer to leaving this place than you. I knew that I’d always have some connection to the hotel. That I would run it when I was older. I just didn’t think that I’d inherit it before high school graduation. For now, I’ll run it my parents’ way. I’ll figure out the rest as I go along. If I don’t run it, then Aunt Brenda and Uncle John will, and I don’t want them doing that.”

Graham approached the desk and leant on it, staring at her. He gave her an unsure smile before sighing.

“Who’d have thought that you and I would be taking on such responsibility at twenty-one? All our friends are partying it up and having real university experiences, being free. Sometimes I’m jealous that I didn’t follow…Krista and attend Deakin with her. Who knows what would have happened to us if I had,” Graham said. He looked down at his hands for a moment before looking up at Peyton.

After stepping around the desk, Peyton placed her hand on his arm and gave him a reassuring squeeze. “Maybe if you had just told her that you liked her, it’d be different.”

Graham let out an unconvincing laugh. “Wouldn’t have helped. She left for Jake. We all know that. And I’m stuck with you, remember?”

Part of being in a small town was that the choices in a romantic partner were always limited. In most cases, partners had chosen themselves before anyone had really made moves. It was just how it had been growing up.

Peyton offered Graham an understanding smile. She knew what it was like to be drawn to and love one person. And how, when they left, it was like nothing made sense, that they were your one true understanding of the world.

“You were too good for her anyway.”

“No,” Graham said with a sad gleam in his eye, “she was too good for me. Her daddy wouldn’t want a farmer dating his daughter.”

Peyton leant on the desk next to him. “Any father would be honoured to have their daughter date a guy like you, Graham. I know just what a guy you can be. You’re every father’s dream.”