When Graham fell silent, Peyton glanced up at him. His dimple deepened as he smiled. No doubt he was enjoying the compliment that she’d just given him. Then she slapped his arm and pushed off the desk.

“And any guy would be lucky to be yours, Peyton.”

Peyton turned away and stared out the window, the shimmer of the water catching her eye. For four years, she’d blamed herself. She’d done something wrong with him all those years ago. Maybe it had been too quick. Maybe he’d regretted being her first and the ‘I love you’ that had slipped from her lips. Their friendship had been ruined by one kiss that had led to the events of his leaving.

The sound of a phone had Peyton spinning. She saw Graham staring at his phone before he sighed and put it back into his pocket. His fingers combed his hair and then started to roll up the sleeves of his long shirt.

“That was the old man. I better get going, Peyton. I promised him that I’d go over the sprinkler system on the eastern part of the farm.” Graham walked over, pulled her in for a quick hug, and whispered, “You’re going to be a great owner of this place, Peyton. I believe in you. Always will,” before he kissed the top of her head.

By the time Peyton had settled in and opened the curtains to all of the rooms, it was just after lunch. The regular staff had been put on holiday leave by her aunt and uncle. They had made plans for this fortnight of the hotel’s closure for years.

Once she had graduated from high school, Peyton had decided that it was time she took the business for herself and applied for business school. Too afraid to leave Daylesford, she had taken online classes instead. Her bachelor was on display in her living room, above the fireplace. She’d been too afraid to leave town, so Graham and the hotel had hosted her small graduation ceremony and party. It was as close to the real ceremony as she could get. It was a day that she didn’t want her aunt and uncle to miss out on. They had made sacrifices for Peyton, and she was determined to never let them down.

Lifting the screen of her MacBook Air, Peyton pressed the power button. As her laptop powered on, she looked over the office that she was sitting in. It had been her father’s. The small, gold clock that her mother had given him for their wedding anniversary sat on the right-hand corner of the wooden desk, and a portrait of Peyton and her parents sat on the left. Reaching over, Peyton picked up the frame and stared at the three of them. She was eight when they had taken that photo by the lake. Her blue eyes mirrored her mother’s, but her light-brown hair mirrored her father’s.

A sadness filled her chest. Being an only child, she had been close to her parents. The moment that the police had told her of their passing, Peyton had felt the world fall beneath her. The pain had made her forget about the hurt that she’d felt when Callum had left town.

She placed the frame back in its original position and logged into her emails. A few business ones would have to be answered today, as well as some from previous guests. After minimising her screen, Peyton logged into her Facebook account and saw a tag notification from one of her best friends, Madilynne Woodside. Clicking on the notification, she tensed at the picture.

“Summer before year twelve! Miss this!”

She swallowed hard at the picture of her group of friends standing by the trees near the hotel and his arm around her waist as they smiled at the camera. Peyton blinked quickly at the picture. Three days later, they had made love under the stars, and then two days after that, he’d broken her heart.

Unable to help herself, Peyton read the comments to see that he had not made one. She hovered her cursor over his face before clicking to close her browser. Then she closed her laptop and took a deep breath in and then out.

He’s gone, Peyton. He left. You need to remember that.

“I really don’t want ‘work’ in my pub, Peyton.”

She set down the guest list for the Reynolds’ wedding to see a beer placed on her table. Three hours of going over the wedding plan and she’d been done. She knew one thing: weddings like this one were going to be charged more for such outrageous requirements. Deciding to take a break, Peyton had gone for a walk to go over the list in a new environment. That’s how she found herself sitting at a table in the Daylesford Pub. Squinting her eyes, she stared at the dark-coloured beer in front of her.

“Jay, you know I hate beer,” she stated and eyed him, his hand behind his back.

He stroked his short beard before setting another glass on the table. “Yeah, I know. The beer’s for me. The Coke’s for you. Don’t know why you come here if you hate beer. You offend and break my heart every time you walk through my door, Peyton.”

Jay sat in the seat next to her, and she reached over for her glass, taking a long sip. The twinkle in his warm, chocolate eyes had her rolling hers. It wasn’t that Jay was unattractive—it was the opposite. Any young female who stayed in Daylesford wanted in his bed. But he wasn’t the type to use women. He was the settle down type.

Jay was just like Peyton and Graham. He had stayed behind because his family owned the local pub. But, unlike them, Jay liked what he did. Ever since he had graduated from high school two years ahead of Peyton, he had strived to fulfil his role as pub owner.

Putting the glass down, Peyton returned to the Reynolds’ wedding list. When one had money, one lavished. And bride-to-be Marissa Reynolds had money—her parents’ money, to be exact.

“Ugh, she really chose our town to be the place for her wedding?” Jay asked with much disgust. He sat back in his chair and reached for his beer, almost drinking the entire glass in one pull.

Peyton’s eyebrows furrowed, and she tapped her finger on the table. “Don’t like Marissa?”

Jay’s lips parted and his brows met, bewildered by her question. “You do?”

“I’ve never met her or her fiancé. Aunt Brenda took the booking a few months ago while I was studying for exams. Should I be worried? Is she a bridezilla?”

She didn’t need an uncooperative bride. Peyton knew the importance of the day, but from past experience, the most challenging brides were the ones where money had absolutely no limits.

“She wanted to tear down my pub because it wasn’t an ideal backdrop for her wedding pictures. I bloody love the woman! What’s she got you doing? Putting fancy Japanese fish in the lake?” Jay set his now empty glass on the table and folded his arms over his chest.

“Just the guest list is substantial. I don’t think that I have the staff to cater for so many people. It’s meant to be a private wedding, but she’s got half of the Collingwood football team coming.” Peyton sighed and returned the papers back in the folder and then her folder in her bag.

“Be careful of them, Peyton. I see you near any of them footy boys and I won’t make any promises of not breaking their legs.”

Jay’s tense body had Peyton rolling her eyes.

“Don’t go all protective over me, Jay,” she said as she got out of her chair and picked up her bag. Her break from the hotel was already long stretched. She needed to return.

She looked down and met Jay’s concerned face.

He stared at her for a moment before he closed his eyes and sighed. “Someone has to be, Peyton.”

Before she was able to ask him what he meant, Peyton felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. When she pulled it out, she saw a new text message.

Marissa Reynolds: Peyton, since you are now dealing with the wedding and my fiancé doesn’t think your hotel is suitable, I will be sending him down tomorrow to have a look over it.