She sat drinking salty milk tea trying to decide if she liked it or not. It was rather delicious but she did not like the taste of salt in her mouth. They had not truly spoken since going to bed together on the plane and she was feeling odd knots in her stomach because of it.
She wasn't really sure how to look for the next letter and her mind kept returning to that fact but, overall she was distracted by the thought that she had pushed too hard and he was now going to push her away.
Even with all of this she decided to calm herself. She decided that she needed to focus on her brother for now and think about Taylor after. Maybe when all was said and done she would actually feel like she never loved him at all. That the entire thing was some sort of stress response brought on by worrying over her brother.
Maybe.
Taylor was furiously working on his laptop. He had begun working for Simms Ltd full time as their CEO of their latest hotel venture and it was proving a bit more stressful than he had intended. The first five hotels were actually going to be winners and the clearly awesome marketing team that he put together, already had all five booked up for the first six months after they opened. There were two in India, one in Morocco, and two in Spain. They were all boutique hotels and very unique.
Now we come to the next five. It wad the company's goal to have ten boutique hotels up and running before the end of next year. He already had ten additional places scouted out and they all failed in some way or another. He couldn't believe it. How could ten locations fail? At least one should have been okay.
But with crazy problems like foundation problems, plumbing issues, and even an odd gas problem it makes sense that they kept hitting brick walls. He now had his people looking at four properties. One in the Maldives, one in Australia, and two in the United States. If all of these fell through he would know for sure that he was being sabotaged.
Jill came into the room and he tensed. What the hell was wrong with him. He was acting like a skittish kitten. Was he a man or a timid mouse?
Still he did not look up at her.
"Good morning Taylor. I read the reports about the hotel in Spain. There is a property here I would like us to look at. When will you have free time."
"Oh. Good morning. Um. Give me five minutes."
She nodded and walked to the kitchen. Was that it? No kiss? No flirtation? Was she no longer interested in him. His heart seemed to tremble at that prospect. She came back with some overnight oats and some juice she made last night. She really was a good cook. It seemed like she could cook anything.
He ate way slower than he needed to and he ate alone. Jill ate her food in the front room while he was in one of the studies. Suddenly the food tasted off and the juice seemed a bit bitter.
They rode halfway to the property in silence and then Jill spoke.
"I know that you are working really hard starting the new hotel aspect of the company so after we take a look here you take the car back and when I am ready to comeback I will call the driver to come and get me. I am very excited about the museums here."
He did not say anything because he didn't know what to say. She didn't look at him once as she spoke and she spoke in a bit of a monotone. What the hell had he done. Or is this what he truly wanted.
In the end he said nothing and she did not speak anymore.
The hotel location was beautiful. It had been a bakery with three floors of apartments above it. It sat next to a wide expanse of land that was just a well manicured lawn and was also for sell. You could go up to the apartments through the bakery or by broad steps built into the side of the building.
The first floor apartments could be made into six single room hotel rooms, each with a restroom and a sitting room. The second floor would essentially stay the same and the third could be made into two penthouse type rooms.
There was no real visible damage and the bakery actually still had equipment. And the view was actually incredibly of the surrounding mountains. Jill was intrigued and Taylor was ecstatic. He had taken many photos and he had sent them along with instructions to his property acquisition team.
He looked up smiling about to tell Jill something when he saw that she was not there. He knew she had left. He knew she had done exactly what she said she would.
She was seeing the city without him.
When Jill left Taylor she did it with a smile and zero regret. She found that place for him because she saw how frustrated he was. He was intentionally not looking where they were staying and she felt that was a mistake. So she had picked out five places that looked promising. The bakery with the apartments above it was at the top of that list.
She had on some nice flowing blue linen pants and a grey crop top that tied around her waist into a bow on her side. She had on large sunglasses and comfy Grey shoes and a small grey bag.
She had to admit, Taylor had nice taste in clothes. She entered her first museum and slowly began looking at the exhibits. She knew that the next letter was somehow related to a museum in the country.
After Taylor set everything up with the bakery building he decided to begin looking in their current location and the two other cities that they would visit in Mongolia. He went straight back to their rented house and dove into his computer.
Jill was on her third museum. They had all been quite good so she was not bored but she felt she should spread things out a bit and not do more than three in one day. This was a history museum and she was frowning as she read an exhibit when she heard her name.
"Jill? Jill Simms?" Jill spun around, maybe a bit too fast, and saw a plump older woman with a very nice smile, incredibly thick glasses, a wide nose, and mounds and mounds of thick hair.
Her smile broadened when she saw Jill's face better.
"It is you! Come with me. I have something for you."
Had she already found the letter? She closely followed the plump little lady. They went to a floor that seemed to be three floors underground. She opened the door to a spacious office and hurried inside.
"When Darren gave me this I thought he was crazy. When I heard of your marriage I realized I was wrong. I am glad you got here when you did. We will be closing in a week or two."
Jill took the letter with a wide smile on her face. Then she looked up in confusion.
"Why are you closing?"
The little plump lady shrugged. "We don't really get many visitors these days. We can no longer afford the rent. Hopefully I can find good homes for our exhibits in the country."
"Oh that all? I am here two more days. I'll get the situation rectified."
Jill looked at the envelop in her hand. She felt like she was getting closer to Darren and maybe even the end of things with Taylor.
But did she want to end things with Taylor? Maybe it truly did not matter what she wanted.