Different artwork.
Different uniforms.
But the architecture remained.
The marble.
The columns.
The massive light fixture.
Evelyn looked upward.
Jordan ran toward her.
“Grandma!”
She smiled and opened her arms.
“My baby.”
He hugged her.
Then immediately announced, “Mom bought your hotel.”
Naomi closed her eyes.
Evelyn stared at her daughter.
“What?”
Naomi looked at Jordan.
“We discussed surprises.”
“I forgot.”
Evelyn looked between them.
“You bought what?”
Naomi smiled.
“Not alone.”
“What does that mean?”
“My company led the acquisition.”
Evelyn stared.
“How much?”
“Mom.”
“How much did you pay?”
“We can discuss that later.”
Evelyn narrowed her eyes.
“If you say anything with a B in front of it, I’m going home.”
Jordan laughed.
Naomi walked toward her mother.
“I wanted you to see it first.”
Evelyn looked around.
Her eyes filled.
“Why?”
Naomi understood the question.
Why this hotel?
Why return?
Why spend years becoming successful only to circle back to the building where her mother once cleaned strangers’ bathrooms?
Naomi took Evelyn’s hand.
“Because you started here.”
Evelyn looked at her.
“No.”
Naomi frowned.
“I started here.”
Her mother shook her head.
“You started in that little apartment doing homework while I complained about my feet.”
Naomi laughed through tears.
Evelyn continued.
“This place was my job.”
She touched Naomi’s cheek.
“You were always going somewhere else.”
Naomi could not answer.
Jordan looked between them.
“Are you crying?”
“No,” Evelyn said.
“Yes,” Naomi said.
Evelyn glared.
“Traitor.”
They laughed.
David joined them for dinner.
So did Michael Sutton, the hotel’s general manager, who had returned from a family event after learning what had happened.
Michael looked sick with embarrassment.
“I’ve reviewed the preliminary footage.”
Naomi put down her fork.
“And?”
“It’s bad.”
Evelyn looked between them.
“What happened?”
Naomi had deliberately avoided telling her before dinner.
Jordan solved that.
“A lady thought Mom couldn’t afford the hotel and called security.”
Evelyn’s expression changed immediately.
“What lady?”
“Mom—”
“Where is she?”
Naomi laughed.
“Retired for twenty-five years and still ready to fight front desk.”
“I asked a question.”
Michael looked terrified.
Naomi explained.
Evelyn listened silently.
When Naomi finished, her mother looked toward the restaurant entrance.
“She said you didn’t look like you could afford the room?”