Maisey Barnes surveyed the construction site with a grin: Terri-Lee thought she was nuts, but then Terri-Lee was happy that she was writing again, even if it was something different than she'd written before. Maisey had bought property in Medicine Hat, having decided that Calgary was too busy for her, near the biggest shopping hub and worked with contractors to design and build an empire. It was the only word she could think of to describe the business she was opening.
When it was done there would be a 35 room hotel, a restaurant, a game store, an arcade and internet cafe, a bowling alley and a dance club with a conference center, spa and a barracks--the contractor thought she was nuts. In the two years since she'd been released from the hospital she'd traveled with Kyle and his dad's friends and participated in Warhammer tournaments all over the country, pairing the trips with visits to local bookstores so that she could meet fans of her writing and the trips had inspired her. Every place they went, they needed a hotel, a restaurant, some kind of hang out for afterwards and a conference space so they could game. The guys that came crammed as many people as they could into hotel rooms, which had given her the idea for the barracks: a large space with cubicle style bedrooms that could house one or two people in each barrack.
It had become a huge part of her life, this hobby that Kyle had introduced her to. She'd been with him when they'd called to tell him that his dad had passed, they'd just gone downstairs after a day of gaming with Kyle and his friends. Kyle had been devastated but had thrown himself into helping Maisey research and develop the concept. It was only weeks away from opening.
The Armory would stock all the latest board games as well as some classics, but focused on the table top games Kyle had introduced her to. The Barracks were going to be used for when large events happened, for youth camps or reunions when cost was a factor and privacy was not. The Hearth was the restaurant, it would specialize in everything: pasta, steak, pub food and everything in between. The Battlefield was broken into many areas: the bowling alley and arcade were accessible to families and younger children but the dance club was separate and would feature karaoke every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 6 to 9 with live bands or DJs on Friday and Saturday nights until 1am. Tuesday and Thursday were set aside for private events like birthday parties. Sunday the dance club would be closed except for special events. The conference center was named the Trenches and the hotel would be known as the Pavilion. She had her own residence on the bottom floor of the Pavilion. There was no visible door inside the hotel, just an external door, but there was a small hidden door that was locked from the inside that allowed her to have an emergency exit into the building if necessary.
The final inspections were underway before she was allowed to bring in furniture and merchandise. It was hard not to be nervous. She scratched Henry's head, she didn't really understand why she needed a service dog but Dr Jeff had suggested that she leave the designation in place just in case. So far her memories had not returned. There was always something fluttering on the peripheral but nothing she could grab onto and definitely nothing firm enough to be recognizable. Terri-Lee had told her about some things but eventually she'd decided it wouldn't help to know. Those first days of sifting through emails and text messages had been hard, but instead of reading them she just did a bulk deletion of everything because nothing made sense and everything was very confusing.
Gaming and reading with Kyle's dad's friends had given her a new purpose. She loved the models and the details that popped when she put paint on them. She loved the social aspects of the hobby and had been excited to build the Empire, as they'd been calling it. Chris especially had taken an interest: he was an engineer and had convinced his boss to take on the project. Chris' wife Emily came to most of the events with them, never playing but always around to watch and be a part of the social atmosphere. Emily was helping her with hiring--she'd been a stay at home mom who consulted as a recruiter for businesses. It was the perfect fit. Kyle had offered to help run the Armory--he hadn't been working during the time his dad had been sick, but now he was tapped out and needed a job. She'd given him a small room at the hotel and the job, with the stipulation that living at the Pavilion would be temporary.
Furniture would start arriving in two days, with crews to do the set up arriving the day after that. Maisey felt good about her future since the first time she'd woken up in the hospital. As he left the inspector gave her a thumbs up and she grinned, knowing it wasn't official until the formal report came out but excited that it had gone well.
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"The event is sold out," Kyle told her, "every room in the Pavilion and the Barracks is booked and the spa is bringing in extra staff to be able to handle walk ins and last minute appointments."
"We're still two weeks from opening."
"Every gamer on the west coast wants to see this place and having a 3 day event as part of your opening weekend celebration was nothing short of genius! Neighboring hotels are benefiting from the event even--I heard from a buddy that there's very limited space at either of the closest two hotels as well. I think you could increase the event size if we rented pavilion tents and raised them on the field in behind the Trenches. We'd have to rent some banquet tables or buy a lot of plywood but it would totally be worth it."
Maisey was thrilled, "Make it happen, let's make this the biggest event in Western Canada."
"Are you doing a book release that weekend as well?" Terri-Lee asked, "with all those people there you're sure to sell out."
Maisey shook her head, "I have enough on my plate that weekend," she told the lawyer. Terri-Lee agreed. She was dreading her conversation with Maisey but was running out of time. "I'm guessing from that look we need to have a private word," Maisey guessed and Terri-Lee followed her.
The women sat down, "Is it lawyer bad or friend bad?" Maisey asked.
Terri-Lee chuckled, "well, you know I've been seeing a fellow from southern Alberta... his name is Tony and he's the part owner of a ranch not far from here." she hesitated, "His cousin is the main owner, but there's a house on the property that you own."
"Terri-Lee, stop worrying you're going to cause awn avalanche of memories and spit it out." She was surprised to hear she owned a house on a ranch.
"There was a storm recently that did a lot of damage and the house needs repairs but the insurance is all in your name."
"Okay, so I need to meet with an adjuster and sign some papers?"
"They want you to tour the house and sign off on the repairs in person."
"Why is this such a big deal, Terri-Lee? it's like pulling teeth!"
"You and Tony's cousin lived together for a long while, the last time you saw him was the night before there accident. You were upset about a misunderstanding."
Maisey stared at her lawyer and friend, "He knows about my amnesia doesn't he?" Terri-Lee looked at her lap, "oh my goodness, has he been thinking I hated him for the past two years?"
Ashamed Terri-Lee flushed, "I'm your lawyer, I can't legally talk to him about you!" She hesitated, "And now Tony wants to marry me!"
Maisey was dumbfounded, "Congratulations. What's the cousin's name?"
"Brett."
Maisey frowned, and shook her head, "None of this sounds familiar, why does he really not know about what happened?"
Terri-Lee hesitated, "Andy thought it best not to tell him at first and then once you started to heal and still couldn't remember anything we thought it was best for you."
"Except now that I have to go see these insurance people it's going to be very awkward." Maisey sighed, "And at the wedding as well." she scrubbed her face with her hands and absently rubbed Henry's head, "when is the insurance company wanting to connect?"
"Monday if you're available."
"Alright, I'll arrange it, send me the address."