Episode 1 · Mature · 18+ private alpha
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Chapter One: Another Book Nerd - Stuck in an Office
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Table of ContentsEpisode 1 · 10 episodes available
In this Season · Welcome to PellingtonReading order
About this story
Some love stories begin with a chance encounter. Others begin with two people who have spent their entire lives trying not to become their families.
Josephine has built a life around staying exactly where she is. At the Pellington Grand Hotel, she knows every hallway, every guest, and every quiet corner where she can disappear when the world becomes too loud. She’s learned that love can be complicated, families can leave scars that span generations, and sometimes the safest way to survive is to expect nothing at all.
Then he comes home.
After years away, a man Josephine once knew returns to the mountain town to settle his late father’s estate—a house overflowing with the possessions, secrets, and emotional wreckage he left behind. When Josephine is asked to help him sort through it all, neither of them expects what they’ll uncover… or what they’ll discover in each other.
Because falling in love is one thing. Learning how to love when you've inherited wounds you never asked for is something else entirely.
As old patterns surface and long-buried pain begins to threaten the lives they've carefully constructed, Josephine and the man from her past must decide whether they can break free from the things that shaped them—or let those things determine who they become.
At the Pellington Grand Hotel, hearts aren't the only things in need of repair.
Sometimes love doesn't rescue us from our past.
Sometimes it gives us the courage to finally face it.
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- Grief
- Hoarding
- Substance abuse
Another Book Nerd, Stuck in an Office
Josephine
Things are about to get hectic. The end of winter is a time of conflicting emotions for everyone at The Pellington Grand. We get our fair share of visitors during the cold season. It's only about a quarter of what we get during the rest of the year.
I’ve always found it odd it isn’t the other way around. The Adirondack region of New York is world famous for our snow covered mountains, ski slopes, and snowmobile trails. And when I say “world famous,” I mean it.
The 1932 and 1980 Winter Olympic games were held a half hour from here in the bustling and picturesque town of Lake Placid. They always stay a heck of a lot busier than we do up here. Pellington is no Lake Placid. They have cute tourist shops and amazing dining options.
What do we have? A gas station, a grocery store, and my family’s ridiculously enourmous, extremely out-of-date, luxury Hotel.
The Pellington Grand boasts two hundred and sixty rooms, out of which forty are suites, and then of course, there is The Tower, the Pellington’s over-the-top version of a penthouse. Not all of the rooms are for the guests though. During the span of the last one hundred and twenty-nine years, the Hotel has been home to five generations of Pellingtons.
I’m the oldest sibling of the newest generation to call this place home. With any luck, one of my younger siblings will end up married and start a family so my great-great-grandfather’s legacy can continue, because at almost thirty-years-old, the odds of me finding love, are not looking favorable.
There might be a chance for me to meet someone, if I would leave the back office once in a while. At least that’s what Clara keeps telling me. But, I’ve gotten so comfortable being alone, and have long accepted the fact that I am beyond socially awkward. That’s why this back office job is the perfect fit for me.
I do the book keeping. I answer phones. I order supplies. I send emails and schedule housekeeping. It’s predictable and although I wouldn’t say I love it, it’s a job that I tolerate. I’m good at it too.
Clara, my sister, runs the front of the house. She’s charismatic and absolutely stunning to look at. I used to hate her for it. But over the years I have learned that her beauty has brought its own share of problems with it. Seeing the shit she has had to deal with, on a regular basis too, makes me appreciate my chubby, frumpy self. Although, I still find it incredibly irritating when people tell me I look
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