Chapter 1 #2
“Enjoy the quiet of the lake, Mom. And send me some property listings when you start looking for a new place. We’ll help you find something perfect,” Ethan told her. “I agree with the kids in that you can’t live in that cabin in the woods for too long.”
Linda smiled, but inside her chest tightened.
There was no money for a new house. Not after she had paid off every last one of Richard’s debts.
The sale of this house had barely covered what he owed, and the mortgage had been quietly remortgaged multiple times without her knowledge.
But Ethan and Olivia didn’t need to carry that burden.
Her son was already angry enough with his father for walking out on her and straight into the arms of a much younger woman.
“I will,” Linda promised lightly. “You two stay safe out there.”
“Send us a lot of pictures,” Olivia made Linda and the kids promise.
“And be careful in the lake and the woods,” Ethan warned them.
“Love you, kids,” Ethan and Olivia called to their kids and were rewarded with an echo of that sentiment.
“Take care out there, Mom,” Ethan told her. “I love you.”
“I love you too,” Linda answered.
She ended the call and let out a slow, steady breath.
The last of the boxes had been loaded onto the moving truck.
Linda turned and took one final look at the house.
The place where she had raised Ethan, hosted holidays, and believed she was building something that would last. It was all gone now, just like her marriage.
Linda squared her shoulders, gathered her light jacket, phone, car keys, and purse, then ushered the children outside. As they stepped through the front door for the last time, she pulled it shut with a quiet, final click. The sound settled in her chest like the end of a very long chapter.
Her phone rang again the moment she reached the car. She fished it out of her purse and smiled when she saw Maggie, her lifelong best friend’s name on the screen.
“Hello, Maggie,” Linda answered warmly. “You have excellent timing. I literally just pulled the door closed on my old life.”
There was a brief, startled pause. “What? Oh shoot! That was today?” There was another pause and Linda smiled as, in her mind’s eye, she saw Maggie palming her forehead in exasperation at her forgetfulness. “Of course it is. It’s your house-leaving day.”
Linda frowned slightly at the weird catch in Maggie’s voice, and her spine stiffened as she wondered if something was wrong. “Yes… We spoke about it two days ago.” Her frown deepened. “Is everything okay, Maggie?”
Maggie sounded truly apologetic. “I’m so sorry, Linda. The boutique has been nonstop, and I completely lost track of the date.” She took a breath. “And then… then…” There was another anxious pause. “Linda, I’m phoning because you need to come home to Hearts Hotel.”
Linda’s brows shot up, and for some reason, a chill slid down her spine. Sophia and Jake were already buckling themselves into the back seat, watching her through the open door.
“I’ve already told you I don’t think I can make it this summer,” Linda said carefully. “I have a big interview at the Miami Historical Society in two days. I need to find a job, Maggie. And you’re coming to Miami so we can fly to California together at the end of summer…”
“No… Linda… this is more important than all that, I’m so sorry, Linda,” Maggie said, her voice dropping. “It’s your Uncle George. Tom and I… Tom asked me to call you as he is with George now.”
“What?” Linda went cold. Her heart seemed to freeze in her chest. “Uncle George?”
“He had a fall at the hotel. They think he’s broken his hip,” Maggie said, her words coming out in one big rush.
Linda’s hand tightened on the phone. “What?”
“Tom is with him and the doctor right now,” Maggie repeated. “George has to go into surgery.”
“I’m on my way,” Linda said immediately, glancing at her grandchildren. “I just need to stop at the cabin, grab our things, check out, and then we’ll head straight to Sanibel Island.”
She yanked the car door open and took a steadying breath, but didn’t slide into the car. Instead, she leaned on the door for support as her legs felt wobbly from shock.
A roaring so loud had started in her ears that Linda barely registered Maggie saying she had also been trying to reach Linda’s brother. Tom had asked her to let Michael know as well.
“I’ll get hold of him,” Linda assured her. “Thanks, Maggie.”
Once she hung up from Maggie, Linda scrolled through her contacts and tapped the number saved under Michael’s name with the word EMERGENCY beside it in bold capital letters. Her older brother kept a special phone just for family emergencies, and Linda knew this definitely qualified as one.
He answered on the second ring. “Hey, little sister. Are you okay? How’s the move going?” His deep voice was always comforting. Michael had a way about him that usually put everyone around him at ease. Right now, there was no relief until she reached her uncle.
“I’ve just walked out for the last time,” Linda told him, unable to keep the worry and anxiety from her voice. “Listen, that’s not why I’m calling.”
“Oh?” His voice dropped instantly. “Is everything okay?”
“No. Uncle George had a bad fall. They think he’s broken his hip. Tom is with him at the hospital right now. I’m stopping at the cabin to grab our things and check out, then I’m heading straight to Sanibel Island with the kids,” Linda got out in one breath.
“What?” Michael spluttered. “How—”
“I don’t know the details yet,” Linda said. “Maggie just called me. I’m leaving now.”
“I’ll call Tom,” Michael offered.
“Thank you. Please call me right back when you have news.” Linda glanced at her watch, already calculating the long drive. “I’d better go. I just wanted you to know about Uncle George and to let you know there’s been a change of plans. You’ll have to bring Lily to Sanibel instead of the cabin.”
“Of course,” her brother said without hesitation. “We’ll be there as soon as we can. I’ll have to move a few things around at the office first, but we’ll be there.”
Linda ended the call and slid behind the wheel. She started the engine and pulled away from the curb, the house shrinking in the rear-view mirror until it disappeared completely.
She hated that Uncle George had been hurt.
The thought of him lying in a hospital bed at eighty-five years old, in pain, made her stomach twist with worry.
He had always been the steady rock of their family.
The man who had taken her mother, her brother, and her in after her father died in combat when she was seven, and Michael was eight.
Uncle George had given them a home next to the generational Hearts Hotel and had never once made them feel like a burden.
An hour later, as the Miami traffic thinned and the long road toward Sanibel Island stretched ahead, a quieter thought slipped into Linda’s head.
Uncle George had invited her to come home when he first learned what Richard had done. How her ex-husband had left her basically broke. Uncle George had told her the penthouse was hers whenever she needed it and that the family would figure things out together.
This was not the way she had wanted to accept that invitation. Not with worry and a broken hip and a frantic drive up the coast.
Still… maybe it was not such a bad idea after all.
She glanced in the rear-view mirror at Sophia and Jake, who were already chattering happily about the beach festival and Uncle George’s golden retriever, Buddy, and the big wrap-around porch at Heart House.
Linda smiled, small and tentative, as the first hint of Gulf breeze touched the open window.
It was in that moment that Linda knew going to Hearts Hotel might not be such a bad idea after all.
The children loved it there, the beach, the big old house next door, Uncle George’s penthouse, and the freedom of summer days that felt endless.
Plus, it would save her a great deal of money she simply didn’t have right now.
As for the job interview she had lined up in Miami, Linda made a mental note to call the Historical Society and reschedule the interview.
The job would still be there in a week or two.
Uncle George had been hurt. That was what mattered.
And while it was not an ideal hand fate had played, perhaps this summer was exactly where they all needed to be.