Chapter 6 #2
“Oh, Uncle George.” Linda’s voice cracked. She patted his hand gently. “You should’ve called Micahel and me.”
“Between Tom and me, we’ve been trying to keep as many of the staff on as we can by paying their wages,” Maggie glanced at Uncle George. “Martin has the local bank manager pretending he’s extended yet another loan to the hotel just so he doesn’t know.”
Linda turned her face toward the dark window for a moment. She couldn’t trust her voice yet. How had she and her brother not seen this?
“How far behind is he, Maggie?” Linda asked when she trusted her voice again and turned to face her.
“I don’t know the full picture. Martin has the books. From what I’ve pieced together, the hotel has been losing money for at least three years. The repairs that were put off keep getting more expensive. What would have cost ten thousand to address two years ago will cost forty now.”
“Forty thousand?” Linda choked.
“That’s the low end.” Maggie’s eyes darkened with emotion.
Linda stared down at her hands. She thought about the small amount the house sale had left her with after Richard’s debts had been paid, the careful budget she had built to last her until she found work.
She thought about the hotel that had been her family’s pride for three generations.
She thought about Uncle George on a step ladder with a lightbulb in his hand because he hadn’t wanted to ask anyone for help.
“He’s been killing himself for that hotel,” she said quietly.
“Yes.” Maggie nodded. “And none of you could stop him.”
“None of us could even tell him we were trying.”
Linda lifted her face. Maggie was watching her with an old, tired affection that asked for nothing.
“Why didn’t I see it at Mom’s anniversary?” Linda whispered. “He was tired. I told myself being tired was reasonable for eighty-five.”
“Linda, this is not you or Michael,” Maggie assured her. “He told you and Michael everything was fine, and he looked you in the eye, and you saw what he wanted you to see.”
Linda nodded. She wiped her face with the back of her hand as a stray tear escaped.
For a long moment, neither of them spoke.
“Tom, Martin, and I have actually been enabling him,” Maggie admitted.
She sighed and rubbed her face. “Your uncle stepped in and took me in after my parents died when I was young.” She stared at George.
“He helped Tom so much.” She gave a soft laugh.
“Remember, Uncle George was the one who made the match between your mom and Tom.”
“Yes,” Linda said, blowing out a breath and feeling her cheeks heat. “I wasn’t very happy about that at first.”
“Of course you wouldn’t be, your father had only been gone for three years,” Maggie stood up for her lifelong best friend. “If you remember, I tried to help you sabotage the relationship.” She pulled a face. “We even tried to get your mother fired from the bakery.”
“I really was a brat,” Linda said with a big sigh. “It’s been five years, but I still miss my mom so much.”
“I know you do, Linnie, I know you,” Maggie said, softly squeezing Linda’s hand and putting her head on her shoulder comfortingly.
“I miss her too. She was always there for us.” She smiled and wiped a tear from her cheek.
“She, Tom, and George just took me in after my parents were killed, treating me like part of the family.”
“That’s because you are,” Linda pointed out. “Your mom and mine were best friends, like we are.”
“Your mom, Tom, and Uncle George not only took me in, but they were also there for me and attended all my recitals, awards, and graduations.” Maggie reminded me. “They all stepped up and filled in as best they could from my parents.”
Linda reached for Maggie’s hand and held it tightly. “Of course they would do that for you.” She grinned. “As I said, you are our family.”
“I feel that George’s downfall is mine and Tom’s fault because we have tried to handle things behind his back,” Maggie admitted.
“I started seeing how tired he was getting, and how tired the hotel was getting along with him.” She drew in a breath.
“I started going up there three or four times a week. Tom goes there just about every evening as he always has done since your mom passed away. One day, when I was at the bakery, I mentioned it in passing, and Tom said yes, he and Martin had noticed as well.”
“Oh, Maggie.” Linda watched her best friend. “This is not yours, Tom, or Martin’s fault. This is on Michael and me, we should’ve noticed.”
“You and Michael are in Miami,” Maggie pointed out.
“In all honesty, we should’ve told you and Michael instead of trying to cover it up.
” She turned her head back to George and leaned over to take his hand that Linda had just released.
“He was just so adamant that we didn’t let you know when he started having major plumbing and structural problems at the hotel.
George kept assuring us he was handling it. ”
“George never asked for help easily,” Linda said. “He just doesn’t accept that he’s eighty-five now.” She sighed. “I don’t care how in shape he is. He still needs more help now.”
They sat together in silence for a while as they watched George sleep.
Linda thought about this morning, she had woken up in her empty Miami house and packed the last of her thirty-nine years of marriage into a moving truck.
She thought about the long drive up the coast with the kids in the back seat and the gulf shimmering out beyond the trees.
She thought about Uncle George with a cast on his hip and a cane in his future.
He was going to need a lot more help now.
Tom, Maggie, and Martin couldn’t be there for him all day, and neither could Rosa.
A quiet, certain knowing settled into her bones as Linda made a decision.
One that would solve at least one of her current problems. A soft smile spread across her face as the decision was set in her mind.
She wasn’t going back to Miami at the end of the summer.
There was nothing to go back to, and there was everything to stay in Sweet Blossom Bay for.
“I’m staying, Maggie.” She turned, and her eyes locked with her best friend.
A knowing smile as if Maggie had already known this was going to happen, spread across her lips.
“Not just for the summer. Until we get the hotel back on its feet. Until Uncle George is well. Whatever it takes. I’ll work on the books with Martin when he gets back.
I’ll talk to Michael when he gets here. We’ll find a way. I don’t know how yet, but we will.”
“I knew you would,” Maggie said with a nod.
“You did?” Linda smiled back with raised brows.
“I’ve known you since first grade, Linda Heart. You’ve never once walked away from someone who needed you.” Maggie dropped Uncle George’s hand and took Linda’s. “Fate has brought you home.”
Linda’s eyes filled again. She tipped her head against Maggie’s shoulder, and Maggie put an arm around her, and they sat together quietly. After a while, Linda glanced at her watch. Nearly ten.
“I should get back to the kids,” Linda said softly.
“Go. I’ll stay here until Tom comes back,” Maggie offered. “You’ve had a long drive.”
“Are you sure?” Linda said.
“Yes, you’ve had a long journey today. Go get some rest,” Maggie said with a nod. “I’ll come by Heart House in the morning, and I’ll catch you up on the hotel as much as I can. You’ll have to do the rest with Martin and Tom.”
Linda glanced at Uncle George. He was still sleeping, his breathing steady, the monitor beeping its small soft pulse beside the bed. Linda stood, gathered her things, leaned over the bed, and kissed his forehead.
“Sleep well, Uncle George,” she whispered. “I’ll be back in the morning.”
She kissed Maggie’s cheek, “Thank you, Mags.”
“Anytime.” Maggie smiled.
Linda quietly left the room and walked out of the hospital to her car.
She climbed into the car and pulled out of the lot.
The streets of Sweet Blossom Bay were quiet and warm.
She drove with her window cracked, the bay smell pouring in through the gap, the streetlights soft against the road.
A dog barked somewhere. A screen door slammed somewhere else.
She turned onto Bay View Drive. Hearts Hotel rose ahead of her on its slight rise, the lobby windows glowing warm yellow against the dark, the upper floors black.
Linda slowed the car. She let herself look.
The hotel where her father had grown up.
The hotel her grandfather had built. The hotel where her wedding photographs had been taken on the front lawn nearly forty years ago.
Some day this hotel would go to her and Michael, and then their children. And tomorrow, she would walk through the doors and start finding out what it would take to bring it back.
She drove on. Heart House came up beside the hotel, the gravel circle in front of the wraparound porch, the kitchen window glowing warm yellow against the dark. Rosa had left the porch light on for her.
Linda pulled in and parked. She rested her hands on the wheel for a moment, then climbed out into the warm night.
Buddy’s joyful bark sounded from inside the house before she’d reached the steps. The front door opened, and Rosa stood silhouetted in the warm light, shushing the dog.
Linda climbed the porch steps with her keys in her hand, the long day finally catching up with her.
“Hello, Rosa, thank you so much for staying with them,” Linda said.
“No problem, Miss Linda,” Rosa said with a smile. “They kids are in bed asleep. I’ve made up your room for you.”
“Are you okay getting home?” Linda asked her.
“Yes, it’s just a walk through the side gate.” Rosa smiled. “I’m staying at the small staff flat now.”
“Of course,” Linda said. “Good night, Rosa.”
“I’m glad you are home, Miss Linda,” Rosa told her. “We all need you here.”
Linda felt the sting of tears once again as she nodded and watched Rosa walk to the hotel. As she disappeared through the back door. Linda turned and stepped over the threshold and let the door close softly behind her.
She was home.