Chapter 15 #3
“This is Isabel,” Linda introduced her. “Penny and Isabel are staying at the Bay View Beach House for the summer.”
“It’s nice to meet you both,” Martin said before turning back to Linda. “I’ll speak to you back at the hotel. We have much to discuss.”
“Of course, Martin.” Linda nodded. “I’ll be back within an hour.”
“No rush, we can talk tomorrow morning.” Martin then gave Linda a brief warm smile, nodded once to Maggie and Isabel, did not look at Penny again, and walked off into the crowd.
There was a beat of silence.
“Well,” Penny declared, recovering herself. “Isn’t he a delight?”
“Actually, he is a wonderful man,” Maggie chuckled. “He just lives in his head most of the time. He is a numbers man, after all.”
“Oh, let me guess. A stockbroker,” Penny drawled.
“Something like that,” Linda confirmed mildly. She glanced at her wristwatch. “Right. I think that’s enough festival for one day.”
“I have to agree. I am exhausted,” Isabel admitted, smiling.
“Me too,” Maggie agreed.
They rounded up the four children, who protested vehemently. Maggie bribed them with ice cream on the way home. The protests stopped immediately. They piled back into the two cars and drove off the marina grounds in slow procession.
Emma talked Isabel into letting her stay overnight at Heart House with Sophia.
While Maggie took the children for ice cream before going to Heart House, Linda headed toward the Bay View Beach House to drop off Isabel and Penny.
She pulled up outside the beach house. The setting sun had turned the long glass windows of the front facade to gold.
“Come inside for a minute, Linda,” Isabel invited warmly. “I need to pack a small overnight bag for Emma. I won’t be long.”
“Thank you, Isabel.” Linda followed Isabel and Penny up the porch steps and into the cool, bright interior of the house.
She hadn’t been inside the Bay View Beach House since she was a teenager.
The Wallaces had hosted her, Maggie, and Michael at the house in their last summer of high school.
The bones of the place were exactly the same: the wide-open living area, the floor-to-ceiling glass facing the bay, the long pale wood floors.
But the interior had been updated since then.
There were now pale linens and soft sand-colored upholstery.
A long modern dining table where the old one had stood.
The art on the walls was new, a series of muted watercolors of the bay at different times of day.
It was beautiful. It still felt, somehow, like the Wallace house.
“Penny, why don’t you sit Linda down with a glass of lemonade while I run upstairs?” Isabel suggested. “I’ll only be five minutes.”
“Of course,” Penny agreed. “Linda, come and sit on the back porch. The view at this hour is breathtaking.”
Linda followed Penny through the open living area toward the back of the house. They had not made it halfway across the room when a deep voice came from a doorway off the main hall.
“Penny, did you happen to...” The voice cut itself short.
Linda turned.
Darius stood in the doorway. His eyes met hers across the long, open room, and the small warm pull Linda had been refusing to think about since the beach yesterday morning. And something fluttered in her stomach.
“Linda,” Darius said warmly. “Hello.”
“Hello, Darius,” Linda greeted, mustering every ounce of her composure. “Isabel just headed upstairs to pack a bag for Emma. She’s staying over at Heart House tonight with Sophia.”
“Is she really?” Darius’s whole face softened. “I bet Emma is going to enjoy that.”
Just then, Penny’s phone rang. “Excuse me, Linda, I have to take this.”
“That’s fine,” Linda told her.
“I’ll keep Linda company while Isabel is packing for Emma,” Darius told her.
“I can just sit out here and wait,” Linda said, feeling awkward. “I’m sure you have a lot to do.”
“No, I haven’t,” Darius told her. “Please take a seat.”
They sat and fell into a moment’s silence before Darius leaned forward.
“Linda,” Darius began, his voice quieter now, “I cannot thank you enough for what you did for Isabel and Emma today. Isabel has not looked so relaxed or excited about going out today in two years. Emma hasn’t had a sleepover invitation in even longer.
You’ve made something happen for them today that I haven’t been able to make happen for either of them in three years of trying. I am genuinely grateful.”
The warmth in his voice landed in Linda’s heart before she had braced for it.
“Honestly, Darius,” Linda answered softly, “the pleasure was all ours. Isabel is lovely. Emma is a delight. They fit right in with the rest of us.”
“I would like to return the favor,” Darius offered.
“It is not necessary.” Linda shook her head.
“I insist.” Darius’s voice dropped, and he smiled, making her breath catch in her throat. “Let me take you to dinner.”
Linda blinked.
She looked at him. He was watching her with that quiet, steady attention she had felt on the beach yesterday, the same attention she had been refusing to think about for twenty-four hours.
“Darius,” Linda answered carefully, “that’s very kind of you, but I really don’t think...” She swallowed. “Didn’t Emma say that Penny was your partner. I’m sure she wouldn’t want you taking a stranger out to dinner.”
It was Darius’s turn to blink in surprise. Then his whole face softened with quiet amusement.
“Business partner,” Darius clarified gently. “Penny is my attorney. She has been my friend and counsel for forty years. She is family to me.”
Linda felt something in her chest lighten. She immediately tried to shake the feeling off, but couldn’t.
“Oh,” Linda answered, more lightly than she felt. “Well. That clears that up.” She gave a nervous laugh, feeling a little embarrassed.
“So what do you say?” Darius asked again. “Would you go to dinner with me?”
“Darius, I am really...” Linda swallowed and cleared her throat. “We’ve only just met.”
“Yes, and I’d like to get to know you better,” Darius told her. “My sister, great-niece, and even best friend are all taken with you. So I, too, would like to get to know their new friend.”
Linda laughed at that. He was very charming. “Let me think about it,” she compromised. “I have a lot of work at the moment. I’m not just here for a summer vacation. My uncle fell and broke his hip so I have him to care for and his business to run.”
Something flickered in Darius’s eyes, but it was gone too fast for her to figure it out.
Darius reached into his back pocket, pulled out a slim card, and handed it to her. The card was made of heavy ivory paper, with his name embossed in clean, dark blue. Beneath the name was his phone number.
“This is my personal number,” Darius told her. “Think it over and call me when you are ready.”
Linda took the card slowly and looked down at it. “All right,” Linda heard herself say. “I will think about it.”
“Thank you.” Darius smiled. “I look forward to hearing from you.”
Isabel came down the stairs at that moment with a small overnight bag in one hand. She crossed to the table, handed the bag to Linda, and pressed a kiss to her cheek.
“Everything Emma needs is in there,” Isabel explained. “Toothbrush. Pajamas. Her favorite stuffed dolphin. Please call me, no matter what time, if she needs anything.”
“I promise I will.” Linda smiled warmly at her new friend. “She is going to have a wonderful time, and she’ll be well looked after.”
“Thank you, Linda.” Isabel gave her a nervous smile. “I must admit I am a little nervous as this is the first time she’s had a sleepover since she’s lived with me.”
“She’s going to be just fine,” Linda assured her.
Linda left the Bay View Beach House with Emma’s bag in one hand and Darius’s card pressed into her palm in the other. She drove the short distance back to Heart House with an unshakeable feeling that this summer was going to be longer and stranger than she had bargained for.
She had barely set Emma’s bag down in the front hall when her phone vibrated. Martin’s name flashed on the screen.
“Linda,” Martin’s voice came through, brisk and worried. “Can you come over to the hotel for a few minutes? There is something that needs your urgent attention that I need to show you.”
“I’m on my way, Martin.” Linda hugged her grandkids briefly, told Rosa she would be back within the hour, and walked the short path across the side garden to Hearts Hotel.
Martin met her at the back staff entrance.
“What’s the urgent thing you need to show me?” Linda asked.
“It’s the pool,” Martin told her as he started walking.
Linda followed him into the gardens that ran along the back of the hotel toward the pool deck.
Martin stopped at the edge of the old pool.
The blue tile around the rim had faded a shade in the sun.
The deck around it was a soft, pale wood that needed restaining.
But the water in the pool was at the right level, and the surface caught the late afternoon light in its usual slow pattern of small bright ripples.
“I’ve been informed,” Martin said carefully, “that the pool may be leaking.”
“Leaking?” Linda’s eyes widened in shock.
“I checked the meter when I got back this morning. We are losing about two inches a week, far more than evaporation would account for. I’ve been keeping an eye on it for a while now. But the leak seems to be getting bigger, and I’m afraid it’s time to call in the experts.”
“What do you think this is going to cost?” Linda looked at him in shock.
“I can’t tell you that,” Martin told her. “It depends on the leak and what it will take to fix it.”
Linda stood staring at the pool, her heart sinking. This was all she needed right now to add more financial pressure on the hotel.