Chapter 10
Iwake the next day with a serene thought in my mind, just seconds before reality brings me crashing back down.
Because I remember that I have to come up with fifty thousand dollars, and I’m alone with just myself to rely on for that.
Every day I’m not working is a day I’m still in the shackles of my mother’s will. Of that property that I refuse to live in. But how am I supposed to leave Hope Crest without a plan of action?
I need to come up with a serious outline of how I’m going to get this house off my books. But first, I need to drag my ass out of bed and eat something in order to think straight.
Evan wasn’t home when I got back last night, and I didn’t hear him come in. Maybe I was too exhausted that I passed out and missed him, or maybe he truly didn’t come back to our shared residence. The thought sours my stomach, but my crush on the guy who barely looks in my direction is the least of my worries right now.
As I brew a pot of coffee and wipe the fog out of my eyes, I check my phone. Two emails from prospective employers wanting a decision on their offers, which I’ve put off for way too long, and a text from Leona about visiting the old inn with her today.
Shit, I forgot I’d agreed to that. Before my disastrous meeting with Mr. Malloy, I agreed to see the historic property with Leona out of sheer curiosity. I figured, if I was going to be here sorting out my mother’s will, I might as well take a fun little trip with a woman I loved like a mother to see something that interests me.
Now? It feels like an unneeded dalliance to a place I could never know more about. Seeing the beauty of it right now would probably make me feel even shittier.
But I never say no to Leona. She’s done so much for me that I can’t disappoint her. Even if I want to hide under my covers away from all my problems right now.
So I eat, dress, and wrap myself in my favorite jean jacket before driving the twenty minutes to the outskirts of Hope Crest.
Out here in the brambles of the canal, where the trees grow far above my head, and the rush of the Delaware River is all to be heard, I feel at peace. In our river valley, with its lush greenery and quiet hum of the rapids, I’ve always thought this was the most peaceful place on earth. Imagining a resort out here, the one thing I always thought Hope Crest and the surrounding towns were lacking, is something I used to fantasize about on my most homesick nights away at college. Because I wasn’t yearning for the love of family or the company of my mother. No, I wanted the background of my youth, the wild landscape of my childhood.
When things got too tough at home, I’d sneak out to the canal and skip rocks or walk along the bank. I’d observe the turtles or crawfish that popped up out of the water. I’d admire the beautiful stone homes that looked like something out of a Civil War novel.
It’s just the kind of place I’m standing in front of when I eventually get out of my car after venturing down the gravel lane Leona gave me directions to.
Ivy and wisteria wind up beige and gray stone, creating an effect that makes the enormous building look like something out of a fairy tale. Large floor-to-ceiling windows smatter across the entrance, giving a view into an empty but promising inside. The front of the building seems to cascade out into smaller and smaller sections, with a gazebo off to the side that looks like it’s seen better days.
The front porch, if cleaned and repainted, would be beautiful, with rows of rocking chairs and maybe some lamp lights. I have no idea what condition the grounds are in, but I can only imagine sweeping, romantic gardens and a pool with ornate tiling. The whole place feels like a dilapidated dream, and my mind is going wild with ideas.
“Beautiful, isn’t it? Leona has been showing me pictures.”
I turn to the male voice that hits my back and am surprised to see that Leona Ashton isn’t standing with him.
“What are you doing here?” I ask Warren, both happy and suspicious to see him at the same time.
“Leona kicked me out of my house to steal my newborn and said she had an appointment with you and that I needed to do it instead. I never disobey my mother-in-law if I can help it. Plus, I hadn’t heard from you after your meeting with the lawyer, so I knew I had to corner you somehow.”
He knows me too well, which is both a blessing and a curse.
“Sneaky. You know I’m a sucker for a pretty gem like this.” When I was in college, Warren gifted me many a coffee table book about old hotels and resort architecture.
“I have the keys if you want to go in. But be warned, I’m not sure how well the construction has held up. This place has been abandoned since the eighties.”
The building is actually in pretty good shape for being out of business that long.
“What was it originally?” I ask, needing to know so many more facts about it.
“It was opened as an orphanage in the twenties, actually, before someone else bought it and opened it as an inn during the sixties. That lasted about twenty years. Leona told me she and Thomas stayed here for a few nights away during their early years. It had about twelve bedrooms, a functioning chef’s kitchen at one point, a billiards room, and the lobby often had rotating musicians or pianists. Sadly, the woman who ran it died tragically in the eighties and her family let it fall into disrepair.”
I frown. “That’s so cruel. A place this beautiful deserves to be seen.”
Even now, I can almost hear the keys of the piano playing as guests socialize in the lobby like ghosts of this place’s past.
Wordlessly, Warren and I stroll around the property, and I take it all in. We understand each other and the need for companionship without so much communication. In a world that has been pretty cruel to both of us at times, we are a pair who were meant to find one another.
As he unlocks the front door, a wood and glass creation that would look gorgeous if spit-shined, I can’t help but try to look further inside. The hardwood groans under our feet as an ornate staircase splits the foyer in two, a grand double with stairs ascending on both sides to the second level.
“You could open it.” His tone is quiet as he cuts through the silence, shocking me.
Internally, my heart is already beating hard for this place. Its charm, rustic beauty, and history all appeal to me. The thought of running a place like this flitted through my mind not moments ago, and Warren has chosen to give it life.
“Yeah right.” I laugh bitterly because what a dream that would be.
A dream that will never come true. One of those dreams that makes you furious because you know it could never actually happen.
“Even if, on some pipe dream, I wanted to do that, it’s not an option now. Or, well, ever.” Since my credit might be in the dirt if I fail to make all the payments on the house.
What if something else goes wrong? What if I can’t pay off the mortgage, and I’m forever saddled to that place? Not to mention, how will I live and afford my own life while I’m putting all my extra money toward the house she neglected? The answer is, I truly can’t.
I want to scream in frustration.
“What’s going on, Auggy?” Warren’s hand on my shoulder is what finally breaks me.
I’m not a crier. I learned from an early age that tears solve nothing. And in most cases, when it came to my mother, they only fueled her nastiness more.
But now? I sob. Ugly, wrenching, whole-body-shaking sobs. My tears soak Warren’s shirt as he pulls me to him, and I lose it for all the roadblocks I’ve encountered in life.
After a few moments, I straighten, wiping my snot and tears with my sleeve. I take a deep breath in and then tell him what happened at the lawyer’s office.
“My mother’s house is underwater. She owes a hundred and fifty thousand that I have to pay before I can even consider selling it. Her life insurance covers a good chunk, but I can’t come up with fifty thousand. I have no idea where I’ll get that kind of money, or how long it will take me to come up with the difference. Which means I either live there, because I can’t afford to rent or live in another city while I’m strapped with the mortgage, or … fuck, I don’t know. I don’t know what to do. I’ve always had a plan, I’ve always known how to take a step forward. But this? God, she’s screwed me over again, and perhaps in her death it’s the biggest fuck you she’s ever given me.”
Warren’s face is deadly angry, his jaw clenching so hard I think he might break a tooth. “That fucking bitch.”
I snort bitterly. “My thoughts exactly. Good thing she’s dead, or I’d be thinking about throttling her.”
“Couldn’t have said it better myself,” he grits out. “But you know I can help you. I’m always right here.”
He says it so sincerely and gently, as if I might spook at just his words.
“And you know that I won’t take it,” I snap, but there is no heat behind it.
Warren came into a huge inheritance when his adoptive father died years ago. An inheritance so big that he could probably buy multiple private planes. And maybe an island or two.
My pseudo-big brother has enough money to set me up comfortably for life, and he’d do it in a heartbeat if I just asked. Thing is, I never have, and I never will. In fact, I’ve actively refused his charity since the first offer, even before he had his fortune.
While I love Warren like he’s family, and he is probably one of the only people who knows how horrible a relationship with a parent can be, I can’t take from him. That would make me no better than my mother, and the one thing I never want to be is anything like her.
“Usually, I’d roll my eyes and let you hold on to that spitfire energy, but it’s different this time, August.” His eyebrows knit together like he’s trying to find the right words to make me accept help.
“I’ll figure it out.” I cross my arms in defiance.
“You need help, and I have the means to do that. She left you in a hell of a position, and after all this time, you’ve never once let me do something about her and her horrible mistreatment of you. You’re supposed to have a fresh start. You’re supposed to be able to go live your life, and you shouldn’t be strapped with this. Let me handle it.”
His words slice deep because, of course, I’ve already thought about all of that.
“Just stop, Warren! You can’t solve all my problems. You can’t make life fair when it’s never been that way for me!” I’m getting pissed off at the wrong person, but the one I really want to scream at is no longer alive.
“Auggy, stop being stupid. I have all the money in the world, more than I could ever personally use, and you’re my family! I want to make my family okay. I want to make sure they’re taken care of. Let me do this for you.”
Rage bubbles up inside me, irrational and jealous. I can’t quite lash out at him, but I can think the words; he has a family now, one he went and got and left me out of. He’s an Ashton by marriage; he has people on his side now like I never have.
“No. Stopasking.”
In a split second, I’m storming out of the foyer of the inn, my boots clomping over loose floorboards on the porch. It’s immature and dumb to run away like this, but it’s all I have right now. My pride is quickly falling away, leaving me completely vulnerable, and I need to be alone.
Warren calls my name, but I’m already at my car, taking the coward’s way out while I convince myself I’m being smart. It’s always been me, myself, and I. If I let others take care of my problems, I’ll lose focus. I’ll drop the ball.
In my life, I’ve always known how to do it all on my own. If I try to offload some of that burden and ask for help, bad things are bound to happen. Look at this situation, for instance.
I thought I was about to get my happily ever after with my mom finally out of the picture, but it turns out my nightmare has just begun.