Chapter 2 #2
“It means he’s getting impatient, and whatever deal he has made for the hotel needs to be resolved quickly,” Michael told them, steepling his fingers in front of him, his elbows resting on the arm of the chair.
“He’ll probably be charming and try to sugarcoat the deal while waiting to hit us with something he’s sure we can’t say no to. ”
“You mean he’s going to try and bully us,” Linda guessed, anger flashing in her eyes.
"Yup," Michael confirmed with a sharp nod before looking at Martin. "Put him off for a couple of days. Tell him you’re waiting for Mr. Michael Heart, who would need to accompany you and Miss Heart to any such meetings.”
“Won’t that provoke him?” Linda asked.
“It will force him to have his backup plan on hand,” Michael told her. “Because I can guarantee he already knows who we all are.” He smiled. “He also knows that the last time his rather large team of attorneys faced me in court, they lost.”
“You’ve gone up against him before?” Linda spluttered.
“Not him personally,” Michael told her. “His cousin. Baxter Johnson.”
Linda felt a little more confident at that. She also knew her brother was very good at his job, and she couldn’t remember the last time she’d heard him lose a case.
"Send the email now," Michael instructed Martin. "I'd like to go over everything about the hotel between now and then.”
"It's all in a folder on my laptop," Martin told him. "And I have copies of all the accounts. Anything else you need, let me know, and I will get it for you.”
“Thank you, Martin,” Michael said.
Michael turned to Linda. He took her hand briefly and squeezed.
"Don’t worry, little sister. Nobody is taking Uncle George's hotel from this family while I'm here," Michael promised her.
She squeezed his hand back.
"Thank you, Michael," Linda whispered. “I feel so much better now that you’re home.”
"There is still a lot of work to do," Michael warned her. "But if I have to mortgage my house or sell some shares, we will save the Heart family legacy."
By late afternoon, Michael had gone to the hospital with Linda to see Uncle George, who was happy to see him.
Linda had let the two of them have an hour to themselves, walked the corridor, and bought them all coffees from the cafeteria.
When she had come back, she found Michael sitting beside their uncle’s bed, holding his hand as Uncle George slept. Michae’s eyes were dark with emotion.
“This could’ve ended so much worse,” was all Michael said, his voice hoarse and eyes sparkling with unshed tears of fear.
They had driven back to Heart House in companionable quiet.
When they arrived home, Michael went straight into Martin's office at the hotel to start working through the mess the hotel was in.
The kids had scattered. Sophia, Lily, and Emma had taken over Sophia's bedroom.
Listening to music and discussing what they were going to do for the summer.
Jake and Toby were in the garden playing baseball.
Rosa had finished the supper dishes and left for the evening.
Linda stood at the kitchen window and watched the long gold of the early evening settle across the bay. The whole house felt full. The whole family was here. But she felt restless and decided she needed to take a walk to clear her mind and just be alone with her thoughts for a while.
Linda picked up Buddy's leash from the hook by the back door.
"Come on, Buddy," Linda called.
The golden retriever came thundering through the kitchen with the wild joy of a dog who knew exactly what the leash sound meant.
She let herself out through the side gate.
Linda walked the short path through the garden and down the small set of wooden steps to the private beach.
The bay was the soft amber of an early summer evening.
The light caught the small ripples on the surface and threw them back in flickers.
A pelican was working in the shallows about fifty yards offshore.
Linda unclipped Buddy's leash. He took off down the beach in a wide, loose run, his ears flopping, his tongue out, the picture of canine bliss.
Linda walked, letting the warm, salty sea air clear her head. The hotel meeting with the Wayne Group, the pool quote, and the list of things still to do before George came home slowly settled where it needed to.
She had walked for the better part of fifteen minutes when Buddy lifted his head from a piece of driftwood he’d been inspecting and let out a loud, joyous bark, startling Linda and making her look up.
A tall figure was making its way along the wet sand toward her in the soft gold of the falling light.
Linda’s heart gave that small, stubborn thud she’d been trying so hard to ignore for the past week. She shook it off. It was ridiculous. She was a fifty-nine-year-old woman with the weight of the hotel crisis pressing down on her, and yet here she was, feeling like a shy teenager with a crush.
Darius had been around the house twice that week.
Once on Wednesday morning to drop Emma off for the day.
Once on Friday afternoon to collect her after a sleepover.
Both times, he had stayed in the front drive and chatted with Linda for ten minutes about the children, the bay, and the small, slow rhythm of a Sweet Blossom Bay summer.
And every time she saw him, her body reacted as it had now.
Before she could turn and run away, like something deep inside her was screaming at her to do, Darius waved. Linda’s hand shot up before she could stop herself, and she waved back.