“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 thegulf 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.”
