The three of them stood. Linda leaned down and kissed her uncle’s forehead.
“Sleep, Uncle George. We will be back later,” Linda quietly promised.
Linda, Maggie, and Tom stepped out into the corridor and started walking to the exit.
“I must get back to the bakery,” Tom said. “I’ll come back this afternoon.”
“And I have to get back to the boutique,” Maggie said. “I’ll swing by Heart House on my way home and pick up Toby.”
They walked out of the hospital and said their goodbyes as they went to their cars. Linda drove back to Sweet Blossom Bay feeling a lot better now that she knew Uncle George was going to be okay. She pulled into Heart House’s driveway and got out of the car. The kids and Buddy came tumbling out the front door before she had reached the porch steps, wanting to know how Uncle George was.
“Gran! How is he?” they asked all at once.
“He is going to be fine,” Linda assured them.
They all looked relieved. She put her keys down and headed back to the hotel.
“Gran, can we go to the beach? Buddy needs his walk,” Sophia asked.
Linda looked at the three faces staring at her eagerly.
“All right.” Linda agreed, deciding she could do with a nice walk before heading back to the office.
The three children and Buddy walked with her through the side gate and down the small path that led to the private bay beach. As she walked, watching her grandchildren and Toby play with Buddy, a smile split her face as for the first time in a long, long time, she felt at peace. And even though there was a lot to sort out here, she felt alive again. She had a purpose again.
LINDA
Linda walked slowly along the wet sand, and the morning sun was warm on her shoulders. For the first time since she had walked out of her Miami house yesterday morning, she felt positive. She understood that Uncle George’s recovery was going to be hard. Saving the hotel and its attached properties was going to be hard. But she, with the help of her family and friends, would do it. Linda had no doubt about that. She thought about the locked drawer in her uncle’s office. As soon as she got back there, it was going to be the first thing she tackled. A shiver slivered down Linda’s spine as she knew it was not something good. It was something Uncle George wanted no one to see.
She had been walking for perhaps ten minutes when she saw three figures coming the other way along the beach. A tall man in a soft blue shirt with the sleeves rolled up. A woman in a pale linen dress and a wide straw hat. A young girl with long dark hair and bare feet, walking with them at the water’s edge.
The tall man looked up.
Linda’s stomach did a small, foolish thing, and her breath caught.
It was him. The man from the pizza place.
He was even taller than she remembered, his dark, thick hair neatly cut, the line of his shoulders square against the morning light. His eyes met hers across thirty yards of shell-strewn sand, and the same small surprise flickered across his face as he recognized her.
They got closer, then stopped walking. Linda stopped too.
The two parties met on the wet sand near the waterline. The little girl with the long dark hair giggled and leaned down when Buddy greeted her excitedly. Jake and Toby looked up from their shell pouches.
“Well, hello again,” Darius greeted her with a warm smile.
“Hi,” Linda answered, struggling to control the fluttering in her stomach. “How were the pizzas?”
“Ah, you’re the wonderful person who ensured we got a delicious variety of pizza.” The woman’s eyes warmed, and she smiled. “I’m Isabel.”
“Hi,” Linda greeted back. “I’m Linda, and it was a pleasure. But you can’t go wrong with any pizza from Sweet Pizzas.”
“What’s his name?” Linda heard the young girl ask.
“Buddy,” Sophia answered. “I’m Sophia, this is my brother Jake, and our friend Toby.”
“Hi, I’m Emma.” The young girl was giving appreciative Buddy a lot of attention.
“How are you enjoying the Bay View Beach House?” Linda asked Isabel.
