They walked on in the warm, bright morning. Linda did not let herself glance back over her shoulder once. Behind her on the wet sand, she felt the small, unsettled echo of a man’s gaze that had not quite left her, even now.
It is nothing,Linda told herself firmly. She was almost sixty and wouldn’t even know where to start dating again or if she’d even want to. The thought of Richard getting remarried at the end of summer struck her, but this time, for some reason, she felt nothing. No anger. Not even that slow-burning resentment that he’d spent her money on his new bride-to-be.
Linda frowned, thinking that she probably owed him for pushing her in this direction, because now more than ever, she felt this was where she was meant to spend the rest of her years in this world. By having lost everything, Linda had regained her real home—Sweet Blossom Bay. Not that she would ever admit that to Richard, as she still felt he owed her a lot of money for his theft of her personal savings and for making her have to sell herhouse. All to pay off his debts and fund his second marriage it seemed.
Linda cleared her mind of thoughts of Richard and Darius. But as she walked the children back through the side gate to Heart House, Darius’s easy smile and intense gaze refused to be erased from her mind.
Rosa was on the porch with a tray of cold lemonade.
“Look, Rosa has snacks and lemonade,” Jake called and ran ahead with Toby and Buddy in tow.
“Are you going back to the office, Gran?” Sophia asked.
“Yes, sweetheart,” Linda confirmed. “I have to start helping Uncle George with the hotel while he’s not able to.”
“I thought you might do that,” Sophia admitted. “Gran, you know you should just live here instead of trying to find a new house in Miami. Uncle George needs help now, and you won’t be all alone in Miami.” Her eyes sparkled with the smile that lifted her mouth. “And, Jake and I can come here to visit you every summer and maybe even Christmas.”
Linda looked at her granddaughter in surprise. It seemed everyone in her family had the same idea: that she move back here.
“I’ve been thinking the same thing,” Linda admitted. “And I may just do that.”
“Good,” Sophia said, going up on tiptoes and kissing her cheek. “Don’t work too hard and remember you promised to take us to see Uncle George this afternoon.”
“I won’t forget,” Linda promised and watched Sophia run up the porch stairs to join her brother and Toby.
A few moments later, Linda was back in Uncle George’s office, which was as she had left it. The bunch of keys was still in the desk drawer. The morning light was a soft, warmer gold now through the window.
Linda sat down, pulled out the bunch of keys, and started turning them again, tag by tag.Lobby front. Lobby back. Staff hall. Wine cellar. Workshop. Side gate. Heart House front. Heart House back. Heart House attic. Master bedroom upstairs. Linen closet. Pantry. Library back door.Then she found it.Desk drawer.
Linda turned the small brass key in the small brass keyhole. The lock gave with a soft click. The drawer slid open under her hand.
It was full.
Full of bills. Letters. Final notices. A stack thicker than her wrist. Linda pulled the stack out and laid it across the desk, and her chest tightened with each new envelope she lifted off the top.
Then a larger envelope at the bottom of the stack caught her eye. Heavy cream paper. A discreet logo embossed in the upper left corner. Her uncle’s name typed neatly on the front, addressed care of Hearts Hotel. The postmark was from two days ago.
Linda lifted the envelope out and turned it in her hands.
The return address read simply:
Wayne Group International. 1 Brickell Bay Drive. Miami.
Linda sat very still. The desk lamp threw its soft green light across the cream paper. The morning sun lay quietly on thewindowsill. Down the hallway, Linda could hear the faint music of Molly’s radio in the kitchen and the small, distant laughter of the children on the porch.
Linda slid a finger under the envelope’s seal and lifted out the heavy, folded letter.
The first line read:Dear Mr. Heart, We write further to our previous correspondence and are pleased to enclose, for your consideration, our formal letter of intent to acquire the property known as Hearts Hotel and its adjoining bayside reserve, situated at 1 Bay View Drive, Sweet Blossom Bay.
Linda’s hand began to shake, her breath caught in her throat, and her eyes widened.What on earth was this? Was Uncle George thinking of selling? Was someone trying to push him out?The paper slipped from her fingers and drifted onto the stack of unpaid bills below it. The two pieces of paper sat together, and Linda felt the cold weight of what they meant in the same room.
DARIUS
Darius Wayne stood on the wet sand watching Linda and the children walk away with the golden retriever trotting happily beside them. The morning sun caught her hair as she turned to say something to her granddaughter, and for a moment the light made her look almost luminous. He felt a small, unexpected pull in his chest that he immediately pushed down. He was here for business. Nothing more.
“I’m glad we came for a walk,” Emma said. “I have a friend for the summer.”
“Yes, they seem like a wonderful family,” Isabel said.
