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.
LINDA
Buddy had no qualms about showing his excitement. He sprinted up to Darius with his tail whipping wildly and barked a happy greeting. Darius crouched slightly and scratched the retriever behind the ears.
"Hello, Buddy," Darius greeted the dog.
Buddy thumped his tail furiously against Darius's leg.
“Hi,” Linda greeted. She tried to calm her thudding heart and chase away the butterflies in her stomach.
“Hi,” Darius greeted back with a big, warm smile. “I see you’re walking alone tonight.”
"Yes, I’m hardly noticed at home anymore,” Linda gave a nervous laugh. “The kids all have friends and big plans for their summer with those friends, which are now more important than going for a walk with their grandmother.”
"Karma, my sister would say,” Darius told her. “I’m sure at some point in our young lives we did the exact same thing to our parents and grandparents.”
“True,” Linda agreed. “But as long as they’re happy.” Her smile widened. “And besides, it’s kind of nice to have some alone time.”
“I can’t argue there,” Darius nodded. “Penny and Isabel have taken the car into town. I couldn’t sit much longer behind my desk and desperately needed to stretch my legs.”
“Ah, so you're working here as well?” Linda picked up on the ‘behind the desk’ part and translated it.
