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Chapter Fifteen
Sittingat the dining room table, Holly stared at her phone. She knew she needed to call Gabby back still, but she figured she should call her siblings first. After all, if their mother was in the hospital, they deserved to know about it. She would have wanted someone to call her if she had been in their shoes.
Dialing their numbers, on the other hand, was much harder than just thinking about it. In the end, she opted to call Randy first. She had already scratched the surface of the ice between the two of them, at least, so she figured he would be the least likely to bite her head off.
In fact, he sounded almost jovial when he answered the phone. "I hope you're not stuck on the side of the road again. Otherwise, I'm going to have to charge you like a taxi would," he joked.
Holly snorted and rolled her eyes. Even if she had been on the side of the road again, he would've come and gotten her, just like he had done the first time. "I wish. At least that would be an easy fix."
"Okay, then what crisis has you calling me this time? Because I know you didn't just call to chat."
There was an edge to his voice. Maybe if she had called just to chat once in a while over the years, this conversation would have been easier. But while her cousins may have forgiven her for running off practically the day she turned eighteen, her siblings still hadn't.
"You should see this place. You remember how it was when we were kids. Dad never let so much as a scratch on the walls linger for more than a day. Now... it's a wonder the place is still standing."
Jason and Paul had given her a rundown on the things they'd figured out before Nelly had her incident. And while she remembered some of it, most of it had gone in one ear and out the other. She hadn't been in the right frame of mind to actually listen to what they'd been saying, even if it had been a good distraction from everything for at least a few brief moments.
What she did remember was the sheer scope of this project. It definitely wasn't a weekend of hard work. It was going to take a couple of weeks, if not a month or two, to really make the place shine again. And while she knew Jason and Paul wouldn't think twice about pitching in, she couldn't expect them to do it all. They would need to bring in their crews, and those crews weren't going to work for free, nor would she ask them to.
"Dad's probably rolling over in his grave," Randy replied. He tried to sound amused, but Holly could hear the pain in his voice still. This place had been Dad's pride and joy. It probably killed Randy to see it falling apart just as much as it killed her, maybe even more so because of just how close he had been to their father.
"I doubt it. You know him; he always took everything on himself and never held a grudge against anyone." Holly smiled at the memory of her father. He'd always been a good man. If they'd done something wrong, he'd chastised them, but he'd help them do better next time. And he'd never been afraid to admit when he had made a mistake. "But the inn isn't the problem. It's Mom."
"What's wrong?" Randy's voice changed again. Now, there was no sign of the lightness. He didn't even pretend.
"She's in the hospital. The doctor says she's severely depressed and hasn't been eating or drinking enough. She collapsed today, and they're keeping her for a couple of days just to make sure she's okay."
"Jesus," Randy said at once. Then, he was quiet for a moment, and Holly wondered just what was going through his mind at the news. "She'll recover, though?"
"The doctor thinks she will, provided she gets some rest and starts eating better. You should come out and see her, though. I'm sure it would help get her spirits back up."
"I doubt it," Randy shot back. "You know I was always her least favorite. She always preferred you, girls, over me."
Holly bit her tongue, wanting to argue on her mother's behalf, but it seemed pointless. Randy had made up his mind about his treatment long ago. Nothing she would say now would be able to change that.
"You should still come to see her."
Randy was quiet for a moment. Well, more like a minute than a moment. Holly had to check and make sure he hadn't hung up before he finally responded. "Let me know if she gets any worse. If she does, then I'll see about coming down. But otherwise, I've got work to do."
That time, Randy did hang up before Holly could say goodbye. She sighed and slumped down in her chair. If that was the easy call, then she was definitely not looking forward to calling her sisters.
But she did. It took her a couple of minutes to build up the courage, but she tapped on Rina's name in her contacts list. Then, she held her breath as the phone rang, wondering if her sister would answer.
They were only a year apart. As kids, they had been best friends. They had done everything together. But as they had approached their teen years, things had quickly changed. It had been like they were constantly at odds with each other.
Usually over boys, if Holly recalled correctly. Being so close in age, they often sought the same guys. And when they were both interested in the same boy, there was no outcome that could please both of them. And there was only so much tension and arguing a relationship could handle, even one between sisters.
The line connected, but there was silence for a minute. Then, Rina's distinct voice came over the line with a single word. "Yeah?"
"Hey Rina," Holly said, forcing a neutral tone into her voice. If this was how they were starting off, Holly didn't want to give her sister any more ammunition than she already had. "It's Holly."
"Yeah, I know. What do you want?"
Yikes. Rina was not in a very good mood, though Holly hadn't actually expected her to be. It was why she had called Randy first, after all.
"Mom and the inn aren't doing well. She's in the hospital and the place is falling apart." No sense in dancing around--might as well just get straight to it.
Rina snorted. Holly envisioned her rolling her eyes. "So, what, you decided to swoop in from your fancy life and save the day?"
