AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’m just taking care of the house. You know what? I’ll explain more when you get here. Come and stay at the beach with me. We’ll have picnics on the sand, go swimming, it’ll be fun.”
Why did she feel the need to talk her daughter into coming? It wasn’t like Georgia was going all the way back up to New York to stay in an empty house. There wouldn’t be anything there for her. Unfortunately for Georgia, she had no choice but to join her mother on a beach vacation.
“Okay. I’ll set up a flight and be down in a few days.”
“I can’t wait to see you! I love you.”
“I love you too, Mom. See you soon.”
April hung up the phone with a smile on her face. It wasn’t her plan to have her daughter join her at the house. It would make things more complicated, harder on April. But she didn’t care right then.
She only cared that she’d decided to stay on the island and finish what she started so far. Committing to the renovations was hard, but saying no to her inner voice that told her to leave this place was harder. And she was proud of herself for doing both.
Now she just had to follow through and actually do the things on her list. She grabbed her paper and pens out of her bag and added one thing to the bottom of her checklist.
Find out why Georgia dropped out.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
A car stuttered as it cruised the long drive up to the house. April watched it approach and wondered who could be visiting her at this early hour.
She’d spent the previous day preparing for her daughter to arrive and drawing up ideas for the house. The night wasn’t any better than the first one, but she hoped the arrival of Georgia would help with that.
Neither one could kill the spider that now lived with her, but at least she would have someone to enjoy the experience with.
Georgia stepped out of the car and April’s mouth fell open in surprise. By the time she got outside, the car had left her daughter there with suitcases by her side.
“I thought you didn’t land until nine,” she said as she hugged Georgia.
“I didn’t want to bother you. We landed a little early, so I ordered an Uber.”
A tinge of disappointment flowed through April. She wanted to be there to see her daughter arrive and drive her around the quaint island before heading to the house. Still, she could see why Georgia ordered an Uber for herself instead. She’d been so independent her entire life.
Even when she was young, at five years old, Georgia wouldn’t accept help with her projects. April and Carl were only allowed to assist her if she couldn’t figure it out herself and was on the verge of having a meltdown.
“Well I wish you would have told me because I wanted to drive you around and show you the island. It’s beautiful here. Do you remember much of it?”
Georgia raised her brows. “Of our trip when I was like four? No I don’t remember much of it.”
April moved out of the way to gesture to the house behind them. “This is it! This is the family house. What do you think?”
Georgia’s smile slowly faded as she looked the house up and down. Her eyes glanced over the property, sizing it up slowly and taking it all in. “Mom, this is… a big house. I mean it’s something.”
“It really is big, isn’t it? I can’t believe it looks even bigger than the last time we were here.”
“But it needs some work.”
April gathered up some of Georgia’s possessions in her arms and started walking towards the front door. “Right, right. I get that. And that’s the plan. I’m going to work on it while I’m here. Won’t that be fun!”
This version of April was new to Georgia, she knew that. But her reaction of complete confusion wasn’t what she expected. Couldn’t she tell that this house was going to become something great? There was so much potential here, so many opportunities to improve this family heirloom.
“I guess so,” Georgia replied.
“That’s the spirit.”
The women approached the house, pulling the luggage behind them. April could sense Georgia’s hesitation and was hoping to prove to her that this would be something great.
“Let me give you the grand tour,” she said as she flung the doors wide open. “This space will be inviting and run straight into the living room where we’ll basically start from scratch.”
