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“Don’t, Mom, okay? It’s my own fault for not answering your calls or letting you know I was coming. I’m staying in Grandma and Grandpa’s guesthouse.”
“What? Why the guesthouse?”
“It’s weird, right?” Lily countered. “Grandpa said he’s taking your lead and getting some work done on the upstairs of the house while Grandma’s away, but…I don’t know. Something about the way he said it seemed odd.”
“Hang on,” Emma murmured before seemingly talking to Lucas. “Did you know your father was planning to do work on his house too?”
“Nope. He never said anything to me. Why?” Lily heard her father respond.
“Because our daughter wanted to surprise us and is back home, but your dad put her in the guesthouse!”
“Let me call him,” Lucas muttered.
“Your father’s going to call him and straighten this all out. I can’t believe your grandfather would put you out in the guesthouse!”
“It’s really not that terrible. This place is gorgeous and it has everything I could need, I just…I don’t know. It felt odd, that’s all.”
“We’ll see what we can find out,” Emma said. “Now, back to you. What are your plans? I can get on a plane and head home…”
“No,” Lily said adamantly. “Absolutely not. This trip sounds fabulous and I don’t want you to miss out on any of it. I’m here and I’m not going anywhere. I promise I’ll still be here when you get home.” Then she laughed softly. “And then I’m moving back home where apparently everything’s going to be new and fabulous upstairs.”
“That’s what I’m hoping for, but you still haven’t told me what you’re going to do while we’re gone.”
She sighed. “I’m going to talk to another doctor or two and see what my options are. I’d rather not have to have surgery…”
“Like father, like daughter,” Emma murmured. “You should really talk to your dad about this. I can put him on when he’s done talking to your grandfather.”
“I would like to talk to him about it, but…not today. Once I meet with the doctors, I’ll definitely have questions and we’ll talk then. But for now, I want you to go and enjoy your trip. Tell me all the fabulous places you’ll be seeing!”
For the next ten minutes, her mother gave her a very detailed description of their itinerary. “I’m so excited for all of it, but I know by the time it’s over, I’ll be more than ready to come home.” Now it was Emma’s turn to sigh. “I really hate that I’m not there for you and that you couldn’t even go home and sleep in your own bed.”
“It’s fine, Mom. Really. But can you text me Mrs. Hamilton’s number? I had some stuff shipped to the house and I want to call her and see if it got there. Some of it I’ll probably just leave in the garage, but the rest I’d like to have here with me.”
“No problem. As soon as we’re done talking, I’ll send you her number.” She paused. “Are you sure you’re going to be okay?”
At first, she just nodded because she was still a bit emotional, but then she forced herself to say, “I will be. Grandpa’s here with me and I still have friends here in town, so it’s all good. Go and have some fun and send lots of pictures. I love you!”
“Love you too, Lil. We’ll talk soon.”
As soon as they hung up, Lily tossed the phone aside and let herself have a good cry. It didn’t last long, but it really helped her release some of the tension she’d been holding onto. Sitting up, she stood and stretched before going into the bathroom and taking a shower. By the time she was out, it was almost ten and she wanted to be over at the main house by 10:30 to see what her grandfather was up to for the day. But as she stepped out of the bathroom in her robe, she heard a knock at the front door and smiled when she spotted him standing there.
“Great minds!” she said when she opened the door and hugged him. “I was going to head up to see you once I was done getting ready.”
“Did you sleep okay?” he asked. “I didn’t want to come over too early. I figured you were going to sleep in a little.” Sliding his hands into his trouser pockets, he gave her a lopsided grin. “Then your father called to yell at me so I knew you were up.”
Groaning, she gently tugged him over to the sofa to sit with her. “I didn’t mean for him to yell at you.”
“Your father doesn’t need a reason to be grumpy,” William said with a hint of a smile. “But I guess I didn’t realize how upset you were about staying in the guesthouse. I’ll cancel the contractors if you’d like.”
“No, it’s okay. It just sort of felt like you didn’t want me staying there with you,” she said. “I know I’m just being overly sensitive because of everything going on with me. I’m sorry if Dad gave you a hard time.”
He waved her off. “Like I said, that’s just his thing.” Winking at her, he added, “But I knew you and I would work it out.” After a brief pause, he asked, “So, what would you like to do today? How about lunch at the country club?”
“Ooh, that sounds good. Do they still make that seared ahi tuna salad with the spicy wasabi dressing?”
“Even if they don’t, you know the chef would make it for you,” he replied before squeezing her hand. “Was there anything you needed to do today?”
She told him about the stuff she had shipped home. “So I’m going to call Mrs. Hamilton and see if it arrived. I’m going to need to bring some of it here, but it’s going to take multiple trips since my car’s kind of small. And we might need a hand moving the boxes from the car to the house because some of them are heavy. Any chance any of my cousins are around to help?”
