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“All right, Grandma, I will.”
“That’s my girl,” Becky replied, bopping her chin with her finger.
Andrea’s heart warmed at the gesture and at their bonding, even as her tears ran freely down her cheeks as her own predicament loomed over her. She quickly made her way back inside when she realized that they were finished talking and could catch her standing there at any minute.
Her mother came through the kitchen door, and Andrea immediately flew into her arms.
Becky rubbed her hand over her daughter’s hair as she allowed her to cry against her shoulder and receive any strength she was able to give her.
“Thank you, Mom. It really means a lot to me that you spoke with her.”
“Any time, sweetie,” Becky replied. “Just give her some time. She will come around.”
“Enjoy your picnic,” Andrea encouraged her sister, who was currently heading out the door to greet the tall, handsome gentleman that stood there.
“Thanks, Sis. I will,” Cora promised.
She was happy to see her sister’s love life take off as it had a rocky start, but it was going good now. She didn’t feel uncomfortable taking their relationship public now as she had in the beginning. She could see that Jamie treated her like a princess and that Cora had become completely enamored by him. She was happy that her sister had found love after the dissolution of her marriage
Andrea stood back admiring the beautifully painted inn. The mustard yellow perfectly complemented the white-framed windows and the wraparound porches, all painted white.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Marg asked as she stood beside her.
“Yup, that it is. They did a great job.”
They did indeed do a great job, and everything had come together nicely, from the lobby being painted royal blue and the bedrooms having their own color scheme.
“It all came together nicely.”
“Speaking of nice…”
Andrea turned to look at what had caught Marg’s attention to see Donny making purposeful steps toward her.
Her heart rate picked up its pace as she stood in position, waiting.
“Hello, ladies,” he greeted with a large smile.
“Hello, to you too,” Marg replied, holding out her hand.
Donny shook it and smiled at her before turning his gaze back to Andrea.
“I’ll be inside,” Marg offered up.
“Actually, I just need to get a few things. Please excuse me for a minute,” she expressed to Donny, who gave her a slight nod.
Andrea quickly grabbed her laptop and the files she needed before heading back out.
“I wasn’t sure you had gotten my message,” Andrea spoke sheepishly. She’d sent him an email asking him to meet her by the family’s restaurant to go over a few things for the website before it was relaunched when he was available earlier today. It surprised her that he made it there just a few hours later.
Donny raised his hand to scratch the back of his head. “I did. You didn’t state a time, so…”
Andrea looked at him apologetically.
“I should have stated a time. I’m sorry about that.”
“No worries,” he replied. “Shall we?” he asked, gesturing in the direction of the restaurant.
Andrea walked beside Donny in awkward silence. She itched to say something, anything to break the tension that kept the unseen chasm between them. She missed how easy it used to be to talk to him, but for the sake of preservation, it was best they didn’t converse too much. She didn’t want to be the reason his relationship with his son became strained. As soon as this project was wrapped up, they could go their separate ways and forget they had ever crashed into each other.
