While Emmy took care of the early risers, I prepped a tray of food that I brought up to my uncle. I drew his drapes open and tried to coax him out of bed to eat, but he didn’t move. I checked his pulse to make sure he was alive. He was. After my third failed attempt at getting him up, I let myself out.
As I went back downstairs, it dawned on me that I’d be in charge of the inn today. The responsibility tightened my stomach so abruptly that I pressed my palm against it.
It’d be okay.
I could manage.
Besides, it was temporary. A day. Maybe two. Right?
The cramping didn’t ease up. I tried spacing out my breaths, but that didn’t help.
The revolving doors of the inn spun, and I realized that working on my breaths wouldn’t loosen the knot in my abdomen.
What I was feeling wasn’t stress; it was August.
And his mother.
“Isobel?” I exclaimed.
She hadn’t changed much-her hair was still a lustrous deep brown, and her complexion pale as ever-but she seemed thinner, slighter. She opened her arms, and I descended the stairs more quickly, walking into her embrace.
“Oh, sweet girl, I’ve missed you.” She squeezed me tight before pressing me away to look me over. “By God, you are Maggie’s”-her voice caught on my mother’s name-“spitting image.”
I tried to smile, but Mom’s name had my heart twisting. She’d died in January, yet it felt like she’d left me yesterday. Sometimes, I still reached for my phone to call her.
“What are you two doing here so early?” I asked, breathing through the ache in my heart.
Isobel gestured to the bell desk. “I’ve always dreamed of manning one of these.”
“Um. Really?”
“I heard the position opened up.” Her gaze swept back over to me, vivid green like the pines hedging the inn’s driveway.
I blinked.
“I’ll get myself set up… if that’s all right with you?”
“Are you sure you want-”
“Yes.”
As she walked over to the bell desk, I glanced up at August. Had he asked his mother to fill in for Lucy?
“Anything need fixing?” he asked.
“What?”
“Lightbulbs? Chipped paint?” He gestured toward the inn. When I frowned, he said, “I imagine Jeb won’t be much help in the coming days, what with everything going on.”
Oh. Gratitude curled through me.
“You can’t do this on your own. Well, maybe you can, but you shouldn’t have to.” He pushed up the long sleeves of his thermal top that clung to his torso like a second skin. “I’m good at manual labor, but don’t stick me in the kitchen unless you want to poison the guests.” His lips quirked up.
“Aren’t you supposed to be on a plane or a submarine right now?”
Gaze roaming over the lobby, he said, “I’ve delayed my departure.”
Relief warred with worry. “You did?”
I prayed he hadn’t done this because he was worried for me. I didn’t dare ask.
“I need to be at a construction site in an hour, so you have me for sixty minutes.”
I had him for longer than sixty minutes if he wasn’t deploying. “Um, the deck might need some rearranging.”
He nodded and walked toward the double-storied living room.
“Hey, sweet girl, can you walk me through a typical day here?” Isobel stood in the doorjamb between the bell desk and the back office.
Although I’d never manned the bell desk, I’d observed my aunt and uncle enough to have an idea of what they did. I explained what I knew to Isobel, then started for the stairs that led to the laundry room in the basement when Matt walked through the revolving doors arm in arm with a blonde who looked uncannily like him.
“Hey, Ness. Don’t know if you remember my mom?” He tipped his head toward the woman beside him.
I didn’t remember her. She must’ve attended the pack gathering though. Then again, Isobel hadn’t been there. Maybe Matt’s mother hadn’t either.
I doubled back and extended my hand. “Pleasure to meet you, ma’am.”
She latched onto my extended fingers. “Kasie. And the pleasure’s all mine, Ness.”
After she freed my hand, I slipped it into the back pocket of my jeans. When neither supplied the reason for showing up, I asked, “Did you two want some breakfast?”
“Oh, we’ve eaten already,” Kasie chirped.
I glanced at Matt, not really understanding what else they could want. “Coffee? Tea?”
“We’re here because-”
Kasie interrupted her son. “Because I love to cook. And I remember from the pack reunion that Evelyn was a fantastic chef, so I’ve come to train with her.”
Oh.
“Why don’t I show myself to the kitchen?” She stopped by the bell desk to kiss Isobel’s cheek, before crossing the lobby and vanishing into the dining room.
I turned back toward Matt. Whatever he’d just told Isobel had her grinning wide.
“Such a smooth talker, that one,” she told me, shaking her head at him.
The revolving doors spun again, and Lucas walked in, a gym bag slung across his chest. “I need a room,” he announced, strolling up to the bell desk and sticking one forearm on the counter. “Hey, Mrs. W.”