Besides, it was temporary. A day. Maybe two.Right?
The cramping didn’t ease up. I tried spacing out my breaths, but that didn’thelp.
The revolving doors of the inn spun, and I realized that working on my breaths wouldn’t loosen the knot in myabdomen.
What I was feeling wasn’t stress; it wasAugust.
And hismother.
“Isobel?” Iexclaimed.
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 herembrace.
“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—“spittingimage.”
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 callher.
“What are you two doing here so early?” I asked, breathing through the ache in myheart.
Isobel gestured to the bell desk. “I’ve always dreamed of manning one ofthese.”
“Um.Really?”
“I heard the position opened up.” Her gaze swept back over to me, vivid green like the pines hedging the inn’sdriveway.
Iblinked.
“I’ll get myself set up . . . if that’s all right withyou?”
“Are you sure youwant—”
“Yes.”
As she walked over to the bell desk, I glanced up at August. Had he asked his mother to fill in forLucy?
“Anything need fixing?” heasked.
“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 goingon.”
Oh. Gratitude curled throughme.
“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 quirkedup.
“Aren’t you supposed to be on a plane or a submarine rightnow?”
Gaze roaming over the lobby, he said, “I’ve delayed mydeparture.”
Relief warred with worry. “Youdid?”
I prayed he hadn’t done this because he was worried for me. I didn’t dareask.
“I need to be at a construction site in an hour, so you have me for sixtyminutes.”
I had him for longer than sixty minutes if he wasn’t deploying. “Um, the deck might need somerearranging.”
He nodded and walked toward the double-storied livingroom.
