“Apparently youdon’t.”
“This is a universal issue with you,” Grace chimed in. “You think you run everything around here, including our lives. You’ve gone way past big brother and straight to control freak.”
“It’s not like that.”
“Then what’s it like, Levi?” Molly said. “Because that’s exactly what it seems like from this side of the desk. You’re trying to dictate Grace’s future. You interfered with what should’ve been one of the happiest moment of my life. And now you’re telling us that the inn—the inn that belongs equally to the three of us—has been in financial danger all along, and you’ve hidden that from us for over a year!”
Levi palmed the back of his neck. Tried to slow his breathing. It was time for complete honesty, and this part wasn’t going to make them happy either. There was something else he’d kept from them.
Before he could lose his nerve, he spit it out. “There’s one more thing I wasn’t honest about.”
Grace tilted her head at him.
Molly speared him with a look.
“It’s about Dad... his last words to me.” He paused for a moment to let them adjust to the change in subject. “He did say he loved us. He wanted you to know that. But that wasn’t all he said. He told me—” Levi swallowed against the emotion bulging his throat.
His heart was thudding in his chest the way it always did when he remembered those last seconds with his dad.
“He made me promise to take care of you.”
A lengthy silence settled over them like a heavy wool cape.
“Maybe you weren’t aware of it,” Levi said, “but he always used to say that to me. Mom too, but Dad especially. ‘Take care of your sisters.’ First day of school, when I’d babysit, when you’d go anywhere with me. ‘Take care of your sisters.’From the time you were born it’s been my job as your big brother.”
“But Levi,” Molly said, “we’re adults now. We can take care of ourselves. That’s not your job anymore.”
Levi’s eyes stung. “I promised him, Molly. It was his last request, and that’s what I’ve been trying to do. I’ve been trying to hold all this together. The inn, you, Grace. And I’ve failed in every single area.”
“I don’t think Dad meant for you to run our lives, Levi,” Molly said. “And you haven’t failed. This inn is a joint effort. Relationships are a joint effort. Your only failure was failing to see that. We need to work together in all of this. You have to stop being a Lone Ranger and realize this is a group effort.”
“No wonder you’re stressed out all the time,” Grace said. “It was one of the best things about having Mia here. She got you out of your funk. Reminded you how to have fun.”
A wave of pain washed over him. He felt the loss afresh.
“And while we’re on that subject,” Molly said, “why’d you go and break up with her? She was good for you.”
Levi gaped at her. “Look around you, Molly. This place, our family, is falling apart around our ears. Losing this inn...” His throat closed up. His palms grew damp. “It feels like I’m losing Mom and Dad all over again.”
Molly squeezed his hand. “We haven’t lost the inn, Levi. We’re going to get through this.”
“The bottom line is, I can’t handle the load I’ve got. And Mia isn’t going to be another casualty of my life.”
“You can’t handle the load,” Molly said, “because you’re trying to run three lives plus a business! Let us run our own lives, and we’ll work together on the inn. The damage can be repaired—that’s what insurance is for.”
“It doesn’t cover the weeks or months we’ll be without guests.”
“How much is on your credit cards?” Grace asked.
He winced, and the back of his neck broke out into a sweat. “Twenty-five grand.”
Molly gasped.
Saying it out loud was like a punch to the solar plexus. He felt the shame of it. He had a business degree, for crying out loud. He was blowing it in his own area of expertise. And admitting it to his sisters was almost worse than admitting it to himself.
The girls sat silent for a long moment, staring somberly at him.
“I’m sorry I did this. I’m sorry I didn’t trust you with the truth.”
