“But we haven’t even started the list of renovations you want to do,”Hannah protested, feeling vaguely guilty for dampening her grandmother’s highspirits.
“You said it yourself. Tomorrow’s soon enough.”
Oddly reluctant to go inside and leave her grandmother alone, Hannahstood in the doorway for a few minutes.
As twilight fell and a breeze stirred, the streetlight on the cornercame on, illuminating the porch and yard. That was when Hannah noticed the tearsglistening on her grandmother’s cheeks.
* * *
“Mom, what on earth are you doing in Florida?” Kelsey demanded when shecalled Hannah’s cell phone later that night and woke Hannah out of a sound sleep. “Icalled your office earlier and your secretary told me you’d taken time off again to goto Seaview. I’ve been trying to call all day, but you must have had your phone turnedoff. When you didn’t return my calls, I got worried. Is Grandma Jenny okay?”
Hannah sat on the side of the bed, almost regretting that she’dremembered to turn the phone back on before going to sleep. There had been fiveincreasingly impatient messages from her boss and three from Kelsey. For once, she’dignored them all, grateful that it was too late to call the office and deciding shereally didn’t want to discuss this situation with Kelsey just yet. Now she had nochoice.
“You mean besides her delusion that I’m going to give up my career andmove back here to run the inn?” she replied.
“Oh, boy,” Kelsey muttered. “Is she serious?”
“She spent an hour at dinner talking about how we need to spruce thisplace up and get it open again in two weeks,” Hannah said. “I’d say she’s serious.”
“But you’re not going to do it, are you? You hate Seaview Key and theinn.”
“Of course I’m not going to do it,” Hannah said emphatically, thensighed. “Actually, I was thinking it might be a good idea to do a few renovations.”
“But why, if she’s not going to open the inn? You know she can’t manageit alone.”
Hannah hesitated. “I know,” she said at last.
Kelsey sucked in a breath. “You want her to sell it, don’t you? Mom,that will break her heart. You can’t do that to her.”
“What choice do I have?” Hannah asked defensively.
“None, I suppose,” Kelsey admitted, “but I hate this, Mom.”
“I know. So do I, but I can’t stay here. I just haven’t figured out howI’m going to explain that to your great-grandmother. You know how she is once she getsan idea into her head.”
“A lot like you,” Kelsey said.
“Yes, well, that is the problem, isn’t it?” she said wryly. Suddenly itoccurred to her that there had to be a crisis of some kind for Kelsey to be calling fromcollege in the middle of the week. “Enough about what’s going on here. I’ll figure outsomething. Tell me what’s up with you.”
Kelsey hesitated. “Maybe this isn’t a good time. We can talk about itwhen you’re back in New York after you get things straightened out down there.”
A sense of dread settled in the pit of Hannah’s stomach. “Isn’t a goodtime for what?” she prodded.
“You’re sure you don’t want to wait and talk about this another time?”Kelsey asked, sounding oddly hopeful.
“Now,” Hannah commanded.
“Okay, then. Remember how I told you at Christmas that school prettymuch sucks?”
“And I said you were just going through a rough patch,” Hannahrecalled.
“Well, it’s more than a rough patch, Mom. Don’t freak out, okay? I’vereally thought about this and it’s what I need to do right now. I’ve decided to quitcollege, come home to New York and get a job.”
Hannah’s grip on the cell phone tightened. “In your junior year?” shesaid, her voice rising despite her best attempt to remain calm. “Are you crazy?”
“I knew you wouldn’t understand,” Kelsey said petulantly, sounding likea spoiled child rather than the responsible young adult she normally was.
“No, I don’t understand. And unless you’ve got an explanation thatincludes full-time employment several steps above flipping burgers, I’m not likely tounderstand. We had a deal. If I went into debt to get you into Stanford, the school ofyour dreams, you would stick it out and get your degree in graphic design, no matterwhat. Remember that?”
“I remember,” Kelsey said meekly. “But, Mom—”
Hannah cut her off. “No, there is no but,Mom. You got into Stanford. I’ve paid for three years at Stanford, and youare finishing at Stanford. Period. You don’t get to back out of the deal now.”
“I can’t stay here.”
Years ago, after her divorce, Hannah had learned the value of beingstern and unyielding. Otherwise, even as a toddler, her strong-willed daughter wouldhave run roughshod over her. She called on that skill now.
“Of course, you can stay. If your courses are too hard, if that’s whatthis is about, you can consider dropping one of them, but you’re not dropping out, andthat’s final.” She told herself all her daughter needed was a pep talk. She’d probablygotten something below an A on a pop quiz and decided she was heading for failure. “Comeon, kiddo. You can do this. You’re smart. You’re more than halfway to getting yourbachelor’s degree. You just need to park your butt in the library and do whatever amountof studying it takes to get out of there next year with a degree.”
“You don’t understand,” Kelsey said.
“Of course I do, sweetie. We all hit bumps in the road from time totime. We can’t let them throw us off course.”
“Mom, this isn’t that kind of bump in the road. I’m pregnant,” Kelseyblurted.
If Hannah hadn’t already been sitting down, she would have fainted deadaway and probably cracked open her skull when she hit the floor. Apparently things could get worse. And now she knew how.
Copyright © 2014 by Sherryl Woods
ISBN-13: 9781460325278
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Copyright © 2014 by Sherryl Woods
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