“Take it down.”
She winced. “I already booked one of the rooms for next week.”
If his daughter hadn’t been within earshot, Lucas would have let Sophie have it. As it was, he was in danger of grinding his molars into dust.
“Look, I know you haven’t hosted guests in a while, but it will be like riding a bike. Once you get going, it will all come back to you.”
There was a litany of reasons why this was a bad idea, the most glaring of which was the fact that the place wasn’t even close to being ready for guests, but he chose to focus on the most immediate one.
“Maddie won’t like it.”
“You don’t know that.”
“She was two the last time a guest stayed in the house. She doesn’t even remember that lifestyle.”
“She was almost three,” Sophie corrected. “Your daughter is a lot more open to new experiences than you give her credit for, and unlike her dad, she actually likes meeting new people.” Her words came quickly, no doubt an attempt to cut off his protests. “Besides, you don’t have to worry about Maddie. She can stay with me.”
“For a whole week?” He shook his head. “No way.”
His sister looked genuinely hurt. “Maddie loves spending time with me.”
“Yeah, for an afternoon, maybe a day here or there, but she’s never been away from me that long.” He tried to soften his objection with a little levity. “Plus, a whole week of glitter nail polish and ice cream before dinner?”
“It’s not like you won’t be seeing her every day. It’s just so you can have the flexibility to get stuff done. And you should be thanking me. If it weren’t for me, the poor thing wouldn’t have even known what a skirt was, let alone tights.”
“And that would have been a bad thing?” As far as he was concerned, Maddie could stay a little girl in blue jeans and pigtails forever.
“I’m serious, Luc. I love spending time with my niece. Plus, it’s good for her to have a female in her life, and since apparently the idea of actually asking a woman on a date is out of the question…”
He shot her a look he knew could freeze lava in hell. “Not this again.” They’d been over the topic so many times he’d lost count. There weren’t many women on the island to begin with, and by the time you weeded out the ones who were too old or too young, there wasn’t much left. Not that he was in the market. Love was a four-letter word as far as he was concerned. “So help me, if you’re about to tell me yet again how much Susan at the bank thinks I look like Ryan Reynolds—”
“Settle down, Cujo.” Sophie held up her hands in innocence. “I wasn’t even going to mention Susan.” She stuck her tongue out. “Personally, I think you look more like Ryan Reynolds in Deadpool, but hey, to each their own. All I’m saying is that Maddie could benefit from a week of frills and glitter.”
“She’s fine. We both are.” His voice lowered. “Plus, what if she has a nightmare?” It had been months since the last time Maddie had woken screaming his name, but the sound of her little voice quivering in fear was permanently ingrained in his mind, not to mention his heart. If she woke up looking for him and he wasn’t there…
“Then you can FaceTime and sing that silly song she loves, and if that doesn’t work, you could be at my place in less than ten.”
Ten minutes away from a frightened four-year-old was ten minutes too long. The doctor said she would outgrow it, that as the memories of losing her mom faded, so would the nightmares she’d been having about losing her dad. It was a double-edged sword really. As much as he wanted his daughter to have a peaceful night’s sleep, the thought of her mother fading from her memories was almost harder to bear than Maddie’s screams.
“Or I could skip the late-night ride and she can just stay home and we can forget this whole thing.” Lucas began to stand, but Sophie’s next words stopped him in his tracks.
“I got double the summer rate.”
“What did you just say?”
“You heard me.”
“How the hell did you manage that?” No one paid double the summer rate in summer, let alone the dead of winter.
“I may have told her there was a man from Louisiana who came back every year to see the sea turtles.”
“You spoke to her?” He wasn’t sure what made him ask because at the moment, the fact that his sister was chatting with potential customers was the least of his concerns.
“We messaged through the site.”
Lucas ran his hand through his hair. “Turtle season ends in August.”
Her ears turned pink. Tell number two. “I may have fudged the dates a bit.”
“And the place doesn’t look at all like the website photos anymore.” That was the understatement of the century. It wasn’t like he’d meant for it to get so out of hand, but after the funeral, he’d focused all his attention on Maddie. Then one day slipped into the next, and before he knew it, even he had to admit it was a mess.
“Yeah, I may not have mentioned that either.”
“What did you tell her?”
“That it was tranquil.”
More like deserted.
“Good news is she booked the turret room,” Sophie said as if reading his mind. Not that it mattered. There was only one guest room left. The others had been…repurposed.
“You know I haven’t had a booking since…” A profound sadness crept into his heart like ink seeping into parchment.
“I know.” Her voice had grown softer. “But the last thing she would want is for you to lose the inn. It meant so much to both of you. And with the taxes coming due…”
There it was, the truth he couldn’t deny. Death and taxes, the two inevitabilities in life. One had rocked his world, and the other was threatening to clear away the rubble.
The cash from Jenny’s life insurance policy had covered their mortgage and living expenses for the last two years, but that account was dwindling quickly. He had enough for about three more months—which, if he was going to reopen, would get him to the summer season—but not for the full tax bill as well. He and Jenny had poured their hearts and souls, not to mention every dime they had, into their little beachfront castle. The thought of running it without her brought the emotions he tried his best to bury right up to the surface. But the thought of selling it—or even worse, having it taken away by the county—would be like losing her all over again.
A week’s rental at double the summer rate would certainly buy him the time he needed to figure out his next steps, not to mention get his little sister off his back.