The Summer Getaway: A Novel(104)

He led her to a chair and waited for her to sit, then pulled up a seat and settled across from her. After taking one of her hands in his, he looked into her eyes.

“I’m going to be here through all the hard shit. Every second of it. Nothing you say or do will scare me away. I’m not interested in judging you, and I have no expectations beyond the fact that you lost someone you’ve loved your whole life. You deal with that. I’ll take care of the rest.”

She nodded, unable to speak. The tears returned, and her throat got tight. Everything hurt so much more than she thought it would.

Cord walked into the room. He glanced at them, then shoved his hands into his pockets. “So, ah, Robyn. I thought I’d, you know, ask if I could help or something.”

Go home! That would be the biggest help, she thought fiercely. Cord was nothing but deadweight. But before she could tell him that, Mason rose.

“Cord, Salvia needs to get food into the house. We’re going to have a lot of visitors. She’s not feeling up to dealing with that by herself. You’re someone she feels comfortable with. Would you help her? I know she’d appreciate it.”

Cord looked between them, then nodded slowly. “Sure. She’s in the kitchen?”

“She is.”

He shuffled out.

Robyn stared after him, then turned back to Mason. “You made him go away. How did you do that?”

He gave her a faint smile. “He said he wanted to help, so I gave him a job to do. Later I’m going to tell Kip to wash the serving pieces. Unless Harlow needs him.” He raised a shoulder. “Lillian wanted an English high tea served at her wake. That’s going to be a lot of coronation chicken.”

“How do you know about coronation chicken?”

“I’m a well-traveled man.”

She started to laugh, then sob. Mason was instantly at her side. She leaned into his strong body and knew he would take care of her and her children, no matter what.

“You’re hurting, too,” she whispered into his chest. “You loved her, too.”

“Yes to both. She was a great lady.”

She raised her head and met his gaze. “You were so special to her, Mason. She was so glad you were here.”

They held on to each other and let the grief wash over them. Robyn knew it would be a long, long time until the healing began.



* * *



Four days after losing Lillian, Harlow carefully placed teacups and saucers on the rolling cart Austin had brought up from the basement. It was just the right size to fit on the dumbwaiter, so it could be lowered to the main floor. She’d already sent down stacks of plates and nearly a dozen silver trays. Kip had offered to shine up the latter, and Salvia had set him up in the laundry room with a tub of polish and a stack of clean rags.

Harlow counted the cups and saucers, not sure how many they would need. Her mom had said they were expecting about a hundred people after the funeral, so maybe a hundred and twenty cups and saucers?

Thinking about logistics was easier than missing Lillian, although she couldn’t escape how terrible she felt every single second.

She heard footsteps in the hallway. Seconds later, Austin walked into the room. He looked awful, with dark circles under his eyes and slumped shoulders. She immediately moved toward him.

“I miss her, too,” she said, hugging him tight.

“It’s like losing Uncle Leo all over again,” he mumbled into her hair. “But worse.”

“I know.”

He stepped back and swallowed. “Mason confirmed the catering staff will be here tomorrow, three hours before the wake. Salvia was going to supervise, but Mason told her she had to go to the funeral. She worked for Lillian for nearly ten years. Mom and Mason were arguing over which of them was staying, but then Kip said he’d do it.” He gave her a faint smile. “Your guy came through.”

Harlow felt a rush of surprise and pride. “Good for him.”

“I know that means you’ll be alone at the funeral,” Austin began.

Harlow shook her head. “I’ll have you and Mom and Mason.”

She didn’t say anything about her father. She wasn’t sure she could depend on him. Sad but true.

“What?” Austin asked.

“Dad. I don’t trust him. I want to, but I can’t.”

Her brother didn’t say anything. Harlow knew he was dealing with his own disappointment when it came to their father.

She thought about everything she’d learned over the past few months. Her father’s cheating, how he’d only pretended to be interested in buying the business, claiming Zafina’s baby wasn’t his. Why did it all have to be so awful?

“I can’t work for him,” she said, fresh tears filling her eyes. “I can’t. Not now. Not like this. I’m just his kid. All that talk about me taking over the business was just a story we told ourselves.”

She wiped her cheeks. “I’m partly to blame. I expected too much. I assumed a lot, but some of it’s on him.”

“Most of it.” Her brother’s gaze was steady. “What are you going to do?”

“Work in Key West. Start over. Grow up. Maybe being away from Dad will be good for both of us. In a few years, we can talk about where we see things going with the company.”