Truth and Solace (Love at Solace Lake Book 3) Page 4

  Reese cleared his throat once again and began to speak, all business this time. “The work on the lodge has been extensive. New roof, new plumbing, new electrical, new commercial kitchen. We lifted the whole structure and fixed the caving foundation by putting in a whole new basement. A geo-thermal heat system was installed, and we’re giving all the bedrooms upstairs ensuite bathrooms. I’m sure you’ve noticed the new deck and the new wing of hotel rooms?”

  “Yeah. Looks like you’ve been busy. What’s left to do?”

  “We’re finishing the renovations to the upstairs bedrooms and bathrooms right now. The conference center that we’re building for weddings, conventions and things like that is completely unfinished on the inside, including the owners’ apartment upstairs on the second floor. We’re mostly finished the new guest wing, only the last few rooms to complete. In the spring, there’ll be quite a bit of landscaping to do, including repaving the parking lot. Ethan is supervising the completion of the renovation and my brother Glenn is heading up my crew. I want to spend as much time as I can with Abby.” He got to his feet. “I’m going to take off now, if that’s all right with you, Harper.”

  “Of course. We’ll talk to Glenn if we have any questions.”

  “You know how to reach me if you need me.” He laid his hand on Luke’s shoulder as he walked by. “I’ll see you later, son.”

  “You will. Thanks, Reese.”

  Ethan walked Reese to the door. Harper resumed her summary. “Last month, we hosted our first wedding. It went pretty well considering we were mostly under construction.”

  Scarlet jumped in. “I got a call from a bride in distress. The venue for her wedding was flooded and she couldn’t find anywhere else to have it. We all pulled together to make it happen. Cameron finished two of the cottages so we could put some of the guests there, and Reese’s crew finished the kitchen and most of the rooms in the new wing. Maggie created a fabulous dinner, and Harper and Ethan made sure all the rooms were equipped and our guests were comfortable.”

  Ethan returned and sat beside Harper once more. “It was crazy, but I’m proud we were able to pull it off.”

  Scarlet nodded. “It definitely was crazy, but the bride was happy. I’m sure our next event is going to be even better. We have a couple of small weddings booked in early spring that we’ll host here in the dining room, and one outdoor wedding in late May.”

  Cam kissed Scarlet’s hand once more. “Aren’t you forgetting something? Like our wedding?”

  She laughed. “Of course I’m not forgetting. I was talking about paying customers.”

  “Our wedding will be small, mostly family and a few good friends. We’re having it here in December,” Cam told him.

  “Congratulations.” Luke stole a glance at Maggie, who smiled at her future brother-in-law. “Your wedding will be a good test run for the lodge. We’ll have a chance to see if everything is working properly. Do you have a reservation system in place?”

  “No, nothing,” Harper said. “Back in the day, I took reservations over the phone and wrote them by hand onto a calendar. I’m hoping you can help me set up all those modern details.”

  “Of course. That’s why I’m here.”

  She nodded in relief. “I’m so glad.”

  “How long before the renovations on the lodge are completely done?”

  “Reese figured the rooms upstairs should be completed mid-January. Then we have to get the rooms ready with furnishings, so maybe the beginning of February. The event center won’t be ready until late summer.”

  “What about the cottages, Cam? Will they all be ready by February?”

  “We could get another two, or possibly three cottages ready by then. Why? What do you have in mind?”

  “Well, it occurs to me that even though all of you have been working very hard to reopen the lodge, your target audience may not know you exist. I think if we host a well-advertised grand opening event, we could get the word out and generate some excitement. We’d want to do it mid to late winter, so we can get bookings for the spring and summer.”

  “That’s a great idea,” Scarlet said, leaning forward in her chair. “It’s exactly what we need. Like I said, I’ve got a couple of weddings booked for the spring, but we’re not going to survive unless we have a full house year-round.”

  “If we have a grand opening in February, it will give us a chance to try out different winter activities and see what’s most popular,” Ethan said.

  “I think it’s a fabulous idea,” Harper said. “The reopening of Solace Lake Lodge is not only a big deal for us, but for our community as well. We should be celebrating.”

  Luke turned to Maggie, who’d said little since he arrived. “What do you think, Maggie?”

  “A grand opening sounds like a nice idea.”

  He waited a beat for her to continue. She didn’t. “I have a feeling there’s a but attached to that statement. Come on, Mags. Tell me what you really think.”

  Her eyes flashed in annoyance at the use of one of his old nicknames for her. “I think it’s all well and good to have a splashy grand opening but if we’re not well prepared, we’ll end up looking like foolish amateurs.”

  “What do you mean?” Harper asked.

  “We’ve got to have staff in place, well-trained staff. We managed to cater the wedding in October with a couple of temporary staff because we kept the food simple and served buffet style. And we only offered two meals, the wedding buffet in the evening and a breakfast buffet the next morning. If we open the restaurant, at a minimum we’re going to need a sous chef for each shift plus line cooks, wait staff and bar staff.” She clasped her hands in her lap and looked down at them. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to sound like a Debbie Downer, but I think we have to be realistic.”

  “Maggie’s right,” Luke said. Maggie lifted her head and stared at him, and Luke got the impression she was surprised he’d agree with her. “The kitchen has to be prepared but so does the front desk and housekeeping. Recreational facilities need to be in place. We’ll need to start hiring right away if we’re going to make a grand opening successful. And of course, we have to make sure we have rooms ready for guests. It’s going to be a lot of hard work, so I want you to think it over carefully before you commit.”

  “I don’t have to think it over,” Harper said. “This is what I’ve wanted from the beginning. I’m ready to get started.”

  Ethan linked his fingers through hers. “I’m in, too.”

  Scarlet nodded. “We’ve come this far and worked so hard. I say let’s take it all the way.”

  “Agreed,” Cam said.

  Luke turned to Maggie. Her hands were palm down on top of the table, her body tensely coiled as if she were getting ready to jump up and run. “Maggie, what about you? Are you ready to take the lodge to the next step?”

  She glanced up at him, and something that looked like fear flashed briefly in her eyes, surprising him once again. The Maggie he’d known wasn’t afraid of anything. He wondered what had happened in the years they’d been apart to cause her to lose her fierce determination.

  After expelling a breath, she lifted her chin in an almost defiant gesture and he caught a glimpse of the old Maggie. “I’m in.”

  He smiled at her. “Ladies and gentlemen, it’s official. In three and a half months, we’re going to hold the biggest and best Grand Opening Minnewasta has ever seen.”

  “God help us,” Maggie murmured.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Luke sipped his tea and grimaced. He didn’t like the stuff any more today than he had two days ago. Bracing himself, he took another cautious swallow.

  “If you don’t like it, you don’t have to drink it.”

  He eyed his mother skeptically. “Really?”

  “Of course. You’re not a five-year-old that I have to force to drink his milk.” Abby smiled ruefully. “I appreciate that you’re drinking tea as a concession to me, but if you don’t like it, and it’s pretty obvious you don’t, don’t
drink it to try to please the sick woman ’cause it’s not working.”

  Luke put down his teacup. He should have known he couldn’t fool his mother. She’d always been able to read him and her illness obviously hadn’t impaired that ability. “Do you have coffee?”

  “In the pantry. Reese drinks it every morning.”

  He found a can of coffee grounds in the pantry and made himself a half pot in the coffeemaker. He sighed in pleasure as the rich aroma of coffee filled the kitchen. He may as well admit he was addicted to the stuff. Smelling the brew made him think of the little shop down the street from his condo in Napa that roasted their own beans and served the best coffee this side of Nirvana.

  He stared out the window over the sink at the brown grass and the bare limbs of the poplar tree in the back yard. He was a long way from Nirvana.

  As soon as the coffee finished brewing, he poured himself a cup, added a splash of milk, and rejoined her at the kitchen table. With the first few sips, a pleasant caffeine buzz flowed through his system.

  Abby grinned at him. “Feel better?”

  “Much.”

  “Good. Honey, I wanted to ask you. Have you had a chance to talk to Maggie? Do you think she’ll come to visit me?”

  This was the second time she’d asked about Maggie. He didn’t know why seeing her was so important, but he’d make damn sure it happened. “I haven’t talked to her about it yet, but I will. She’ll come to see you soon. I promise.”

  She nodded, relief showing on her face. “That’s good. Thanks, honey.”

  “No problem.”

  “At the risk of sounding like a nagging mother, have you given any thought to the other promise you made to me?”

  His mother was nothing if not tenacious. He saluted her with his coffee cup. “After I leave here, I’m going to see Jerry.”

  “Good. Have you called him?”

  “No. I thought I’d drop in.” He wanted to see what kind of reaction he’d get if he showed up unannounced. In a perverse way, he wanted to disprove his mother and grandmother’s belief that Jerry had changed.

  Once a deadbeat, always a deadbeat.

  “I understand he works at home so he should be around. Jerry told me he got married a few years ago, so don’t be surprised if a woman answers the door.”

  “Who’d he marry?”

  “A local woman, but I don’t know her. Apparently, she’s several years younger than Jerry.”

  He didn’t welcome the news. Luke didn’t like the idea of an audience for his meeting with his birth father.

  “I want to come clean about something.” Abby stared at her teacup as she gripped the delicate porcelain handle, her knuckles turning white from the pressure. “Your father not being in your life, that wasn’t entirely his fault.”

  “Mom, don’t take the blame for him.”

  She looked up at him. “I’m not. I’m taking responsibility for my own actions, something I should have done long ago.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  She paused to drink some tea, her hand shaking slightly. “Jerry and I went to high school together. We never dated back then or were particularly good friends. As soon as he graduated, he joined the military and left Minnewasta. I stayed here and started working in the bank.

  “About five years later, he came home on leave to visit his mother. She had cancer, I think, and wasn’t doing very well. Jerry and I met, and I think we…needed each other. You were conceived as a result.”

  “I know the end to this story already, Mom. Jerry left and you never heard from him again.”

  “That’s where you’re wrong. Three months later, his mother died and he came home to bury her. About then, I found out I was pregnant with you. I told him, not because I wanted anything from him, but because I thought he had the right to know. But Jerry astonished me by asking me to marry him.”

  The news shocked Luke. “He asked you to marry him?”

  “He did. I turned him down. I didn’t love him, and he didn’t love me. He was asking because he wanted to do the right thing, but marriage would have been a disaster for both of us. So, once he settled his mother’s affairs, he went back to the military base overseas where he’d been serving. And I had you.”

  He was almost afraid to ask his next question. “Did you ever hear from him again?”

  Abby nodded. “He sent me a card with his contact information during my pregnancy. He wanted me to let him know as soon as you were born. So I did.”

  She stopped once again to drink her tea. Luke tamped down his impatience, resisting the urge to drum his fingers. He had to let her tell this story in her own way.

  “He started sending money for you. Not a lot, but it certainly helped. I sent him a few pictures of you in return. But then when you were five and about to start school, he moved to an army base in Texas. He started talking about coming to Minnesota to see you. But I said no.”

  Another surprise. “Why?”

  Abby’s face crumbled. “I told him his sporadic visits would only confuse you. You needed someone who was with you for the long haul, not just when the mood struck him. But in truth, I was afraid. You were all I had, and I couldn’t bear the thought of losing you.”

  “Losing me? Why would you lose me?”

  She wiped at a tear that streaked down her face. “I didn’t say I was being rational. I guess I was afraid if you got to know Jerry, you’d want to be with him. That you’d want your father. I was afraid to let that happen.”

  “Did Jerry argue with you about seeing me? Did he ever actually come to Minnesota?”

  “No. He didn’t push and I didn’t offer. And together we were both guilty of depriving you of knowing your father. Me most of all.”

  Luke got to his feet, too restless to sit any longer. All these years he’d blamed Jerry, calling him a deadbeat and a deserter.

  “I should have told you this years ago,” Abby said. “But I was afraid you’d be angry with me. And you’d have every right to be. I’m sorry, Luke.”

  Her face was drawn and thin, the skin pulled tight over her cheekbones. Whatever she did, she did for love, misguided though it might have been. He thought back to his childhood. His mother had never once said a disparaging word about his father. Every Christmas, a gift from his father was under the tree, though he’d always known Abby had purchased it. She always said he sent her the money and asked her to buy him something he really wanted. When he got older and asked why all the other kids had fathers and he didn’t, she’d taken him in her arms and told him she loved him enough for a mother and a father.

  No matter what she’d kept from him, he couldn’t be angry with her, especially now. He knelt beside her chair. “Like you said, he didn’t fight you to see me. You have nothing to be sorry about. You were the best mother ever. You still are.”

  Abby stroked his hair. “And you’re the best son a mother could ever want. I love you, Luke.”

  He swallowed back tears. “I love you, too.”

  A promise was a promise.

  Luke repeated the phrase to himself as he parked in front of the house Jerry Fields used for his business and his home. A modest bungalow that appeared well cared for, it had what looked like a recent paint job and a well-tended yard. A sign on the fence circling the front yard announced the name of Jerry’s business, Fields Digital Solutions. Luke had done some checking and discovered that Jerry’s business, which specialized in setting up computer networks and security systems for businesses, was well thought of and very successful. Apparently, his services were in demand across the state and beyond.

  Too bad he hadn’t set up this business years ago. Maybe they would have had a chance for a relationship.

  Luke huffed out a breath. He hated that all these years later Jerry’s absence from his life still mattered. But after what his mother had told him, he supposed he wasn’t entirely to blame.

  But he wished his father had cared enough to fight for him.

  He slid out of the ren
tal car and slammed the door with a little more force than was necessary. As he walked to the front door, he blew out a breath to calm himself. Just because he’d been manipulated into this visit didn’t mean he had to cop an attitude. He rang the doorbell.

  A few moments later, a tall, lean man in his fifties wearing wire framed glasses answered the door. His thick hair curled around the collar of his denim shirt. It must have been dark brown once, like Luke’s, but was now liberally streaked with grey. Eyes, the same grey-green color as his, stared at him first in shock, and then in welcome.

  He smiled broadly. “Luke. It’s good to see you. Come in out of the cold.”

  Luke stepped over the threshold into the front hallway of the house. To the left, the living room featured gleaming hardwood floors and tasteful modern furniture. In fact, the furniture looked a lot like the stuff he’d purchased for his condo in Napa. The idea that he and Jerry shared the same taste in décor annoyed the hell out of him.

  “Please, take off your coat. Would you like some coffee?”

  “Sure.”

  Jerry hung his coat in the closet next to the front door, then led the way to kitchen. The room was modern, yet warm and homey. Jerry busied himself making coffee. “This is a nice surprise. I appreciate you coming to see me. I’d heard you were back in town.”

  “I didn’t think you’d recognize me,” Luke said.

  “Your mother gave me some recent pictures. I’m sorry she’s so sick. Abby is the best person. She doesn’t deserve this.”

  “No. She doesn’t.” Luke cleared his throat, not wanting to go there. He stood next to the table, shuffling from foot to foot. “I should tell you upfront, coming here wasn’t my idea. It was hers.”

  Jerry placed two cups of coffee on the table, then went to the fridge for milk. “I expected so. It’s not like I’ve given you a lot of reasons to want to see me. Why don’t you sit down?”

  Luke lowered himself onto one of the chairs. Jerry returned to the pantry and came back to the table with a bowl of sugar. “Did you get the letter I sent to you a few months ago?”