Halliday Family Full Prologue

The Halliday Family

Free Prologue

By Elizabeth Lennox

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Copyright 2023

All rights reserved

 

This is a work of fiction.  Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner.  Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.  Any duplication of this material, either electronic or any other format, either currently in use or a future invention, is strictly prohibited, unless you have the direct consent of the author.

 

Chapter 1

“Nothing in there,” a voice called out. 

Pierce pulled his hand back, turning to glare at Felix, his younger brother.  “Did you eat the last of the bread?”

Felix turned his blue eyes towards his brother.  “Yeah.  Sorry.  I was pretty hungry this morning.”

Pierce closed his eyes, trying to ignore the gnawing hunger in his stomach.  The oldest at twelve years old, Pierce knew that he had a lot of responsibility on his shoulders.  With a frustrated sigh, he nodded.  “I get it.”

Felix and Pierce were just about to leave the area when a snarling voice demanded, “What the hell are you two doing in here?”  Morris Halliday, their father, stomped into the tiny hotel room that served as their family’s “kitchen”. 

“Don’t yell at them, Morris,”, their mother, Bethany, urged with a softer voice.  She shifted three year old Ava on her hip.  “They’re just looking for food.”

Morris scratched a spot on his chest, highlighting the dirty undershirt that was barely covered by the unbuttoned plaid shirt.  “Don’t they get breakfast from that damn school?  Why the hell are they here anyway!  They should be heading for the bus stop!”

Bethany sighed, obviously exhausted and impatient with her husband.  “It’s summer vacation, Morris.  No classes, and that means no free school breakfast or lunch.”  She looked around at the room furnished in junk store furniture with dread.  She didn’t bother to open the cabinets.  There wasn’t any food in them.  Again.  “I need to get some groceries.  What did you do with the money that we got from the couple who stayed here last night?”

Morris ran a hand through his already mussed hair.  “It’s gone.”

Bethany stared at her husband, the sadness in that blue gaze intensifying.  “You bought a bottle of gin, didn’t you?”

Morris turned away, adding a burp in the process.  “What if I did?  I’m the man of this household.  I can spend my money anyway I want.”

She kissed the top of Ava’s head, fluffy with curls, glaring angrily at her husband.  “Not if it means that our children, the children you demanded, might I add, go without food!” she snapped.  “Morris, that was fifty dollars!  That money could have gotten us enough food to last us a whole week!”

“Whatever!” he growled and walked out of the room.  He sat down in the roadside hotel’s front area where the reception desk was located. 

There weren’t any guests in the hotel today, since it was Monday.  They usually only saw guests on the weekend when families were more likely to travel and needed “just one night” to rest up before continuing on their journey. 

Bethany turned to face her sons again, both of whom were looking too thin, their eyes revealing their hunger.  “I’m sorry,” she whispered anxiously.  “I’ll find something to eat.”

Jenna stepped into the room, barefoot and still in a torn nightgown.  “I’m hungry,” she called out.  Crystal blue eyes surrounded by long, dark lashes, looked up at their mother with hope. 

Pierce watched as their mother struggled to hide the tears that formed in her eyes.  All four of the Halliday siblings had gotten their blue eyes from her.  She was young, only twenty-five, with four hungry kids and a husband who preferred getting drunk to actually working for a living.  How in the world was she going to feed all of them? 

Pierce stepped forward, ignoring the burning sensation in his belly as he tried to ease his mother’s burden.  “I’ll head down to the lake, Momma.  I’ll get us something to eat.”

Ten year old Felix puffed up as well. “I will too!”

Bethany blinked back the tears and pursed her lips for a brief moment as she lowered her head in shame.  But after only a moment, she breathed deeply and lifted her head.  “Do you know where the fishing poles are stored?”

Pierce nodded.  “Yeah.  I hid them in one of the other hotel rooms so Dad wouldn’t use them for…well, you know.”

Bethany nodded, reaching out to lightly brush Pierce’s too-long dark hair out of his eyes.  “You’re a good boy. I’m so proud of you!”

Uncomfortable with his mother’s affection, he turned away.  He looked over at Felix.  “Come on.  Let’s go fishing.”

Felix’s eyes brightened and he eagerly followed his older brother out of the room.  As soon as they were relatively alone, Felix started with the questions, coming at Pierce like a steady stream from a waterfall. 

 

Pierce grabbed the fishing pole and jerked his head to Felix.  He was only ten years old, so Pierce considered him to still be a baby.  “We need worms too,” he announced.  “Think you can dig up some worms for me?”

Felix’s eyes sharpened, but his skinny body vibrated with the need to impress his older brother.  “Yeah.  Worms I can do.”

Pierce nodded.  If he hadn’t been so hungry, he might have laughed at his brother’s zeal.  But at the moment, he didn’t have the energy.  “Let’s go,” he said, and they both headed along the path to the shed.  Thankfully, their grandfather had left a lot of tools in the shed that their father hadn’t yet sold for another bottle of gin.  He reached into the shed and, twisting his body slightly, grabbed the shovel.  No one wanted to actually step into the space.  There were some horrific spiders that lived in the shed.  Maybe if they used the tools more often, the spiders would find another home.  Thankfully, Pierce only needed the shovel which was right by the doorway where he’d left it after their last fishing trip.  He wasn’t brave enough to venture deeper inside the shed to see if there were other tools that they might use. 

Pierce carried the fishing pole and Felix bounced alongside him, still asking questions, carrying the shovel.  Pierce didn’t answer any of the questions, his mind too focused on catching enough fish for dinner.  No, not dinner.  It was ten o’clock in the morning and no one had eaten anything yet.  He needed enough fish for lunch and dinner.  And next time they had a hotel guest, Pierce was going to steal the money from his dad and head into town to buy food.

“I found three!”

Pierce looked sharply at his brother, not sure what he was talking about.  At the moment, he was too hungry to concentrate.  But Felix was grinning as he held up three filthy worms. 

“Good job!” he said, waving his hand in the air.  “Bring them over here.  I’m going to stand at the end of the dock to fish.  Think you can find more?”

“Yeah!” Felix replied, obviously eager to impress. 

Pierce took the three worms that Felix dumped in his hand and walked to the end of the dock, praying that the weathered wood didn’t break under his footsteps.  He wasn’t very clean at the moment, but he wasn’t in the mood to go for a swim.  He was too hungry and, since it was still late May, the water would be painfully cold. 

Twenty minutes later, Pierce finally pulled his first fish out of the water.  He’d noticed that the fish were more tempted when he moved the hook slowly through the water instead of just letting it float.  Unhooking the fish, he dumped it on the dock behind him. 

It was quiet out here, he thought.  Too quiet.  Turning around, he spotted Felix.  His brother was still digging in the soil, an old plastic container by his feet.  He’d have to tell Felix not to dig the holes too deeply.  He’d read a book about a horse that broke it’s leg when it raced across a field, then stumbled on an unexpected hole. 

The fishing line wiggled in his hand and he turned back, concentrating on reeling in the next fish.  His stomach growled again but he ignored the sensation.  Soon, he would have enough fish for everyone.  Six fish for lunch and six more for dinner.  That should be enough. 

He thought about another book he’d read about the Native American tribes.  They’d foraged for food in the woods.  He unhooked the next fish and dumped it next to the first one, then let his eyes skim along the trees.  What other food sources were out there?  Fish was a healthy protein, but he and his siblings would need more than just fish.  In health class last year, his teacher had said something about fruit and vegetables being necessary for a healthy body.  An image of three year old Ava in his mother’s arms popped into his head.  Ava needed fruits and vegetables.  She needed protein to grow.  Jenna did as well. 

Turning, he spotted his younger brother, still digging in the dirt.  “Felix!” he called out. 

His little brother hurried down the hill and stomped on the dock.  “What’s up?”

“Berries.  Don’t we have berries growing over there?” he asked, pointing towards the tree line where he’d once seen big, fat blackberries growing. 

Felix’s eyes lit up.  “Yeah!”  He then looked down at the dock.  “These boards are pretty messed up.”  He shifted his gaze towards the spider-infested shed, his head tilted at an angle as he considered something.  “There’s some wood behind the shed.”  He lifted his eyes and stared up the hill.  “I’ll go get Jenna.  Together, we’ll find some berries, then maybe I can use that scrap wood to fix some of the rotten boards on the dock.”  He turned laughing eyes to Pierce.  “Maybe we could go for a swim later.”

In a flash, Felix was gone, racing up the hill again.  Pierce looked down to make sure that the fish were still there.  That’s when he saw the plastic container filled with worms.  Felix was an excellent worm hunter.  Any other day, he might have laughed at the number of worms Felix had dug up, but at the moment, he was just too hungry. 

His fishing line wiggled and Pierce turned his attention back to reeling in their lunch. 

 

Felix felt his heart thud against his ribs and ignored the hunger pains in his stomach.  He raced into the “kitchen” and grabbed the only other bowl they had.  It was a large, metal bowl and it was exactly what he needed.  He was going to fill up this entire bowl with berries!  He had to.  Pierce was finding the fish, but Felix wanted to help.  He’d get enough blackberries to Wow his big brother! 

“Where are you going?” a small, female voice demanded. 

Felix turned to find Jenna, his little sister standing in the doorway.  She was wearing a cute pair of denim jeans and pink tee-shirt.  She had sandals on her feet and her little toes poked out the ends.  The sandals were too small, but at least she had shoes on. 

Felix glanced down the hill again, contemplating his options. 

“Don’t you dare!” their mother yelled. “I’m going to do the laundry!”

With that bellow, and their father’s grumbling answer, he made up his mind.  Jenna shouldn’t be here.  That slurred, angry bellow was a warning signal that father was drinking already.  When he was sober, the man was okay.  Grumpy, but okay. 

However, when their father got drunk, Morris tended to throw his hands at whatever kid was around. 

“Come with me,” Felix called out and turned, waving her to come with him.

“Why?” Jenna demanded, twirling a lock of dark hair around her fingers as she bounced along beside him.  Pink tipped fingers, he noted.  Their mother had spent money on nail polish?  They didn’t have any food but they had nail polish?

He smothered his grumble, knowing that Pierce would never yell at Jenna.  She was only five years old.  She was too young to be blamed for pretty nail polish. 

With the last reserves of his energy, Felix took Jenna’s hand.  “We’re going berry picking,” he explained. 

Jenna’s eyes brightened.  “Berries?”  she stepped closer and Felix noticed that her toenails were pink too.  “Can we eat the berries for food?”

“Yep,” he said, squeezing her hand.  “But we need to fill up this whole bowl!  Think you can help me do that?”

Jenna’s too-thin cheeks split into an eager grin.  “Yeah!” she whispered as if they now had a secret.  “Let’s go!”

Jenna skipped alongside Felix, gripping his hand as she sang a song.  It wasn’t any of the songs that their mother sung to them when she tucked them in at night.  Jenna just…made up songs.  She had a nice enough voice, but Felix was more focused on getting enough berries and filling up the whole bowl.  They worked their way along the line of berry bushes, plucking all of the ripe fruit. 

He looked over at Pierce who was still standing on the dock.  There were five fish behind him already.  Darn it, Felix plucked the tiny bits of fruit faster.  Pierce had five fish so Felix needed to get enough berries to impress him. 

Felix put the bowl down, wanting to use both hands for their harvest.  “I’m going to put this bowl here between us.  Eat as many berries as you want, but try to fill up the bowl as fast as you can, okay?”

Jenna grinned, nodding again, then turned to look at the berry bushes.  He watched for a moment as her tiny fingers plucked the huge blackberry.  She popped one into her mouth, then put two into the bowl.  After a few moments, Felix figured that she had the knack of it and focused on picking as many berries as he could. 

After eating one himself, he remembered that he’d had the last piece of bread.  So he pulled his tee-shirt out in front of him and filled the make-shift “bowl” up with blackberries.  When he had twenty or thirty berries, he walked over to where Pierce was standing at the end of the dock. 

“Hey,” he said and carefully dumped the berries onto the dock.  When he stood up, he looked at Pierce, then quickly away, looking towards Jenna who was still picking berries.  “Sorry for eating the last piece of bread,” he said to his older brother.  Without looking Pierce in the eye, Felix hurried back to the berry bushes. 

When he looked back over at his older brother, the pile of berries was gone.  Feeling a rush of pride, he focused on his task.  An hour later, the bowl was so full, some of the berries were toppling onto the ground. 

“Jenna!” he called out. 

His little sister turned and Felix couldn’t help but laugh when he saw her face.  The skin around her mouth was purple from the blackberries she’d gobbled up, and she’d imitated him by pulling her shirt up and forming a small “bowl” for the fruit. 

“Good job, Jenna!” he called back.  “I think we have enough for today.”

Jenna grinned and stuffed several more berries into her mouth as she rushed over.  With her head tilted back, her smile faded and a serious expression filled her crystal blue eyes.  “We should keep going, Felix,” she said in a stern voice.  “I don’t wanna be hungry tomorrow and if we don’t get the berries, then the birds will eat them.”  She stuffed three more blackberries into her mouth.

Felix looked down at the dock, thinking to ask Pierce what he thought.  But Pierce was still fishing, even though he had about ten fish piled up behind him.  Damn, Pierce was good at fishing!  When had he learned how to do that? 

 

Jenna watched as Felix looked down at the dock.  As soon as she realized what was there, her eyes widened with surprise.  “Is that gonna be dinner?  Can we eat fish?” she whispered, trepidation lacing her voice. 

Felix reached out to put an arm around her and Jenna leaned against him.  He was only ten years old, but Felix was big and strong.  Nothing bad happened when Felix was around.  Pierce was the tallest, but even Felix was taller than most of the other kids at school. 

Jenna wondered if she should tell him about Lacey Underwood at school.  Lacey was the meanest of the mean girls and wouldn’t let Jenna swing on the swing set during recess.  Lacey had said her clothes were too dirty and didn’t match.  Only “clean and color coordinated” friends could swing with her. 

Jenna had been so humiliated, she’d gone over to the side of the school playground, curled up into a ball and cried, unaware of the dust on her cheeks.  Unfortunately, when the teacher had called everyone in for class, Jenna hadn’t known about the streaks the tears had made through the dust on her cheeks.  Lacey had noticed immediately and laughed, elbowing the other girls until they’d all laughed with her. 

If she told Felix about Lacey, maybe Felix would tell the other girl to shut up and stop being mean.  But as she looked out at Pierce, at the huge pile of fish, she decided not to say anything.  Pierce and Felix were big and strong.  No one ever messed with either of her big brothers.  Jenna was going to figure this out by herself and not bother her brothers.  And besides, it was summer vacation now.  She had three whole months without Lacey Underwood’s harsh comments!  Three months of wonderful, sunny freedom! 

Of course, that also meant that she had three months without breakfast.  But right at this moment, her tummy was full from the blackberries. 

“Yeah, we’re having fish for dinner tonight,” Felix confirmed. 

Jenna squinted up at him.  “Do you know how to cook fish?”

If she hadn’t been looking at him carefully, Jenna would have missed the cringe on Felix’s face.  “No idea, but we can figure it out.”  For a brief moment, Jenna felt a spike of fear.  But then Felix looked down at her and smiled with confidence.  His expression was so full of reassurance that Jenna felt much better. 

“Let’s go put these berries in the fridge,” Jenna said, pointing to the overflowing bowl of berries.

Felix looked behind her and hesitated.  “Maybe you’re right.  Maybe we should pick all of the ripe berries and freeze them so the birds can’t steal them.”  He looked down at her.  “Why don’t you keep picking the berries while I put these in the freezer?  I’ll be back down in a minute and we can fill up the bowl again.”

Jenna nodded eagerly and turned to start picking the berries again.  In her mind, she wanted to help out as best she could. 

Maybe if they picked enough fruit, they could sell some of the berries to the guests coming this weekend.  People always wanted fresh fruit, right?  Maybe, if they sold a few small containers of berries to the guests this weekend, they could make some extra money!  Maybe they could make a million dollars! Then she could get some new clothes and mean-ole Lacey wouldn’t sneer at Jenna again.  She’d be able to play on the swings with Lacey and her other friends and they would never make fun of her again! 

With the prospect of a million dollars, her efforts were renewed.  She’d pick so many berries, maybe they could make two million dollars!  Jenna wasn’t exactly sure how many berries they would have to sell in order to make that much money, but she didn’t mind the work.  At least she was away from her dad.  He smelled funny again today. 

Jenna picked as many berries as she could, then she spotted something on the ground.  Picking it up, she looked at the acorn. 

“Whatcha got there?”

Jenna spun around to find Pierce standing behind her.  She lifted the acorn up to him.  “Can I eat this?”

Pierce took the acorn from her, looking at it carefully.  He turned it around, then tapped it against the bark of a tree.  “I don’t know, Jenna.  Why don’t we ask Mom to take us into town today?  We can go to the library and find out what parts of the forest are edible.”

Jenna’s blue eyes brightened and she bounced on her toes, obviously excited about the suggestion.  “I love the library!” she said, clapping her purple-stained hands.  “Felix and I are going to pick more berries so the birds don’t steal them.”

Pierce chuckled and Jenna noticed that his voice was starting to sound funny, almost as if it had gotten lower recently.  “Good idea,” he said, fluffing her hair a bit. 

Jenna remembered Lacey’s smooth, shiny braids.  “Do you know how to braid my hair?”

Pierce looked surprised.  “Not a clue,” he replied.  He then lifted the line of fish in the air.  “I’m going to get these ready for lunch.  Don’t go near the water, okay?”

Jenna nodded, still wondering about the braids.  If they were going to the library today, she’d find a book that would teach her how to make braids.

 

Felix dumped the bowl on the counter in the small “kitchen”, then took the berries to the sink.  Wouldn’t hurt to clean them off.  He and Jenna had been eating them all morning, so he didn’t think that they were dirty, but it probably wouldn’t hurt to run some water over them.  His hands were covered with dust, so maybe the berries were as well. 

When they were clean, he laid them out on several cookie sheets, then slid them into the freezer.  Hopefully, the freezer would keep them from spoiling, but he dumped several into a smaller bowl and carried it through to the sitting area.  His mother was sitting with Ava, flipping through an old magazine left behind by a previous guest. 

“Where’s dad?” Felix asked.

Her mother looked up and smiled at him. “Your mouth is purple.  What have you been…?”  He put the bowl of fat, juicy blackberries on the counter.  “Oh!  How wonderful!” she gasped and took one of the sweet and sour berries into her mouth.  “I love blackberries.  I remember picking the berries with my dad, your grandfather.  I used to walk down to the lake every summer to eat them while sitting on the dock.”  She brought the bowl closer to Ava, offering her a berry. 

After several moments of eating, his mother turned and looked at him.  “What are you up to now?”

Felix shrugged casually, as if he wasn’t trying to figure out how to keep his baby sisters from starving over the summer months.  “Pierce got some fish for dinner,” Felix announced, looking away.  He didn’t want to see the guilt in his mother’s eyes.  “Where’s Dad?” he asked again. 

There was an awkward hesitation.  “He’s napping,” she told him, feeding Ava another berry.  “He was up all night watching the front desk.”

Felix didn’t snort in disbelief and mentally patted himself on the back.  Their father hadn’t “watched” the front desk.  He’d fallen asleep on the couch in the back room.  It was entirely possible that a guest had stopped by and left simply because no one was around to check them in.  On a few occasions, guests had figured out that their father was in a drunken sleep, and just taken a room key, slept in one of the hotel rooms, then driven off as soon as their mother had asked for payment. 

It had been a long time since Felix had had any respect for their father.  A son should respect a father, Felix thought with growing anger.  A father should provide for his kids, or not have any children.  Felix wasn’t exactly sure how babies were made, but he knew that it wasn’t something he’d ever do!  He wasn’t going to ever marry because married people had kids and kids needed food. 

Felix heard Pierce come into the room behind the lobby area, then left again.  He’d probably just gotten a knife to skin the fish.  Remembering how precarious that dock was, and his older brother standing out on the rotting boards, Felix knew that he had to do something.  Pierce could be an ass sometimes, but as older brothers went, Pierce was the best. 

After checking on the berries in the freezer again, he walked back outside to the creepy shed.  Peering in from the doorway, he tentatively stepped inside, careful not to let any of the nightmare-inspiring spiders get on him. He grabbed the saw and a hammer.  Thankfully, he spotted an old box of nails as well.  Ignoring the spider web covering the box, Felix grabbed it, then rushed back outside.  He took a moment to shiver and check his clothing for spiders.  When he was confident that he was spider-free, Felix walked behind the shed and found the old boards.  They weren’t great, but they were a lot better than what was on the dock now. 

Hauling everything down to the dock, he contemplated his project.  How did one replace the boards on a dock?  Bending down, he used the back of the hammer to pull out the old boards.  That was easy enough.  Then it was a simple matter to just hammer the new boards in their place.  The newer boards were a bit wider, but that was okay.  It only made the dock appear sturdier, the gaps between the boards less obvious. 

Then he just sawed off the ends on both sides to even out the boards. 

Standing back, he looked at his work.  He’d replaced most of the boards and now the dock looked…it looked great!  There was a new sturdiness to the surface that inspired confidence. 

Turning, Felix gathered up the remnants of the wood and his tools, whistling as he strolled back to the shed to put everything away.  It had been a good first day of summer vacation, he thought. 

 

Chapter 2

 

Five years later…

“Enjoy your stay,” Pierce heard ten year old Jenna say as she handed the key to the latest guest.  He noticed the mother of two give Pierce a startled look, then the father wrapped his arm around her waist as they all walked out of the lobby area. 

Jenna waited until the guests were outside and the door closed before she turned to glare at Pierce.  “What is wrong with you?” she hissed.  “You’re scaring the guests!”

Surprised, Pierce pulled his gaze away from the now-empty doorway.  “How?”

She waved her hand in his general direction.  “You are too tall and annoying to be anything other than intimidating,” she explained through clenched teeth.  Then she paused and looked at him curiously, her face suddenly confused.  “What are you looking at?” 

Pierce sighed, running a frustrated hand over his face.  He walked over to one of the empty chairs and slumped down into its dubious comfort.  “I’m waiting for the mail,” he admitted, bracing his elbows on his knees. 

Jenna’s confusion cleared up and she turned, straightening the sign-in receipts and shoving them into the drawer under the cash box.  “Oh, well, that doesn’t come for another hour.”

He lifted his head to glare at her.  “It might come early,” he grumbled. 

She rolled her eyes.  “It won’t.”  Jenna gathered up the credit card receipts and hid them behind the bookcase.  The board behind her still had keys dangling from each hook and it appeared that none of the rooms were rented, but in reality, four of them were filled, two with a family of four and two with a couple.  Jenna and Felix had snuck off to the hardware store last summer to make duplicate keys so their father wouldn’t realize that guests were staying at the motel.  Anytime their family got a bit of money, he would steal it and spend it on gin. 

Since their father didn’t wake up long enough to examine the parking lot since it was behind the lobby area, he didn’t know that there were guests for the night.  In other words, they would have enough money for food and supplies this week!  It was a very exciting day!  One of the couples had even paid in cash, all of the precious bills tucked into the pocket of her jeans. 

“What’s going on?” their father snapped.  He stumbled a bit as he walked through the door, righted himself, then slouched onto the sofa. 

“Nothing,” Jenna and Pierce replied at the same time. 

Morris grunted, aware that both of them were lying to him but he was too hungover to care.  It was six o’clock in the evening and he’d slept all day long. 

Pierce doubted the bastard had bathed in three, maybe four days and he was beyond ripe. 

“Where the hell is your mother?” their father demanded, scratching his protruding stomach which was covered by yet another smelly, yellow and brown stained tee-shirt. 

Pierce glared at the man, wondering how much weight he’d gained over the past several years.  A lot, was all he could assume.  And Morris never accompanied the family into town to get new clothes at the thrift store, so the jeans he was currently wearing were threadbare, filthy and were probably cutting off circulation at his waist because of the weight gain.

“I think she’s coming back from town soon,” Jenna replied. 

Pierce looked at her sharply.  “Mom went into town again?” he asked, the muscles in his stomach tightening with dread. 

Jenna’s fingers twitched nervously as she nodded.  “Yeah.  She had another doctor’s appointment.”

Pierce looked over at their father, but the man was sleeping again, snoring loudly with his mouth hanging open.  He hadn’t been able to stay awake long enough to get a response to his own question.  Pathetic man!

Fifty-five minutes later, the mail carrier arrived and Pierce bolted out the door.  He tried to appear casual as he approached the mail box.  He even managed a friendly wave of his hand towards the mail carrier.  But as soon as the guy rounded the corner to the next property, Pierce hurried over to the mailbox and yanked the items out. 

There it was!  He dropped the rest of the mail, unconcerned with the bills and advertisements.  Everything fluttered to the ground as he stared at the thick envelope.  It was here! 

Ripping open the top, he clenched his jaw as he read the first few words of the letter.  As soon as he read, “We are pleased to announce…” he closed his eyes, bracing one hand on the mailbox as he sent up a silent prayer of gratitude.  He’d done it!  He got into Harvard University!  He’d already gotten into the University of Washington and Georgetown University. But this…this letter was what he’d been waiting for!  Harvard! 

He opened his eyes again and kept reading.  The rest of the letter was just a bunch of words, but the rest of the package was more interesting.  He skimmed through all of the information, refusing to be overwhelmed by the details. 

Getting in was one thing.  Paying for college was another! 

He’d been awarded a full scholarship to both Washington State University and Georgetown University.  So if Harvard didn’t provide the same scholarship amount, there was zero chance he could accept the admittance offer.  Skimming through the rest of the words, he finally found the information that he needed.  The words “partial scholarship” were in the next paragraph along with “financial aid”.  Quickly, Pierce calculated that the amount the university was providing would pay for ninety-nine percent of his costs.  He’d still have to get a job to pay for his text books as well as transportation to and from school.  They lived in the state of Washington and Boston was literally on the other side of the country.  Maybe if he used the money he’d saved up over the past year working his job at the grocery store, he would be able to buy a used car so he could drive back and forth. 

Whatever, he’d figure that out later.  Right at this moment, he was going to just revel in the thrill that all of his hard work had paid off.  Taking the extra classes, studying late every damn night and on weekends, all the while, figuring out what the forest and lake could provide for food.  It was all worth it at this particular moment because he was going to Harvard!  He’d made it!  He would get out of this hell hole and make something of himself! 

 

Felix watched as his brother yanked something out of the mail, ripped open the package, then read whatever information the package contained.  He crouched on the roof, hammer in one hand and an asphalt shingle in the other.  He’d found the roofing shingles at the Habitat for Humanity “restore” place in the next town over.  It had only taken him an hour to repair the roof so that it wouldn’t leak into the guest rooms anymore.  Not that they ever had a full house, even on the weekends.  But this repair would give them a bit more flexibility. 

What had come in the mail?  Whatever it was, Felix didn’t think he was going to like it.  Pierce was about to graduate at the top of his senior class.  All the seniors were starting to receive their college acceptance letters around now, but Felix hadn’t thought that Pierce would be heading to college.  Where the hell would he get the money for college?  They were dirt poor, still fishing for food, eating frozen berries for most of the year and foraging for acorns, pine nuts and mushrooms.  They also grabbed meals at school for breakfast and lunch that were free through the school program, and both he and Pierce had jobs in town that gave them some spending money. 

Not that Pierce spent any of his money on anything but food.  Felix had bought a new pair of jeans last month with some of his money, then had felt so guilty about it that he’d worked an extra shift and brought three frozen pizzas back to the family as a treat. 

So what was in the thick envelope? 

Pierce walked back down the driveway and disappeared inside.  Felix stood up, grabbed up the remaining roofing supplies, then shimmied down the drain pipe on the back side of the hotel.  He made a mental note to fix a wobbly connection to that pipe, then went to the front of the hotel.  Bending down, he picked up the papers that Pierce hadn’t realized had fallen to the ground.  The electric and gas bill were there, both of them second notices.  Felix would pay those out of his own bank account.  He doubted that Jenna had enough in the business account to pay them.  Their father regularly raided that account for beer or gin money, the bastard!

It was the last bit of paper that told him what his brother was so excited about.  Harvard?  What the hell had Harvard sent to Pierce?  Didn’t they know that the Halliday clan was so poor that they often didn’t have money for food or gas? 

Walking to the back, Felix deposited his tools in the shed.  Thankfully, there weren’t any more spiders in the shed.  Every time he saw one or walked through a creepy spider web, he crushed that sucker to death.  He loved working with the tools but absolutely hated spiders!  He could handle snakes and mice, but spiders?  Nope!  They gave him nightmares.  Literally! 

Heading inside, he washed his hands in the sink.  He’d converted one of the guest rooms into a real kitchen.  There were mismatched cabinets and an old table that he’d found on the side of the road.  Someone had gotten rid of it simply because one of the table legs had cracked.  Such an easy fix! 

“What’s going on?” he asked, pulling the pitcher of water out of the fridge, then pouring some of it into two glasses, handing one to Pierce.

“I got into Harvard,” his brother announced in a low, barely heard voice.

Felix didn’t jump for joy.  In fact, he felt like punching the wall.  But he forced his mouth into a semblance of a smile.  “That’s…great,” he replied.  “Congratulations.”

Pierce noticed Felix’s tone and reacted to it.  He looked over at Felix, needing to reassure him.  “Hey, I’m not abandoning you and the girls,” he promised Felix.  “I’m getting an education so that I can get a good job.  As soon as I can, I’ll send money back to help out, okay?”

Felix downed the water, relieved that he hadn’t choked on it even though his throat was tight.  “I know that,” he assured his brother, even though Felix didn’t “know” anything about this turn of events.  “When do you leave?”

Pierce glanced down at the paper in his hands.  “Well, I have to graduate from high school first,” he said with a chuckle.  “But the move-in date for college freshmen is August fifteenth.”

Felix nodded, unaware of how he was hugging the empty glass against his chest.  “That’s…great, Pierce.  I’m really proud of you.”  And he was!  Felix was truly impressed with his brother’s intelligence.  The guy deserved to go to Harvard.  Pierce was wicked smart and determined. 

However, Felix loved his big brother.  No, he revered Pierce.  Felix looked up to Pierce, awed by his older brother in so many ways.  If Pierce moved all the way to Boston to attend Harvard, when would they…hang out?  Who would do the fishing during the summer months?  What was going to happen to all of them? 

Pierce nodded, oblivious to Felix’s panic.  “Mom is doing better,” he assured Felix.  “And Jenna has things running smoothly around here so she and Ava will be fine.  Once I graduate from Harvard, I will come back here and help run the business.”  Pierce turned, looking out the surprisingly clean window.  “We’ll figure out how to get rid of Dad so he can’t keep stealing the money that we earn from renting out the rooms.”  He looked into Felix’s eyes, trying to reassure him.  “It’s going to be okay.  I have to do this.  We can’t keep living like this and a degree from Harvard will be a ticket to success.”

Felix smothered the sensation that his older brother was abandoning him, and reached out, pulling Pierce into a fierce hug. “You’re right,” he whispered through clenched teeth. “Congratulations!  I’m so damn proud of you!”

When they pulled back, Pierce held onto Felix’s shoulder.  “You should apply to colleges too.  I saw your test scores.  You aced the college entrance exams.”  Felix looked away, not sure how to reply, but Pierce continued.  “With your grades, you could get into any school you wanted.”

Felix shook his head, not really interested in more school.  “Just…come back to us, okay?”

Pierce didn’t relent.  He squeezed Felix’s muscular shoulder, looking into his eyes intently.  “Don’t push the option of college away.  Keep that in mind.”

Felix nodded, but had no idea what he would do once he graduated from high school.  He was only a sophomore, but perhaps people who were dirt poor like they were had to always be thinking about the future.  They’d been thinking about where they would get their next meal since…well, since forever.  There had never been enough food around the Halliday home. 

Home.  What a ridiculous word to use for this dump in which they lived.  It wasn’t a home.  This hotel with the ten guest rooms and the two rooms in which they lived…it was a hovel!  It was a pathetic roadside hotel in which they were lucky if four of those ten rooms were rented out at any point in time.  The place looked so run down and pathetic, only the bravest, poorest or most exhausted and desperate travelers ever ventured into their parking lot. 

But Pierce was right.  Felix needed to figure something out.  He couldn’t stay here, patching up this damn place for the rest of his life.  He needed to find something that would give him a future.  Something he could do and love and….and something that would free him from the hell of imminent starvation. 

 

Ava, the youngest of the Halliday clan, watched as Pierce launched his big body into the old car that he used to get back and forth from his job in town.  She was only eight years old, but she already knew what it was like to be painfully hungry.  She knew the terror of life and how insecure the world was. 

She clutched the flowers to her chest, wishing that she could fix the world.  Looking down at the flowers, she swallowed past the lump of fear in her throat.  She couldn’t fix the world, but she could make it prettier! 

Walking back through the woods, she stepped into the lobby.  Their father was laying on the sofa, snoring and….good grief, he smelled bad! 

“I know,” Jenna sighed.  “But at least he waited until we had some guests for the night before he passed out.”

Ava turned away from the repulsive sight of their father snoring away.  “Why does he drink so much?” she asked as she reached under the counter for the vase she’d made in art class last year.  She filled it with water, then placed the daisies in the water, fluffing the flowers until they looked “right”. 

“I don’t know.”  Jenna replied with a deep sigh, then glared resentfully at her father for another moment.  “Maybe you could decorate him with some flowers?” she teased.

Ava smiled at the possibilities, then turned away from their father’s pathetic snoring.  “What time is mom coming back?”

Jenna slid off the bar stool they used when anyone “worked the counter” as they all called it when one of them stayed in the front lobby area to greet incoming guests. 

“She should be back already,” Jenna replied.  She pushed open the laundry room door and transferred the now-clean sheets to the dryer.  She then loaded the dirty towels into the washing machine, added soap, then bleach, then turned on the machine before coming back out. 

“She’s looking worse, isn’t she?” Ava whispered, trying to hide the desolation and terror in her voice.  Instead of dwelling on the confusion over their mother’s health, Ava did what she always did when life’s punishments started to overwhelm her.  She pulled out her backpack and both girls started their homework, pretending that the world was beautiful and perfect instead of the panic-filled plight of their current existence.

Ava flipped to the correct chapter in her math textbook, smoothing her hand over the page.  “She’s going to be okay though.  I know it.”    

“Yeah,” Jenna replied in an equally tired voice.  They worked on their homework for the next few hours, only taking a break to have some dry cereal for dinner.  They hadn’t gotten to the grocery store for milk yet.

Ava flipped the page on her math book.  “I hate math,” she grumbled.

“It’s necessary,” Jenna replied without looking up from her algebra text book.  She was working through the problems on her homework, easily finishing the current day’s assignment, then moving on to the next page.  She quickly figured out the next chapter’s lesson and did the homework for that chapter as well.  She never knew if she’d have time to do her homework at night, so she always worked ahead of the teacher.  Next, she started her English assignment.  It was a paper on Canterbury Tales.  She only had to summarize one of the stories and give examples of foreshadowing.  Jenna wished that her teachers would challenge her once in a while.  Science homework was next and she did three chapters for that subject. 

She didn’t realize that it was nearly eight o’clock at night until her mother stepped into the lobby.  Jenna looked up and noticed her mother looked even more exhausted than she had this morning. 

“Mom!” Jenna gasped, jumping up from the chair and coming around to the other side of the counter.  “What’s wrong?”

Ava jumped off of her stool as well, rushing over and wrapping her skinny arms around her mother’s waist.  “What’s wrong, Momma?” Ava whispered, her voice choking on the fear that was causing her to feel nauseous. 

Bethany reached out and forced her lips into a smile.  “Oh, nothing dears,” she said, touching Ava’s hair and lovingly teasing Jenna’s upturned nose.  “I’m going to lie down for a nap.  Can you watch the desk for a bit longer?”

“Of course,” Ava assured her. 

Both daughters watched as their mother walked slowing into the other room. 

“She’s sick,” Ava announced in a dead voice.

Jenna nodded, but neither girl knew what to do about it.  Before they settled back down to read, each of them glanced at their father.  He was still snoring. 

“At least when he’s sleeping, he isn’t drinking,” Jenna muttered.  Ava agreed. Neither Jenna nor Ava commented on the harsh reality that their mother was dying.

Chapter 3

 

2 years later…

Jenna held back the tears but couldn’t stop her chin from wobbling.  “You will come back, right?”

Felix pulled her into his arms, ignoring the stench of exhaust fumes of the bus depot as they all stood off to the side as the other travelers loaded onto the bus.  “As soon as I can, Jenna!” he assured her.  “I’m only joining the Navy.  Not traveling to the moon.”

None of them mentioned that Pierce had gone off to Harvard and rarely came back.  Pierce worked at a bar in Boston and earned relatively good tips, but he couldn’t always afford to drive back for holidays or summer breaks.  He tried.  They all knew that Pierce tried.  But it was hard and money was tight. 

Now Felix was leaving as well.  Jenna knew that this would be a good thing for her brother, but that didn’t make the ache of losing him any better. 

Jenna pulled out of his arms and made space so that Ava could hug him as well.  Ava didn’t bother to hide her tears.  “You’re going to do great in the Navy, Felix!” she whispered, hugging him tightly. 

“Thanks!” Felix muttered, feeling as if he were abandoning his sisters in the town’s desolate bus depot. 

He pulled back as well, the bus driver calling out his name.  “I’ll send money too.  I promise!”

Ava and Jenna stood next to each other, neither touching.  What had happened to the two sisters who had laughed and talked, done their homework while sitting next to each other?  They seemed to be strangers now. 

“You’re going to be fine!” Felix assured them again.

Jenna and Ava nodded.  “We’ll be great!” Jenna assured him. 

“Halliday!  Time to go!” an impatient voice called out. 

Felix cringed, wishing that he’d never done this.  He shouldn’t have joined the Navy.  He should have stayed and helped out at the hotel.  After their mother’s passing a year ago, all of them had been devastated, but also resigned to their fate. 

But he’d wanted something better, something new!  The Navy was his chance to be something more, something better.  He had to do this.  The Navy was his answer to his life’s goal! 

He looked into identical blue eyes, trying to reassure himself as well as his sisters.  “I’ll be back as soon as I get my first leave.  Stay safe, okay?” he said, reaching out and hugging both of them one more time.

And then he turned, hurrying to the bus without another glance.  He sat down on the opposite side of the bus so he wouldn’t see their faces as the bus pulled away.  Was he doing the right thing? 

Yes, he had to believe that.  Soon, Pierce would be done with college and he’d come back.  He’d fix all the broken stuff in his sisters lives.  This was right.  He would be making so much more money in the Navy than he ever could in the small town where they lived.  No, he couldn’t even say that they lived in the small town.  The Hallidays lived on the edge of town, outcasts, treated no better than vagrants.  He couldn’t live with the humiliation any longer. 

He’d send money and he’d come back to fix things.  He could do this!  He had to do this! 

 

Jenna watched as the bus pulled out of the parking lot.  It was painful, but she knew that this was best for Felix. 

Her brother was a big guy, too big for their small town.  He was straining to live here and she knew that he was dreadfully unhappy.  Ever since Pierce had left and their mother had died, Felix had been absolutely miserable.  The day Felix had come back from signing the papers, committing his life to the Navy, Jenna had been praying that he’d come back alive! But she couldn’t deny that there had been a bounce to his step, an occasional smile ever since he’d made the decision to join the Navy.  His eyes had brightened and…and he’d been almost happy! 

“He’s going to be okay, right?” Ava whispered as they both watched the bus pull out of the depot, leaving behind several broken hearts and a stream of black, sickening smoke. 

At eleven years old, Ava still seemed like the baby of the family.  She spent a lot of time on social media and painted whenever she could afford supplies, which was rarely.  She went off with her phone to do…whatever it was that she did, spending hours away from the hotel.  Sometimes she didn’t come back until after dark and then she slipped into the small room they shared together, only to get back onto her phone as soon as she was snuggled into her sad-looking bed. 

Jenna resented Ava’s freedom.  Jenna was the one who stayed by the hotel, greeting the guests, doing the laundry, hiding the money from their father, and cleaning the rooms after the guests left in the morning.  Felix had done a bunch of repairs to the rooms and the buildings before he’d left, but it was Jenna who did the bulk of the work and she hated the hotel business!  She wanted to go off to school and study…?  What?  At thirteen, all she wanted to study was…? 

Jenna sighed, hating her life.  She was hungry, but that was the norm.  There was more money now that she’d started to hide the cash and credit card receipts from her father, but she still missed the fish that Pierce had caught every weekend, cut up and froze for the week.  She knew how to catch fish now, but she hated every moment of the fishing process.  It was tediously boring waiting for the stupid fish to bite, plus gutting the fish up was revolting!  Right now, all she wanted to do was hide under the blanket that Ava had sewn for her and pretend that her life was good and fun, free of the oppressive responsibilities of running a run-down motel on the edge of the highway. 

When the last bit of black smoke dissipated into the air, Jenna sighed heavily.  “Let’s go home, Ava,” she whispered.  Both girls turned and started walking.  Jenna counted the days until she could drive.  One thousand, ninety-two days until she could get her driver’s license. 

It was an hour’s walk back to the hotel.  Thankfully, it was only two o’clock in the afternoon.  So the evening travelers hadn’t stopped for the night. 

“What took you girls so long?” their father asked, adding a burp and a belly scratch as he came out of the back room. 

“We walked slowly,” Ava said, adding a sniff as she pulled out her homework.  “You smell, Dad,” she added.

Morris Halliday glared at Ava.  Jenna tensed, wondering if he was going to smack her.  He’d hit Felix and Pierce often enough, but he’d never hit either daughter before. 

Jenna breathed a sigh of relief when he turned his rheumy eyes toward her.  “You hiding money again, girl?”

Jenna sighed and turned away from him.  “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Dad.”

He laughed and Jenna spun around and Ava gasped, both girls horrified at the fury on their father’s disgusting features.

Their father sneered, holding up a wad of cash.  “I’m talking about the five hundred dollars I just found in your mattress!”

Jenna’s stomach clenched with dread.  They’d had six guests last Friday and Saturday night.  The money in their father’s hand was the cash she kept safe for emergencies.  And Lord knew that there were always emergencies in this business! 

Ava hissed, “That’s not your money!”

Their father laughed again and the sound grated on Jenna’s nerves like nails down a chalkboard.  Morris scratched his stomach and reached down to grab something.  It was a backpack.  Jenna’s school backpack! 

“You girls have a nice life,” he snapped, his words slurring a bit.  “I’m outta here.” 

And he walked out of the lobby, stepped into his old, rusty pickup truck and drove away. 

Jenna and Ava stared through the large window at the disappearing truck, both of them trembling with abject terror.  Their father was a complete waste of air, but…but he’d been their dad!  How could he just…drive away?  No, not just drive away.  The jerk had stolen their emergency funds, then driven away! 

“He isn’t really gone, is he?” Ava whispered, her voice vibrating as fear tickled her mind. 

Jenna wasn’t sure what to say.  She suspected that their father really was gone.  They stood there for another ten minutes, waiting for him to drive back and demand dinner. 

At that thought, Jenna straightened, resolution and determination in her stiffly erect shoulders now.  “I hope he’s gone!” she hissed. 

Ava’s blue eyes swiveled towards her.  “Why?  We’re alone now!”

Jenna was terrified, but wasn’t going to show it.  “We’re not alone, Ava.  We have each other!  And now that Dad is gone, we won’t have to worry about him stealing the money or chasing away the customers.”

Ava blinked, her big, blue eyes too wide and terrified for tears.  “But…?”

“I know,” Jenna whispered trying to sound reassuring as she laid a hand on Ava’s shoulder.  “I know.  But we’ll be okay.”  She looked down at her sister.  “We’re going to be strong, Ava.  Just like Pierce.  He was scared when he left for college, but he did it anyway.  And Felix, he was scared too.  He might not have shown it, but he was terrified.”  She swallowed back the tears that started to form in the back of her eyes.  “We’re going to be strong and competent, just like Felix and Pierce, right?”

Ava’s lower lip quivered for a moment, then she straightened up as well.  “Yes!”  She turned and looked at the empty street.  “He always smelled.  And he farted a lot.”

Jenna laughed, but the laugh sounded a bit hysterical.  She pulled Ava close. “We’re going to be okay, Ava,” she promised.  She wasn’t exactly sure how that state of mind was going to happen, but she’d get there. 

 

Ava watched as Jenna loaded up the next batch of sheets into the washing machine.  They needed more guests and the only way that was going to happen was if people knew about their hotel.  Stepping out of the lobby, she walked around to the front and examined the building.  Retro, she thought.  Yes, everyone wanted retro lately.  Retro signs and décor were all over social media right now. 

She moved around the parking lot and, finally laid down on her back.  She took out her phone and snapped several pictures, wanting to get some interesting angles.  In the bright, afternoon sunshine, the image looked pretty good. But she suspected that the image of their hotel sign might be better at dusk.  For the moment, she pulled up her phone and created a new social media account.  A moment later, she posted the photo and added the hashtags needed. 

She stepped into the first hotel room and, after switching things around a bit, she took down the lamps and brought them to her art table.  After a few minutes of painting, the newly black and white lamp stands looked one hundred percent better!  Gone was the orangish wood that was so popular in the eighties.  The black and white colors of the lamp stands looked…retro and stylish! 

Then she took the night stands. They were easy enough to lift because they were small and cheap.  But she used the black paint left over from one of Felix’s projects and painted over the plastic, faux-wood.  When they were dry, she moved them back into the room.  The night stands were still a bit tacky to the touch, but hopefully, they wouldn’t have any guests until the weekend.  Looking around, Ava estimated that had about three days to dress up this room and make it feel…warmer.  Yes, that was the goal.  All of the rooms needed to be more inviting, more interesting.   

Turning, she surveyed the main wall of the room.  It was white and obnoxiously boring.  Felix had painted the wall to look clean, but Ava decided that they couldn’t do “just clean” anymore.  This was a roadside motel.  They had to be special in order to lure the guests here.  Their hotel had to stand out among all of the other options along the highway!  It had to! 

Terror almost choked her but she kept going.  Taking one of her paint brushes, she drew a colorful mural on the wall.  It took her three hours, but by the time she stepped back to look at it, the wall had trees and small animals in the branches.  It looked…odd, but daring.  She surveyed the bed.  There wasn’t anything she could do about the bedspread.  Jenna was slowly buying new sheets and comforters.  But she could definitely make some interesting pillows.  She’d watched videos on how to make pillows without needing a sewing machine. 

Heading to her room, she took some thread and one of the old men’s shirts she’d bought for two dollars at the thrift shop.  She’d intended to transform them into a new dress.  But pillows for the guest room would be a better, hopefully more profitable, use of the material. 

Turning the shirt around several times, she cut and shaped until she had it exactly the way she wanted it.  When she was done, the pillow looked like exactly what it was; a button down shirt stuffed into the shape of the pillow.  It was perfect!  She did the same with a pair of Felix’s jeans.  She figured if he left them, Felix wouldn’t need them for a while.  By the end of the day, her fingers hurt, the muscles in her arms cramped up and all she wanted to do was fall into bed and curl into a ball.  Instead, she walked outside and took more pictures.  She caught the neon lights of their “retro” motel and smiled with accomplishment.  Then she walked into the newly decorated guest room, attempting to capture the newest aspects of the quirky design.  Then she posted those images to the new social media accounts. 

Rushing down the sidewalk, she burst into the lobby.  Jenna’s eyes widened and Ava wondered if her sister thought that she’d walked away as well.

“Where have you been?” Jenna snapped.

Ava ignored her sister’s sharp tone and waved her hand.  “Come with me,” she said.  “I’ve been working on Room One all afternoon.  Let me know what you think.”

She grabbed Jenna’s hand and pulled her down the outside sidewalk, then stood back to let her sister step into the room.  When Jenna stood in the middle of the room, silently turning as she took in the effect of the new mural and other quirky décor she’d added to the room, Ava started to become nervous.  “Do you hate it?” she asked, unconsciously twisting her hands together. 

Jenna turned, looking over at Ava.  “You did all this just in one day?”

Ava nodded. “ Yeah.  I figured that…well, if the rooms were a bit…more interesting and less…generic…maybe people would remember us and stop here every time they drove through.  We could become a destination instead of just a roadside hotel.”

Jenna turned again, taking it all in.  Slowly, she nodded, smiling at the new decor.  When she looked over at Ava again, she smiled and nodded.  “I think it’s brilliant.”

Ava released a breath she hadn’t known she’d been holding.  “Thanks.  I was…you know…worried.”

Jenna smiled gently, walking over to Ava and hugged her lightly.  “I think you’re brilliant.” 

They walked back to the lobby side by side, but not touching.  Were they too afraid of touching each other?  Were hugs and teasing elbows to the ribs no longer a thing?  Ava’s heart ached but she didn’t reach out to hug Jenna.  Both of them felt a bit…fragile at the moment.  In the past twenty-four hours, they’d lost their brother and father.  At this moment, everything in life felt fragile. 

Later that night, Ava walked down to the lake.  The sun was low in the sky now.  She snapped a few more pictures with the sunset reflecting off of the glassy surface of the lake, then posted those to the new social media account as well.  She could walk out a bit further onto the lake since Felix had extended the deck.  But she remained in place, watching as the sun dipped lower and lower, eventually disappearing.  The world looked…peaceful now. 

She was hungry, but too afraid of going inside to eat.  What if there wasn’t any food? What if they couldn’t catch any fish for dinner tomorrow?  Instead, she ignore her hunger, wanting to sit out in the peaceful twilight and just let the silence of the lake wash over her. 

 

Pierce grabbed the dirty beer glasses and dunked them in the soapy water, scrubbed them for several moments, then rinsed them off.  The whole time, he was surveying the customers still lingering at the bar, anticipating who might need a refill and looking at the customers’ faces to determine who wanted to be left alone. 

The night was still young and he hoped they’d get slammed again tonight.  He needed the tips.  His tuition, room and board were covered here at university, but he wanted to send some money back to Ava and Jenna, plus, he needed some cash for his textbooks.  The guilt at leaving them, at not being able to afford to come back for their mother’s funeral, ate at him like a burning acid. 

“Another?” one of his customers called out.

Pierce moved efficiently to the other side of the bar and mixed the drink, then added it to the guy’s tab.  “Here you go,” he said, constantly scanning the room. 

An hour later, the bar was packed.  There were four bartenders working that night, but none hustled as fast or as hard as Pierce.  Perhaps none of them had a funeral to help pay for.  It didn’t matter.

When midnight struck and his shift was over, Pierce was worn out.  But it had been a good night.  He had three hundred dollars he could send back to his sisters.  Strolling back to the dorms, he breathed in the cool, night air, wondering if the lake back home was shimmering under the moonlight.  Or was it a cloudy night?  He missed home!  When he’d left three years ago, he’d been so relieved to put that dump of a hotel in his past.  But now that he’d been gone, he missed the place. 

Correction, he missed his sisters.  He missed Felix.  Pierce missed the terror of watching Felix climb onto a roof or dangle from some odd angle, watching as he repaired something.  He missed Ava’s sweet smiles and Jenna’s too-knowing eyes.  He didn’t miss the hunger or the clawing desperation that was everyday life.  But he missed…all of it.

Laying down on his bed, he stared up at the ceiling.  As a resident advisor, he had his own room, although it wasn’t much bigger than a prison cell.  But it was his.  Glancing at the time, he forced his eyes to close.  He had an exam in a few hours.  Also, he wanted to grab more books on hotel management from the library.  He was going for a degree in business, however, his main goal was to go back home and run a hotel.  He wouldn’t help his father run the place back home.  Not a chance in hell would he help that man drink himself to death.  But he liked the idea of buying up a small hotel chain and making the business one of the best in the world.  He had ideas…lots of ideas.  He just needed to figure out how to get the capital to buy his first hotel.  Somehow, some way, he was going to do it.  He was going to grow the biggest, best hotel empire in the world. 

Rolling over, he forced his mind to clear so that he could get some sleep.  Exam first.  Empire building later. 

 

Felix swam harder, ignoring the pain in his muscles.  SEAL training was nothing compared to life at home.  The pain of being hungry…that sucked.  Pain of his muscles aching in every part of his body?  Meh.  He could deal with anything after his childhood.  There was no terror that could be worse than being hungry or waiting for someone to kick you in the ribs while you’re sleeping. 

“Slow down!” someone beside him hissed. They both pulled themselves out of the water, then started running towards the next obstacle. 

Felix looked over at the man who looked as if he was ready to pass out. 

“Sorry, buddy,” he said, then reached out to heft the guy over the rope net. 

“Thanks.” 

“Let’s get through this,” Felix whispered.  Both of them raced to the next obstacle. 

They crawled through the mud, but Felix knew that the other guy was struggling.  “I can’t do it!” the shorter man replied

Felix ignored his comment.  “You can!” he growled, then nudged him a bit.  The man started crawling again.  Minutes later, they were up and running once more. 

The next obstacle was a wall.  Felix jumped up, grabbing onto the top of the “wall” and pulled himself over.  Again, his muscles strained, but he ignored the pain.  Actually, he enjoyed the pain.  It felt good to feel his body ache like this.  It was a new sensation and he enjoyed the challenge. 

Once he was at the top, he looked down and saw the guy doubled over.

“Give me your hand,” Felix ordered, reaching down. 

The guy looked up at him.  There was doubt in his eyes and Felix wiggled his fingers. “Come on.  You can do it!”

The man shook his head.  “I can’t!” he replied.  “I’m out.”

Felix watched as several others in the training group rushed up to them.  “He thinks he’s done,” Felix told the others.

Four men chuckled, then hefted the shorter man up and Felix grabbed his arm.  Felix pulled him over, then helped him jump to the other side.  Then he reached down and helped the other four men.  Moments later, the six of them were running towards the next obstacle.  With everyone’s help, including the shorter man, who bent down to his hands and knees, allowing the others to use him as a step, got over every damn obstacle that the SEAL trainers put in front of them. 

By the end of the obstacle course, all twenty men and women were gasping for breath, but feeling triumphant. 

Felix walked over to the man.  “My sisters are back in Seattle waiting for my father to hit them,” he muttered under his breath as the trainers harangued various individuals.  “They never have enough food to eat.  They never have money for anything extra.”  He took a deep breath as he dug deep.  “My two younger sisters deal with the ridicule of their school mates every, damn day!”  He looked down at the other man.  “And yet, they continue to move forward.  They aren’t just surviving, my baby sisters are going to effing thrive!”  He glared at the man, willing him to learn the lesson.

“I won’t let you down again!” the shorter man replied, then stuck out his hand to shake it.  The four men who had joined in during the obstacle course walked up to the duo.  All of them silently nodded their thanks for the help. 

From that moment forward, the six of them were a team.

Chapter 4

 

“Anyone home?”

Jenna jumped out of the laundry room, her eyes wide as she stared at the man standing in the lobby.  She stared, her mouth hanging open as she took in the appearance of her ginormous huge brother standing in the lobby as he looked around, stunned by the changes.  Felix had been a big guy before he’d left for the Navy, but he was even bigger now!  The muscles were packed onto his shoulders and arms, his waist tight with muscles and he looked…good! 

“What the hell happened to this place?” Felix demanded, a huge grin on his handsome features. 

“You’ve grown taller!” Jenna said, then yelped as she rushed across the lobby to throw herself into his arms.  “Felix!” she sobbed.  “It’s so great to see you!”

Felix laughed as he wrapped his arms around her, hugging her close.  “Where’s Ava?”

“She’s somewhere, taking pictures I suppose,” Jenna replied, pulling back to look up at her brother.  “Goodness, you look awesome!”

He laughed again and turned, revealing five other big men ranging in size, but all of them shorter than Felix.  “I’d like to introduce you to my co-workers,” he said.  “This is Jones, Buck, Coop, Billy and Milo.”

Jenna smiled at each of the tall men, feeling a bit intimidated by their size.  Just like Felix and Pierce, they were all over six feet tall and just as brawny. 

“All, this is Jenna, the older of my two sisters.”

Each of the men called out various greetings and Jenna blushed.  At thirteen, she was just starting to notice men, but she’d been too wary of the boys at school to say anything to them.  Also, she was still considered the “poor girl” who lived outside of town.  She was a social parahia, so none of the boys really showed any interest in her. 

These men all looked very handsome, and yet, she still shrank back, folding her arms over herself. 

“Ava’s probably down by the lake taking pictures,” Jenna explained, pulling back from Felix’s hug. 

“Why is she taking pictures?” Felix asked.

One of the other men was looking around at the new look of the lobby.  He pointed his finger in the air, tapping it as if trying to remember something.  “Dude!  I’ve seen this place,” Buck announced, looking around.  “I think I’ve seen…” he peered out the window and nodded. “Yeah!  I’ve definitely seen this place!”

Felix ignored his friend and focused on Ava.  Buck hadn’t ever visited Washington state, so there wasn’t any way that any of his friends could have seen their “cozy” little motel. 

“How is business?” Felix asked Jenna, ignoring his friend while he pulled out his phone. 

Jenna grinned.  “It’s been really good lately,” she admitted.  “Ava has been making a lot of changes.  Go look at the rooms.”

Felix pulled his gaze away from the text message he’d been reading, his eyes narrowing on Jenna’s grinning features.  “What’s she done?” Felix asked. 

“Yeah!” Coop interrupted. “Check this out.”  He lifted his phone, turning it around.  “You guys are viral!”

Felix stared at Jenna for a long moment, then turned to look at what his friends were showing him.  “What’s this?”

Jenna shrugged. “Ava has put us on social media, Felix.  People have started to visit here on purpose lately.”  She grinned and leaned against the countertop.  “We’re booked up in advance for the weekends now.”

“Booked up?” he asked, pulling his eyes away from Coop’s phone.  “What the hell?”

She waved her hand towards the doorway.  “Go check out the rooms.  Ava is pretty brilliant with color.”

Felix stared at Jenna for a long moment, then he turned and walked out of the office.  Ten minutes later, he came back into the lobby, his friends all trailing after him.  “Wow!” he whispered.  The four other guys were standing outside, pointing at something.  “The rooms are…transformed!”  He swiveled his head, suddenly taking note of other changes.  “But more than that, they look a hell of a lot cleaner than they used to!”

Jenna’s heart warmed at his praise.  “I also changed banks, although I admit,” she leaned forward, whispering in a conspiratorial tone, “I forged your signature.”  She straightened again, standing tall, her features determined.  “I thought about forging Dad’s signature, but I wasn’t going to risk him coming back into town and taking over the business again.”

Felix’s eyes narrowed and his entire demeanor turned hard.  “Can he do that?”

Jenna shook her head.  “Nope.”  She proudly lifted her chin in the air.  “Remember the money that I set aside to pay the property taxes the last three years in a row?”

“Don’t!” Felix groaned, rubbing his forehead with one hand.  “He didn’t pay the taxes, did he?”

“Nope,” she replied, trying to hide the bitter memories.  “But that turns out to be a good thing in the end.  Because he didn’t pay the taxes, I was able to pay them under our names.  That means that the money you and Pierce have mailed to me, as well as our success in luring more guests, helped me pay the taxes.  It was just about to be auctioned off when I paid the taxes.  That means that this hotel is now ours, full and completely.  Dad can’t come back and take it away from us.”

Felix’s head whipped around and he stared down at Jenna.  “Come back?”

Jenna waved her hand.  “You know what I mean.  He’s out of town at the moment, but this is ours.  It’s our business.”

Felix laughed and pulled her in for another hug.  “You’re freaking amazing, Jenna!” he told her, then kissed the top of her head. 

“Hey, Cat-Man!  I have a really awesome idea!”

Felix pulled away from Jenna and walked out of the lobby. “What?” he asked. 

Coop pointed to a relatively flat space near the end of the line of hotel rooms.  “What if we built a cabin over there.  Just a small one.  The land in that area is flat, but if we put it up on stilts just like we did for that operation in…” he paused, grinning as they all shared a secret, “well, the place we weren’t supposed to be…” he stopped and looked at the other guys, all of whom were thinking along the same lines.  “Anyway – we could do the same thing right there, but you could use it as a guest house, right?” 

Coop looked to the others.  “Think we could build that thing again?  But better?”

The others stared at the area, slow grins forming on their rugged features.  All of them nodded, eager for the challenge.  But they turned to look at Felix, waiting for his opinion. 

Felix considered the possibilities.  He did some quick, mental calculations, then nodded.  “I like the idea!” he said.  His mind working, he considered additional options.  “What if we added a sloped roof and made it look like those houses in that movie we watched two weeks ago.  You know the one that looks like elves or something live in it?”

His friends were all on board with the idea and fifteen minutes later, they piled into the rental mini-van they’d driven up here in and headed to the hardware store. 

With all six of them working on the structure, they put the finishing touches on the small building in just three days.  There was even electricity, insulation and running water.  As Navy SEALs, the guys knew how to rig things in a crunch and they worked fast.  In this instance, they overbuilt the structure so that they could maybe add onto it in the future. 

By the end of the day on the third night, they were all laughing around the fire pit that they’d decided to build and the guests who had arrived to stay that night were all amazed at the newest building and laughing around the fire as well. 

 

Ava sat by the fire that evening, listening to the men laughing.  It was the first time that they’d had repeat guests and she felt a warm glow of success start to simmer inside of her.  All ten rooms were booked for the coming weekend. 

This was working, she thought.  She and Jenna weren’t going to starve!  They even had a bit of money in the bank, their emergency stash rebuilt.  They weren’t keeping cash in a mattress anymore.  They’d learned their lesson when their father had walked out on them. 

Neither Felix nor Pierce knew that their father had left them.  She and Jenna had talked about it and suspected that Felix would demand that they sell the property and move with him to San Diego.  Neither of them wanted to leave this place.  It felt safe for some stupid reason that neither of them completely understood.

Chapter 5

 

“We can’t, Ava,” Jenna replied, feeling the tight pain in her chest.  “I wish there was some way we could, but it’s just not possible.”

Fourteen year old Ava stared at her sister, wishing that she could come up with some argument to convince her sister.  The only thing she could say was, “But Pierce is graduating from Harvard!” she said with a heavy plea in her voice.  “With honors!”

They were sitting around the fire pit, but Jenna hadn’t started the fire tonight.  It was mid-week and only half the rooms were booked for the night.  Jenna had a policy that she only lit up the fire pit when they were seventy-five percent full.  If they were one hundred percent booked up, she’d bring out marshmallows for roasting. 

“I know,” Jenna hissed.  She looked over at Ava.  “But if we go, who will take care of the hotel?”

Ava bit her lip, trying to think of someone who could check in the guests and manage all of the issues that inevitably cropped up during a busy weekend.  It was late May, and all of the ten guest rooms and the newest guest cabins that Felix and his friends had built were booked for the weekend, starting on Friday night.  Whoever would take over would need to wash all the sheets, remake the beds and clean every inch of all twenty rooms and cabins.  They had hired additional help on Saturday and Sunday mornings now, but the bulk of the work was done by Jenna and Ava. 

Jenna reached out but didn’t touch Ava’s arm.  They rarely hugged each other now.  They were just too busy with school, cleaning, working and the accounting problems that Jenna dealt with.  Ava was constantly taking new pictures and posting them online.  When she wasn’t marketing, she took the bus to the surrounding towns, or when she was really adventurous, into downtown Seattle, so that she could buy quirky, new items for the guest rooms. 

However, she hadn’t quite figured out how she and Jenna, or one of them, could travel across the United States so that they could attend Pierce’s graduation from Harvard University.  Pierce would be all alone when he crossed the stage to get his degree.  All alone as he looked out at the audience, thinking that his family didn’t care.  

“He’ll know,” Jenna said, interrupting Ava’s thoughts. 

Ava looked up, her eyes sad.  “How will he know?”

Jenna sighed, her fingers fiddling with the stick she’d picked up earlier.  “We’ll call him,” she promised. 

Ava perked up.  “That’s something, right?  At least he’ll know that we were thinking of him!”

Jenna smiled.  “Yes.  He’ll know we were thinking of him.”

“Thinking of who?” a male voice called out.

Jenna and Ava jerked around, startled when they saw Pierce walking towards them down the new, stone path.  “Pierce!” Ava cried out, jumping off of the log to run over to her brother.  She threw herself into his arms, hugging him with all of her strength.  “You’re here!”   She pulled back, staring up at him. “Why are you here? You’re supposed to be graduating this weekend!”

He laughed, pulling her to his side as he looked at Jenna.  “Well, it would have cost me another three hundred dollars to walk during graduation.  I figured that the three hundred dollars could be better spent here at the hotel.”  He looked around, shaking his head.  “What the hell has happened over the past three years?  Everything looks…amazing!”

Jenna grinned, turning to survey the work she, Felix and Ava had done.  “Well, while you’ve been taking classes non-stop, even during the summer months, we’ve been able to clean things up and…” she shrugged, proud of their efforts.  “We’ve made a profit for the first time,” she said, whispering the words as if speaking them too loudly might jinx their luck.  “We’ve worked hard.  Ava is brilliant at decorating and marketing.  She’s gotten over one million followers on most of the social media sites.”

Pierce pointed towards the small, oddly shaped buildings.  “Who built those?”

“Felix and his SEAL buddies come here whenever they need a break from the stress of their super-secret missions to save the world. They enjoy building crazy guest cabins.” She pointed towards the designs that Felix had sent to them earlier this morning.  “He’s done three cabins that require a zip line to access.”  She then turned, pointing towards the cabin in the middle of the lake. “That’s one of our most-booked cabins.”  She grinned up at him.  “Guests have to take a rowboat out to that one.” 

Pierce swiveled around, narrowing his eyes to see through the night towards the cabin.  There really was a cabin about fifty yards from the shore.  Right now, it was visible only because of the lights shimmering through the night. 

When he looked back at Ava, he chuckled in surprise.  “People like staying in cabins that are hard to get to?” Pierce asked, his eyes taking in all of the crazy new guest cabins.

“Apparently,” Ava laughed.  She jumped up and down.  “Want to try out the zip line?  We have a pulley system to get supplies to it.  We have to use it every time we need to clean the cabins.”

“Felix…he built a zip line?”  He chuckled, once again shaking his head.  “What was he thinking?” Pierce whispered, still stunned with amazement. 

“We’re a destination, Pierce,” Jenna explained.  “Gone are the days when we were just a roadside hotel where a few people would pause to spend the night.  Now, with the lake and the new cabins, plus Ava’s incredible new room décor that changes whenever she gets an inkling to do something new, we’re a place that people actually want to visit instead of just a place that people need to sleep.”

Pierce nodded, then looked at his sisters.  “Where’s Dad?  Is he still drinking?”

Ava pulled away and walked back to perch on one of the logs surrounding the fire pit.  “Dad left.  A while ago.”

Pierce looked at Jenna, confusion apparent on his features, even in the dim light.  “He just…walked away?”

Jenna shrugged.  “Well, he stole the five hundred dollars that I’d stashed out of the way, then drove off.  He didn’t just walk away.  He robbed us first.”

He fisted his hands on his hips, glaring at his sisters. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Jenna’s chin went up defiantly.  “I made the decision not to tell you, Pierce.”

There was a long silence, then he rasped out, “Care to explain why?”

Jenna’s chin wobbled slightly.  But she was determined.  “Because I didn’t want you to know.  If you’d heard that Dad had walked away, then you would have come home.  You would have dropped out of Harvard and come back here to help out.”

He jerked his head in a snap of a nod.  “Damn right I would have!”

Jenna’s arms crossed over her chest and she stared right back at her oldest brother.  “Well, I made the decision not to tell you that he was gone.”  She shifted on her feet, but didn’t look away.  “Not even Felix knows.  He thinks that Dad just leaves every once in a while.”

Pierce glared at her.  “Why, Jenna?” he asked softly. 

She sighed and pushed her fingers behind her ears with her fingers, then stuffed her hands into the pockets of her jeans.  “Because Dad was holding us back, Pierce,” she explained softly.  “I study.  All the time!  I get books out of the library and study business.”  She gestured towards the rooms.  “Ava knows how to market and decorate.  Felix and his friends, their new cabins, they’ve expanded our revenue potential.”  She used the words she’d learned while reading all of her business text books from the library.  “We were scared initially, but Ava and I are fine now.  We can do this.”  She tightened her jaw before saying, “We don’t need Dad.”

“Jenna,” Pierce said, rubbing the back of his neck.  “You’ve done all of this work, but Dad could still come back. This is his place.  He owns it.”

She stiffened, angry at his condescending tone.  “No, he can’t.  He didn’t pay the property taxes on the place.” 

Pierce threw his hands in the air, frustration apparent in his dark features.  “That just means that anyone could pay those taxes and then they’d own the hotel!  Great!”

Jenna stomped her foot.  “No!  Don’t assume that I’m stupid, Pierce.  I paid the taxes!  I paid them out of the money you and Felix sent back to us, plus the money Ava and I were able to earn through working the guest rooms and cabins!”  She took a deep breath, trying to calm down, then continued.  “I’ve set up a limited liability partnership where all four of us are equal partners.  We all own twenty-five percent of the land and hotel.”  She glared up at her brother, daring him to challenge her again. 

When he simply stared at her, she held her breath.  After several moments, he looked around.  Silent for a long time, he walked around the fire pit.  Pierce picked up a stick, using it to sift through the ashes in the fire pit.  No of them said anything for a long time. 

Finally, Pierce broke the silence.  “We could expand.” 

Jenna wasn’t sure what he meant.  “How?”

Ava appeared out of the darkness.  “We don’t have enough money to expand.”  She sat down on the log that Jenna had previously vacated, then looked up at Pierce. 

Pierce turned, his eyes sharp.  The intelligence was there in his eyes as it always had been, but there was an edge to it now. 

“I took classes during the summer months as well as the regular semesters so that I could finish early,” he explained, sitting down next to Ava.  He clasped his hands together, resting his elbows on his knees.  “If we really own this property outright, we could leverage the hotel in order to invest in another site.  We’d use the equity in this place to buy up another hotel.”

Jenna’s heart thudded against her chest.  “How would we do that?  We don’t know how to leverage a property.” 

He looked at her.  “I do.  It’s what I studied at Harvard. My plan was to never come back here.  I was going to work my way up in some other place, make my mark somehow.”  He swirled his finger around, indicating the land and the cabins.  “But this…if both of you, and Felix, of course, want to grow this business, then I know how to do it.”

Jenna didn’t like the idea initially.  But after Pierce showed her the numbers, Jenna was on board.  “As long as it’s another hotel that makes sense,” she cautioned.  “I can manage the day to day aspects of the business.  But I won’t know what to look for when it comes to finding a place that fits with our business model,” she argued.

Pierce nodded.  “Why don’t you leave that up to me?  I know what to look for.  I know how to dig into the financials of a company to discover if there are any problems.”  He turned to Ava.  “Do you think you can work your marketing and decorating magic on a different hotel site?  Could you make another place as interesting as this?”

Ava bit her lip.  “Yes.  But don’t you want me to do more?  I mean…decorating and taking pictures is pretty simple.”

He laughed and ruffled her hair.  “You’re just really good at it.  That’s why it’s so easy for you.”

 

If you enjoyed this free prologue and want to read more, Ava, Felix, Jenna and Pierce all have their own stories. 

Keep scrolling to enjoy an excerpt from Ava’s story.  Enjoy!

 

Excerpt from “Ava”

Release Date: May 12, 2023

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“I don’t want his help!” Ava hissed, pacing across the lush courtyard filled with trees and flowering bushes. 

And yet, she turned, pressing her hands against her eyes and forehead in a futile effort to find another solution.  “There has to be another way!”

“Perhaps, if you asked nicely, I could offer an alternative.”

The deep, harsh voice and clipped tones stopped her in her tracks.  In fact, the sound stopped her heart.  Before she spun around, Ava prayed that the familiar voice didn’t belong to him!  But when she turned, it was clear her prayers had been ignored. 

“Grant!” Ava whispered, blue eyes wide as she took in the man’s broad shoulders and towering height.  Her two older brothers were several inches over six feet in height, but for some reason, Grant Hanover intimidated her in ways her brothers never had. 

A dark eyebrow lifted as he gazed at her, hands tucked in the pockets of his immaculate, charcoal grey suit.  “You’re surprised to see me?” he asked, tilting his head slightly. “Did you flew twenty-three hundred miles to meet someone else?”

His features were rougher now, she suddenly realized.  Better defined.  His nose was sharper and it had clearly been broken at some point.  His chin had been hidden under a rough beard when she’d last seen him, but he was clean shaven now.  There had always been an aura of intensity, of power, about Grant.  With an unexpected shiver, Ava noticed that it was still there, but it was tempered by…patience?  Intelligence?  Or perhaps it was merely the absolute conviction that he had the ability to crush anyone who dared to put an obstacle in his path?

Focus, she mentally admonished.  Blinking, Ava smoothed a hand down over her outfit, even though she couldn’t remember what she’d donned this morning.  Lifting her chin, she tried to pretend a level of confidence she didn’t feel. 

“I came here to…,” Ava swallowed hard, then abruptly stopped fidgeting.  Staring into his uncompromising features, she wondered if she should admit anything now that she was face to face with him. 

That ominous dark eyebrow lowered, but the sharply intelligent, green gaze narrowed.  Something in his body language subtly shifted, but Ava couldn’t quite define what had changed.  However, his voice was gentler, gruff, but softer as he stated, “You came here to speak with me.  To ask me for help.”

Ava was startled by his calmly worded statement and almost stepped back.  How in the world could he know that?  Ava looked around, searching for the hidden cameras. 

“They aren’t there.  I was arriving just as you walked into the building and I followed you here.  I’ve been listening to you argue with the tree for the past five minutes.”

Ava swallowed again, feeling more than a little foolish.  “It’s a nice tree,” she replied, then barely restrained herself from rolling her eyes at herself. 

“Is it?” he asked, looking up at the tree with sudden interest.  It was a ficus and very leafy, but other than that, there wasn’t anything special about it.  “I’ll mention to my gardener that he’s doing a good job, then.”

His teasing tone reminded her of…too many things.  The memories came rushing back to her and she…Ava sighed heavily, her too-slender shoulders slumping.  “This was a seriously bad idea,” she muttered.  “I’ll head home now.”  She’d lost weight over the past few weeks.  The stress of trying to resolve this problem, and not coming up with any possible solutions, defeated her. 

Before she could reach the exit, his voice stopped her.  “How is Pierce?” he asked, referring to Ava’s oldest brother. 

Confused, she turned back, tilting her head slightly.  “Pierce?” she parroted, confused.  She lifted a shoulder and shook her head slightly.  “He’s…fine, I guess.” 

Grant nodded slightly.  There was an awkward pause.  “He’s still running Halliday Hotels?”

Ava nodded, crossing her arms over her stomach.  “Yes.  We’re up to three hundred hotels and we’re international now.” 

“That’s good.”  He nodded slowly, as if that information was somehow profound.  “Your family had just the one hotel outside of Seattle when we met, correct?”

Instantly, more of those memories flashed through her mind.  The lake and the forests, the terror of those years after everyone left.  One by one, the people in her life had left her.  Her mother had died of cancer.  Pierce had gone to Harvard.  Felix…he’d joined the Navy.  And Grant.  “Yes,” she nodded, her body stiffening with the pain lashing at her from those memories.  “Just the one.  Originally.”

More nodding, but this time, he added a slight uplift of one side of his mouth.  “Impressive.  Your brother had just returned from Harvard at the time, correct?”

She nodded again, gripping her elbows tightly.  “Yes.” She swallowed and, because he just kept standing there, his hands still shoved in his pockets, she added reluctantly, “That was the reason I couldn’t go with you.  Eight years ago.”  She squinted slightly as the sunshine suddenly slipped out from behind a cloud.  “I had to help.”  When he didn’t react, she continued but her tone sounded defensive now.  “We were all struggling back then.”

He nodded once more, a slow, almost disbelieving gesture.  Had his lips tightened?  Ava stared hard, but…he was such a mystery!

“Yes.  I remember that’s the excuse you gave me.”

Instantaneous anger flared and she stepped forward, her hands dropping as her hands fisted by her sides.  Ava wished she could poke him in the middle of his broad, muscular chest.  But she wasn’t brave enough to touch him, so she aimed for the air in front of him.  Daring?  No.  However, Ava was painfully conscious of what used to happen whenever they touched years ago. 

“It wasn’t an ‘excuse’, Grant!” she snapped.  “It was the truth!”  She huffed a bit, then paced for two steps before coming back to glare up at him, needing to make Grant understand.  “Pierce had just graduated.  Jenna and I were barely making a profit at that small, roadside hotel when he came back and started helping with the business.”  And then, “I couldn’t leave then!”

He didn’t nod this time.  He merely stared down at her.  Ava had always hated the fact that she was the shortest in her family.  But that fact was never so irritating as it was now.  Not even her four inch, red heels helped.  At five feet, four inches tall, her heels only brought her up to five-eight.  Grant was still seven or eight inches taller than she was.  Add in the broad muscular shoulders and lean hips, flat stomach and…. 

Ava remembered how stubborn…determined…Grant could be.  She remembered that final argument and the desperation she’d felt when Grant hadn’t understood.  He’d never understood her.  Not really.  He’d come the closest to “getting” her.  But in the end, he’d still left.  Ava hadn’t been enough for him and he’d walked away from her.  From them! 

 

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