Warmth radiated from Erin’s chest and tinted her cheeks as she relished her mother’s affection.
“Why didn’t you call and let me know you were coming? I would have come get you,” Cora said when they separated.
“I wanted to surprise you,” Erin replied, shoving her hands into the pockets of her sweater.
“Well, I’m very much surprised and so happy to see you.” Her mother smiled. “Oh, I’ve missed you so much,” she continued, pulling Erin tightly against her again.
“Mom, you saw me over two weeks ago.” Erin chuckled.
“I know, but that was…”
Erin cast her gaze to her feet as the silence weighed heavily between them. “How is everyone doing?” she finally asked in an attempt to change the subject.
“We’re coping,” Cora replied with a slight upturn of her lips.
Erin’s head bowed in understanding.
“You still haven’t told me how you’re here now. I thought you said this was your busiest time at work,” Cora gently pressed, setting her blue-gray eyes on her daughter.
“It is,” Erin confirmed. Cora’s brows furrowed in question and concern.
“My boss thought it was a good idea for me to take some time away from the office and work remotely. He doesn’t want me to be married to my job, I think,” Erin replied.
Cora’s eyes shone with unasked questions, but she grinned and said, “Your boss is a wise man.”
Erin laughed at this.
“How long are you staying?” she asked.
“Um, a little over a month,” Erin replied. “Why are you smiling like that?” she asked, disturbed by her mother’s ear-splitting grin.
“Are you kidding? I get to have you here for over a month. So, I’m happy,” Cora expressed.
Her mother’s glee brought a smile to Erin’s lips.
“I know Julia will be overjoyed to know you’re here.”
Erin’s heart skipped a beat at the mention of her sister. Their relationship was still strained, and even more so after Julia had forgiven their father for what he did. Out of the two of them, she had imagined that Julia would have been the one to carry the grudge the longest, but she had been proven wrong.
She missed her sister, though, so, so much.
ChapterFour
“Marg, what about this?”
Marg looked up from the reservations book she had been perusing by the front desk to see Andrea holding a swatch of bright pink fabric.
“Mmm, I don’t think that’ll go too well with the whole decor of the room,” she answered.
Andrea stared at the cloth for a long minute, a frown knitting her brows. “You’re right. It doesn’t,” she finally replied. After removing the outdated and peeling wallpaper, painting the walls a soothing tone, and adding wall décor above the beds, they were still deciding on a color scheme for the guest rooms’ bedding and drapes.
“What about this?” Andrea asked, holding up another sample, this time a lavender hue.
Marg closely inspected the fabric and held out her hand for Andrea to give it to her. Andre placed it in her hand, and Marg rubbed it between her fingers.
“This could work. It’s not too heavy, and it’s not too light, but maybe we could get a deeper shade of purple,” she responded.
Andrea nodded. They spent the next half hour going through the samples and planning to add a few more fixtures to the guest rooms.
