Chương 4
It was the short involuntary laugh people make when reality arrives wearing the wrong face.
Kevin did not move.
Joel looked at me.
Then at the lodge.
Then back at me.
“Owner owner?” he asked.
Thomas glanced at him.
“Yes, sir.”
Joel nodded slowly.
“Okay.”
Patricia finally spoke.
“That is not possible.”
I looked at her.
There it was.
Not How?
Not Since when?
Not Why didn’t you tell me?
Impossible.
Thomas said, “Meridian Crest Group acquired Crestwater Ridge two years ago.”
My mother’s eyes stayed on me.
“I know who Meridian Crest is.”
Apparently she did.
That surprised me.
Davina turned toward her.
“You do?”
“It was in Southern Living.”
Thomas corrected her gently.
“Several publications covered the acquisition.”
Patricia ignored him.
“Mara doesn’t own Meridian Crest.”
I felt something cold settle in my chest.
It was absurd that the sentence hurt after everything else.
But contempt from your mother has a way of remaining intimate no matter how old you become.
“I founded it,” I said.
“No.”
Kevin finally moved.
He leaned back from the table and stared at me with an expression I had never seen on his face before.
“You founded Meridian Crest?”
“Yes.”
“The hotel group?”
“Yes.”
“The one that bought the Ashford properties?”
“We bought three of them.”
He swore quietly.
Patricia looked at him.
“Kevin.”
“What?”
“Language.”
He gave her a stunned look.
“Mom, I think we’ve passed language.”
Davina was already searching her phone.
I could tell by the rapid movement of her thumb.
That bothered me more than it should have.
She had known me for thirty-four years.
Now she needed a search engine.
Thomas shifted toward me.
“Ms. Sutton, I can handle the accommodations.”
“No.”
Everyone looked at me.
I heard how hard the word sounded.
Thomas understood before anyone else did.
He stepped back.
I looked at my family.
“Who actually has a room?”
The manager checked her tablet.
“Mrs. Patricia Sutton, Ms. Linda Carter, Mr. Kevin Sutton, and Mr. Marcus Sutton are confirmed in four rooms.”
Marcus, my uncle, had gone inside twenty minutes earlier to take a work call.
He had missed everything.
That felt like something Marcus would manage accidentally.
“What about Joel?”
“He was added with the late group.”
Joel lifted one hand.
“I can sleep in my mother’s room.”
Linda recoiled.
“You grind your teeth.”
“I’m homeless, Linda.”
“I’m still allowed standards.”
Despite myself, I smiled.
Then I looked at Davina.
“And the kids?”
Her expression changed.
The arrogance had drained out of it.
“They’re twelve and nine.”
“I know.”
“They can’t just not have a room.”
“I know.”
My mother leaned forward.
“So fix it.”
Every muscle in my shoulders tightened.
Not please.
Not Mara, can you help?
Fix it.
The same tone she had used when I was sixteen and Kevin forgot to pick up her dry cleaning.
The same assumption that if something uncomfortable existed near her, responsibility would eventually slide toward me.
I looked at Thomas.
“Are there staff rooms available?”
“One emergency room in the east service wing.”
“Guest standard?”
“No.”
“Then no.”
Davina’s face fell.
I asked, “Any cancellations expected?”
“None at present.”
“What about sister properties?”
The manager answered.
“Lake Briar has two rooms tonight, but they’re forty-seven minutes away.”
“Transportation?”
“We can arrange it.”
Davina shook her head.
“I’m not taking the kids forty-seven minutes away from everyone.”
Kevin said, “Then take my room.”
She looked at him.
“What?”
“I’ll go to Lake Briar.”
“You have the golf thing with Dad tomorrow.”
“I can drive back.”
Patricia interrupted.
“No one is going anywhere.”
Kevin’s head turned slowly.
“Mom, there aren’t rooms.”
“She owns the hotel.”
My mother pointed toward me as though presenting evidence against my competence.
“She can find rooms.”
I almost answered sharply.
Then Lily called from the fountain.
“Mom, the beetle fell in.”
Every adult looked at her.
She looked horrified.
I walked over, took the folded resort brochure she had been using as a rescue device, and helped guide the beetle onto the stone edge.
It sat there soaked and motionless.
Lily whispered, “Is he dead?”
“Give him a second.”
We waited.
The beetle moved one leg.
Then another.
Lily exhaled.
Behind me, twenty adults were apparently incapable of solving four hotel rooms without war.
In front of me, one wet beetle crawled toward a patch of sun.
“Mom?”
“Yes?”
“Are you really the boss here?”
I looked at her.
“Sort of.”
“Can you make Grandma be nice?”
The question struck harder than anything Patricia had said.
“No,” I told her.
Lily considered that.
“Then you’re not the boss of everything.”
“No.”
“Okay.”
She returned to watching the beetle.
I stood.
When I turned back, my mother was still waiting for me to rescue the weekend she had used to humiliate me.
And for the first time in my life, helping her no longer felt like the same thing as loving her.
I walked back to the table and said, “I’ll help with the children.”
Davina’s face loosened immediately.
My mother looked satisfied too soon.
“There’s a two-bedroom residence on the south ridge,” I continued.
Thomas glanced at me.
“The Willow Residence?”
“Yes.”
He understood what I was offering.
So did the manager.
Neither interrupted.
“It’s normally held for long-stay guests and private events,” I said.
Davina leaned forward.
“Is it available?”
“Tonight, yes.”
“Perfect.”
“It has two bedrooms, a small kitchen, and a pullout sofa.”
“That’s more than enough.”
“The children can stay there with you.”
Davina nodded quickly.
“And Joel?”
“He can take the sofa if you agree.”
Joel lifted both hands.
Linda muttered, “You snore too.”
“I’m going through a housing crisis.”
“You’re thirty-two.”
“Tragedy doesn’t check birthdays.”
Thomas looked down, and I knew he was hiding a smile.
I continued before Patricia could turn the moment into proof of her authority.
“The residence is not part of the reunion package.”
My mother’s expression changed.
“What does that mean?”
“It means it has its own rate.”
May you like
“How much?”
Thomas answered because I did not want to.
