The Vineyard Sisters: A Wayfarer Inn Novel

by Grace Palmer

  Michelle had hung up with shaking fingers. Leslie had called her again and again over the days and weeks that followed, trying to explain.

  Tony never mentioned a word of anything strange happening. He’d actually gone out of his way to say how fun the party was and even sent Leslie an expensive care package from a spa as a thank you for taking such good care of them while they were there. That didn’t seem like something a rebuffed man would do, did it?

  Michelle had slipped back into her normal life… minus her sister.

  Back in the present, the air on the back porch felt colder all of a sudden. Michelle pulled her blanket more tightly around her shoulders. “I know you weren’t trying to hurt me. Or, I mean, I know that now. Honestly, I probably knew it then, too. I just didn’t want to know it, you know?”

  Leslie gave her a small smile. “I barely followed that.”

  “I was comfortable. The girls were almost in high school and were starting to take care of themselves. Work was going well for Tony. I… Having that kind of life was all I’d ever wanted and I felt like you were attacking it. Instead of blaming him, I blamed you. And that wasn’t fair. I’m so sorry.”

  The words burned a bit coming out, but Michelle didn’t regret them. This was long overdue.

  Leslie nodded. “I forgive you. I’m sorry for the way I told you. Maybe if I’d done it differently, then—”

  “No.” Michelle shook her head. “It wasn’t you. You told the truth, but I didn’t want to hear it. Nothing could have changed that.”

  They slipped into silence again, but it was thoughtful rather than awkward. Michelle could feel things between them settling. Finding a new rhythm.

  After a few minutes, Leslie reached over and grabbed Michelle’s hand. “Dad would be so happy.”

  Immediately, Michelle’s eyes went glassy. She tried to quickly blink the tears away. “This is all he wanted the last few years. For us to make up.”

  “I think that’s why he gave us both the inn,” Leslie said. “To force us together.”

  Michelle laughed. “He was always a meddler.”

  “Thank goodness, though. Right?” Leslie asked.

  Michelle squeezed her sister’s hand tighter and nodded. “Yes. Thank goodness.”

  23

  Jill

  One Month Later

  Jill was on her laptop in the kitchen, doing what she did so often these days: crunching numbers.

  Seven weeks of free room and board at the Wayfarer Inn helped out with her personal budget a lot, as did cancelling the lease on her apartment. Since she’d lost her job and all of her eggs were now in the Wayfarer basket, keeping a place in Schenectady felt like a waste. Still, it had taken Leslie and Michelle both assuring Jill they’d never toss her out on the street before she finally pulled the plug.

  But the fifty-thousand-dollar debt hanging over the inn meant every extra penny of the inn’s revenue went to paying that down. The sisters scrimped everywhere they could. Leslie cooked all their meals, Jill mended clothes, Michelle thrifted new supplies as needed.

  And yet, they were just barely keeping their heads above water. Every time it looked like they were finally in the clear, the pilot light in the oven would need to be replaced or a part in the hot water heater would go on the fritz.

  “It’s a bad week,” Michelle said again and again. “Things will calm down next week and we’ll put more in savings.”

  Except things never seemed to really calm down. There was always some unexpected cost cropping up. At this rate, they would just barely be able to pay off the debt by the December 31st deadline—assuming there weren’t too many more unexpected emergencies.

  Now that they were into May, the Wayfarer Inn was booked up for the next four months solid. Their reviews online were all raving and Leslie said she’d been fielding more calls than ever before from people hoping to get a room or asking if they had a waitlist of some kind.

  “A waitlist! Can you believe that?” Leslie had asked, cackling like a loon.

  “Kat and Beth were right. Advertising on social media is a game changer,” Michelle said. “Those filters make the inn look good.”

  “We made it look good first,” Leslie had retorted.

  As she was poring over the month’s expenses, Jill’s phone rang. She grabbed it without thinking and answered.

  “Hello, you’ve reached—” she’d been halfway through her usual spiel. Hello, you’ve reached the Wayfarer Inn. This is Jill. How may I help you? She cleared her throat. “This is Jill,” she finished awkwardly.

  “Yeah, I know. That’s why I called.”

  Jill sighed. “Hey, Grayson. What’s up?”

  “Just working, renting my own apartment, and living a normal, adult life. What about you?”

  “How wonderful for you,” Jill snarled sarcastically. “I’m spending tons of time with Mom, getting to know my sisters, and exploring a beautiful vacation destination. It’s amazing.”

  So far, Jill’s “exploring” hadn’t progressed much beyond trips to the grocery store and her daily walks with her mom on the beach. But eventually, she’d have time to get to know Martha’s Vineyard. Most likely.

  Grayson snorted. “You always were able to make the best out of a bad situation.”

  “You mean like when you moved away and left me to take care of Mom all by myself?” she snapped.

  “Says the sister who has never paid a single one of Mom’s bills.”

  “Taking care of people is about more than paying their bills, Grayson. The fact you don’t realize that explains why you never come back to see her.”

  Grayson let out a dramatic sigh. “I did not call to fight with you, Jill. I don’t have the time for it.”

  “So why did you call?”

  “Because I have some good news,” he said. “Or at least, I think it’s good news. But what do I know? I’m interested in things like financial security and being able to afford food on the table. You and I clearly have different priorities.”

  Jill rolled her eyes and closed her laptop so she couldn’t see the finances spreadsheet anymore. She felt like Grayson would be able to sense it through the phone and realize things were worse than Jill was letting on.

  “I thought you didn’t have time to fight?” she deadpanned.

  “Not fighting. Just illustrating one of the many differences between us, Twin Sister.” His voice took on an unnaturally pleasant tone. Jill’s upper lip curled in distaste. “Anyway, the good news is—drumroll, please…”

  “Spit it out, Gray.”

  “…I found a buyer for the Wayfarer Inn!”

  Jill sat perfectly still. She was trying to wrap her mind around what her brother had just said. But after a few attempts at parsing the sentence didn’t yield anything, Jill finally caved in.

  “Huh?”

  “A buyer,” Grayson enunciated as though she was stupid. “I found someone who wants to buy the inn. They’ll even include the debt in the purchase price so we don’t have to pay a dime. Pure profit.”

  Jill shook her head, brow furrowed so viciously it almost hurt. “Why would you find a buyer? We just reopened. We are—”

  “Biding your time until the bank comes calling,” he finished for her. “Honestly, Jill, do you really think you’re going to be able to pay off the debt by the end of the year?”

  Of course, she wanted to say. We’ll be able to pay it off and more. Just you wait.

  Except that wasn’t exactly true.

  Jill was nervous. She’d practically chewed the cap of her pen into unrecognizable plastic pulp over the course of the last few budgeting sessions.

  Things were uncomfortably close. Something big would have to change between now and December for this plan to work. But that still gave them over seven months to turn things around. Surely that was enough time…

  Right?

  “Even if you do pay off the debt,” Grayson continued, “how much money can you expect to make running an inn? Have you discussed a contr
act with your new sisters? If I were you, I’d spend a lot less time selflessly helping out and more time making sure you’ll see some kind of compensation.”

  “Of course you would. You don’t do anything without making sure you get something in return.”

  “That’s your problem, Jill,” Grayson scoffed. “You don’t know how to ask for what you’re worth. If you think other people are going to step up and make sure you’re being taken care of, then you’re more naïve than I thought. This is a—”

  “If you say ‘dog-eat-dog world,’ I’m going to hurl.”

  “Then I hope you have a barf bag nearby, because this is a dog-eat-dog world. You need to figure out how to take care of yourself. No one else is going to do it for you.” He sighed. “Except for me, apparently. Lucky for you, I found someone interested in buying this inn to save you from going down with the ship.”

  “I’m sure it had nothing to do with the payday you’d get if the inn sold.”

  He hummed nonchalantly. Jill could picture him leaning back in his office chair, all pleased with himself. “Nothing wrong with a win-win situation. The buyer is motivated and ready to sign, but he has to know our answer within six weeks.”

  “Six weeks?” Jill squeaked.

  “Six weeks,” he repeated firmly. “You have six weeks to decide if this little experiment of yours is worth the risk. But let me remind you, if it fails, you are going to be broke and homeless. And I’m not going to keep extending a giving hand to help you out. This is my warning. If you don’t want to heed it, then you’ve made your bed, as far as I’m concerned. You’re on your own.”

  Broke and homeless—yeah, that about summed it up. If the Wayfarer Inn couldn’t be saved, Jill would have given up everything for a failed mission. It would be like starting over from scratch. Was she prepared for that possibility?

  She sat up straight and lifted her chin. “I’ve been on my own for a long time, Grayson. That’s nothing new.”

  He snorted. “Always playing the martyr. Whatever. Take this however you want. Just know, I’ve got a life preserver if you want it. Let me know within six weeks.”

  They didn’t bother with parting words. Neither of them had anything else to say to one another.

  When the call ended, Jill sat her phone face down on the island and dropped her head into her hands.

  The last few weeks had felt like treading water, sometimes more successfully than others. At some point, Jill knew Michelle would be right, that things would calm down. They’d start saving more money and life would be groovy.

  But would it happen soon enough?

  The Wayfarer Inn was either going to sink or swim. Jill needed to figure out which it was going to be.

  And she needed to figure it out fast.

  24

  Leslie

  Evening At The Big Rock Bar

  “I didn’t plan on a girls’ night, but you know I’m happy to be out of the house,” Michelle said, lifting her drink for a toast.

  Leslie lifted her drink as well, though she kept a watchful eye on Jill. She couldn’t read Jill as well as she could Michelle just yet, but there’d been something about the way Jill had suggested this impromptu trip to the Big Rock Bar that raised Leslie’s hackles. Something seemed amiss.

  “We’ve been working really hard. I thought we could all use a break,” Jill said. She offered up her thin-lipped smile. At first, Leslie had only ever been able to think of her father when she saw that smile. But now, it had become just as much Jill’s as it had been his.

  Fiona was excited to see them walk into her bar. She’d practically tackled them at the door and ushered them to a circular booth in a prime location. She insisted the first round of drinks was on her as well.

  “You don’t need to do all that,” Michelle had protested.

  “Do you know how many tourists have come in here saying the women at the Wayfarer Inn sent them?” she’d asked with a grin. “A round of free drinks is the least I can do for all your word of mouth.”

  The women were now only a few sips into their second round when Jill cleared her throat. “Although, aside from celebrating, there is another reason I asked you to come out.”

  Leslie uncurled her hand from around her glass and leaned back. If the last few months—not to mention the last forty-plus years—had taught her anything, it was to be prepared for the worst. For the unexpected.

  Michelle frowned. “You aren’t leaving again, are you?”

  “No, no.” Jill shook her head. “Nothing like that. It’s just… My brother called me this morning.”

  Grayson Ruthers had never shown his face in Martha’s Vineyard or around the Wayfarer Inn, but he seemed to have an awful lot of opinions about what to do with the place.

  Jill tried to sanitize his greediness, which Leslie understood. Everyone wanted to believe the best about their sibling, after all. But his true nature came out regardless. Grayson didn’t care to meet his newfound sisters or learn anything about his father. He only cared about the money.

  “Oh, no. What did he want?” Michelle asked.

  Jill folded her hands in front of her and took a deep breath. “It’s not bad. Not exactly. Well, it could be good, actually. Depending on how you look at it. More than anything, it’s just another option. A possibility we can all explore. Together. It’s just—”

  “Jill,” Leslie interrupted gently, “out with it.”

  “Sorry. I’m rambling. Okay, the situation is, Grayson found a potential buyer for the Wayfarer.”

  A stunned silence fell over the Townsend girls.

  “But we reopened,” Michelle protested feebly. “It’s too late.”

  Leslie threw back a long sip of her wine. She needed it. “No, it’s not. We still have the debt to pay off. If we don’t make the deadline, the inn will be repossessed.”

  Michelle sighed. “I almost forget about that sometimes.”

  Honestly, Leslie did, too. When the guests were leaving such great reviews and they were booked up through August, it was hard to think that anything could change that.

  But the debt could. The bank could.

  “The buyer is willing to tack the price of the debt onto the price of the inn,” Jill said. “We wouldn’t have to pay a dime. Just profit.”

  Michelle looked around the table. “We don’t want to sell, though. Right? We decided to reopen the inn, so that is what we’re doing. We didn’t do all this work for nothing, did we?”

  “It’s not for nothing,” Jill said. “Technically, the work we did is why Grayson was able to find such a motivated buyer.”

  “Then that means we should keep it,” Michelle argued. “If the business is worth buying, it’s worth keeping.”

  Leslie shrugged. “Unless we can’t pay off the debt and it gets taken away. Then we end up with nothing to show for all of our work.”

  “But that won’t happen!” Michelle pounded her fist against the table. “We’re saving up. We’re putting all of our extra money towards the debt, so—”

  “I’ve been crunching the numbers and it’s barely going to be enough,” Jill interjected. “A few more emergencies or big mechanical failures like we’ve had the last month, and I’m not sure we’ll be able to swing it.”

  “We could take on second jobs.”

  Leslie tipped her head to the side. “With what extra time? We’re swamped.”

  Jill winced again. “And I forgot to mention… the buyer needs to know our answer within the next six weeks.”

  The three sisters dropped into another stunned silence. Michelle chewed on her bottom lip. Jill kept glancing guiltily from Michelle to Leslie to her own lap, like it was somehow her fault they were in this mess. And Leslie just… sat.

  She wanted to be surprised by all this, but she wasn’t really. On some level, she’d known it was possible that they wouldn’t be able to pay off the debt. That the bank would still come for the Wayfarer.

  But she’d assumed she had eight more months to come to terms wi
th the situation. Six weeks, on the other hand?

  That was nothing.

  “We don’t have to take the offer,” Jill reminded them. “It’s just another option to consider. But… it does seem like an option worth considering.”

  “It does?” Michelle asked. “Because it sounds horrible to me. I don’t know how much longer I’m going to have a house in San Francisco. The Wayfarer is all I have. It’s all any of us have.”

  Leslie reached across the table and patted her sister’s hand. “But if we can’t pay off the debt, we won’t have the Wayfarer or the money we could earn from selling it. This could end up being a better situation.”

  “But…” Michelle’s voice trailed off. She slouched down in the booth and sighed. “I like the three of us working together.”

  “I do, too,” Jill added quickly. “I’ve loved working with you both and getting to know you. It’s been great helping out. None of this is about the money for me, but I’m kind of at a place where… well, where it has to be about the money. At least a little bit. I have my mom to think about. And myself.”

  “You can’t live in our dad’s old room forever,” Leslie assured her. “We understand.”

  Leslie really did understand. She knew the three of them, plus Amelia, living in the Wayfarer together was temporary.

  But as for the rest of it? Late night dinners, walks on the beach, working side by side? She wasn’t ready to let go of that just yet.

  Jill gave her a grateful smile. “So we just have to decide whether we’re willing to try and pay off the debt and risk losing everything… or if we want to accept the sure thing and sell now.”

  “No pressure,” Michelle sighed.

  So much for a fun girls’ night out. Life without the Wayfarer… what a thing to contemplate. But did Jill have a point? Was taking the sure thing the right course of action?

  Maybe Leslie could go travelling. Maybe she’d finally leave the island the way she’d always wanted to.