The Archer House (The Archer Inn Book 1)

by Kimberly Thomas

  Uncle Roger had been right. It wasn't a problem with the inn being rundown. Her mother was run down, too.

  Holly felt her heart break into pieces as she watched the man berate her mother. The older woman looked close to tears. Her entire body was trembling, and if Holly didn't step in and do something, she was afraid her mother might have a breakdown right then and there.

  There were other people inside the room, a woman and two young boys. Clearly, they had come here for a family vacation, and Holly could completely understand them being upset over a shower that wasn't working. And considering they were in one of the nicer suites in the inn, Holly was flabbergasted at just how much her mother had let the place go.

  But that was a conversation for another time. First, she needed to put out this fire. Then she could tackle the rest of the issues at hand.

  "Excuse me," Holly said, stepping up next to her mother. "My name is Holly Archer. I'm the manager here at the Archer Inn. I want to personally apologize for the troubles you've been having. Our maintenance technician has had a personal emergency and hasn't been able to come in for the last couple of days."

  Okay, so most of what she said was a complete and utter lie, but she had to do something to shut this man up before her mother lost it. And the lie seemed to mollify him, at least for the moment. That gave Holly the chance to keep going and try to salvage the situation the best she could.

  "How about we move you to another room? One with a working shower. Then you can enjoy the rest of your vacation." Holly smiled at the man, glancing over at her mother for the briefest moment. Her mother mouthed a room number to her, and Holly gave a slight nod. "Room 307 is available. It's a tiny bit smaller than this one, but it has a beautiful view of the beach and ocean. And, of course, we'll be sure to give you a discount on your stay for the inconvenience."

  The man mulled over everything Holly said for a moment. No doubt, the word "discount" had gotten his attention. "Yes, that should be fine," he replied, at last, giving the pair of them a quick nod.

  "That's wonderful!" Holly clapped her hands together and grinned broader. This was all a familiar act for her. She had closed enough deals over the years to be able to recreate that same excitement and enthusiasm at will. "Come by the front desk in a few minutes and I'll make sure your new keys are ready. And please, if you have any other problems, stop by the desk and ask for me. I'll make sure to get anything sorted out for you. Enjoy the rest of your stay!"

  Holly and her mother stepped back into the hallway, letting the man close the door. She could hear him telling his family to pack their things, so they could move to the new room. Pushing that out of her mind now that the problem was solved, Holly turned to her mother, who looked almost as shocked to see Holly as Holly was to see the state of everything.

  "Hi, Mom," she said, giving her a small smile. She watched as her mother's eyes brimmed with tears, threatening to roll down her cheeks. Holly enveloped her mother in a gentle embrace until her body stopped trembling and then let her go.

  When the hug ended, her mother whispered, "You're really here. Oh, how I've missed you."

  "I missed you too, Mom. We really need to talk," Holly said simply, getting right to the point. Something was going on here, and she was going to get to the bottom of it.

  Chapter Six

  The two of them stopped by the front desk to inform the perky woman of the room change for the guests in room 109. Holly led her mother out of the hotel and toward the beach. Neither of them spoke until they were out on the sand, the waves crashing against the shore only a few feet away from them.

  They weren't alone out there, not by a long shot. But they had enough privacy to talk without anyone overhearing, for the most part. But when Holly turned to face her mother, the older woman looked into Holly's eyes and then promptly burst into tears. Holly opened her arms and held her mother even as the tears soaked into her blouse.

  Her heart, which had been breaking, completely fell apart. God, how had she let things get this bad? How had she let herself get so sucked into her job that she'd completely neglected her family? Sure, she had raised and taken care of Gabby and Sean, helped mold them into fine young adults. But she had barely spared a thought for the family that had helped mold her all those years ago.

  It wasn't just her mother she had neglected either. It was also her father before he died and her siblings. When she had left the Keys, she had left them all behind and had barely spared any of them a second thought.

  It didn't matter what had happened that had allowed the inn to fall into such disrepair; Holly knew she was ultimately responsible for at least part of it. She should've been there or at least kept in touch and made an effort to visit more often. Holly should've been able to see the signs that things weren't right long before they had gotten to this point.

  God, if Uncle Roger hadn't called, would she have ever known the truth? Would her mother have called asking for her help?

  For what felt like an eternity, Holly stood there holding her mother. It was the least she could do, all things considered. God only knew how many times her mother had held her over the years.

  Nelly Archer regained some of her composure. She pulled out of Holly's embrace and took a step back, wiping away tears with the palm of her hand. When she blinked and looked at Holly again, there was a shimmer in her gaze as she looked at her eldest daughter up and down.

  "Gosh, I swear you've grown so much," Nelly said, her lips curved up into a smile.

  Holly chuckled and shook her head. Every time she came back to visit, her mother said the same thing. Holly highly doubted she'd grown much at all since leaving the Keys at eighteen. No, that wasn't true. She had certainly put on a few extra pounds since then. No matter what anyone said, you never truly regained the figure you had before kids.

  But she didn't bother correcting her mother. Instead, she raked her eyes up and down the older woman, taking in how much she had aged in the last two years since she had seen her last. The poor woman looked closer to eighty than the sixty-nine-years of age she actually was and Holly wished Roger had called her sooner.

  "What's going on, Mom?" Holly asked, crossing her arms in front of her chest. She glanced back at the inn, frowning as she took in its dilapidated appearance once more. The inn had once been the pride and joy of not just the Archer family but all of Islamorada. Now, it was the one thing in the town that looked like a relic that had been lost to time.

  Nelly opened her mouth to respond, then closed it and shook her head. She glanced up at the inn for a long moment, then turned her gaze back on her daughter and let out a sigh. "Not here. Let's go eat while we talk." She didn't give Holly a chance to argue. She took her daughter's arm and guided her back up the beach toward the small outdoor dining area the inn had set up for its guests.

  Apparently, being the owner and daughter of the owner warranted them special treatment. The head chef came out personally to take their orders, and in no time, they both had gourmet food placed in front of them. That was one thing the inn still had going for it, at least. The plate of grilled salmon and fresh veggies Holly had ordered made her mouth water just looking at it.

  It wasn't until they were both halfway through their glasses of white wine that Nelly finally started to open up about the inn's woes. "Things have been tough around here since your father's passing," Nelly said. She kept her eyes downcast on the plate of food in front of her like it physically hurt to risk a glance up at her eldest daughter. Then again, maybe it did. "Even before your father died, things were tight. We were scraping by. Now…"

  Holly frowned at her own food. She picked at it aimlessly. It was as delicious as it looked, but she didn't have much of an appetite. She hadn't had much of one since her life started falling apart. It was hard to enjoy eating when everything around her appeared to be crumbling to pieces.

  And now that wasn't just a metaphor. Her childhood home, the business her entire family had dedicated itself to at one point or another, looked ready to
fall apart at any moment. But while she was helpless to stop her business or marriage from falling apart, maybe she could at least salvage the inn.

  What did she have to lose by trying? She didn't have anything left in Miami. She didn't have a place to live. Holly had planned on staying with Sean for a little while and help look after her granddaughter while she tried to figure out what to do with the rest of her life, but nothing had been set in stone.

  Holly knew Sean didn't need her there. Not really. He and his fiancé were doing fine without her help, though they would never turn her away. But here, Nelly did need her help. The entire inn needed someone's help, and if not her, then who?

  Holly set down her fork and looked over at her mother. Nelly still hadn't looked up at her, but Holly could read the shame and embarrassment clear as day. More than that, she felt it. Nelly wasn't the only one who had let things crumble around her, and Holly wasn't going to blame her mother for not being able to stop it.

  "I'll stay and help you get everything going again, at least for a couple of weeks," Holly declared. She wasn't sure how much she would really be able to accomplish, but she had to at least try. Maybe if she spent enough time pouring over the inn's finances and accounting, she could find expenses that could be cut or money that could be reallocated to hiring people to help on a more permanent basis.

  Hell, if she had to, she would go out and buy some paint and brushes and start doing some manual labor around the place herself. It had been a long time since she'd had to do anything like that, but with some time and a few YouTube videos, she was certain she could turn herself into a regular handywoman.

  Nelly's gaze snapped up to meet Holly's. She stared, mouth open like she couldn't believe the words Holly had just uttered. Not that Holly could blame her. She could hardly believe them herself. After all, she had left the Keys at eighteen, determined never to come back for more than a quick visit.

  And, up until today, she had kept that silent promise. But if everything else about the life she had built in Miami was going out the window, why shouldn't her stupid little promises go along with it all?

  "Oh, my God, Holly!" Nelly finally exclaimed. She hopped up from her seat and quickly made her way around the table to throw her arms around her daughter. For such a small, frail woman, Nelly sure had a grip!

  Holly fought back a laugh as she hugged her mother back. If she still had that much strength, that had to be a good sign, right? Maybe with Holly there to take some stress off her mother's shoulders, Nelly could bounce back physically alongside the inn. She had to have hope if nothing else.

  When Nelly pulled back, she chewed on her bottom lip, frowning at Holly. She shifted from foot to foot for a moment and then let out a sigh. "Are you sure you can? I don't want your business back in Miami to suffer because you're out here and what about Will and the kids?"

  "Oh, it'll be fine, and they'll be fine," Holly said, waving away her mother's concerns. She didn't have the heart, or the courage, to tell her mother the truth about Miami. She would find out, but Holly wasn't going to rush into that discussion if she didn't have to. No, she would wait until her mother was in a better frame of mind, then sit her down and explain everything. Otherwise, the poor woman might have a heart attack or a stroke or something, and Holly didn't want that on her conscience. "It's only for a few weeks, after all—just to help figure out how we can get a handle on everything."

  The rest of the meal went by in a whirlwind. Nelly was so excited to have her eldest daughter back home that she talked almost nonstop, even after they finished their food. They would have sat there all day and night if Holly hadn't convinced Nelly to give her a tour around the property, so she could start really getting a feel for all the things that needed work.

  And boy, were there a lot of things.

  Chapter Seven

  After Holly's tour around the inn and its grounds, they had a small early dinner in the same spot they'd had lunch. Nelly rambled on almost nonstop the entire time. And, surprisingly, Holly found she didn't mind her mother's constant chatter. It had been so long since she had been to the island; it was actually kind of nice to hear all the local gossip about the things she had missed.

  And just like old times, Nelly knew everything that went on in the town. She may have been drowning under the weight of running the Archer Inn by herself, but that didn't mean she didn't always have her ears open for gossip.

  Not far from the inn itself was the Archer House Holly had grown up in. When she caught sight of it, her breath caught in her throat. How many times had she made the journey between their family home and the inn over the years? More times than she could count, no doubt.

  She forced herself to keep walking by Nelly's side, though she desperately wanted to stop and stare at the place. It was all so much to take in at once, and Holly had a sudden wave of doubt. What was she doing back here, walking toward a place she'd long ago walked away from? What right did she have to come swooping back in to save the day?

  What would her siblings say if they saw her now? But despite that doubt, there was one question she knew the answer to that trumped everything else. What would they say if they saw the current state of the Archer House and the inn? They had cut their ties with the place just as much as she had, but deep down, Holly knew they would have had the same reaction she'd had.

  This place had been their home. It held their childhood memories and all the love of the Archer family. It had been their father's legacy. They couldn't expect her to sit back and do nothing, to go back to Miami and pretend everything was fine. She couldn't or wouldn't leave her mother like this.

  Walking into the house was worse than seeing it from the outside. The interior had changed very little in the last couple of decades. Even though it had gone from being the home for six people to being only Nelly's, it still looked as she'd remembered it. Some photos on the walls and mantle had changed, been updated to more recent snapshots. But otherwise, it was like going back in time thirty years.

  Breathe in, breathe out, Holly repeated to herself. It had become her mantra lately, and it was about the only thing that kept her from having an anxiety attack right there in the living room. Two years since she had been to the house, and then she had only been in town for a couple of days, staying at the inn itself, rather than the main house. She'd had Will and the kids with her back then, and it hadn't made sense for all of them to try to cram into the house when the inn had plenty of open rooms available.

  Now, she was planning on staying at the house for at least a couple of weeks. How was she going to manage that? She wondered briefly. There was so much history in this house, more so than the inn. She'd had so many milestones and life events in this place, and all of them threatened to come rushing back at a moment's notice.

  When Nelly excused herself to head to bed for the night, leaving Holly alone, the younger woman found herself questioning her choice to remain on the island. She left her suitcase in the living room, not wanting to venture up to her bedroom just yet. Just being in the house was almost more than she could handle. Any more than that would take time.

  Instead, she headed for the kitchen and found a bottle of wine, pouring herself a glass. She bit back a bark of laughter as she swirled the liquid around in her glass. Maybe Randy wasn't the only one in the family who had a drinking problem, she thought as she took her first sip. And if he was, if Holly wasn't careful, she would be right behind him before long.

  Not that the thought stopped her from drinking the glass, then pouring herself another. She'd taken a sip of it when her phone rang, making her jump and almost topple out of the old wooden chair. Closing her eyes and forcing herself to take deep breaths again, she fished her phone out of her too-tight pockets.

  When she saw Gabby's name on the screen, she frowned and her heart rate sped right back up. "Hello?" Holly said as she answered the phone.

  "Mom!" Even with the slight distortion from the phone, Holly could hear the panic and apprehension in her daughter's voice. "
Where are you? Are you okay?"

  Holly blinked in confusion for a moment, wondering why Gabby was so panicked. "I'm fine, dear. I'm at the inn down in the Keys. Why?"

  "Why?" Gabby's voice rose an octave. God, she was so much like her mother, Holly mused. She recognized that tone from many of her own conversations with various people, and that thought brought a smirk to her face. "Sean's here. You were supposed to be at his place today and neither of us have heard a peep from you! Jesus, Mom. You gave us all heart attacks!"

  Silently, Holly cursed. With everything going on and Roger's sudden call yesterday, Holly had forgotten to tell her kids she'd be down in the Keys checking things out. Rubbing her aching temples, Holly let out a sigh and apologized to her daughter. Then, she did it again when Gabby put the phone on speaker so Sean could be included in the conversation as well.

  "Is Grandma okay?" Sean asked. It was as though his anger and annoyance and worry about his mother had faded away in an instance. But that was always how Sean was. He cared more for others than himself. His feelings didn't matter much if someone else was hurting.

  "I think she will be," Holly said honestly. "She's stressed and overwhelmed with everything. The inn is too much for her to handle on her own without Grandpa. I'm hoping to find a way to take some of the burden off her shoulders, so she can take a step or two back and breathe. Let some other people handle stuff, you know?"

  "What about you? How are you holding up?" he asked next. There was apprehension in his voice as he asked like he was afraid Holly might have a breakdown at any slight mention of the turmoil her life had turned into.

  "I'm doing okay. As good as can be expected, you know? I'm gonna miss the house and the office and everything, but you know the old saying. When one door closes, another opens. I gotta stay positive."