The Archer House (The Archer Inn Book 1)

by Kimberly Thomas

  She wanted to believe those words, but it was hard to find the positives in everything going on. If they really were there, they were buried deep beneath all the negatives that kept piling up all around her. But she wasn't going to say that to her kids. They may have been all grown up now, but they were still her babies. They expected certain things from their mother; being strong and steadfast was one of those things.

  "You'll get through it," Sean promised, making Holly smile. Three years of being a father had really changed him. No, not changed him since he had always been kind and caring. Being a father just reinforced those parts of him, and he was always there, ready to pick you up when you fell. "We all had some good times in that house, but we'll always have those memories, you know? I bet you missed the Archer House when you moved out, but that didn't stop you from making memories in the new house, did it?"

  "No, that's very true," Holly said. Sean worked as a contractor, but Holly had always thought he should've become a doctor or a psychologist. He certainly had the compassion and a knack for knowing what to say. She made a mental note to talk to him once she had a better understanding of everything that was falling apart around the inn. Either she could steer some business in his direction, or at the very least, he might be able to come out for a couple of days if she had to meet with local contractors, just to make sure they didn't try to cheat her.

  Gabby's laughter cut through those thoughts. That cackling of hers came through clear as day, even over the phone. "You mean like that time you got your head stuck between the bars of the banister on the stairs?" Holly didn't need to be there to know her daughter was grinning madly at Sean.

  "You're the one who dared me to stick my head between there! I was seven! How was I supposed to know that? Just because I could get my head in there didn't mean it would come back out!" Sean shot back.

  Holly put a hand over her mouth to help stifle her laughter as the two of them started bickering back and forth over whose fault it was. It had been terrifying back then, when Gabby had come running to find Holly and Will, giving them the grave news. But now, eighteen years later, Holly was able to look back on the incident and laugh.

  God, the kids had certainly gotten up to plenty of antics living in that house. But Sean was right. She'd had the same kinds of memories here in this house and down at the inn. If they had asked her back then if she had missed the place, she would have told them absolutely not. But now, with the wisdom that came with age, she knew she had missed this place like crazy. But that hadn't stopped her from building a life in Miami and creating new memories.

  And if she could do it once, what was stopping her from doing it again?

  As the kids bickered and went off on tangents into other memories, Holly slumped against the hard chair. It felt like the weight on her shoulders was starting to lift. She still didn't know where she was supposed to go from here, but at least now she had a flicker of hope. If she kept her wits about her, she could begin the slow process of rebuilding her new life.

  "So," Gabby said during a lull in the conversation. There was a slight pause after the word, and Holly pictured her kids exchanging a silent glance. "Sean and I have been talking."

  "Yes..." Holly replied, curious and more than a bit apprehensive about where the conversation was about to go. With her kids, she never could tell.

  Gabby took a deep breath and then let it out slowly. Either she was holding the phone close, or that had been one heck of a sigh. "We both decided we won't be speaking to Dad again for the foreseeable future. We're not sure if we'll be able to forgive him for what he did. To you, to us, to everyone. And until he does something to prove he's sorry and tries to make it right, neither of us want anything to do with him."

  Holly chewed on her bottom lip, struggling to think of what to say in response. She had tried to shield the kids from the brunt of the fallout between her and Will, though it had been impossible to keep everything from them, especially when the true extent of the shady dealings he had been involved with had gone public. It had been front news in every paper, for Pete's sake. But while Holly would probably never forgive her now ex-husband, she had never wanted to sour the kids' relationship with their father.

  But, at the same time, they were both adults now. They were both fully capable of understanding everything that had happened and made their own decisions regarding all of it. And, from the sound of it, they had spent a good bit of time processing it all. In a way, Holly couldn't blame them. They were well aware of the damage he had caused.

  So what could she say? It didn't feel right to praise them for cutting their father out of their lives. But at the same time, she didn't want to say or do something to minimize the effect his transgressions had on everyone.

  "Are you sure?" Holly asked, at last, knowing she had to say something.

  "We are," Sean answered immediately. There wasn't even a moment of hesitation from him, which spoke volumes. He was incapable of hating or hurting anyone. If he had come to the same conclusion as his sister, then it was likely he'd truly thought it all through.

  "Okay. You both know I'm here for you, no matter what, right? Nothing that's happened or will happen can ever change that. You'll always be my babies." Holly took a deep breath and then let out a sigh of her own. "And despite his faults, I know your father feels the same way. You'll always be his children as much as you're mine."

  The line was quiet for a moment. Holly waited, only just breathing, for what would come next.

  "There's something else we need to talk to you about," Gabby said at last. Her voice was apprehensive and uneasy. The tone made Holly shift uncomfortably. The little bit of relief she had felt earlier vanished in an instant. "But it's better done in person."

  "I'm not sure when I'll be back in Miami," Holly admitted, wincing as she said the words. God, she had made all these plans without thinking to consult anyone else. She had been so focused on not having anything back in Miami she'd forgotten that, just maybe, her kids really did need her. Sure, they were adults, but that didn't mean watching their parents' relationship and careers fall apart wasn't hard on them. "I promised your grandmother I would stay here for a couple of weeks, try to get the inn back to what it used to be, you know?"

  More silence, then another audible sigh. Holly had no doubt it had come from Gabby again. "Okay, but as soon as you know, call one of us, okay?"

  "Of course I will," Holly promised.

  The conversation didn't last much longer after that. There was a tension in the air; one Holly didn't know how to breakthrough. By the time she hung up, that familiar feeling of helplessness had set back in, and she felt a weight on her shoulders once more. It felt like she couldn't do anything right. She should have been there for her kids, who obviously did need her.

  But she couldn't be there for them and her mother at the same time.

  Holly let out a sigh and downed the rest of her wine, then poured another glass. It was going to be a very long night.

  Chapter Eight

  Morning couldn't have come soon enough. By the time Holly had stumbled up the stairs to her childhood bedroom, she had drunk half the bottle of wine. It was more than she had planned on drinking, and if she was honest with herself, it hadn't done much to help the problems at hand. It numbed them more than anything.

  And combined with all the stress, it had led to a rough, sleepless night. Holly had fallen asleep almost the moment her head hit the pillow, but it sure hadn't felt that way. She had tossed and turned the entire night, and when the sun had finally peeked in around the edges of her curtains, she felt no more rested than when she had gone to bed the night before.

  She figured if the sun was up, then she might as well get up. Holly tried to ignore as much of her room as possible, not wanting to go down that nostalgia trip right then and made her way to the bathroom for a shower. The sleep hadn't helped very much, but the shower certainly had. Standing beneath the hot spray helped loosen the knots in her shoulders in addition to washing away all th
e grime from the previous day.

  The cup of coffee she made before leaving the house helped even more. There was nothing like some fresh, hot caffeine first thing in the morning to really get her going. It wasn't a fancy latte or anything, but truth be told, Holly had always preferred just simple coffee.

  It was something she'd gotten from her father. If you had dared to look at his cup of coffee with sugar or milk in hand, you'd end up getting your hide tanned. He drank his as black as possible and wouldn't have dreamed of having it any other way. And that was how Holly had drunk hers for most of her life.

  She had learned to enjoy the occasional latte, or whatever fancy concoction Starbucks had come up with that year, but she always had a preference for plain coffee, especially when she was stressed. And today, being stressed didn't come close to describing how she felt.

  Before heading out, Holly ducked into the room that had been her father's home office. Despite him having been gone for over two years, not much had changed. Nostalgia once again threatened to overwhelm her the moment she opened the door, but she managed to plow past it long enough to snag a notebook and pen and then fled like the devil himself was after her.

  She would have to muster enough strength to face all those demons. But there would be time for that later, she told herself. Her personal demons weren't going anywhere. But if she didn't do something soon, the inn would go under. So, for the time being, that had to be her priority.

  She had gotten a basic idea of some of the inn's problems yesterday, but now she wanted to get a detailed look at everything and get it all written down. Then, she could start coming up with a game plan of some sort. What that plan would end up being, she wasn't sure, but again, that was a problem for later!

  One step at a time, she told herself.

  She wandered the grounds first, jotting things down in the notebook as she spotted them. The grounds were mostly maintained, with the basics taken care of, at least. But it didn't have the same splendor it'd had years ago. Unless they had updated the pictures online, Holly could see why guests might be annoyed when they showed up.

  She made notes about the paint, the few shutters that looked loose, and the parts of the roof that looked overdue for maintenance. Then, it was time for the truly daunting task. As much as the exterior was in need of some TLC, Holly could only imagine how much of the interior had been neglected over the last couple of years.

  At first, Holly wandered around by herself, writing down the things that caught her eye. If she noticed them with the naked eye, then there was no doubt the guests noticed too. And if the guests noticed, then it needed to be fixed as soon as possible. Inns like this lived and thrived on happy customers, and so far, it appeared like at least some of them were pretty far from happy.

  Holly was almost afraid to venture online and see what the reviews said about the place. She would have to, though, just to make sure she addressed everything in some manner. But again, that was a problem for another day.

  Once she had gone through the entire inn and made her notes, she headed back to the front desk. The same girl from yesterday was there again. Natalie, she had learned, was only eighteen and fresh out of high school. Nelly had hired her last year to work the summers since Natalie was planning to go to school for hospitality management in the upcoming fall.

  When Holly asked Natalie to give her a tour around the place and point out any of the problems, the girl squealed with enthusiasm. God, had Holly ever been that energetic when she was that young? She doubted it. And Gabby certainly hadn't been. But Natalie seemed to be bursting with energy and led Holly to each of the rooms, pointing out the complaints she had received about each of them.

  As it turned out, Room 109 wasn't the only one with a busted shower. Room 302's shower hadn't been working for at least a week, either. That had to be tackled right away, and Holly instructed Natalie not to rent those rooms out to anyone until she could hire someone to fix them.

  Holly went through page after page in her notebook, jotting every single thing down, so she wouldn't forget any of it. By the time she returned Natalie to the front desk and headed in the direction of the inn's restaurant, Holly was exhausted. Well, more exhausted than she had already been at the start of the day.

  This time, when a waitress brought her a steaming hot cup of coffee, it didn't do much to take the edge off of things. It was no wonder her mother looked so run down. Holly had only been there for a day, and she was overwhelmed with the sheer size of the project she had agreed to take on.

  How in the world was she going to manage to bring the inn back to its former glory all by herself?

  After bringing Holly's coffee out, the waitress seemed to have vanished. Holly looked around for a bit before finally spotting the woman, darting from table to table. Holly sat and watched, and the woman hardly appeared to have time to breathe, much less juggle the number of tables she was assigned.

  She only spotted one other waitress working as well. So either the rest of them were slacking off somewhere, or they were seriously understaffed. When the young woman finally returned to Holly's table, Holly really took in her appearance this time. Strands of hair had started to escape her tight ponytail. Her makeup was smudged in places, though from sweat rather than tears.

  "Is Chef Stevens working this morning?" Holly inquired after giving the woman her order. When the woman nodded, Holly continued. "Can you ask him to swing by my table when he gets a chance? It's not an emergency, so tell him not to rush."

  The woman nodded frantically and then scampered off in the direction of the kitchen. It was a few minutes later when the kitchen door opened and Chef Stevens walked out, a plate containing Holly's food balanced in one hand. He sat it carefully in front of her, a smile on his face.

  "Everything all right, Misses Archer?"

  Holly smirked at him and rolled her eyes. The man had worked there since Holly was a little girl. Hearing him call her Misses Archer was too much. "I believe my name is still Holly," she said with a wink. Then, she nodded toward the second chair at her little table. "Do you have a moment to sit and talk? There're a few things I want to ask you."

  Chef Stevens frowned but nodded, taking a seat across the table. The man's shoulders were tense and straight. He met Holly's gaze without blinking and his face was a mix of emotions Holly couldn't quite untangle, but she was pretty sure he was as stressed and run down as his servers were.

  "What's going on with the waitstaff?" Holly asked, figuring it was best to get right to the point.

  The Chef's expression hardened. "Pardon?"

  "Well, so far as I can tell, you've only got two waitresses to run the entire dining room. And while breakfast may not be as busy as dinner, that doesn't seem like enough people to manage everyone." Holly opened her notebook and got her pen ready. No doubt, she was about to add a few more issues to her never-ending list.

  "Well, that would require me to have enough budget to staff the place!" Chef Steven's snapped. Holly blinked in surprise at the chef's sudden outburst. Chef Stevens was almost as old as her mother, but he wasn't as frail and meek as she was. "It's bad enough that I only have one other person helping me out in the kitchen in the morning. I can't help it if there are only two people out here as well!"

  My God. Were they really that understaffed? That shouldn't have been possible. Pretty much everyone of working age in the Keys applied for jobs over the summer every year, especially in places like this. It was a good way for teenagers to earn some extra spending money for the following year or even pay for college if they worked hard enough.

  How could Chef Stevens really only be running on two waitresses and a single sous chef in the middle of the summer? The fact that the kitchen was still running at all while being that understaffed was a miracle in and of itself.

  But before Holly could say anything of the sort, Chef Stevens stood abruptly. He glared at Holly and then tossed his white hat onto the table in front of her. "If you think you can do a better job, and then have at it
. I've done everything I can! Maybe you can convince your mother that we need more staff!"

  Without another word, he turned and stalked out of the dining room, leaving Holly, and the rest of the restaurant, staring at him in disbelief. After a moment, Holly scrambled to stand and run after him, but he was gone before she could catch up with him. Staring at the hat he had left behind, Holly muttered a handful of curses under her breath, then scooped it up and headed into the kitchen.

  Just like everything else around the inn, all four Archer children had spent time working in the kitchen over the years. And while she wasn't nearly as good as a professional chef like Chef Stevens, she at least knew the basics. The menu hadn't changed much at all since she was a kid, so she still knew how to make each of the various dishes, especially since the breakfast menu was fairly limited compared to lunch and dinner.

  Still, Holly had to run around like a chicken with its head chopped off to keep the kitchen running without its chef. While Chef Stevens had complained about only having a single person to help him out in the kitchen, his sous chef was a miracle worker in and of herself. Becky had been hired on only a couple of years ago, Holly learned, but that woman knew her way around the kitchen like she had grown up there.

  Together, they managed to get all the breakfast orders done and out without any issues. But by the time breakfast was over and the kitchen was closed for a couple of hours before lunch, Holly was barely able to stay on her feet.

  Taking a deep breath, she straightened her shoulders. The inn had many pressing issues that needed to be solved, but the kitchen staffing had just pushed its way to the top of that list. Holly gave instructions to Becky and the two waitresses on getting everything ready for lunch and then headed out to find her mother.

  According to Natalie, she hadn't seen Nelly all morning. Worse, it wasn't unusual these days. That alone sent a chill through Holly. Her mother had always been at the inn first thing every morning. If Nelly wasn't there, then things were worse than Holly assumed.