“They fell in love with the place and called a Realtor in the city to arrange making an offer. The real estate agent called the town office for contact info and they called me. And now I’m calling you.”
“I must have made it look too easy if the inmates think they can run the asylum,” Josh joked while he tried to wrap his mind around this development.
Mitch was silent for a few seconds, then he cleared his throat. “It wouldn’t be a lodging establishment anymore. Just a private home.”
But it’s been in the family for four generations and the Northern Star Lodge for three. The thought screamed through his head, though he managed not to say it out loud. He couldn’t very well tell his family he wanted to get rid of the place and then come undone when a chance arrived.
“We’ve worked so hard to connect to the ATV trails,” Josh said. “The access was going to help out other Whitford businesses, not just the lodge.”
“Like my wife’s diner, yes.”
Josh closed his eyes, trying to fend off the guilt. The Trailside Diner was doing really well. It wouldn’t live or die based on this decision. “I guess it must be a decent offer if you’re bringing it to the table.”
“It’s a generous offer,” Mitch agreed. “Although I have an obligation to bring it to the table even if it was only a hundred bucks. It’s a family business.”
“So…what now?” Besides figuring out why the possibility of having what he’d wanted made his gut twist into knots.
“We need to get together and have a discussion as soon as possible. And we’ll have to call Liz and put her on speakerphone or something, since we can’t make the decision without her. I’m going to send a group email so we can nail down a time to discuss it. Hopefully this weekend.”
He had a full house for the weekend, but the family had their own rooms, so it shouldn’t be a problem. “I’ll be here, so whenever.”
“You should probably tell Rose.”
That wasn’t something he wanted to do. “Okay.”
When the call was done, Josh got up and walked toward the house. He wasn’t into changing the oil now and there was no sense in putting off the conversation. Rose sometimes checked the lodge’s email account and if Mitch used that address instead of Josh’s personal one, it could be an unpleasant surprise for her.
He found her in the living room, dusting. When he sat on the couch, she gave him a questioning look and he patted the cushion next to him.
“You look unhappy,” she said, taking a seat. “What happened?”
“I’m not unhappy. I just…Mitch called. We’ve had an offer from somebody who wants to buy the lodge. They want to make it a private home.”
It broke his heart to watch her expression change. Confusion. The realization that, if they accepted the offer, she would need a new home. And the resolution—she’d deal with it when the time came because that’s the kind of woman she was. “So you haven’t talked to Ryan, Sean or Liz yet?”
“No. He wants us all to get together, with Liz on speakerphone. Sean, too, if he can’t make it here in person.”
“When?”
“Hopefully this weekend.”
“I’ll make a big lasagna, then, and put it in the freezer so it’ll be ready whenever they come.” Before he could say anything else, she stood and went toward the kitchen. “Speaking of which, I need to start the ham for tonight. And put some laundry in the dryer.”
He let her go because he didn’t trust himself not to be too choked up to speak. What kind of selfish bastard was he? The woman had pretty much devoted her life to taking care of the lodge and five kids who weren’t even her own and now she didn’t even get a say in what happened to her?
There was no doubt in his mind she was hiding her true feelings about the lodge being sold so he wouldn’t feel guilty. Not only would she not want to influence the family’s decision, but she knew him better than anybody. Even better than Katie. So she knew how he’d felt trapped by obligation for years, and she wouldn’t hold him back.
Josh leaned his head against the cushion and closed his eyes, hoping to ease the throbbing already starting at his temples. He wanted to go—no, he needed to go—but he loved Rose. He didn’t want to hurt her.
And what about Katie?
It had been easy enough to tell her, the day they’d gone to Brookline, that she and the lodge were two separate things, but they weren’t. Selling the lodge meant leaving Whitford. And that meant leaving her.
They’d always been friends. Granted, they’d fallen into a friends-with-benefits deal, but it wasn’t like they’d talked about marriage. She hadn’t even hesitated when it had come to moving back to her own place, and most women, if they were hoping for a ring, would have clung to living under the same roof. Even if he left, they’d still be friends.
But he didn’t know how he could look her in the face and tell her he was leaving town.