thoughtful. “I thought that’s what everyone wanted.”
“It was. It is!” So why was she so conflicted about it? “Argh! I’m not making any sense.”
He gave her a patient smile. “Honey, when’s the last time you researched places for your bed-and-breakfast in Italy?”
What did that have to do with anything? “What? I don’t know. Maybe a few weeks ago? I’ve been busy.”
“You were searching every day there for a while, until the wee hours of the morning—right up until you put the inn up for sale. Honey . . . maybe you don’t want to move to Italy anymore.”
Molly bristled. “Yes, I do. I’ve always wanted this. It’s my dream. I took three years of Italian in preparation for this. You’re having second thoughts! You’re backing out.”
“No. No, that’s not it at all.”
Molly crossed her arms, her foot ticking off time. “Sure sounds like it to me. You want to stay in the States. You don’t want to be that far from your family. You don’t want to travel to a different continent for your book tours. You love this house. You want this to be our home.”
“Molly, look at me.”
She was too upset to meet his gaze. Too afraid what she’d find there. Her stomach was in knots and her throat ached.
Adam took her chin, forcing eye contact. “If you want to move to Italy, I’m 100 percent behind you, honey. I don’t care where we live because you are my home.”
Her heart melted at his words. At the love written across his face with all the eloquence of a romantic poem.
“Oh, Adam.” The tears kept coming.
“What’s really bothering you?”
She sniffled and made herself verbalize her feelings. “The inn’s going to change and not for the better. I should be grateful. I mean, we have a buyer and they’re paying full price, but . . .”
Adam pulled her into his arms and set his chin on her head. “But what?”
“The Johnson brothers are going to open a spa! They’re going to change the inn’s name! They’re going to get rid of Miss Della and cook city food in her kitchen! They’re not going to pass along the inn’s history or pamper the guests with all the little extras. They’re going to charge for Wi-Fi! They may as well just put up a Marriott sign!”
He rubbed her back in long, soothing strokes for a full minute while she let the tears come.
“Molly,” he said finally. “Hear me out, okay? I’m just listening to you and trying to assimilate everything you’re saying, everything you’ve said lately. And it sounds to me as if maybe you don’t want to sell the inn at all. It sounds as though you might want to keep it for yourself.”
Molly opened her mouth to refute the words. But before they could escape, the notion took hold. She closed her mouth long enough to let the idea marinate for a minute.
And it felt . . . right.
She pushed away from Adam, far enough away that she could look into his eyes. But she wasn’t really seeing him. She was seeing herself running the inn. Seeing herself giving that historical tour as she’d done hundreds of times. Seeing herself chatting with Miss Della in the kitchen over a plate of cookies during the slow periods. Adrenaline seeped into her bloodstream. Her heart shimmied in her chest. Her face flushed with heat.
She pictured the inn without Levi or Grace—and surprisingly, that didn’t break her heart as she’d thought it would. Because the inn would be the place they could return to. It could be their home.
They’d all set out to fulfill their parents’ dream—but somewhere along the way the dream had become her own.
But there were obstacles. She only owned one-third of the inn, and her siblings wanted to sell it.
“Tell me what you’re thinking.”
Molly blinked, seeing the concern in those faded blue eyes. She tried to collect her thoughts, but they were zinging through her mind at warp speed. All this thinking had at least caused the tears to abate.
“I’m thinking it’s too late, Adam. We’ve already sold the inn. And I can’t run the business without Levi—he’s the financial wizard behind its success, and he wants to be done with it. Who can blame him? He’s already sacrificed so much for us. I can’t ask him to give up any more.
“And Grace needs the money from the inn for her new location, and she’s already signed papers on the house! I don’t even have the money to buy