aside a lock of hair that had fallen across her forehead. “She didn’t want you girls to know that she’d gotten taken. She asked me not to contact you. Besides, that was before we knew about the brain tumor. I didn’t realize she wasn’t firing on all cylinders. If I had known, I would have hidden her checkbook and I would have called you.”
Sighing, Madison rubbed her eyes and willed away the migraine teasing at her temple. Please, not two days in a row. “Okay, so that’s probably not money we’re going to recoup, although I am making a police report and getting the advice of an attorney.”
“How long has it been since Grammy’s had guests at the inn?” Shelley shot a glance from Gia to Darynda.
“She had guests last week,” Gia said.
Darynda shook her head, contradicting her. “She hasn’t had any bookings since New Year’s. She told me she was clearing the decks for renovations . . .”
“What?” Gia looked hurt. “But she specifically told me she had guests. Why would she lie to me?”
“You didn’t notice there were no guests? And why didn’t you ask questions when the renovations didn’t happen?” Madison asked Darynda.
“I did ask.” Darynda stayed cool, unruffled. Madison liked that about the woman. “That’s when she told me about the contractor.”
Frustration whipped up Madison’s spine and landed in her throat. Darynda should have called her. There’d been half a dozen red flags.
Yeah? And you should have checked on Grammy more often. You hadn’t seen her in almost half a year. At most, you call her twice a month. Point the finger where it really belongs, Madison. On you.
But Gia and Darynda had been here. She’d expected them to pick up the slack. Remorse kicked irritation’s ass to the curb. She couldn’t hang this on just Darynda and Gia. They’d all played a part in the situation. They’d let Grammy, and one another, down.
No more finger-pointing. Time for solutions.
“I’m sorry if I sounded rude,” Madison apologized. “But this is bad. We’re at risk of losing the inn. We can’t lose the house. It’s been in the family for five generations. We’ve got to do something. We’ve reached a tipping point.”
Everyone nodded. At last. Something they could all agree on. Pyewacket hopped onto the table, wandered over, and plopped down on top of the stack of bills, as if to say, Pay attention to me. Shelley reached over to scratch the cat under her chin.
“But what?” Gia toyed with the ends of her hair, coiling a strand around her finger, a nervous habit from childhood whenever she felt stressed.
“Do I always have to find the solutions?” Madison snapped, but Gia’s hurt face sent instant regret shooting through her. She had to start tempering her irritation or she was going to isolate everyone.
Frowning, Shelley stood up and in a firm voice said, “Sit down, Maddie.”
“Excuse me?” So much for quelling her anger. Why was it so hard for her to let things go? Um, maybe because you’ve lost so much already?
“Sit down. You’re about to blow a gasket. That vein in your head is—”
“Don’t tell me what to do.”
“I don’t know what your problem is . . .” Shelley’s nostrils flared. “But you gotta stop taking it out on us. You bitch about always having to take the lead, but let’s be honest, you don’t give anyone else a chance to harness up. You plunge ahead, snorting and raring because no one else jumped in. Wanna know why we don’t jump?”
Madison did not sit. Instead she folded her arms over her chest, feeling the raw edge of her anger scrape against the inside of her mouth. Calm down, calm down. But all the self-admonishment in the world couldn’t tame her grief that cropped up under the guise of anger. “Please, enlighten me.”
“Because you’ll shoot down our ideas no matter what. You think you always know best,” her younger sister said.
Her anger stumbled. Suddenly, she felt worn and weary. Shelley was right. She didn’t trust others to get the job done right. She was a perfectionist. Guilty as charged. Finn had accused her of it as he’d walked out the door. You never let anyone help you, Madison. Until you let someone help you, you’ll always carry your burdens alone. If that’s the way you want to live life, fine. But me? I want a real partner.
Madison gulped, and unshed tears pushed against the back of her eyes. She tightened down on every muscle in her face, determined not