Sandcastle Beach (Matchmaker Bay #3) - Jenny Holiday Page 0,26
up?” Her brother’s face appeared on the small screen. He was all sweaty, and he had a towel around his neck.
“Are you at the gym?” Maya asked, temporarily distracted from the impending demise of her family.
“You say that like you’re asking if I’m at a crack house.”
“It’s a gorgeous summer evening. You live on Lake Michigan. You should be outside doing your Rambo moves.” Her brother was one of those CrossFit cultists, always leaping over things or randomly jumping up on park benches. Because it wasn’t enough that he was rich and successful and lived in a glamorous high-rise condo in the Loop, he had to be ripped, too.
“It’s AMRAP night at my box.”
“I have no idea what those words mean.” Heh. Benjamin had said that very sentence to her a few days ago when she’d been talking about Holden Hampshire.
“Children of my heart,” her mother said. “Shut up.”
Right. Someone was dying. “What’s wrong?”
“Yeah, what’s happening?” Rohan asked. “I admit I got a little nervous when you said you wanted to schedule a FaceTime for all of us.”
Crap. If her devil-may-care brother was worried, someone was definitely dying.
“Well, let’s just come out with it so we can get on with dinner,” her mom said, turning to her dad.
Maya braced her hands on the table.
“We’re going to retire,” her dad said.
“Okay?” her brother said warily.
“I’m a little surprised,” Maya said, understating it entirely. Her parents were in their early fifties. She turned to her dad. “What about the store?”
“I’m going to sell it.”
“What?” Rohan said, the shock in his voice echoing Maya’s feeling on the matter.
“Neither of you want it,” her dad said. He looked between them. “You don’t want it, do you?”
“No?” Maya said, aware that her answer came out sounding more like a question. She didn’t want it, but the sudden prospect of the store being gone underscored just how much the idea of it as her backup plan was entrenched in her consciousness. The store had always been there. Had felt like it always would be.
“Let’s back up a bit,” her mom said. “We know this sounds out of the blue, but there’s some logic here. Last winter, at a routine physical, your dad was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure.”
Oh my God.
“Thank God Nora Walsh came to town,” her mom added. “I’ve been after him to get a checkup for years.”
“It’s not as bad as it sounds,” her dad said quickly. “We made a plan, and it’s working.”
“Why didn’t Nora tell me about this?” Maya exclaimed, but of course the answer was doctor–patient confidentiality.
“Yes, no need to worry about your dad,” her mom said. “He’s taking his meds and we’re working on lifestyle changes, but for that we need time. Time for long walks and workouts at the community center. The point is, the health scare has made us reevaluate things. We’ve both worked so hard for so long—especially your dad.”
It was true. Her dad staffed the store all the hours it was open, except on the weekends, when her mom rotated in, either to relieve him or to keep him company.
“We want to travel while we still can, too,” her dad said. “Other than the handful of times I’ve been to India, I’ve never been outside of Canada.”
This was also true. Maya’s mom traveled for work sometimes, to conferences in the US mostly. And she took Maya’s grandmother to visit relatives in India every other year—which struck Maya as kind of funny, because in Mom’s stories about her youth, she always painted a picture of herself in constant rebellion against her parents. But because of the store, her dad rarely traveled.
“We ran the numbers,” her dad said, “and while we’re not going to be living in luxury, we can swing it. We just feel like we’ve worked hard and saved money, and now it’s time for that investment to pay off.” He smiled at Maya’s mom. “Mostly, I just want to hang out with your mother.”
Again: so gross. So cute.
“So that’s it!” said her mom. “Sorry for the drama. It’s all good, though.”
“So you’re really going to sell the shop,” Rohan said.
“Yes,” her dad said. “I’ve had a commercial agent in. She’s going to give me her thoughts next week. The goal is to get it on the market in the fall, and your mom is going to retire at the end of the calendar year.”