Page 6 of No Room in the Inn

I nod, once again blinking away tears.

“Hi, Sarah,” my dad says, and I give a little start—Sarah’s been so quiet from behind me that I forgot she was here. Now she shuffles up to my side, however, and shakes my father’s outstretched hand.

“I’m so sorry for your loss,” she says. It sounds better coming from her than it did when I said it.

“Thanks, sweetie,” my dad says. My parents always treated Sarah like another daughter when we were growing up. “How is Flora doing?”

“She’s fine, thanks for asking.”

“I’m sorry to interrupt,” my mother cuts in, looking at her watch. “But we should get started, Craig.”

“Right,” my dad says.

“Of course,” Sarah says, and I nod.

I turn and give Sarah’s hand a little tug to head to the back of the room. I feel my body relax a little bit as I step away from my parents, and I take a few deep breaths. Sarah was right; I feel better now that our first encounter is out of the way. I move away gratefully, watching my feet as I walk. We find seats in the back—my preference, because I hate the feeling of people staring at me, and I hate having my back to a crowd of people anyway.

The actual service is short and sweet, much like Granny herself. Both of my parents talk about her and her life, about her adoration of Christmas movies and the other quirks that made her so lovable, and I’m grateful no one asked me to speak. When the speaking is done and the guests have given their final condolences, Sarah and I along with my parents follow the hearse to the town cemetery, where Granny is finally laid to rest. As the casket is lowered into the grave, I send my last goodbyes to Granny, wherever she is, and ask her one last time what the heck I’m supposed to do with a beat-up old bed and breakfast.

Chapter 4

Willow

As we head back to Sarah’s car after the burial, I can’t help but sigh with relief. I’m exhausted—probably from the emotional toll of both seeing my parents and attending a funeral at the same time. Either way I’m glad to get out of there.

“Where to?” Sarah says from behind me. Our voices are muffled by snow on the ground and the low-hanging blanket of clouds above us; the unnatural stillness that only snowfall can bring.

“The law office on Main,” I say. “They have the keys to the inn.”

The cold air irritates my throat as I breathe, and my breath swirls visibly around me as we make our way back to Sarah’s car. Once we’ve both buckled in and pulled out of the parking lot, Sarah says,

“That wasn’t so bad, right? With your parents, I mean.”

I shrug but don’t respond. My eyes are trained on everything we pass, and it feels good to just turn off my brain for a few minutes.

“You don’t want to talk about it,” Sarah says, glancing briefly at me before turning her eyes back to the road.

“Not really,” I admit.

“That’s fine. We can change the subject. Are you excited to see the bed and breakfast?”

And this is one of the things I love about Sarah. She knows when to stop pushing. She’s never been one to tell me only what I want to hear, but she also can tell when it’s time to back off.

“I am, actually,” I say, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. “It’s been a long time.”

Granny lived on the third floor of the inn, keeping that level for her own use and using the first and second floors for the bed and breakfast part. She was almost always booked solid, especially when the weather got colder and people starting going on ski trips or holiday vacations. It must have been difficult for her to adjust when she had to close the place down. I’m not sure where she moved to after that; she can’t have lived there by herself with a broken leg and hip.

I sigh and stare out the window some more. The drive to the law office takes two minutes, and when we arrive, we’re one of three cars in the parking lot.

“It’s not Robert Buchheit here anymore, by the way,” Sarah informs me as we get out of the car.

I turn to her in surprise, closing the passenger door behind me and making my way toward the small building. “Oh, is it not?”

Sarah catches up to me and shakes her head. “No. This guy moved to town a couple years ago.”

“What happened to Robert? Did he retire?”

“Yeah, he lives with Mellie and her kids—he’s doing the whole Grandpa thing.”

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