Sweet Talk Boxed Set (Ten NEW Contemporary Romances by Bestselling Authors to Benefit Diabetes Research plus BONUS Novel) (134 page)

“Kind of is. Turns out the pier might not be reopening.”

“Not surprised. I saw that big bite out of the middle of it. Made me think of that giant shark in the movie
Jaws
.”

“Yeah, last storm that came through did that. Trouble is even though the very front end is fine the town can’t afford to make it safe and no one will insure it. It breaks my heart. My Nana has worked that pier for years…as long as I can remember. And I have, or I guess I had, a business there.”

“Real estate?”

“No, actually when I was in high school I spent the summers here and my grandfather, Pops, helped me start my very first business to raise money for college. I made homemade ice pops, like Popsicles.”

“Enterprising little thing, weren’t you?”

“Still am. I select two kids from the local high school each year and let them run the stand. I provide their first supplies and the recipes, then they do the rest. Kind of a scholarship, but a teach-’em-to-fish way of doing it.”

“I like that.”

“I hate to let that go. Anyway, enough about my problems. What do you think?”

“It’s great. Everything I was hoping for. Let me think about it. Would you consider sub-dividing it? I’m not sure I need all of this stuff. Maybe someone else could put it to better use.”

“I hadn’t really thought about that as an option. I could check.” But if Holden was in charge of making those decisions, she didn’t hold much hope that his decisions would be in her favor, if yesterday was any indication.

She and Ed walked back over to where he was parked. “Did you want to take a look at those other properties? I’ve got it all set up.”

“You know, I don’t think I do. I looked at the others online. They are not even in the same ballpark as this.”

He liked the house, and that had been her hope, but now that it actually felt like there was a possibility he’d come back with an offer, an unwelcome feeling of sorrow settled over her. First the pier. Now the beach house.

Nana would be dying to chitchat about every little thing, wanting to know what Ed said. What he liked or didn’t. She wasn’t up for it. Instead, she headed back over the dune. The beach was a best friend no matter what was going on. And the best part was it never demanded an explanation.

CHAPTER TWELVE

“I thought I might find you here.” Brody’s voice held its own over the waves breaking. “I brought you something to eat.”

Elli let the wet sand run through her fingers and pile upon itself into a stalagmite formation. She was nearly surrounded by the little structures, like her own little fortress. She looked up and met his gaze. “How’d you know to find me here?”

“I’m a beach guy. We beach types…East Coast, West Coast…it’s all the same. We aren’t all that different. I figured this would be the place you’d come. I mean you seemed so close with your granddad and all. So the beach. Near the workshop. Seemed logical.”

“Yeah. Brilliant deduction, Watson…er, Rankin.” She laughed at her own joke. “Things are changing so fast.”

“The ocean has a way of putting things into perspective, but I have to ask. Why are you sitting in the water in your jeans?”

She’d barely noticed the tide coming up. The water had been a chilly burst when it first slapped against her legs, but she’d gotten used to it, and now, well it probably did look a bit silly to be sitting three feet into the splash zone even if it was only barely over her pant legs. “It was low tide when I got here.”

“You’ve been out here a long time then.”

She nodded. The will to get up seemed more than she could manage. She’d prayed that maybe an answer would roll in from the tide. She was plumb out of ideas to save her grandparents’ legacy here in Sand Dollar Cove.

“You okay?”

“Just thinking about everything.” She lifted a handful of wet sand and wiggled her fingers until just the sand dollars remained. Three teensy ones. She laid the sand dollars on the leg of her jeans. The next wave just washed them back down into the sand.

“With the pier gone,” she said, “I hate to think what that town council is going to think is a good next move for Sand Dollar Cove. Some fast food chain setting up shop on one of the main drags? Then what? A mall? A national-chain grocery store? That would be just great. Poor Mr. Martin would never be able to compete against the likes of a Food Lion or Harris Teeter. The locals look out for each other around here. It’s simple, and we kind of like it that way. The same families back every year for their annual fishing outings. They’ll probably find somewhere else to go.”

“Things will change. That’s part of the cycle. It’s not always bad.” He put a hand out to her. “Come on. Let’s go sit up on the sand where it’s dry and get some food in you.”

She reached for his hand, and he tugged her up in one easy pull. Her jeans felt like they weighed about twenty pounds as she trudged up to the dune line. Brody led the way up the beach then plopped down in the sand, and she sat down beside him.

“Here. I made a meatloaf for Nana.”

“You really cooked again tonight?”

“I did. Nana said it was the best meatloaf she’d ever had. But I have a feeling she was just trying to work it so I’d cook again.”

“She’s sly like that.”

“I figured sandwiches would be easier on the beach.” He handed her one of the paper towel wrapped sandwiches and bit into the other.

“Thanks.” She took a bite to be polite, but she wasn’t hungry.

“So, I’ve been thinking,” he said.

“Me too. It’s a sorry state of affairs.”

“You sure got defeated easily.”

“It’s not like me, but I’ll be darned if I can see a way out of this one.”

“That’s because you’re too close to it.” He took another bite of his sandwich and let the silence hang between them. “It’s why I believe that bringing in fresh members on a team is the best way to problem-solve. Fresh ideas. No connection to what it’s always been.”

“I’m listening.”

“You might have the answer right here. Nana was telling me all about how your granddad’s workshop used to be part of the plaza. She also mentioned there’d been some kind of a preservation down here at the cove at one time. Is that still in play?”

“No. It was set for twenty-five years. It can be reopened whenever someone …” Her eyes widened, and a slight smile played on her lips.

“Like I said. You might be sitting on the answer.”

“The plaza?”

“Yeah. I mean it needs work. A lot of work, but it could be done. There’s plenty of space. In fact I walked down to the pier. The plaza has more space than the shops on the pier took up. You have room for everything that was on the pier and some new tenants too.

“I can’t believe I didn’t think of it.”

“Because you’re too close to it. It’s what you’ve always known it as, just your granddaddy’s man cave. But it would be great. With all that lumber you have we could build out something pretty nice. Plus, then technically you’re still giving the folks who donated to fix the shops exactly what they paid for.”

“Could we get it up by summer?”

“If we do it the old-fashioned way we can.”

Something in his manner soothed her. “What exactly is the old-fashioned way?”

“We call in all of our friends. Like a barn-raising.”

Elli felt her mood soar. “That’s an awesome idea. We could totally do that. We’d need some pretty specific project plans, but this place is solid. Good thing about structures built that long ago, they were built to last.”

“You’ll have to get the permits, that might take some time, but I think after what went down at the town meeting, they should be in an amicable mood to get the locals back on their side. Those guys I was talking to the other night at the meeting. I think they can help with that.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, and this isn’t that far off from the pier. I bet if you could get clearance to put some signage down there you could re-route the regulars.”

“You’re a genius!”

“I’m your genius for the next month or so. What do you say we give this some serious consideration?”

“I say I’m in!”

Elli and Brody raced over to the workshop. It felt good to run off the aggravation that had settled into her muscles. She tugged on her jeans as they slipped low on her hips from the weight of them being so wet.

Brody punched the code into the door lock and then started talking as fast as a seagull going for a French fry. He shared his ideas on how they could build out the space. “The way I figure it, we’ll still need the lumber you have, and I took the liberty to write up a preliminary list of supplies.” He produced a yellow legal sheet of materials. “It’s an informal guesstimate, but I think it’s in the ballpark. But for a relatively small investment this can work.”

“I’ve got money I can put into it, and quite frankly Nana will net a pretty big profit off the sale of the beach house. Oh, wait, what am I thinking. If we sell the beach house, this all goes with it.”

His brows flickered a little. “Maybe we build out a ground-level place for your grandmother right there. She wouldn’t have to move.”

“I don’t know. I think she’s really ready to just downsize, and quite honestly I’m not sure a bunch of construction is healthy to put her through at her age.” Then she thought of her talk with Ed. “Unless…you know, when I was talking to Ed he asked about subdividing, but I don’t think the town will go for it. Why does everything have to be so complicated?”

“Subdividing and rezoning can take a lot of time,” Brody said. “Trust me, if it’s one thing I do know it’s about how long it takes to get zoning and things like that changed.”

“That’s not good news.”

Brody cocked his head. “Do you think Ed’s really interested in the property?”

“He seemed to be.”

“Do you have any idea if all of this property is zoned for houses, or if the plaza is still zoned for business?”

“I don’t really know. Easy enough to check though.”

Brody pulled a tape measure from the workbench. “Help me take a measurement of this place.”

The two of them worked their way around the building and got the keys for the other two units from the box hanging on the wall. Brody jotted down measurements in ink on his forearm as they went.

“By the way, how do you know Ed?”

“I don’t.”

“But you said —”

“Oh yeah, I recognized him. He didn’t tell you?”

She shook her head as she backed up for the last measurement.

“He plays guitar. I met him through a friend of a friend once.” Then he tugged the measuring tape and it zipped back at him faster than Elli could get there. “You’ve got about 3,200 square feet of prime real estate here, girl. We could easily turn this into four units, or even make three nice-sized ones and three little kiosk-sized ones at one end.”

Elli felt renewed hope. “The kiosk would be perfect for Ever-SOL-Pops. People could walk right up to the window and not track in sand. I like the three and three option.”

“I’ll work up some drawings.”

“You know how to do that?”

“What? Do I just look like another pretty face to you?” he teased.

“No. I didn’t mean it like that.” But then yeah, she really had meant it that way, and she felt bad for stereotyping him off of just the few conversations they’d had. “Maybe you shouldn’t put too much effort into those drawings until we know for sure we can make it happen.”

“We’re onto something. I have a good feeling about this. If this isn’t it, then something else will come up. Besides, you look a lot prettier when you’re smiling.”

She felt the heat rush in her cheeks. “Thank you.” How she got so lucky in finding such willing help through one Facebook post she had no idea.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

The next morning Elli took Nana to see the Lazy Daisy, and she had the same reaction that Elli had had. It was perfect.

“Let’s make a full price offer on it, Elli. I can’t wait to get to paint in that sunroom. Maybe I can even do a few canvas paintings again. Do you know how long it has been since I’ve done anything bigger than a sand dollar?”

Elli had to laugh at that. “No. I guess I never really thought about it.”

“Well, probably since you and I made those paintings in your room.”

“That
has
been a while.”

Nana’s blue eyes sparkled. “I think I’ll be very happy here. And I can rent out the upstairs. That would be nice. I like having people around.”

“And Pam’s right next door. I was thinking maybe I’d move down for a few months. Would you mind?”

“Mind? I’d love it!”

“I think that’s the plan then. I’ll put an offer in on the house, but let me handle the negotiations. They’re going through a nasty divorce. I think we have some wiggle room on price.”

Nana grinned. “I’m so proud of you, Elli. Thank you for helping me with this.”

Elli appreciated the compliment, but she had to tell Nana about the pier before someone else did. Gosh, this was hard. “Nana, I need to tell you something.”

“What is it? You look concerned. You’re okay, aren’t you?”

“Oh yes, it’s nothing like that.” But she did feel right sick at the moment. “All that trouble with the license and permit renewal for the shops on the pier …”

Her smile faded. “They are shutting it down, aren’t they?”

“Yes ma’am. They are. I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay, Elli. No one can ever take my memories away. That pier has been a real blessing, but it’s seen better days. I’m not surprised.”

“You’re not?”

A soft and loving curve reached her lips. “Of course not. Were you worried I’d be upset about it?”

“Yes. I was. I’m shocked you’re not.”

“Honey, that pier is a wonderful part of my story, but it’s not everything. Every day brings something new. I’m fine with discovering the new things that will become my new memories.”

Elli wrapped her arms around Nana. “You’re the wisest woman I know. I love you so much.”

“And on a bright note, I can slow down on that rampage to get the inventory restocked. I’m about tired of painting seagulls, I can tell you that.”

“Well, Brody and I were talking about some other options, so hopefully we’ll have a new location for you, but we’re going to let that be a surprise.”