And it ate at me every day.
I loved my job, loved the routine, the certainty of it, but not a day went by that I didn’t wonder if everything would’ve been different now if I hadn’t veered off onto this path. If I’d stuck close to home and stepped into the family business instead of venturing out on my own.
Would she still be gone?
Addison stared at me as she took a slow, deliberate sip out of her coffee mug, one eyebrow raised slightly as if daring me to say a word while she took her sweet-ass time. When my only response was a tick of my jaw, she finally cleared her throat. “I got an email from a travel magazine,Weekend Wanderlust. They’re doing a spread on the best coastal resorts in the country, and they’re sending someone to check us out to see if we’d be a good fit.”
Interest piqued, I sat up, bracing my elbows on the table, and leaned toward her, my brothers all mirroring my position. “Is that a popular magazine?”
“Second-largest circulation in the country.”
“Holy shit,” Ford muttered under his breath.
Addison nodded. “I don’t need to tell you guys just how important this is for the resort. Getting selected to be included would be a huge write-up and would mean national publicity for the resort. Which means an influx of new guests, which means an influx of money.” She pinned each of us with a stare. “Desperately needed money.”
“Yeah, we get it,” Ford said, folding his arms behind his head as he leaned his chair back on two legs. “We’re broke. So you keep telling us.”
“She keeps telling you because nothing’s changed.” Aiden shoved a few papers across the table toward the twins—the budget, no doubt. I didn’t need to see it. I’d already caught a glimpse last night when I’d swung by to see him after my shift. Right before I’d transferred some money from my account to the resort’s.
To say it wasn’t good was an understatement.
“You’ve known me for thirty-two years, so I’m not sure why you think these numbers are going to mean anything to me.” Ford passed the papers over to Beck without glancing at them. “You know I was more of a shop guy than algebra.”
“Then let me put it in clear terms for you,” Addison said. “We’re—”
“Fucked,” Beck finished for her, his eyes scanning the papers.
“Fucked,” Addison confirmed with a nod. “If we don’t figure out a way to get paying customers here, and fast, this resort is going to fold whether we want it to or not.”
I glanced around at my siblings, each of their mouths set in a grim line. They knew as well as I did that we’d been running on fumes for far too long. This wasn’t sustainable, but we didn’t have a choice. Our whole lives were here, wrapped up in these nineteen cottages amid the winding road that followed the curving shore of the ocean. The ocean that had been our backyard our entire lives. They were in the walls of this home that we’d turned into the main inn nearly ten years ago.
“How long?” I asked, voicing the question everyone was wondering but unwilling to ask. How long did we have until we would have to call it quits?
Addison lifted a single shoulder. “Couple of months, if we’re lucky. We’re coming into tourist season, so that may save us a bit. But it’s bad.”
Aiden closed his eyes as he pinched the bridge of his nose. Ford ran a hand through his hair, dividing glances between Aiden, Addison, and me. And Beck…Beck just looked resigned.
I may not have worked at this resort, but it was as much mine as it was theirs. And none of them was in the right mind to take the reins, too close to see the forest for the trees. So I did what I did best and stepped up to take the lead.
“Tell us what you need from us,” I said to Addison.
The corner of her mouth twitched—the only sign of her gratefulness—and she nodded. “Ford, I’ll need your help working through a list. We don’t have much of a budget, but—”
“Do what you need,” I said. “I’ll cover it.”
She pursed her lips like she wanted to argue but must’ve thought better of it, because she continued with a short nod. “I’d like to get as much cosmetic work done as we can. We need to make this seem like a no-brainer. That Starlight Cove is the perfect, picturesque location with perfect, quaint residents. That it’s basically a modern-day Mayberry set on the ocean, and this resort is the perfect getaway for some peace and quiet.”
Ford crossed his arms and nodded. “That should be easy enough.”
Addison snorted. “Normally, yes. But after Brady cuffed his friend yesterday, I’m not so sure.”
“Myfriend?” I asked, incredulous. That insufferable woman wasn’t anything remotely close to a friend. “Aren’t you the one who kept telling me not to arrest her again?”
Ford glanced at me, brows raised. “Wait…who are you arresting? And what do you meanagain?”
Addison waved a hand to dismiss his questions, her focus still on me. “I know you have some vendetta against Luna doing yoga on our property—”
“For the twelfth time, Addison,she doesn’t have a license,” I snapped. “And, as you’ve so eloquently put it, we’re broke. If she’s doing yoga on our property, she”—I held up my hand and counted off on my fingers—“one, needs a fucking license to do so, and two, should pay us for the use of the land, at the very least, considering we’re broke.”
