Page 37 of As a Last Resort

SAMANTHA

My eyes burned. Not only did I stay up way too late last night going over details for our staff call this morning with Robby, I also stared at Austin’s bedroom door for over an hour when I got back to his place. Which was closed.

That was a sign, right? To stay away?

I could have knocked. Or texted him. But I was later than I thought I’d be and knew he had a full run in the morning on the ferry so I talked myself out of it.

And Austin was already gone when I left this morning.

No note. No text. And what good was it going to do anyway?

I had a little over a week left here and there was no point in starting something that wouldn’t go anywhere.

Even if he was an amazing kisser. A curling toes, stomach dropping, fingers raked through hair, goose bumps out of the blue—

“Earth to Samantha.” Robby’s voice cut through the constant replay of Austin’s hand wrapping around the back of my neck.

“Sorry, what?”

“I’m sorry you had to drive all the way over here. I totally could have gotten another place. I didn’t realize they were going to kick you out of this one.”

“No, it’s fine. I’m staying with a friend. It’s no problem, really.” Except the fact I wouldn’t be getting a good night’s sleep, staring at closed doors and imagining what could happen behind them.

“I bet you can’t wait to get back to the city. I’ve only been here twelve hours and I don’t think I’ve stopped sweating once.”

There was a mixture of feelings buzzing around in my chest. This meeting was a pivot point.

I had gone over the numbers last night with Robby and I had a good feeling about my recommendations to Glenn.

Robby stayed pretty mute on his opinion, which was surprising.

I knew Team Glenn wanted a massive skyscraper hotel and a monstrosity of a resort development, but based on what worked here and what was special to the island, I knew a neon slide and a time-share eyesore wouldn’t be successful.

Ivy popped on the screen. “You guys ready?”

“Of course,” I answered. My tone didn’t even convince myself.

“Scoot together more, I can’t see both of you.”

Robby wiggled his chair closer and draped his arm over my shoulders. “Better?” He squeezed my shoulder and gave me his best boy band smile.

We watched Glenn and the rest of the team on my computer screen as they filed into the conference room back in New York. Glenn plopped down and rubbed his hands together, ready for battle.

“Samantha, great, you’re already here. We’ve got some stuff to show you that we came up with. It’s going to be perfect for the island, we just need to find the numbers to justify it all. Robby, you fill her in yet?”

“No, sir, not yet,” he responded, shifting in his seat a little. “I figured I’d let you do the honors since it was your idea.” His voice sounded a bit off.

“Did she at least see the racetrack thing yet?” Glenn asked.

“Racetrack? For cars?” I asked.

Robby leaned over and whispered. “It works in Daytona.”

“I don’t think Daytona is really the vibe we’re after here.” I glared at Robby as nicely as I could. He was sitting too close. “Actually if we’ve got time, I’d really like to start with my recommendations first. I’ve come up with a solid plan based on the due diligence I’m going to share.”

“Sure, we can do that right after. Robby, you ready?” He swallowed next to me as my screen filled with the first visual of the presentation from Glenn’s side. Water Whizz Family Time-share Resort splashed across my screen in neon green.

This had to be a joke.

“Robby, take it away!” Glenn shouted in what he probably thought was a great theme park host voice.

Robby avoided my very intense stare at the side of his head and started.

“ Water Whizz Family Time-share Resort is the very first family-style water park resort of its kind in the Southeast. With over thirty water adventures across the property, including twenty waterslides, a lazy river rapid, and a water bumper cars arena, it will be one of the most in-demand parks you can book. Home of the Green Giant”—the slide clicked over to the neon waterslide the duo had shown me from last meeting—“the park will be the talk of Florida.”

Glenn clicked through as Robby narrated slide after slide of unnaturally colored plastic in their quest to convince the team of the sheer genius that lay before us all.

Through the clear view of the room on my computer, I watched Ivy slink farther and farther down in her chair.

Glenn’s knee bounced up and down with excitement.

“And look at this. There’s plenty of room to build multiple hotel zones, each matching the color of the waterslide at its pool.

” He clicked through a few pictures of bright green and pink buildings, each thirty stories high jutting up in the air, screaming for attention right along with their matching waterslides.

They were easily the ugliest buildings I had ever seen in my life.

Robby continued. “We’ll build a racetrack that connects all of the different hotel zones.

Ancillary businesses will be built along the track including a new ice cream shop, various restaurants, a movie theater.

Even a big-box grocery store answering the need for a one-stop shop with everything anyone could want.

Souvenirs and tchotchkes, rafts, bathing suits, sunscreen, even some packaged food items—you name it, it’s there.

It’ll allow us to still charge tourist pricing, but manage it through one store, which is cheaper to run and stock.

This will provide a reason for not only the tourists, but the locals to visit the property, negating the need for all these little specialty stores that are littered throughout the island right now. ”

“ Littered throughout the island?” The hair stood on the back of my neck.

He hadn’t even seen the island yet. Did everyone but me forget he’d just landed last night ?

I lowered my voice to him. “These are businesses that have been here for decades, passed down from generation to generation. They don’t litter the island. They are the island.”

“You have to think bigger on these types of projects, Samantha.” Glenn’s slightly condescending voice made my jaw tick.

“This revenue line captures business from the entire island now, not just the tourists and not just during peak season. We’re making a destination for the entire island, not just the influx of new money during tourist season. ”

Heads in the conference room all nodded up and down, like those little plastic bobbleheads that people keep on their dashboards.

I turned to Robby, fuming. He knew this was where the pitch was going last night and he kept his mouth shut as I fed him idea after idea veering in a completely opposite direction.

They were planning on building a flashy cartoon version of the island that would bring floods of people in that would boost the local economy, but would irrevocably alter the character of Rock Island, losing the authenticity of the place that’s been created over a hundred years.

And pushing all of the locals out of business while doing it.

I saw the creeping signs of destructive tourism leaving their mark already—brightly colored wrist bands, inflated prices for milk, gas streaks in the overcrowded water from too many motorboats plowing through.

Resort staff roaming the beach in flashy colored polos asking beachgoers if they’d have time for dinner on the house later that evening if they’d just listen to a thirty-minute overview of the time-share opportunities.

“So, you’re just replacing it all.” My attempt to keep my voice even completely bombed.

“Enhancing,” Glenn replied.

“By replacing. The idea of coming into an existing city is not to completely replace everything. It’s to build on what’s already there.

Uncover unseen opportunities and elevate the entire town, not just build a bunch of new stuff to send everyone else out of business.

Respectfully, you don’t come at these the same way you’d come at a new development.

I’ve got the numbers here to prove the town can sustain an injection of tourism that would preserve all they’ve built, but take them to a whole other level, focusing on strategies that make the town unique and buzzworthy.

This could be a gem of a travel destination if we do it the right way. ”

“But you’re missing the mark. This is a new development, Samantha. Which is why Robby’s running point now, not you.”

His statement hit me like a slap across my face.

Both the realization and the hopelessness of it sank in.

I had missed it. I was treating this like a redevelopment project because I was so close to it.

But he was right. We hadn’t been hired by Rock Island to revitalize their city. It was a new development, on new land.

My screen switched back to the full-room view and I saw Ivy’s stormy face looking at me. She hadn’t seen this coming. And there was no way to hide the shock from my own face.

“ This will be a gem of a travel destination.” Glenn pointed to the Water Whizz Family Time-share Resort logo behind him that filled the entire projector screen.

“It’ll be something, that’s for sure.” Ivy had been silent up until then.

“And what exactly do you intend to do with the miles of forest and trees that are currently the future site of this Whizz Resort?” I asked.

“It’ll be demoed.” Glenn answered like it was obvious.

“Demoed?”

“Well, we can’t build on trees, Samantha. I think she’s had a little too much sunshine.” Uncomfortable chuckles filled the air at Glenn’s comment and Robby shifted in his seat again next to me.

I plowed through the insult. “There’s preserved forestland there. And mangroves. And endangered species. And an entire dried-out birchwood tree forest on the beach that’s protected.”

My voice climbed an octave, but I couldn’t hold my frustration in.

“A dried-out forest?” Glenn repeated slowly. “So, a dead forest?”

“I believe they refer to it as a preserved forest , sir,” Robby chimed in.

“I’m sure we can find a way around it with the city council. Robby, you run point on that.”

“Of course, sir.”

My blood boiled. “The point of these projects isn’t to find a way around the city that you’re trying to help.”

“Oh! And check this out,” Glenn continued, switching the screen back to the presentation.

I stopped breathing.

“It’s called the Dolphin Jet.”

On the screen was a picture of the largest passenger boat I’d ever seen.

“It’s an HSC.” Glenn continued. “High-speed craft. They can go almost a hundred miles per hour and carry over five hundred people at one time. Multi-decked, top-of-the-line features. It can even shuttle cars across.”

Robby leaned back with a grin. “I already looked into it. There’s only one other ferry option right now that runs six days a week. Looks kinda dinky and small. We could probably fit their boat on ours if they wanted a lift to the island quicker.” He cackled at his own joke.

Austin. He was talking about Austin .

Glenn beamed like a proud dad. “Our resort will have a top-of-the-line craft. Safe in, safe out, extend the whole resort experience from the moment they step on board.”

I was panicking. “Why would we need to replace an already thriving business? Why not just use them?”

“Because we’re building a resort with thousands of rooms, Samantha. You think a little dingy can shuttle people over fast enough? It’d take a whole day just to land enough people to fill up the bar at the main pool deck.”

“But there’d be too much tourist pressure. Exceptionally high tourism traffic like this will endanger the identity and the cultural and social integrity of the island. What I’ve put together is more conducive to the natural habitat on the island—”

“Why don’t you show Robby around and we’ll reconvene in a few hours?” Glenn interrupted. “What’s on your agenda for today?”

Robby answered for me. “We’re taking an inshore fishing charter in about an hour. Best on the island. The captain’s been around for over ten years. Knows the best spots, routes, drop-ins. Don’t worry, we’ll be taking notes.”

“We’ve got a week to finalize the pitch to the investors. I’m sure you two will figure it out and come up with the numbers we need. I mean, who doesn’t want to come to a resort filled with waterslides?”

“It’s genius,” Robby confirmed.

The video call disconnected and I couldn’t tear my eyes from the blank screen.

I wanted to punch Robby in the nose. Hard.

“Soooo, the fishing charter should be fun.” He looked down and tapped his pen on his empty notepad.

I gritted my teeth and kept my voice even and low. “You knew this was what he was planning and you didn’t say a single thing last night or this morning.”

His shoulders sagged. “I kind of liked your ma-and-pa on steroids idea once you started going. I wanted to see what you were thinking.”

“Glenn’s idea is awful. You’d kill off the entire town and turn it into a tourist trap. Have you even looked into insurance for something like that? What I showed you last night will work. And it will be more profitable in the long run. I have the numbers and the research to prove it.”

“You do,” he agreed. “But the reality is, Glenn’s already made up his mind. Either you jump on board and show him you can hang with the big kids, or you swim upstream and eventually tire out anyway. Your choice, but they end up with the same result.”

“Is that seriously how you operate? You just don’t have any backbone whatsoever?”

“Oh, I’ve got a bone alright, I just choose when to let it go. You, my darling, are blowing your load on something that’s not worth it.”

“You’re disgusting.” I stood up and grabbed my laptop and bag.

“I thought you hated this town anyway? What’s it matter to you?” he called after me as I stormed toward the door. “Okay, so I’ll just meet you at the dock in a little, yeah?”

I let the screen door slam behind me. My heart sank. They’d put the entire town out of business.

Austin. They would put Austin out of business.

And there wasn’t a single thing I could do about it.