Page 13 of #Resort Love (Lakeview Harbor #1)

“I think I’ve walked every inch of the property at least three times.

I’ve examined every single building, every structure, every path.

I grew up coming here and it’s kind of wild how it somehow feels smaller.

” Pausing, he shook his head. “There’s a lot of overgrowth, and there are definitely spots where trees are going to have to come down.

I actually encountered several downed trees.

Fortunately, they didn’t hit any of the cabins or structures, but there’s more than a handful of them and they’re all big.

I’ve taken tons of pictures and made a bunch of voice notes I’ve typed up every night when I got back to the hotel.

I finally checked out of there this morning.

Tonight’s the first night I’m going to be spending in the cabin. ”

“Really? You’re really going to be staying there?”

He nodded. “You saw me moving stuff in the other day. What did you think I was doing?”

“Honestly, I wasn’t thinking about it. I was too focused on getting you to talk to me.”

Walker glanced at her briefly. “Well, now you have my undivided attention, so…talk.”

The bark of laughter was out before she could stop it. “Just like that? Talk?”

“Sure. Why not?”

Why not indeed?

“Okay, so…over the last several years, I’ve had multiple sources—individuals and groups—come to me to inquire about the resort,” she began.

“Some wanted the entire property, some wanted only a portion. We’ve had interest in both commercial and residential projects.

The only thing we haven’t had was interest in simply taking over the resort.

And after each conversation, I reached out to your grandparents to gauge their interest.”

“And was there ever any interest?”

“No.”

“Can I ask you something?”

She nodded.

“Why do you keep pushing this, then? If you’ve talked to my grandparents and they’ve turned you down time and time again, and then you talked to me and I turned you down, what more is there? To me, it’s obvious that this isn’t going to happen.”

“People can change their minds,” she reasoned. “Just because they said no a year ago, or a month ago, or…”

“A few days ago?” he pointedly asked, but she didn’t let it stop her.

“It doesn’t mean they won’t say yes in the future.

Things change. Circumstances change. Who’s to say that there might come a time when Dale and Peggy might want or need the money the sale of the resort property could bring?

” She paused and looked at him. “And it would bring them a lot of money, Walker.”

“I get that. I’m well aware of what the property is worth.”

“Okay, great! So you know the market value and now you’re evaluating everything that’s on the land—the buildings, the inventory, and whatnot. Why are you doing that if you’re not going to sell it?”

“That’s not important,” he said smoothly. “Tonight is all about you giving me the sales pitch you’ve been so keen on giving me. So please, go on.”

This wasn’t exactly the setting she had planned on, but it was the only one she had. Reaching down for her purse, Harlow grabbed her tablet and quickly pulled up the small presentation she had prepared.

For the next forty minutes, she read over everything, presenting each proposal along with a list of pros and cons to prove that she had done her research.

She detailed how each client would benefit the community with their projects and all the reasons she felt were important for Walker and his family to make an informed decision.

The entire time she spoke, Walker had done nothing more than occasionally nod or make a non-committal sound. By the time she was done, she had no clue about what he was thinking or if any of those proposals had sparked any interest. It was maddening!

“So, um…what did you think?” she finally asked.

For a solid minute, he didn’t respond. And when he did, he didn’t answer her question. Instead, he asked, “You said you haven’t eaten at this place before. Is it because you’ve heard bad things about it, or you just never wanted to try it?”

Seriously? She had just done the most thorough and impressive presentation of her life and all he wanted to talk about was the restaurant?

As much as she wanted to call him out on it, Harlow decided to bide her time.

“It’s a little out of my budget,” she admitted. “I grew up in Harbortown, and my family never had the kind of money to go to someplace as nice as The Artisan Grill. But I’ve heard it’s got a fabulous menu and anyone I know that’s ever eaten there has raved about it.”

He nodded. “Good to know.”

And then it was back to the silence. Luckily, they pulled up to the restaurant just minutes later and after that they made small talk about the atmosphere, the menu, drinks…

she had no problem keeping the conversation casual, but eventually he was going to have to have a normal conversation with her about everything she presented.

Whether he wanted to or not.

He asked if she wanted him to pick the wine and she agreed—mainly because she didn’t know enough about wine to really know what was good and what wasn’t.

After that, Walker ordered the escargot for an appetizer, and then the grilled ribeye with a baked potato and a Caesar salad.

Harlow was overwhelmed by the menu, and when she hesitated, he had encouraged her to get whatever she wanted.

It felt wrong to make him spend so much on one meal, but…

“I’d like the oysters Rockefeller to start, and then I’ll go with the surf and turf please,” she said demurely. “And I’d also love a Caesar salad.” Handing the menu to their server, she smiled. “Thank you.”

When they were alone again, Walker chuckled. “I thought you were going to go with a side salad and a bowl of soup,” he teased. “Then I remembered how much you enjoyed that bacon cheeseburger and fries the other night.”

“Oh, I’m not shy about eating,” she replied with a small laugh.

“But it’s also weird to be ordering such an expensive dinner.

Like I said, I kind of grew up poor, so this is a little over the top for me.

” Leaning back in her chair, she studied him.

“But you seem to know your way around a fancy restaurant. I guess I never thought of the Bradshaws as being wealthy. The resort is so rustic, and the menus were always more on the home cooking scale; it never made me think about what they were like in real life.”

“Oh, my grandparents are very down-to-earth and the least pretentious people in the world. I went to work in the hospitality field and manage a chain of upscale, all-inclusive resorts.”

She was pretty sure her mouth was moving, but no words were coming out.

“When our family gets together, it’s a lot of comfort food and potluck meals. I’m the only one who broke tradition and wanted more of the finer things in life. That’s why my grandparents were never interested in the offers, Harlow. The money doesn’t mean anything to them.”

“How is that even possible? Don’t they want to retire without having to worry about anything financially? And by just walking away from the resort, they’re still going to pay taxes on all of it! It doesn’t make sense for them to keep paying money on something that’s not garnering an income!”

Her head was spinning at the ridiculousness of the whole thing.

If Dale and Peggy Bradshaw weren’t concerned with money because they had a lot of it, then why let the resort get into such awful shape?

Why not do the upgrades and renovations to keep it in good condition?

All this time, she was convinced they were bad at business and ran it all into the ground.

But if that were the case, how were they able to retire and walk away? Didn’t they need the money?

“It makes no sense!” she repeated, noticing how Walker didn’t seem the least bit fazed by her reaction. “Walker, explain this to me because I’m completely confused.”

“Believe it or not, the resort is completely paid off and has been for the last twenty years. My grandparents were good with money, and they invested wisely. They’re not hurting for money in their retirement. Trust me.”

Their server came over and poured their wine and she watched as he tasted it and nodded his approval.

“Now, don’t get me wrong, I agree that they should have done more to keep the resort in better shape.

It’s heartbreaking to see it in such a state of disrepair, but I think they procrastinated and then it got to be too much.

The thought of having to do so much work overwhelmed them and they ended up doing nothing. ”

“Every year the tourist crowd became smaller and smaller,” she told him. “I knew a lot of people who worked for your grandparents, and I couldn’t believe it when they started just closing up sections of the resort.”

“Yeah, there are a lot of cabins that aren’t habitable. Same with some of the activity buildings. I don’t know why they waited so long.”

Harlow took a sip of her wine, but her mind was racing, and she knew she couldn’t help but ask the obvious question.

“So then, what are you doing here, Walker? What good is this evaluation of yours going to do?”

He leaned back and there was something in the way he grinned that made her uneasy. There was a certain Cheshire Cat quality to it and it had her bracing herself for whatever it was he was about to say.

“The evaluation is for me and my team of investors,” he said matter-of-factly.

“Your team of investors? I…I don’t understand.” He couldn’t be saying that…that…he bought the resort, could he?

“We’re not selling the resort, Harlow, because I’m taking it over. Well, me and a half dozen of my closest friends. So you see, there can’t be any other deals because…it’s done.”