Page 6 of #Resort Love (Lakeview Harbor #1)

It was only day one and he was already mentally exhausted. He could only imagine how he was going to feel six months from now.

He was about to pull away when his phone vibrated with an incoming text. Laughing softly, he saw it was from his grandmother. It was adorable when she texted because she always worded the message like it was a formal letter, including signing her name.

Tapping the screen, he saw a bunch of heart emojis and smiley faces before she mentioned talking to his grandfather about the real estate people. He read further and was certain he was misreading things.

Gram: Be careful, Walker. The biggest vulture of them all is a Harlow St. James. She’s young and cute, but she’s a persistent pain in my behind! Don’t let her get her claws into you or our resort! Send her on her way and tell her to please stop calling me!

Gram: Remember, Harlow St. James is not to be trusted! Love, Grandma

“Well, shit.”

“Well, it’s official. The Oakeny Diner has closed its door.”

Harlow St. James tossed her purse down on her desk, sighing loudly.

Her friend and coworker, Swati, looked up from her computer screen and frowned. “What? Seriously? We were just there on Friday after we left the festival!”

“Yup. I stopped there to grab some lunch to bring back to the office and the doors were locked. There’s a sign on the door saying that after forty years in business, the owners made the tough decision to close.

” Sighing, she added, “Just one more thing in this town that’s gone. And you know who’s to blame, right?”

“The economy?”

“No! The Bradshaws! You know, the Lakeview Harbor Resort owners! They totally let that whole place crumble, and it took half the town’s businesses with them! They took off and now those fifteen hundred acres and all the buildings on it are just going to sit abandoned! They’re a total eyesore!”

“You really can’t see any of the buildings from the road,” Swati argued lightly. “You’d have to drive through the gates of the resort and down the long driveway. I mean…”

“It’s unfair!” Harlow blurted out. “If they didn’t want to run the resort anymore, fine. But they should have sold it instead of killing the whole town!”

“How do you know they’re not going to sell? It’s possible.”

But Harlow was already shaking her head. “No, it’s not. Believe me. I’ve talked to Dale and Peggy Bradshaw more times than I can count about selling the place.”

“When’s the last time you tried talking to them?”

“This morning,” she said miserably. “Peggy’s always very polite, but she can’t be reasoned with. I have a list of developers a mile long who have asked about buying the property, and they’ve turned them all down.”

“Wow. That just seems odd. If they sold all of it, they’d be millionaires like…a hundred times over.”

“I know!” Harlow snapped with frustration.

“I’ve had offers to buy the whole thing and offers to purchase chunks of land, and they weren’t interested.

And before she hung up this morning, Peggy said they were fine with just walking away and letting the property just…

just…sit and rot and get overgrown!” Another long sigh.

“Who turns down tens of millions of dollars?”

“What about the rest of the family?” Swati asked. “Surely they have kids and grandkids who aren’t on board with just passing up that kind of money. Maybe you need to reach out to one of them and talk some sense into them.”

“Ooh…I hadn’t thought about that. I seem to remember hearing that their family used to spend their summers here. I’d just have to figure out how to find them.”

“Find who?” her boss Charlene asked as she walked across the office to get herself a cup of coffee.

“We’re talking about Lakeview Harbor Resort,” Harlow explained. “And finding Dale and Peggy’s kids.”

“Why?”

Harlow explained her theory about why all the local businesses were closing down.

“Just because the Bradshaws didn’t care about what their poor business skills did to this town doesn’t mean the next owners won’t.

If we can convince them to sell and bring in new developers who can breathe some life back into the local economy, everybody wins! ”

“We just need to figure out where to find some of the Bradshaw family,” Swati chimed in.

“Well, you can start by driving up to the resort,” Charlene casually said as she poured cream into her coffee.

“Um…what? No one’s been up there in at least six months,” Harlow argued. “And I just spoke to Peggy Bradshaw this morning. She never mentioned anyone being here.”

Grinning, her boss faced her. “Last night I was at the grocery store, and the guy in front of me at the checkout was talking to Nancy Conners about how he was going to be staying in one of the cabins at the resort. Naturally, that piqued my interest, so I ditched my order and followed him outside. In the parking lot, I stopped him and told him I overheard what he said about staying at the resort. As soon as I introduced myself and told him I own this realty group, however, he got a little…cold? Not quite hostile, but also not in the least bit friendly.”

“Well, that’s just rude,” Swati commented.

“Anyway, he didn’t give me his name. He just said he was doing some…oh, how did he put it…he was doing some sort of evaluation on the property.”

“That’s a little vague,” Harlow murmured.

“Evaluation for what? To sell it? Do you think he’s like the family representative who’s taking stock of everything so they can place the resort on the market and get the best price?

” Her eyes narrowed as she glanced at her boss.

“Why didn’t you pitch the idea of selling the place?

I mean…you own a real estate firm! It’s your livelihood! ”

It was crazy how offended she was that Charlene passed up such an amazing opportunity, but her boss simply shrugged.

“Like I said, his entire demeanor changed when I introduced myself and told him I owned the agency. Plus, I kind of wanted to see where this evaluation of his was going to go. If he’s here as some sort of family representative and they decide to sell the resort, we’re the only real estate office in town. ”

“I get that, but it doesn’t guarantee he’ll come to us,” Harlow quickly countered.

“This is a small town and if he even casually mentions putting the property up for sale, I figured we’d reach out.” She gave Harlow a serene smile. “Or someone in our office would.”

The wheels in her head were already turning. Feeling motivated, she jumped to her feet, and immediately grabbed her keys, purse, and phone.

“Maybe I should introduce myself to this family representative,” she said confidently. “After all, he might appreciate having a real estate broker there to assist him in getting top dollar for every single one of those fifteen hundred acres.”

“I’m not so sure that’s a good idea. Real estate agents seem to be a huge deterrent to him,” Charlene reminded her. “But maybe you can dazzle him.”

“Damn, Harlow, I’m jealous,” Swati said with awe. “If you convince him to sell all of it, do you have any idea what kind of commission you’d make?”

She knew the exact commission she’d make and already had an idea of how she’d spend some of it, but instead of bragging, she simply shrugged.

“No doubt it would be fantastic. Now, if you’ll excuse me, it looks like I’m going to explore an abandoned resort.

” Facing Charlene, she paused. “Unless…you want to…?”

“As much as I know that commission would mean I could retire, I know the time you’ve put in over the last few years with Dale and Peggy. I’m not going to step on your toes. Besides, the office will still make money off of any deal you make.”

Relief swamped her. “Oh. Okay. Cool. Thanks!”

“You might want to change before you head out to the resort,” Charlene suggested. “I doubt your skirt, heels, and silk blouse are conducive to walking around in the woods. I’m guessing things are pretty overgrown by now.”

“You’re right. The one day I dress up a little…”

“Run home, change, and then go and hopefully work your magic! And good luck!” her boss said as she strolled back into her office.

“Thanks, Char!” she called out before stopping at Swati’s desk. “This is kind of exciting. Maybe I should invite him to dinner and present some of his options to him. I’ll bet most of the offers I’ve had over the years would still be interested.”

“But you talked to Peggy this morning, remember?”

“I know.” Nibbling her lip, she thought about it for a moment. “Maybe she hasn’t shared that information with whoever this person is?”

“You never know. Hopefully he’ll be receptive to your help,” Swati said. “But it wouldn’t hurt if you maybe made reservations someplace for dinner. You know, just in case.”

“Good idea. I’ll call Dominic's and book a table for tonight on my way home to change.” The more she thought about it, the more excited she got. “Okay, I’m going! Wish me luck!”

“Oh, Harlow! Wait!” Charlene shouted from her office.

With a small huff, she turned and walked back across the room. “Yes?”

“He mentioned that he was waiting for something to get connected at the resort. I think it was cable? Wi-Fi?” She shook her head. “Anyway, if he’s not at the resort, he mentioned how he’s staying here in town at…”

“At the Lakeside Inn?”

“How’d you know?”

“It’s the only hotel in town,” she said with a small laugh. “It wasn’t that hard to connect the dots.”

Just the thought of the hotel felt like returning to the scene of a crime. Could she really go back there so soon? What if Walker was still there? Would he think she was stalking him?

Ugh…

“Anyway, if you can’t find him at the resort, you’ll probably find him at the hotel.”

“Good to know. Thanks. Okay, now I’m really leaving. I’ll see you tomorrow! Fingers crossed I’ll be bringing good news back with me!”

“You’ve got this, Harlow! You are going to knock this guy off his feet and get that commission!”