Page 22 of Sandbar Summer (Summer Cottage #3)

Chapter Fifteen

Libby

“Why do you look so, I don’t know, satisfied?”

“Well, I solved our cash flow problem.”

“What? You didn’t sell some diamond that was on the Titanic or something, did you?”

Libby, J.J., and Aunt Emma were eating lunch, as usual, at the perpetually empty but always delicious Hope’s Table. And sadly, Hope had plenty of time to pop into the conversation.

Libby tried to remember her line of questioning with Aunt Emma, but artichoke dip was melting in her mouth.

“Hope, this is divine. Wow. Okay, back to you, ya sly fox, what about selling Two Lakes?”

“Goldie’s taken it. Patrick did the paperwork. You’ll see, it’s off your books, significantly over asking price!”

“What?”

“Yeah, you’ll have to sign something or other, but it’s off your plate. Goldie’s on it!”

Libby hadn’t seen Goldie yesterday, but today they all planned to get together for dinner.

“Wow, that’s a change. I wonder what she’s thinking?”

“Irish Hills beats Beverly Hills. We knew the old town had it in her,” J.J. said.

“Yeah, but, wow.”

Libby was amazed, and it was one less financial worry. If Goldie was handling the hotel, well, Libby could deal with a million other issues on the front burner. And a cash infusion, maybe she could start renovating across the street. She cycled through her list of projects.

Speaking of burners…

“You’re going to make it tonight, right?” Libby asked Hope.

“Yep, I’ll load up with leftovers; goodness knows we had them from service last night. Bad enough that we’re not doing dinner again until Saturday night.”

Libby hated to hear this. Her friend had worked so hard to make the perfect place. Libby had watched her blossom. But now, it could whither if Libby didn’t get her end of the deal settled.

“I promise, it’s priority one.”

“So, no luck on our rental idea for the space next door?” J.J. said.

“No, but what about you do J.J’s salon on the other end, Sandbar Sisters on each end of the block? It’s perfect.”

Libby was trying to get J.J. to break away from Hairdo or Dye and open a place of her own.

“If her frosted cupcakes don’t get butts in the seats, my frosted tips won’t.”

“Fair point.”

As they ate, they hashed out ideas to increase foot traffic, and they talked about possible ways to get Food Magazine to do a feature on Hope’s Table. All were good ideas, but none of them were as good as Chef Remi in Covert Pier.

As they talked, a group of diners entered. It was late in the lunch service. But it was nice to see.

“Hey, maybe the word is getting out?” J.J. gave Hope the thumbs up.

Hope left the group and got to work serving the surprise influx of guests.

They finished their meals, Patrick picked up Aunt Emma, J.J. headed back to the salon, and Libby was left to puzzle out her latest conundrum.

She left Hope to answer questions about her unique menu.

Libby stepped out onto the sidewalk and noticed more traffic than usual.

Maybe this was working. Maybe in increments, people were taking a little ride to Irish Hills.

She noticed cars parking in the spots along Green Street. She saw people walking, looking around, and taking pictures.

It was great. Goldie had decided to buy the hotel, for whatever reason, and there were tourists trying Hope’s restaurant. It was okay. It was all going to be okay.

She decided to head back to the little office space she was using over the proposed mercantile space.

How did Traverse City become a hot spot? How did Waco? She knew how it happened for Covert Pier. It was the will and might of a billionaire.

What it came down to was they needed a big splash.

Sure, they could slowly build, but they needed that film festival idea, or a food festival or a fair if they were going to bring folks in.

Thanks to Aunt Emma’s leveraging everything they owned, they needed a fast fix, not a slow build.

Though it was nice to have Goldie’s infusion of cash.

She knew Goldie didn’t want to be the town spokesperson, but investment from someone so high profile couldn’t hurt.

Libby made a dozen calls. She was pitching the Irish Hills as hard as she could. But maybe, this was all too fast.

In reality, she’d moved here, pushed back Stirling Stone, and renovated the retail space in a matter of months.

She looked out the window at the street below.

Her phone rang. It was J.J.

“I think we have a problem.”

“Yeah, what?”

“Take a look at the new foot traffic. Notice anything?”

Libby clocked a group milling around the hardware store and others by the grocery store. The original group was now coming out of the restaurant.

“Wait, they all have superheroes on their t-shirts.”

“Yep. Wait, I’m getting a call from Jared. Hang on.”

“’K.”

“Uh, Jared told me Goldie was at the hardware store. She was with Joe; they bought stuff and mentioned the old hotel. They may have found her.”

“Okay, well, stand by. I’m going to figure out how to throw them off the scent. We can’t have them bothering her. I don’t want a repeat of that Comic Con thing or the whack jobs at her house. If they figure out that she’s there at the hotel, it will be miserable for her. I’ll text you in a minute.”

“’K, I’m over here on red alert.”

“Tell Hope, too.”

They hung up. Libby got on social media. She looked for the hashtag GetGoldieGone, and sure enough, there were pictures of downtown Irish Hills. Local fanboys were doing TikTok live in the restaurant. They were driving around downtown and on the prowl for Goldie.

Libby closed her laptop. She packed up her stuff and ran down to her Jeep. She speed dialed J.J. and then Keith.

If they were going to help Goldie right now, it would need to be all hands on deck.

Goldie

Goldie had to admit that she was having fun. It turned out she liked painting, talking with Joe, and hashing out ideas for Two Lakes.

Joe listened to her as she talked about anything that came to mind.

He opened up a little about his son and his grandson.

Part of the reason he’d come back to this part of Michigan was for them.

Goldie learned that the tough contractor had a very squishy inside when it came to talking about his grandson.

And for a moment, Goldie thought maybe actually staying here wouldn’t be the worst thing. But then she reminded herself there was retribution to be had against Trevor for trashing her career.

But an afternoon spent with Joe turned out to be a good way to forget about her career dilemma. Even for a little while.

Joe wanted to continue to work while Goldie got ready for dinner with her friends. She showered and spent more time than she anticipated scrubbing paint off her hands. She’d officially not been this dirty since the time they threw her in a vat of mud for the last scene of Rancher Wife.

She was excited to have dinner with the girls.

To kick back and also to tell them about her ideas for the hotel.

Libby, Hope, and J.J. were incredible. And the amount of time she had missed out on their lives, well, it made her a little sad.

That was time she’d never get back. She’d always thought of time as her enemy when it came to her looks. Maybe it wasn’t about that at all.

Goldie blew out her hair and did her face for the first time since she’d come back to Irish Hills. She entered the lobby to find a paint-covered Joe, finally ending his day as well.

“Wow, that’s a fancy get-up for Irish Hills.”

“Too much?” She was questioning her outfit choice all of a sudden. Was she showing off? It was so casual here; she didn’t want to seem like she was too big for Irish Hills. It was a simple shift dress, but maybe it was over the top here.

“Well, I like the ball cap version of you, but gorgeous superstar works, too.”

“Thank you.” She was way too pleased to find out that Joe liked the way she looked in a ball cap. What was wrong with her?

A knock at the back window interrupted the flirting. Goldie was grateful for that. She did not need to start something with this contractor and then break his heart when she left town.

“Hey, let me in!”

Libby and a tiny blonde woman were at the back porch door.

“What in the world, I thought we were meeting at seven?” Goldie ran over and let them in.

“Listen, you need to switch clothes with J.J.”

“J.J.?”

“Yep, pretty good likeness, eh?”

J.J. had on a ton of makeup, eyelashes, and a blonde wig that looked like she was trying to do an impression of Goldie.

“What in the world?”

“Hey, Joe, do us a favor and look out the front to make sure no one’s coming.”

“Okay, yeah, sure.”

Goldie had no idea what was happening. Libby grabbed Goldie’s hands and started talking fast.

“Somehow, this TikTok kid spotted you at the hardware store. He’s alerted the local fanboy contingent, and they’re trying to find you. They’re crawling all over town. They’re asking where you lived, where you might be staying, if anyone’s seen you at the grocery store.”

“Ugh. Shoot. We were talking too loud, Joe, see?”

Joe shrugged.

“Look, switch with her.”

With no regard to the fact that Joe was still in the vicinity, Goldie took off her floral print dress and handed it to J.J., who ditched her cut-off shorts and Detroit Tigers t-shirt.

“Wow, J.J., whatever you’re doing to stay fit is working. I’m the one they ask to do love scenes,” Goldie said. She was impressed by how adorable J.J. was. Goldie spent half her waking hours working out and denying herself food.

“Thanks, I have a hula hoop. It works like a charm. Want a free peek there, Joe?”

“Nope, just on the lookout here. I don’t need Dean rearranging my face, you evil temptresses.”

“Hey, not too shabby,” Libby remarked to J.J. “You two shorties are the same size, and with the wig, from far away, I’d be fooled.”

“Thank you, let’s hope they stay far away,” J.J. said.

“Give her your hat.”

J.J. plopped a Dean Construction trucker hat onto Goldie’s head.

“Man, Dean’s gonna want that on a poster someday,” J.J. said.