Page 34 of Dragged Home for Christmas

Ashley’s eyes sparkled. “Another flyer. I’m on it.” She giggled. “God, this is fun.”

Mike, however, felt as though he was being pulledalong by a runaway train.

Sam touched his hand. “It’s all good,” he said quietly. “We need to move fast. We’ve got a lot to get in place if we’re going to put on the shows and bring this place back to life.”

He drew in a deep breath. “I take it your pianist connection came through for you,” he said to Anthony, who nodded, smiling.

“Yeah. Phil spoke with the owners of the Crown & Anchor, and they’re happy for him to come here and play when he’s not working there. They’ve got several acts they use on a regular basis, so it’s not like he’ll leave a hole in their schedule. I said we hadn’t decided on a ticket price yet, but he didn’t seem too concerned about that. I guess it’s all good publicity for him, right?”

“Come up with a price, and I’ll produce a flyer for that too. And if I’m quick, we could have them all by the middle of the week.” Ashley beamed. “It’s like they say in that old TV series. I love it when a plan comes together.”

Mike sighed. Flyers were cheap enough to have printed. The real cost was going to be the renovations.

“By the way, guys…” Ashley smiled. “Thanks for getting my room ready. I can’t wait to use it for the first time tonight. I really appreciate having my own space.”

Anthony inclined his head toward Mike. “A snorer, huh?” The others chuckled.

Mike gasped. “I donotsnore.” He frowned and glanced at Ashley. “I don’t, do I?”

“No, but you sure are a wriggler. I don’t want to evenaskwhat you were doing in your dreams last night.” That grin was pure wickedness.

“No, butIdo.” Anthony leaned forward, his chin resting on his clasped hands, and batted his lashes. “Do tell, honey. And make it R-rated. We could do with a little heataround here.”

Sam nudged Mike. “You’ve got to tell them sooner or later.”

“Tell us what?” Elliott demanded.

Mike’s heart sank. “I love it that you’re all so enthusiastic, and it’s great that everything’s coming together, but the truth is…” He let out a sigh. “Sam and I went through the whole hotel yesterday and this morning, and what we found is… disturbing.”

Suddenly the room was quiet.

“It’s bad, isn’t it?” Anthony murmured. “Not that we didn’t have an idea. We’re not blind.”

“Did Nick haveanywork done on the fabric of the building since he took over the place?”

Sam looked at Jim. “You were here first. What can you tell us?”

Jim twisted his napkin. “Nick bought the place in 2011, using money from the sale of both his house in Boston, and his company. He sank every penny he had into the purchase. But he didn’t put a lot of effort into running the hotel. I guess he assumed people would come stay because hey, this was Provincetown. The drag acts started seven years ago, and they brought in money, sure, but not as much as the hotel could’ve done. And when Polly did her disappearing act, Nick went to pieces. He didn’t care about anything anymore.”

Jim’s words were like an icy layer that settled on them, dispersing their previous good humor.

“We know it looks pretty shabby,” Anthony admitted.

Mike consulted his list. “Any hotel can expect wear and tear, but there’s a lot of it. Door frames, windowsills, nightstands, bed frames… I don’t know when the rooms were last painted, but I’m guessing it was a while ago. Thethird floor seems to be in the worst state. To breathe new life into the place, we’re talking lumber, paint—a lot of paint—repairs…” He paused. “And that’s not taking the bathrooms into account. There are thirty-three rooms in this hotel, and Sam and I estimate that eighteen of the bathrooms are crying out for an upgrade. For God’s sake, the plumbing alone looks as if it’s still in the nineteenth century.” He dropped the notepad onto the table. “I know I said we’d reopen the hotel, but when you look at what it needs… Sorry, guys, but we just can’t afford it.”

It had been worse than Mike had imagined.

“So what you’re saying is, we need a miracle.” Elliott sighed. “And unfortunately, those are in short supply.”

“That’s if you believe in miracles in the first place.” Anthony stood and placed all the pizza boxes into a pile. “I’ll take these out to the recycling bin.”

It was a somber group of people who sat around the table.

Ashely pushed back her chair. “I think I’ll go to my room and carry on working on these.” She closed her laptop and left the kitchen.

Elliott folded his arms on the table and laid his head on them. “Well, that’s depressed the fuck out of me.”

Mike glanced toward the door. “Where did I leave the bottle of whiskey?”

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