Page 34 of Booked for Summer

‘We’re fed up with property developers swooping in like vultures and turning large parts of our charming town, rich with historic heritage, into a sprawling resort full of vulgar modern buildings.’ Henry, who Jade guessed was in his early thirties, steepled his hands, the gold signet ring on his left pinkie catching the light. With his elegant, sharp cheekbones, carefully styled hair and faded red chinos, which according to Jeremy were a Nantucket status symbol, the guy oozed wealth and privilege. He’d also taken over the meeting, droning on for the last fifteen minutes about everything that was wrong with the Haven Resort. ‘We already have sufficient accommodation on this island for every type of holiday maker,’ Henry continued. ‘The Chase Resort has been serving wealthy tourists for over a hundred years.’ He glanced at Jeremy. ‘Why you turned down the chance to work there, I don’t know.’

Jeremy shrugged. ‘I’m happy where I am.’

‘Happy working for a soulless, modern resort that wants to rip the guts out of our shoreline?’ He snorted and turned back to Jade. ‘Whatever you can do to stop that son of a bitch getting his way, has the full support of me and my family.’

‘Um, that’s great, thanks.’ Nerves fluttered in her belly. Enlisting some people with clout had seemed like a great idea the other night, after a few drinks, but today, facing this group of angry residents out for blood, her little stand against closing the bookstore felt like it had morphed into something bigger. Nastier.

‘Here, here.’ This was from Adam, who’d once owned a business on the waterfront near the bookstore, before, in his words, being forced to sell up. ‘I realise Haven has already bought the wharf, and the whole bloody frontage either side of it now, but in highlighting the plight of the bookstore we can rally the rest of the town– hell, the island– into realising it’s time to take a stand against these developers and stop any further desecration of our precious shoreline.’

‘Absolutely.’ Mary, who Jade guessed was in her early fifties, was one of the town librarians, and judging by the way she’d kept looking crossly at Henry as he’d droned on, also had an awful lot to say. ‘We don’t want the likes of Haven taking over any more of our island. I know my Sarah is employed by him, but after all that business with Ashley, my opinion of him has gone even further downhill. Sarah says rumour at the resort is that Haven made Ashley pregnant then pushed her out. Poor girl didn’t even feel she could stay on the island. She’s in Australia now.’

‘I’m not sure we know all the details,’ Emma murmured. On the board of the Heritage Society, she was quieter than the others and, Jade had found to her delight, was the wife of George, the water taxi man. ‘But it was a shame to lose Ashley. She was always ready to help the community.’

‘Unlike her boss,’ Philip chimed in. In his sixties, according to Jeremy, Philip was one of those people who like to get involved in anything and everything. ‘I remember Liam Haven’s grandma, Pat. She was a hard worker, kept herself to herself. Difficult to believe they share the same DNA.’

As she listened to the collective murmur of agreement, Jade looked pleadingly over at Jeremy. She was on a mission to keep her job for three months and hopefully stop the bookstore from being knocked down. Not declare a public war on Liam Haven.

Jeremy caught her eye and nodded. ‘I know emotions are running high regarding the amount of real estate being bought up by developers, but can we park any personal vendettas for a moment.’ He turned to Jade and smiled. ‘We’re here to help our new Little Bay Book Shack manager promote the store, not carry out a character assassination of the man both she and I happen to work for.’

All eyes turned to Jade and her heart began to thump. ‘If I’m honest, I’ve never managed a shop before, never mind tried to save one, so I kind of need as much advice as I can get.’

Adam gave her a slow smile and leant back against his chair. ‘No worries. Use us however you see fit.’

He winked, and Jade felt a flush of embarrassment. She didn’t want to be flirted with– she’d already made one colossal mistake with the opposite sex in thenot even a weeksince she’d arrived.

Then again, if she wanted to be taken seriously, she had to earn that right. Pushing down the jittery feeling in her stomach, she started talking. ‘So, as I was telling Jeremy and Leroy.’ Her gaze drifted over to Jeremy and she took some comfort from the reassuring smile he gave her. ‘To generate interest in the shop I thought we could have a themed book week where we focus on a different genre each day.’ Did it sound trite, coming after Henry and Adam’s big speeches? Liam hadn’t laughed when she’d gone through the details the other night, though that was likely because he wasn’t listening. He’d sipped at his whisky, said a quietthank youwhen she’d finished. And left.

Pushing the man out of her mind, she squared her shoulders. ‘Monday could be mystery day and involve a murder trail around this part of the town. Tuesday would be for travel and I could set up stalls in the resort and the town containing books and maps for different destinations. Wednesday could be women’s fiction; Thursday, thrillers; Friday, fantasy; Saturday, um, maybe science fiction…’ She could feel the energy drain from her the further she went through the week. What on earth had she been thinking? She couldn’t pull this off. From the nonplussed look on the faces in front of her, she couldn’t even convince them to help her, either. ‘I’ve not got it all planned out yet,’ she ended lamely.

‘It sounds excellent,’ Mary said finally into the silence. ‘Ambitious, perhaps, but there’s nothing wrong with aiming high.’

Unless you’re biting off way more than you can chew. Jade’s hands began to sweat and she had a strong urge to rush to the loo and puke her guts up.

‘Let us know how we can help,’ Emma added. ‘And if you think of a way to include historical fiction, we could advertise it at the Heritage Society.’

Frigging hell, she’d missed off a major genre. That desire to puke intensified.

‘Well, keep us informed.’ Henry rose to his feet, eyes fixed to his phone. ‘Sorry, got to take this, important call. Catch you later.’

He walked out without even making eye contact, and Jade felt dismissed. Like she wasn’t worth his while. The others drifted out after him, though at least they had the decency to smile at her, and promise to help.

‘I look forward to seeing more of you,’ Adam murmured as he shook her hand.

Yeah, she wasn’t sure about that, either. Had he meant the innuendo?

When only Jeremy remained, Jade slumped onto one of the chairs she’d dragged down from the studio flat upstairs. She felt as if she’d been chewed up and spat out.

‘Sorry, that didn’t go quite as I’d anticipated.’ Jeremy sighed and sat down opposite her. ‘I invited Adam when I met him downtown, but Henry was with him and expressed an interest. I didn’t think it would harm having someone with his wealth and connections on board– his father owns the other big resort on the island– but I didn’t reckon on him being such a gargantuan asshole.’

Relieved, Jade laughed. ‘I’m glad it wasn’t just me thinking that.’

‘Nope. The man clearly wants to get one over on Liam in whatever way he can. Of course, the boss can also be a gargantuan asshole, but…’ He shrugged, as if he knew there was a difference but couldn’t explain it.

‘Liam… Mr Haven, never made me feel small. Angry, yes.’ And cheap, she reminded herself, though he’d been cross when she’d said that. ‘He never made me feel like I was less important than he was.’

Jeremy slid her a speculative glance. ‘You can tell me to mind my own business, but did something happen between the pair of you?’

Heat scorched her skin and she cursed her fair skin. ‘Um, why do you say that?’

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