Page 34 of #Resort Romance
His buddies—who were also investing—would arrive in two weeks. It was Walker’s job between now and then to do the initial walk-through and come up with a tentative plan of action for them. The utilities were still connected for a handful of cabins, and even though staying someplace else would have been his preference, he knew he was going to have to fully immerse himself in this project.
Which meant sleeping on site and getting his hands dirty.
“I’m used to running and staying in five-star luxury resorts. How the hell am I supposed to handle staying in a run-down cabin for the next…who knows how long?”
Last night he stayed at a hotel about twenty miles away and it was the closest one to the resort. If things got too uncomfortable, Walker knew he could realistically stay somewhere else, but…
“Maybe I should stop acting like a damn baby and settle in.”
He’d taken a six-month leave of absence from his job. The only reason his bosses had agreed to it was because they knew he was damn good at his job and promised to be accessible while he was gone. It wasn’t ideal, but just in case this whole thing didn’t work out, he knew he was going to need a job to go back to.
Although…he was going to need a job anyway. The entire plan was to get the resort renovated and up and running again with someone else running it. Walker had moved on from his upstate New York upbringing and was enjoying life traveling between Orlando, Miami, Galveston, and San Diego. There was no way he was going to settle back up in the northeast with its cold temperatures.
No, thank you.
They were planning on hiring a management team to run everything once all the work was done. He knew he would oversee things from a distance—a little like he already did for his current job—but being here full time would never happen.
“Been there, done that, bought the plane ticket to get the hell out.” Shaking his head as a cool wind blew around him, Walker knew he needed to pick a cabin that he could call home for the next few weeks. “Preferably one with a functioning kitchen.”
He was here, and he was determined to make the best of it.
No matter how much he wanted to change his mind and bolt.
“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 co-worker, Lisa, looked up from her computer screen and frowned. “What? Seriously?”
“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 whose 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 businesses with them! They took off and now those fifteen hundred acres and all the buildings on it are just going to sit abandoned! It’s unfair!”
“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 have talked to Dale and Peggy Bradshaw more times than I can count about selling. 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. Last I heard, they were fine with just walking away and letting the property just…just…sit and get overgrown!” Another long sigh. “Who turns down tens of millions of dollars?”
“What about the rest of the family?” Lisa 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 maybe talk some sense into them.”
“Ooo…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?”
So 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,” Lisa chimed in.
“Well, you can start by driving up to the resort,” Charlene casually said as she poured cream into her coffee.
