Page 66 of Sweet Heat at Bayside
“The opening doesn’t start for another hour and a half,” Drake reminded them as they all said hello at once.
“We know,” Mira said. “Serena told us what happened. I’m sorry she couldn’t be here. She was so bummed. But don’t worry. She gave us strict instructions on what to put where, and she said you’d put the black streamers out front. Too depressing.” She bumped Drake with her hip, and he stumbled back. “Let us do this part, big brother. You’re supposed to set up the sound stage.”
The sound stage was a new addition to their grand openings, one Serena had insisted upon. She’d even spoken to the local police and arranged for a traffic cop so the event wouldn’t cause road issues. They’d argued about that. Drake didn’t think they’d have enough customers to warrant a traffic cop, but Serena had been in a stubborn mood, and she hadn’t given in.
“You’reallhere to help?” Drake turned as Violet’s motorcycle roared into the lot. “Who’s watching the inn?”
“We forwarded the phones to the service and put up signs for the opening,” Desiree said. “Customers can track us down here if they need us.”
Violet climbed off her bike and whipped off her helmet. “’Sup, dude? I’m ready for a major party, so where do you need me?”
“Uh…” Overwhelmed with their support, he stammered.
“Serena said Drake shouldn’t do the decorating,” Emery said as their friend Leanna’s old Volkswagen van pulled into the parking lot. “The balloons are here! Vi, why don’t you help Drake since you know more about sound stuff than we do.”
“You got Leanna to help?” Although Drake was good friends with Leanna and her husband, Kurt, he hadn’t seen them in weeks. “I could have picked up the balloons.”
Chloe set her hand on her hip with aget realexpression and said, “In yourtruck?Please.Leanna actually wasn’t able to help. She’s picking up her sister, Bailey, at the airport. She just lent us her van.”
Harper and Daphne climbed out of the van as Dean’s truck pulled in and parked beside it.
“Balloon girls, ready to help!” Harper announced.
“I’m babyless for a few hours. This is going to be so fun!” Daphne waved to Dean and Rick. “Hey, guys.”
Drake turned to Rick and asked, “Did you know they were all coming?”
Rick smirked and shrugged in response.
“Who’s watching the resort?” Drake asked. He didn’t know if he should be thankful or feel like an idiot for pulling everyone away for the grand opening. He thought they’d all stop by at some point, but he’d never expected them to put their lives on hold.
“We took a page from Des and Vi’s innkeeper’s book, turned the phones over to the service and hung up signs for the opening.” Rick patted Drake’s shoulder and said, “Relax, bro. The grand opening of your Cape store doesn’t happen every day. It’s reason to celebrate.”
Violet grabbed Drake and Rick by the arms and dragged them away from the girls. “If I were you, I’d lie low and keep my mouth shut. Serena gave an hour-long how-to session over FaceTime this morning with all sorts of pictures of the layout and stuff.” She looked at Dean and said, “C’mon, muscles, you’re with us.”
Drake pulled out his phone. “I need to call her. We usually set up with just us and a few employees. We don’t need this many people.”
Violet shoved his hand down. “Of course you don’t, but Serena called Desiree and Mira, and they rallied the troops. Take it like a man. Your woman wants to help from afar. If you make her feel bad for watching out for you, I’ll break your arm.”
“Darn, girl,” Dean said. “You’re vicious.”
“What? I’ve got newfound respect for the woman. It takes guts to move away from everyone you know and start over.” Violet waved toward the girls hustling around the front of the store, setting up signs by the road, tying balloons to every railing they could find. “Look at them and tell me it didn’t take guts. I spent my whole life moving from one place to the next as fast as I could, and I’m not sure I could leave these neurotic, noisy, naive hen partiers for anything.” She headed for the trailer with the stage equipment. “Enough sappy stuff. Let’s get this show on the road. We’re setting up the sound stage beside the building.”
Hours later, a local band was playing on the stage, the parking lot was packed, and there was standing room only inside and outside the music store. Drake, Rick, and Dean had kicked off the celebration by playing the first song on the stage. It had sent Drake’s mind back to their early days as a band, when they’d had dreams of going off and cutting record deals and living the high life. Those dreams had been short-lived. Losing their father had changed everything.
The police had set up barricades around the area behind the stage and blocked the rear entrance from the back road to keep the flow of traffic moving in only one direction. Brandy had set up the food in a tent on the grass, which was also overflowing with people. She’d shown up with two catering vans, and a second shift had brought more food and supplies about twenty minutes ago. Drake had never seen so many people turn out for a music store opening. Serena must have anticipated the inordinate number of sales they’d experience, because she’d given Mira instructions on how to handle incoming stock, and a truckload of deliveries had shown up right before the opening. Drake thought it had been a mistake, but Mira assured him that it was on Serena’s list.
Brandy sidled up to him with a plate of food. She was a vibrant, big-boned redhead with a mass of corkscrew curls that were currently trying to escape from their tether at the base of her neck. “Hey, handsome. Serena said I was supposed to make sure you ate and didn’t spend all day taking care of everyone else and stressing out.”
“I can’t eat. Look at this turnout, Brandy. Have you ever seen anything like it?”
“Not for a retail opening. You know, Serena should be an event planner. I might have to pick her brain.” She nudged the plate into his hands and said, “Eat the sandwich. You need to stockpile energy for the next time you see her.”
He smiled, imagining Serena telling her to say that. “She knows how to get me to eat.”
“Actually, she didn’t say that,” Brandy said with a mischievous grin. “But you’remaleand, you know, that makes you pretty easy to figure out.”
He sighed and bit into the sandwich. “Mm.This is fantastic.”
