Page 51 of Beachcomber Motel
Maddie started toward the kitchen, a smile tugging the corners of her lips. It looked like Gina and Jules had finally gotten past their issues. She could almost feel Gram’s approval radiating through the motel.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
The old donut shop was abuzz with activity the following morning. Tourists packed the pier and spilled out into the town. The merchants could be seen smiling in their shops as customers left with bulging shopping bags. Cassie had added several new tables on the patio to take advantage of the swell of traffic.
Maddie and Jules walked Gina to the old donut shop.
“You got this.” Maddie held up her fist.
“Don’t be nervous. Remember this is for fun.” Jules held hers up, too, and the three of them fist-bumped.
“And the prize money.” Rose appeared at Jules’s elbow.
“Prize money? I didn’t even think about that.” Maddie thought about all the expenses that were adding up at the motel. “I don’t even know how much it is.”
“Ten thousand dollars,” Leena said. “That could help the motel.”
“It sure could. Especially since there hasn’t been any word on the loan,” Jules said then apparently seeing the look of panic on her cousin’s face, she hastened to add, “But don’t worry about that, Gina. Just do your best. Even getting in there and doing this is a win.”
Gina smiled then took a deep breath. “Well, I better go inside.”
“Good luck in there,” Rose said.
“Thanks.”
“Don’t worry,” Pearl said. “Your grandmother is watching over you.”
“Break a leg!” Leena shouted awkwardly as Gina headed toward the door of the old donut shop.
“Well, this is so exciting.” Rose clapped her hands and craned to look in the window of the shop, where they could see the crew bustling around to get things ready.
“And what a beautiful day for it!” Maddie leaned over the railing and looked down at the foamy edge of the surf below the pier. Her gaze traveled to the long stretch of beach. The sugar-white sand went on as far as the eye could see on both sides. On one side of the pier, she could see the cliff of rocks that was next to the Beachcomber. The other side was mostly just dunes.
Something partially hidden by the dunes caught her eye. She’d never looked closely at that section of the beach before. She’d been so busy with the motel that she hadn’t had much time to spend on the beach at all. But something about the cottage struck her fancy and made her want to investigate further.
She shaded her eyes and squinted, trying to get a better look. She could only see a part of it: a weathered roof, peeling paint, and shutters with starfish cutouts. It looked old and was in need of work, but the look of it and the location charmed her.
“What’s that?” She pointed toward the house.
“That’s Starfish Cottage,” Leena said. “It’s been empty for a while.”
“Why?”
“The owner used to rent it for vacations, but when the tourists stopped coming, there was no one to rent it,” Rose said.
“It’s old.” Pearl looked wistful. “I seem to recall my mother saying there was some sort of mystery surrounding the original owner.”
A mystery? How intriguing. Maddie couldn’t take her eyes off the cottage. She could picture herself sitting on the porch. If she stayed in town, she would need a place to live. She couldn’t stay at the motel forever, and she’d always dreamed of a cottage on the beach.
“I wonder if they’d sell it. Real estate in town must be pretty cheap right about now.” Not that she had any money to buy it.
“I think the bank might own it,” Rose said. “Unfortunately, a lot of people defaulted on their mortgages, and the bank has a surplus. Henry might be willing to make a deal.”
“Oh! Speaking of the bank, I found this letter.” Maddie pulled the letter they’d found in Gram’s recipes out of her pocket.
“For Henry? Why did she never send it?” Rose asked.
“I have no idea. It was in with some old recipes, and we think maybe it got lost in the shuffle somehow,” Maddie said.
