“Knew your granddaddy,” another of the trio mentioned. “It’d kill him to see how the place has gone to ruin.”
Eva listened to the sizzle of her burger on the grill. She was so hungry it would be gone in four bites. She ripped open the bag of chips Eddie had set down with her soda.
“I’m fixing them up,” she said after inhaling a few chips and taking a sip of her soda. “And they’re not that bad.”
Three hoots of varying range rippled over the sound of her crunching. “Hope you brought buckets of dough,” one of them said as Eddie delivered her hamburger. She bit into it without replying.
Halfway through her burger, Daniel approached.
“Hi, Eva.” There went that electricity crackling between them again. At least she felt it. Maybe he didn’t. Maybe it wasn’t “between” them at all, but a half-figment of her imagination.
“Hi.” After the brief greeting, she took another bite of her burger, realizing her hunger was for more than just food. Even though he put a damper on her day, he had also used some type of superhero magnetism on her hand. And now the air between them had a tension she could almost see. She had to stop this. Just because she was lonely and he was cute, she didn’t have to let it ruin her lunch.
“You following me?” His smile meant he put some work into being witty. She gave him points for trying. Maybe he felt the same thick need in the air between them that she did. Maybe he’d felt something zing through their touching hands back there in the bank parking lot after all. Maybe he felt what she felt, a totally inappropriate reaction to a person she had only met this morning, hardly knew, and didn’t really like.
“Don’t flatter yourself,” she teased back. “Just grabbing lunch before I head over to Bank of America in Port Huron.” She took another big bite of her juicy burger.
He sat on the stool next to her, shaking his head at Eddie, signaling he wasn’t staying long. Too bad. She’d had a half-formed hope he’d change his mind about that loan. What did he want? A date? How would that be? Could she forgive him for turning down her loan application? She shook her head to get the foolishness out, set her burger down on its plate and wiped her mouth with a napkin. It felt rough against her lips. How would it be to kiss Daniel’s lips?
Shut up!
She told herself, looking at everything in the bar except him.
“I’d like to see Blue Heaven restored as much as everybody else in town,” he said, bringing her eyes back to his. “But you can’t mess with the integrity of a Bryman design.”
From behind the bar, Eddie snorted.
Daniel ignored him.
This was the second time he’d mentioned Bryman. He must be the guy who built Blue Heaven back in the 1920s. Why she should care about some dead guy’s “integrity of design” was unclear.
Eva pushed her plate away, her appetite gone. She was beginning to think he turned down her loan application to stop her from building the addition, not because she was high risk. Eva unzipped her purse and grabbed her wallet.
“Did I hear them right?”
Eva looked up to see the woman Daniel had been sitting with now standing next to him. She held Eva’s eye and gestured to the three codgers with her thumb.
“You’re Eva Delacroix?”
“Yep,” Eva said. She pulled a twenty out of her wallet, put it on the bar, and turned her attention to Daniel’s friend.
“Well, hi,” the woman in green smiled, her tone warm. “I’m Jane Augustine, from Blue Lake Realty. I brokered—”
“I know.” Eva recognized the name. This was the woman who had helped her father buy out his sisters when they’d insisted on selling their shares in Blue Heaven.
“Well, ladies, I need to get back to work,” Daniel said. He stood up and waved to the guys down the bar.
“I owe you one, Jane,” he said as he left. Jane took the seat Daniel vacated and ordered a glass of Chardonnay. “Bring Eva a glass, too, Eddie, and put it on my tab.”
“No, thanks.” Eva was grateful that somebody in town was finally willing to offer her something, but she really needed to find a loan.
“I would ask if you want to unload the old place,” Jane said, sipping her wine, “but I hear you’ve got other ideas.”
“Yeah, I do. Thanks anyway.”
“Got your work cut out for you.”
Eva nodded. She’d been at it for a week already, cleaning windows, tearing out old carpet, washing walls.
“You wouldn’t happen to know a roofer, would you?” The cottages had missing shingles. Every roof needed to be replaced, including her bungalow’s, after she added that second floor.
Jane pulled out her cell phone and scrolled, then took a card out of her purse and wrote on the back.
“Thanks.” In true Blue Lake fashion, Jane had only written a first name,
Frank
, and then a phone number. As she slid from her bar stool, Eva grabbed her jacket. She’d like to stay and talk to Jane, who seemed like a nice person, but she had business to take care of first.
“I might be able to get you that loan.”
Eva stilled, one arm in her jacket, the other dangling. “How?”
“You’d never know this by the way Daniel behaves, but my daddy still owns fifty-one percent of that bank. And I know he’d think it best to keep your business in Blue Lake.”
Eva slid her arm from the jacket sleeve and sat back down.
“Everybody in the county has been waiting for the day Blue Heaven could be restored,” Jane said. “Your daddy used to come in here with me for lunch and he’d be full of plans for the place.” Here Jane paused and reached a hand over the bar to cover Eva’s. “I was sorry to hear he passed.”
Eva nodded and Jane sipped her wine. Eva had heard those plans many times. It was a big part of the reason she was here, attempting to do this thing. Her dad had planted the seed, and his dream lived on in Eva. She really believed, as Jane did, that opening Blue Heaven to paying guests would be a boon to the entire town.
“So why doesn’t Daniel get it?”
“Really? You don’t know?” Jane looked amused. “Eddie, bring this woman a glass of wine.”
Eddie poured the wine and put it down in front of Eva.
“I’m sorry,” Eva said. “I don’t want to be rude, but I really need to get financing for my project before I celebrate.” She let the wine sit there on the bar.
Jane smiled and pulled out her phone. “Daddy?” she said after pressing the keypad. “I need a favor.”
A short conversation ensued, with Jane’s back to Eva so she couldn’t hear much of what was said. Then Jane shut her phone, promising Eva the paperwork would be typed up and ready to sign in ten minutes.
Eva felt a little like Cinderella meeting her fairy godmother, but she decided not to question the fortunate turn her day had taken. It was about time for something to go right in life. She sipped her glass of wine, just to be polite. It was surprisingly delicious. She took another small sip, which had nothing to do with the fact that she was a tad nervous about how Daniel would react when she waltzed back into the bank and claimed her cash. This reminded her that she still didn’t know why he cared about that guy named Bryman—and her bungalow—so much.
Eva clinked glasses with Jane. “Thank you,” she said. After a final token sip, Eva set her wine glass back on the dark polished wood of the bar.
“Why is Daniel so territorial about my property?”
“He’s a Bryman,” Jane said, rolling her eyes.
Bryman. Eva had a sense before that Daniel talked as if this unknown Bryman was another Frank Lloyd Wright or something, but now everything clicked into place.
“He’s related to the architect who designed Blue Heaven,” Eva said.
“His great-granddaddy,” Jane confirmed.
Interesting. Eva took another sip of her wine, without thinking, and then set it as far out of reach as possible.
“I know you want to keep a clear head,” Jane said, eyeing the distant unfinished glass of wine. “But we have to give our clerk time to type up the paperwork.”
“After the deal’s signed, I’d be happy to buy you an entire bottle of wine,” Eva said.
A smile softened Jane’s face. In her designer suit and high heels, Jane appeared a super-competent businesswoman, but her smile transformed her into someone else. Maybe a new friend.
“I’ll take you up on that,” Jane said.
“I still don’t understand why Daniel would spite the entire town just because he’s afraid I’ll botch the renovation.”
“He’d call it a restoration. Bit of a control freak. But it’s not his fault.” Jane eyed Eva’s glass of wine. “Hit me one more time, Eddie,” she said, pushing her empty glass toward the bartender.
“Why isn’t it his fault?” Eva asked, since she had to wait for Jane to drink yet another glass of wine. “That he’s so controlling, I mean.”
“Daniel wanted to be an architect, too. He was in college in Ann Arbor when he was called home. Family tragedy.” She set down her wine glass and crossed her arms. “I think buying up and renovating every Bryman home in town became kind of an obsession with him.”
Eva wondered what the tragedy was, but she didn’t want to pry. She thought about Daniel’s face in the bank that morning when she’d mentioned his father. It hit her all at once, like most of her verbal gaffs. Something bad had happened to Daniel’s father.
Chapter Two
Daniel took the loan papers for Eva’s financing from his secretary, and looked them over. Everything was legal, if not ethical. Jane had her father wrapped around her little finger, so old man Augustine fast-tracking Eva’s paperwork didn’t pique his curiosity as much as Jane taking an interest in Eva. He felt an old stir of discomfort.
Just then, Eva sashayed in the front door of the bank like a satisfied cat who’d just licked clean a bowl of cream. She walked toward him, hips swinging, a smile on her face. This woman demanded notice. And he did. Notice her. He was human, after all. He handed her the documents and indicated a chair. He sat across from her, watching her read. She took her time on the fine print. Smart and pretty all in one petite package.
“One missed payment and we begin foreclosure.”
“I can read.” She signed the pages and pushed them toward him. “Anything else?”
“Good luck.” This time he turned away from her swaying hips and her pert ass. He had to find a way to stop her from ruining Blue Heaven.
Once Eva left the building, and he saw her pull out of the lot, he got into his car and drove to the state park. Not because it was next to Eva’s property, but because running on the beach relaxed him.
He changed his loafers for the running shoes he kept in the trunk and headed down to the pier. The spring air made goose bumps pop up on his bare arms as he neared the water. He made his way down the beach from the pier steps. Despite the proof on his skin, he didn’t feel the outer weather. His lungs filled with air full of positive freshwater ions. He sought to calm the turmoil inside, created when a certain hurricane named Eva had blown into town.
Before he knew it, he’d jogged almost to the trickle of river that ran through the middle of town. As he turned and headed back to the pier, he could hear the faint sound of construction.
He sprinted the final length of sand, taking Eva’s rickety steps up from the beach instead of going on to the park. Frank Smith pried and pulled at the shingles on her bungalow’s roof, tossing them to the ground.
“Hey!” Daniel yelled at Frank. “Hang on a minute,” he said, when the roofer looked down. Frank had done a fair amount of work for Daniel, so he tended to listen when given a direct order.
“What are you doing here?” Eva emerged from the bungalow as Frank climbed down the ladder. Her hair, whipped by the wind, stuck in her lip gloss. For a minute, Daniel lost his train of thought. He had to restrain himself from tucking the errant curl behind her ear. She was so pretty, even when anger puckered her forehead.
“I was just making sure Frank is using cedar shingles.” He said the first thing that popped into his head.
Frank walked toward his truck.
“Hey? Frank?” Eva said to his retreating back. The roofer didn’t turn around but he held up a cell phone, indicating he was making a call.
“He’s calling the builder about my second floor,” Eva said, confirming Daniel’s worst fears.
“Shouldn’t you get those cottages in shape for paying customers first?”
Frank ambled back up to them. He nodded to Eva, handing Daniel a cedar shingle.
Daniel sensed Eva bristle at the way her roofer took orders from him, so he didn’t ask Frank for the name of the general contractor he planned to bring on board. There were no general contractors in the area, except him. Frank would have had to go to someone in Port Huron. Daniel fought the urge to openly fume at this missed opportunity. Inside, he seethed.
He
should be in charge of renovating Blue Heaven.
His notion
that no second floor was needed should be the prevailing opinion.
“These are the shingles for the cottages,” she said. “Right, Frank?”
“Riggghhht,” Frank said, shaking his head and moving the ladder from the bungalow over to the closest cottage. He climbed atop and started tearing down shingles.
“You’ll need a cottage to live in if you plan to remove your roof,” Daniel said. He was sure Frank had been preparing to tear off a huge chunk of her bungalow’s roof, and was silently thankful he’d averted disaster—for now.
“Yeah,” she said, trying to be cheerful when he could tell by her tone that she was anything but happy about having to delay her crazy plan for that second story. Somehow he had to find a way to talk some sense into her.
****
Eva turned from Daniel. He was wrong about the addition, wrong to deny her a loan, but right when it came to prioritizing the work. And he had a tragic past, which tipped the balance in his favor.
She let her fists fall from her hips, raised one hand to shade her eyes as she took a good long look at the water winking in the late afternoon sun. As usual, just breathing in the big water, so endless it looked like an ocean, relaxed her. It wasn’t easy admitting, even to herself, that he was right, and that she’d been about to make a huge mistake.