I reach the kitchen and find Cody drinking coffee, eating a muffin, and playing some game on his phone. He nods his head, and I fill a mug and help myself to one of the muffins. The crew all come down one by one, and I have a cup of coffee on the table waiting for Izzy. She grumbles some reply and checks her phone as she sips quietly.
Sam drops into the chair. “You know we can’t let her sell this place, right?” he says, getting right to the point this morning. He must have been stewing on it all night.
I look at him over the rim of my coffee cup as I take a drink. “We don’t have a choice. Gram left this to Kira’s mother, and she wants it sold.”
“What if we can raise enough money for a down payment?” Sam suggests.
“Are you saying you want to buy it?”
“No, but we can hold a fund-raiser or something, help Kira buy it.”
“Kira is only here temporarily,” I remind him. “She doesn’t want the responsibility of running a B&B.”
“We run it just fine,” Jason says and plunks down next to me. “Her name can be on paper only.”
Apparently, they’ve given it thought but not to the end or into the future. “She’d be responsible for the mortgage, Jason.”
Sam frowns, and his foot bounces under the table, stirring the coffee in the mugs on top of it. “It would kill Gram to see it go to someone outside the family.”
I don’t doubt that he is right, but I’m not seeing an easy solution here. I take them all in and look at Cody, who appears to be playing his game but will be aware of the conversation going on around him, listening quietly like he usually does.
I shake my head. “I don’t know what to say, you guys.”
Sam glances at Izzy. They exchange a look, and Izzy shrugs. “I’m sure Heather would agree if it was for a good cause.”
I glance back and forth between the two of them, and when Sam glances down in thought, a tell that he’s scheming something, I ask, “What are you all up to?”
“Nothing,” they both say in unison, and I push back in my chair.
“Whatever it is, I can’t stop you.” I hold my hands up. “I’m just not getting involved.”
“Not so fast, boss,” Jason says. “We might need you.”
“I’m not sure if I can be of any help.” Not outside of buying the place to keep it running. But I have no intention of owning a B&B. I already have enough trouble with the home I purchased.
I stand, put my mug in the sink, and grab my winter gear. “Catch up with you guys later.”
As I exit through the backdoor, the crew lean in and start talking about some function at the bar. I told them I can’t stop them, but maybe someone should. Sure the place runs by itself, but who says Kira wants to take on the responsibility of actually owning it if they raise enough for a down payment. She’d still have a mortgage to pay, and she said her mother wants it sold, so she won’t have her family in her corner.
Sitting in my truck, I glance at the big Thunderbird Kira is driving. The vehicle doesn’t even look like it’s roadworthy, and she can’t go far with those all-season tires that are down to their last treads.
Today is overcast with more snow expected tonight, which is making it difficult to fix the back stairs. I pull out of the driveway, make a quick trip to the hardware store, and a few minutes later, I’m geared up and meeting Albert and his crew on his stare-of-the-art fishing vessel.
“Hey, boss,” he says with a tip of his head.
“Call me Nate,” I say, and he scrubs his salt-and-pepper beard.
“Sure thing, boss,” he says with a teasing wink. It’s a tug of war we play—harmless, and he seems to enjoy goading me.
I take in the man’s silver hair and note that he’s always quick with