presence known before you say anything else.” A tall man came around the magnolia tree and stood at the bottom of the steps. His hands were in the pockets of his puffy black jacket.
And a shiny gold police badge was clipped to his belt. Right next to the holstered gun.
Great. Teague ran his mouth in front of a cop. Not the best first impression. Which meant it was up to Alex to fix it.
He held out his hand as he loped down the steps. “Alex Kirkland. Brand-new owner of Three Oaks Inn.”
“Matt Halliday. Chestertown Police Chief.”
Even better—Teague had put the chief on notice. He’d definitely gotten up on the wrong side of the very cold bed this morning. “Nice to meet you.”
“Same. But let’s get the official stuff out of the way so I can meet everyone.” He nodded at Teague. “Are you military?”
“Ex. As of three weeks ago. Special Forces.”
Matt’s blond eyebrows shot up. “Impressive. Coast Guard, for me.”
Teague flashed a smile as flat and shiny as quicksilver. “I’ll try not to hold that against you.”
Seriously? Now he had to poke at the police officer for belonging to the ‘wrong’ branch of the military? When he wasn’t even in it anymore? What if Teague made a joke like that to a paying guest, six months down the road?
That voice of doom—or reason—that kept circling his skull reminded Alex that this whole boondoggle of the four of them pulling this off might not work, after all.
Matt leveled a cool stare at his friend. “Maryland’s got more shoreline than lots of other coastal states. And you now live in a waterman’s town. Might want to dial back your obvious disrespect to the Coast Guard.”
For the love of God, Teague, don’t make this worse! Alex thought. Hoped. Repeated really fast three times in his head like a mantra.
Thankfully, his friend dipped his head in apology. “Sorry. I was on autopilot there for a second. I only mustered out three weeks ago. I’m still working on figuring out how to act like a civilian.”
The chief shrugged one shoulder. “Been there, done that. It gets easier, I promise. Do you have a carry permit?”
“Yes. For Pennsylvania.” He dug out his wallet and flashed the laminated card. “We just moved here yesterday, so I’ll be getting one for Maryland.”
The guarded stiffness disappeared from his frame. A warm smile creased his face. One so affable that it looked far more natural on him. But Alex wouldn’t forget the initial sharpness to the man’s brown gaze. Nor underestimate it.
“Good enough for me. Sorry to interrogate you, but it comes with the job.”
“Understood.” Teague also went down the steps to shake. “I’m Teague, that’s Amelia and Everleigh. We actually all own the place.”
“So I heard. You four are the talk of the town. It’s why we came out here to introduce ourselves.”
“We?”
Matt did a half turn on his heel, cursed under his breath, and disappeared down the path. A few moments later he reappeared, carrying an enormous basket wrapped in blue cellophane. Right on his heels was a woman with tight black curls close-cropped to her head, wearing a cream suit with pearls and stilettos. She had the hip-shot swagger of a fashion model, and the high cheekbones to match.
“Hello! Welcome to Chestertown! I’m Angie Hilliard, president of the Chamber of Commerce.” Then she paused, looked at Matt, and finally nudged him with her elbow.
“Oh. Yeah.” He handed the enormous basket to Alex.
“That’s a small representation from our member businesses from the historic downtown. A way to introduce themselves to you!”
Wow. The woman actually talked in exclamation points. If this was Sesame Street, they’d be boinging above her head. There was enthusiasm…and then there was Angie, about seven miles past it.
But making nice with the chamber was on the very first page of Alex’s to-do list. “Thanks for making the trip out here. We’re honored.”
“And we’re all in shock. The general opinion was that a resort conglomerate would snatch this place up. Someone with the money to really do the place justice. Never in a million years did we think that Kenny’s cockamamie lottery scheme would succeed!”
Funny how her ‘shock’ sounded a lot more like ‘what kind of a dumb-ass would take this on themselves.’ Sure, it was a lot of work. But unless all the pipes needed to be refitted, or the foundation was cracked, the work was hard, not high-priced. Not if you were willing to put in the time and the elbow grease.
“We’re just lucky,