Up to Snow Good - Kelly Collins Page 0,4
smiled. “Back when Frank and I were still friends, he had some debt problems.”
“Can you be more specific?” Max asked, earning another glaring look. “If it’s business, I should know all the details.”
His father seemed to give it some thought before deciding to explain himself. “He was a gambler. Gave it up years ago, and this was the reason.” His father tapped the folder with his chubby fingers. “He got in over his head and came to me for help. Like I said, we were still friends back then.” He shook his head. “Unbelievable. I help the guy out by saving his life’s work, and he betrays me the way he did.” He pulled the glass to his mouth and drank deeply.
Max had heard the story countless times, and it had long become tiresome for reasons his father knew all too well.
“I gave him the loan,” he went on, “but there was a simple contingency. If he failed to pay the debt, and he did, I would get to take Sunshine Lodge.”
Max’s widened eyes couldn’t disguise his surprise. “You’re taking the lodge?”
“Lock, stock, and barrel; for a reasonable price, of course. Frank wasn’t that desperate, and he wasn’t that stupid.”
Max looked around the study as if the answer to his new dilemma was written on the wooden paneling. He had to appeal to his father in just the right way if he would have any chance at all of redirecting the course.
“Pop, think about it, the lodge is dying. What do you want with it?”
His father smiled and turned to grab a cardboard tube from behind the desk. He pulled out a rolled-up blueprint and spread it out across the desktop. “Wet Willie’s Water Park.”
Max stepped around to stand on his father’s side of the desk, his eyes focusing on the blue lines and black numbers. Several big slides and shapes told Max what his father had in mind in clear enough detail.
“A water park? Seriously?”
“You’re damned right a water park. The winters are getting shorter, and the summers getting longer and hotter. Use your brain, son. Adapting is the key to a successful life.”
Max sighed, hardly sure where to begin. “But a water park? It’s not really our brand, is it?” They owned lots of businesses from coffee shops to car parks, and Max had spent the last several years learning them all.
“The dollar sign is our brand.” His father looked over the plans, nodding and smiling through a cloud of cigar smoke.
“All right, but the people here won’t want an eyesore that includes a lot of big plastic slides. This is Moss Creek, Colorado, not Buena Park, California. People like the natural look of the place.”
“They’ll like it plenty when the tourists pour in.” He pointed to one corner of the sheet. “We’ll use the lodge as a hotel, and the rides will circle it like this.”
Max could already envision the mammoth monstrosity his father was proposing. The hordes of tourists, the T-shirts, and the balloons that would replace the tranquil setting. But the disheartened expression on Lauren’s face when she lost her family home was all he could imagine.—shock, sadness, and defeat.
“Pop, this document, is it legal?”
“One hundred percent, nothing she can do about it.”
“What if she pays the debt?”
“It’s too late. Frank has already defaulted.” He rolled up the blueprints and returned them to their cardboard container.
“Okay, look, I know you have a certain way of doing things—”
“I’m effective,” he broke in.
“Disruptive too. Don’t forget, Moss Creek is a small town. Everybody will talk about it, about us, and they won’t go to the water park once they know how it came about. The Matthews are popular and well-liked.”
“So?” He shook his head. “Forget the locals. It’s the tourist money we’re interested in. Think about it, Max; this is a gold mine.”
He thought so hard his brain felt like it would explode. “Still, we live with these people. They’re our neighbors and our tenants.” He couldn’t say friends because his father didn’t have any. “Look, we have a public relations problem as it is. I’ve been keeping things calm, but this will put us over the top with the residents, and that will be nothing but trouble for us.”
“But it will be worth it when the profits roll in.”
“Maybe, but what if you could get the place without the black eye? That would be the smartest business move.” His father sat there with the tilted head that told Max the old man was thinking things out.