A single mother with only a high school diploma who’d never even stepped foot on a college campus, let alone attend classes, managed to open a successful bed and breakfast. All on her own. With only the help of a bank loan. That was extraordinary, even by today’s standards. Needless to say, she’d always given every bit of detail when talking about her achievements.
“How can they do that? I could’ve sworn I’d heard Grandma say it was a lifetime lease, or something like that. How can they just change the terms out of the blue like that?” Obviously, I wasn’t privy to much of the legal side of the resort, but there were things I’d heard or picked up on over the last ten-or-so years to understand this wasn’t right.
Dad dragged his attention from the file folder to meet my stare. His eyes were as worn as the journal that sat next to me, weathered and full of so much history. Although, right now, he appeared to be at the end of his rope. Desperate and defeated. “The deed switched hands.”
“I don’t know what that means,” I argued, frantically needing more information to make sense of all this. Because, as of right now, I believed we were being scammed, and the only way to prevent that from happening was if he told me everything.
“Yes, you were right; your grandmother had signed a lifetime lease. But it was for the lifetime of the deed, not the resort. And since the property has switched hands, the terms of the lease state that a new agreement must be reached between the new owners and us.”
“But I thought you said the options are to pay more, or they’ll sell the land. Why would they sell if they just bought it?”
He dropped his hands to his lap and shrugged. “I don’t know all the details, Drew. I’ve never even heard of these people. For as long as I’ve been aware, the checks have always been written out to an estate agent who handles—or, at least, used to handle—the financial and legal aspects of the lease. Anytime we’ve added more buildings or had to renovate the physical land, we’d go through the agent. Not the owner. So I don’t have a clue how or why it switched hands.”
“Who told you about this? How did you find out about the land and the deed and lease?”
Dad grabbed the file, held it up to show me the front, and then dropped it back onto the desk. “Our lawyer came by this morning to deliver this. He stayed for a few minutes to explain basic details, but other than that, if I want to know more, I’ll have to make an appointment to see him in his office—for which I’ll be charged a per-hour fee that’s probably more than I earn in a month. I’ve just been going through the paperwork and trying to figure things out ever since.”
“What I’m saying, though, is…how do you know it’s legit? How do you know we aren’t being scammed?” I wasn’t about to let this go that easily.
My dad was a smart man, but considering he’d spent his entire life at the resort, it wasn’t like he had much real-life experience. Granted, neither did I, but at least I had thirteen years in the public school system, whereas my dad didn’t. My grandmother couldn’t handle the bed and breakfast and haul him to and from school every day, so she kept him with her and, basically, had him teach himself while she managed the business. There was a lot one could learn at school around kids from all walks of life.
“He’s our lawyer, Drew. I don’t see him scheming behind our backs. Not to mention, the estate agent gave this information to the lawyer in the first place. So are you implying that everyone who’s ever been involved in this place is trying to get one over on us? For what purpose? What in the world would they have to gain in doing that?” He made some rather compelling arguments, though it wasn’t like I planned to simply roll over and give up.
“I don’t know, Pops. Something doesn’t feel right about it.” Maybe that had to do with my own personal feelings regarding the resort. I’d finally gotten on board with the idea of rebranding the resort to make it a true success instead of something that barely skates by. So it felt wrong to me that this all had gone down right when I was on the verge of implementing several really good ideas.
“Like I said, Drew…it’s nothing you need to be concerned about. I’m handling it.”
I nodded and turned away. There wasn’t much I could do since he refused to actually involve me. Simply telling me about the changes to the lease was pointless unless he planned to hear me out and at least be open to my opinions and suggestions rather than dismiss my questions as if they were nothing more than conspiracy theories.
“What’s that?” he asked, dragging me out of my ranting thoughts.
When I glanced up and found him pointing to the worn book on the corner of the desk, I was immediately reminded of why I’d come to the office in the first place. I pulled open the bottom drawer, grabbed a large mailing envelope, and set it on top of the diary. “Just something a guest left behind. She asked if I could send it back.”
I hated referring to Kenny as a guest, but I wasn’t sure what else to call her. She’d texted me a few days ago to ask if I could look for it, and since then, we’d spoken pretty regularly. Granted, it had all been in text form, but at least it was something. Although, not enough to refer to her as my friend, and even though we’d had sex several times, I couldn’t say we were more than that. It was just easier to say she was a guest.
“Why didn’t I get that call?” Doubt darkened his eyes as he narrowed his gaze and furrowed his brow. He typically handled all guest relations calls. Kenny wasn’t the first person to have left something behind only to call and ask if it’d been found. Yet she was the first one I had taken the initiative to handle. “And more importantly, why was it never turned into the office? I’ve never seen that book before.”
“It was left in a drawer, so the cleaning crew didn’t find it. I went and looked for it myself, which is why I decided to handle the follow-through.”
“Which guest was it?” He was onto me. The glimmer in his eye told me so.
Doing my best not to give anything away, I busied myself with the envelope. “The one who stayed in the east-end cabin two weeks ago,” I said as I flicked through my phone, searching for the address she’d given me.
“The one you spent so much time with?”
Dammit. There was no avoiding it now.
“Yeah, that’s the one.”
A smile stretched his lips, though I heard it in his voice since I refused to look at him to see it on his face. “Who is she?”
Dad and I never talked like this. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that nothing ever happened here, so it’s not like we had much to talk about. But he knew me, and he knew I didn’t personally entertain guests, so considering I’d spent so much time with this one, it was all the proof he needed that there was more to the story than I’d let on.
“There’s really not much to tell, Dad. She was here for a week, and when I found out that she was staying by herself, I offered to show her around.” I wasn’t foolish enough to think that would placate him, but honestly, there wasn’t much more to divulge.
“If you want to keep your secrets, son, keep them. But don’t expect me to buy what you’re selling, because I know you. There have been at least a dozen women—and even more, if you count guys too—who’ve vacationed here alone, and not once have you ever offered to spend time with a single one.”