“But you don’t know me.” Autumn frowned.
“You just bought our pier. You’re practically part of the community.” Ally shrugged. “And you have references, right? And can pay a deposit up front?”
“Well… yeah.” This was so surreal. Like walking onto the set of a TV show where everybody knew everyone else.
“Great,” Ally said, passing her the cup of coffee. “I’ll call Ember and see if she can bring the keys over later.”
“You’ve not even been there a day and the locals are already giving you free drinks and offering you somewhere to live?” Lydia said through the phone line as Autumn sat on the deck of the coffee shop and made some notes for tonight’s meeting. “Where the heck is this pier again, Stepford?”
“Hey, you’re the one who keeps telling me to take the stick out of my ass and take life as it comes,” Autumn reminded her sister. “I’m just following your advice.”
“And I’m very glad you did.” There was a grin in Lydia’s voice. “Now you just need to have some unbridled sex with a handsome stud, and all my dreams for you will be complete.
For some reason, Autumn’s mind turned to the man she’d seen on the pier last night as she was delivering letters to her new tenants, informing them of tonight’s meeting. He wasn’t her type at all. She liked them neat, lean, and dressed in designer suits. Not Aquaman wannabes with shaggy hair and hands that could crush you without trying.
Even if he was singing the cutest song to his kid over the phone.
“So what’s next?”
“I meet with the pier’s tenants tonight at six.”
“What are you gonna say?” Lydia asked, her voice hushed.
Autumn had absolutely no idea. Telling them that she’d bought the pier while under the influence of tequila, thanks to her recent divorce, wasn’t going to be the best way of getting them on her side. They were going to want her to have a solid plan and reassurances and everything else a new owner would give them.
“I’ll tell them it’s business as usual.”
“Dad’s throwing a fit. You know that, right?”
Autumn pressed her lips together. Yeah, ten missed phone calls and five texts she couldn’t bring herself to read told her that. But she wasn’t ready to let him rain on her parade.
“Autumn?”
She looked up from her notepad to see Ally looking at her, smiling. Smiling back, she covered the phone. “Yes?”
“I just heard from my friend, Ember. The beach cottage is yours if you want it. She can meet you there during her lunch break if you want to look around?”
Autumn nodded fast. “That would be wonderful. Thank you so much.” She removed her hand from the mouthpiece. “I gotta go,” she told Lydia.
“Okay, but call me tonight. I need to know how the meeting goes.”
“If I’m still alive, I’ll call.”
“Love ya, sis,” Lydia said.
“Love you too. Now go do something crazy to get Dad off my back.”
The cottage was beautiful. Okay, it was tinier than her apartment in New York, and any more than two people in it would be a squeeze, but you could sit on the sofa, have the front door open, and hear the waves as they lapped against the beach.
“Are you certain you want to rent this out?” Autumn asked the owner, as she showed her the expensively shiny appliances and sparkling bathroom. “I’m not sure I could if I owned this place.”
Ember nodded. “We lived here for a little while after my husband, Lucas, renovated the place,” she told Autumn. “It used to belong to his grandparents, and when they died they left it to him and his sister. But it’s really only big enough for one person, and Caitie hates the water, and lives with her boyfriend, so it’s either rent it out or put it up for sale, and I don’t think Lucas could bear to do that.”
“What kind of deposit are you looking for?”
“Don’t worry about that.” Ember shrugged. “Ally recommended you and that’s security enough for me.”
“I only met Ally today.” Autumn’s eyes widened. Was this really how they did business around here? “She doesn’t know me from Adam.”
Ember grinned. “I trust her judgment. Plus she said you bought the pier, which makes you one of us.” She tipped her head to the side, her warm eyes catching Autumn’s. “Have you owned a pier before?”
Autumn had to bite down her laugh. “Um, no. But I used to run a business buying and managing commercial property in New York City. Office buildings, nightclubs, that sort of thing.”
“So it’s part of your portfolio?”
“No, not really. I sold that company.” It wasn’t a complete lie. She really didn’t want to talk about her divorce. “And I bought the pier with the proceeds.”
Ember’s face was a picture.
“You think I’m crazy, don’t you?” Autumn asked her.
“I’ve done some crazy things myself.” Ember shrugged. “And it’s really none of my business. You have the experience to make things work, which is more than most people around here. The pier’s been neglected for too long. I’m glad somebody’s finally going to do something with it.” She grabbed her notepad from her bag. “I’ll get a contract written up this evening when I get home from work. What’s your last name?”
“It’s Paxton.”
Ember’s head shot up. “Really? Are you any relation to the original Paxtons?”
“I don’t think so. It’s just a coincidence.” A flash of humor crossed her face. “Or maybe it was meant to be.”
“You know that Captain Paxton founded this town? That’s who the pier is named after. The story goes that he was sailing past the coast, saw an angel descend, and it pointed at the bay. So he moored his ship up, rowed his crew over to the sands, and that’s how the town got it’s name.”
“An angel?” Autumn lifted an eyebrow.
“Rumor has it he was drinking a lot of rum in those days.”
Autumn couldn’t help but laugh. Maybe she and Captain Paxton had more in common than just a name. They both made strange decisions while under the influence of alcohol. “As far as I know my family’s lived on the east coast for generations.”
“I like the idea of it being fate,” Ember said warmly. “And by the way, most people I know who come here never want to leave.”
“I can see why.” Autumn looked at that view again. Clear blue skies, golden sand, and a horizon that seemed to stretch on forever.
“How about you? Are you planning on staying long?” Ember grimaced. “I should have asked you that right away, shouldn’t I? I’m a terrible landlord.”
“I get the feeling you’re going to be a great landlord. And if possible, I’d like a six month lease with the option of extending. It’ll take at least that long to get everything straight with the pier, and even if I’m back in New York for some of the time, I’ll need to travel here.”
“Six months it is.” Ember passed her the keys. “Feel free to move in whenever you’re ready. And welcome to Angel Sands, I hope you’ll be happy here.”