Summer with a Navy SEAL (Love Beach Collection)
Chapter 1
CHAPTER ONE
WILHELMINA “WILLY” GENARO
Just one more nail and I'm done… for the day, at least.
I shouldn't have taken on the project but it's too late for regrets. I accepted the job and here I am a month later with three days left before the deadline wondering how the hell I'm going to complete it without any help.
If only Mrs. Hollister would stop changing her mind, the project would have been completed two weeks ago. But no, she has to change her mind about every little thing, from the couch which is awaiting its replacement to the kitchen cabinets which now have to be replaced with the new ones that arrived this morning, the ones I had originally recommended.
Only, I’m the only one left working on the place after the crew had to go to their next job. Luckily, it’s just the kitchen cabinets that need to be installed. Everything else is pretty minor like painting trims and cleaning up. I'll ask Crystal if she can help me later. It shouldn't be too difficult for two people to do the job, even if one of them might complain about a broken nail or two.
I’d returned to Love Beach three months earlier to help my parents sell the house after they’d moved to North Las Vegas where it’s cheaper to live. Hotter than hell, but cheaper. Plus, they get to be near relatives who moved there years earlier.
For the house, they needed someone to stage it for the listing and I’d done such a good job that realtors started asking me to stage their latest listings. But that was before Mrs. Lorraine Hollister requested I renovate one of their properties, a tiny beach house that one of her sons inherited from his grandfather years earlier.
I can’t fathom how he can stay here for weeks on end with the place looking the way it is , she told me when I met her at the beach house. If my father-in-law hadn’t given it to him, I’d have had the place torn down and a new one built in its place. But that would only upset Brogan so I’ll have to settle for a renovation.
Does he know you’re doing this? I asked as Mrs. Hollister walked around the small living room, a look of distaste on her face as she glanced at the faded beach posters and vintage surfboards, their bright colors dulled by years of sun exposure through the sliding glass doors that led to the deck overlooking the beach.
Heavens no, he doesn’t. But he has given me permission to have the place tidied up whenever it’s needed . She grimaced as she looked at the well-worn couch next to her. And right now, it’s sorely needed .
But what you’re asking for is a full renovation, Mrs. Hollister. This is not just ‘tidying things up.’
He’ll like it, I guarantee it , she said. Besides, you’re leading the project. Can you imagine that? A Love Beach local working for Holden Designs. I just had to request that you take care of the renovation. Who better than to head the project than someone who grew up here?
With my boss Bryce Holden signing the project off to me, I took it on despite my reservations. While Mrs. Hollister has always been nice toward me, her sons never were. At the very least, this beach house renovation will be added to my portfolio.
A silver lining.
Sure, I could have said no. After all, Preston and Brogan made my life a living hell when my parents and I first moved to Love Beach when I was eleven, teasing me about my weight and my accent. As if it wasn’t bad enough moving to a new country where you didn’t know anyone, try having the town’s richest kids target you for the fun of it. It didn’t help that my parents worked for the Hollisters and so I was constantly in their sights since we lived near the Hollister mansion.
Thank goodness for friends like Crystal Francia who helped me with my accent and my wardrobe, life at South Carolina’s premiere vacation destination became bearable if not fun. I can always ask her to help me with the cabinets when she drops off my car today. She needed to borrow it while her own car was in the shop.
The beeping of my phone snaps me out of my thoughts and I smile when I see her name on the display .
“You on your way?” I ask after tapping Answer.
“About that, they’re not done with my car yet,” Crystal replies. “But if you need it right now, I can still drop it off and I’ll just have Marilyn drop me off.”
“No, you don’t have to. I don’t need it right now,” I reply. “Do it tomorrow.”
“You sure?”
“You brought me enough groceries to last a week, Crystal. Of course, I’ll be fine.” I chuckle as I remember the groceries she dropped off yesterday when she had her assistant Marilyn drop her off. “I still have three days’ worth of food in the fridge.”
“Well, okay, as long as you’ll be fine without your car for the night.”
Crystal owns HarmonyWorks, a gift shop on the Boardwalk that also hosts poetry readings and art workshops. Insisting I shouldn’t have to pay to stay in a motel, I stayed with her the moment I returned to Love Beach to get the old house ready for sale up until four days ago when I started staying at the beach house.
I really shouldn’t be staying here but with everything Mrs. Hollister has put me through with the renovation, I deserve it. There’s nothing like falling asleep and waking up to the sound of the surf. Might as well take advantage of it before I leave Love Beach for good—although I can’t say I’m excited to be back to the sounds and smells of New York City either.
“So has Mrs. Hollister changed her mind again about anything?” Crystal asks, her voice snapping me back to the present .
“It’s a tug of war with her sometimes with all her choices.” I step out of the deck and lean against the railing, the beach just a few yards away. “I’ve fought tooth and nail to preserve the rustic vibe of this place instead of all the modern stuff she keeps suggesting.”
Crystal chuckles. “Be careful or someone might think you actually care for Brogan to preserve his man cave.”
I roll my eyes. “Brogan Hollister can go to hell for all I care. I’m only doing it so that he won’t leave a bad review at the firm.” I pause, my voice lowering as I mimic how Brogan might sound like, She changed everything, man. I barely recognized the place. One star. Do not recommend .
Crystal laughs. “Shut up, Willy. He’ll love the house when he sees what you’ve done with it. I just wish you let his mother get everything she wanted. Payback.”
I sigh. “My career is more important to me, Crystal. No way am I going to jeopardize that just so I can have my revenge.”
But as easy as I make it sound, it wasn’t easy. Time may have healed the wounds of their relentless teasing but it left its mark on my self-confidence. Sure, I was able to get rid of my Filipino accent but it took me years to accept my body, that although I may be bigger than most girls, I was healthy.
“Speaking of your career, have you considered opening your own design firm here in Love Beach? It’ll be a hit,” Crystal says as I walk down the steps and sink my bare feet into the cool sand. June in Love Beach is hot but not as hot and muggy as Manhattan can be. I’d take this any day over living in the city. “The realtors already love you as it is. You’ve got the eye, girl!”
I laugh. “With what? My good looks? You need money for that.”
My best friend should know. She may not be Hollister-rich but her family’s rich enough with her parents fronting her the capital to open her shop right after she graduated from college which they paid for, too, while I had to apply for scholarships and take on student loans to get my degree. But it’s not her fault; that’s just life.
“You’ve made a name for yourself in New York, Willy,” Crystal continues. “Why do you think Mrs. Hollister insisted you renovate the beach house? Because she’d heard of your reputation. Who knows? You could end up working on their hotels.”
I almost tell her that as much as I’ve always dreamed of opening my own design firm, after moving to the big city after high school and working for an international firm for six years, Love Beach feels… small. Sure, it’s a nice place to live with its sandy beaches, fun Boardwalk, and quaint small-town feel, but I need more than her friendship to make me consider moving back here.
But I also can’t deny that my ambivalence about moving back has its roots in the way the Hollister brothers bullied me. Preston led the charge with Brogan following after his older brother. It made me hate being different, being “big-boned” as my mother would tell me.
Not fat like those Hollister boys and their friends say you are , she’d say. But you’re better than that, anak. You’re beautiful inside and out and it’s their loss for not knowing it .
I’ve slimmed down since then (even if I’m still on the curvy side), although the scars of their teasing remained.
But I’m not going to dwell on that tonight. With three days left before I can mark the project complete, I’m going to pretend this beach house is my home while I still can.