Sunshine Reservations (Sunshine #2)
Chapter 1
Chapter One
The sand was soft beneath her feet. Gwen Prince leaned forward into the afternoon wind, tucking her cardigan more tightly across her body and folding her arms to keep it in place. Her hair whipped around her head, obscuring her vision. Waves rolled to shore, crashing against the sand with a loud thunder. Clouds gathered on the horizon. The rain was coming, but it wouldn’t be here for a while. She had time to finish her walk and get back home.
Up ahead of her, a small black dog with a long, curly coat scampered across the sand.
“Don’t go too far, Ebony!” she called.
The dog paid her no attention. At four months old, Ebony was an adorable miniature labradoodle who’d been an impulsive addition to her family after the separation. She and Duncan sold the house where they’d raised their family together. It was too big for her to live in alone. Too much upkeep. Too full of memories. Too many empty rooms. So, they’d put it on the market, and it’d sold within weeks. It’d all happened so quickly that she hadn’t been ready for it. And then came the arduous task of packing up their belongings.
Duncan had chosen to move in with his much-younger girlfriend. Gwen had bought herself a condo by the beach with some of her share of the proceeds from the sale of the house. And then she’d purchased Ebony from a neighbour who’d come over to browse through Gwen’s garage sale and mentioned she was caring for a litter of pups who were about to be put up for sale. Gwen had traipsed over to her neighbour’s house to help her carry her purchases and had fallen in love with the little puff of black fur the moment she laid eyes on her.
Now, it was just the two of them living in the condo. Gwen’s four children were all adults and had places of their own. Duncan had moved on. And Gwen was left with her memories and a confusing array of paperwork and meetings with lawyers and accountants to prepare for their divorce. A separation which was proving to be far more convoluted and involved than she’d hoped it would be.
They’d been married for thirty-seven years. Longer than she was single. She didn’t know how to be single. It’d been easy when she was young. She’d finished high school, then dated Duncan and married him when she was twenty-three years old. They’d started having children right away. What followed was a blur of nappies, play groups, swimming lessons and homework for the next thirty years.
As a mother, she’d chosen to stay home and not have a job outside the home. It seemed like the logical thing to do—Duncan made good money. She’d trained as a dental assistant, but she had stopped working as soon as they were married. And she’d always been happy with that decision. More than happy with it. She’d given everything for her family. Her dreams, desires, ambitions, plans, even her hobbies… She’d gladly given them all up so she could focus on raising her children and being the best possible wife to her husband.
But now they were grown, and all four of the children seemed to think she was at their disposal. They were entitled, and spoiled, and expected her to care for their own children the way she had for them. They never considered that she might be a person with feelings and ambitions of her own. And when Duncan brought home a shirt smelling of another woman’s perfume, it’d turned her entire world upside down. She hadn’t seen it coming. She had thought they were solid. It was true that they didn’t spend a lot of time together and he’d been distracted when he was at home. But she thought that was normal—it was normal for him. She’d grown used to it.
She’d realised the truth in the most uncomfortable way, and now they were separated. It was strange, after all these years, to be without him. He worked so often that she was accustomed to him not being at home during the day. But the nights were hard. He was gone. His side of the bed was empty. She still slept on the same side. She hadn’t managed to kick that habit yet and wasn’t sure she ever would.
A wave surged up the beach and caught her. She tiptoed through the cold water to higher ground, where the sand was still dry. The bottoms of her white pants were wet. But it was a summer afternoon and the heat of the day still clung to the beach, even with the heady wind buffeting her from the east. She hoped it wouldn’t blow Ebony away. The poor little dog was only four kilograms. She was so light that her back legs often lifted off the floor when she bent to eat. Gwen hoped she’d fill out a little bit as she got older. But she was a smart and pleasant dog and had already learned to come when called. Gwen always kept a little bag of doggie treats in her pocket for their beach walks.
She’d walked a long way, and when she looked at the dunes, she could see houses and restaurants backing onto the beach. There was a gap in between a large structure and a small restaurant. Ebony was digging in the dunes, so she hurried to put her dog back on the leash, then peeped over the fence to see what was beyond it.
The remnants of Joanna’s old restaurant were scattered amongst overgrown grasses and weeds. Beside it, a tall three-story building loomed, with beautiful old-fashioned trim and paint in desperate need of a refresh. There was a for sale sign in front of the building and in front of the empty block, and the sign said something about business district zoning.
She squinted to see if she could make out anything further, but she wasn’t wearing her glasses. There was a path beside the building, so she led Ebony along it, her footsteps squeaking in the sand. The large sign had a few lines of details. The property held a former bed-and-breakfast that’d closed down when the restaurant next door had burned to the ground ten years earlier. It had twelve bedrooms, fifteen bathrooms, a ballroom, dining room, sitting room, breakfast room and library. And it was for sale, either separately or together with the land beside it.
Gwen gazed up at the building in awe. It was a beautiful old structure with ornate finishes that no modern building had. Big, too. Some of the images on the sign made it look positively regal inside. She’d always wanted to own and run a bed-and-breakfast, but it was too late for all of that. She was sixty years old and had never run a business. She should’ve done something like it years ago, but she’d chosen her path, and she couldn’t go back and change it now.
Was it too late, though? She was still in good health. And she had all this money sitting in the bank from the sale of their home. It’d been a big house and had sold for well above what she’d expected. Even after purchasing the condo, she had a lot left over, as well as other assets that were coming her way in the divorce. Maybe she should consider it.
A shiver of excitement made its way through her body. No, she couldn’t do that. Not on her own. She’d never done anything so big alone before. Duncan had always been the one to take the reins when it came to business or finance. She didn’t know anything about it.
Maybe Joanna could give her some advice. If she bought the two properties together, she could rebuild a restaurant on one and restore the bed-and-breakfast on the other. Two businesses run together. The restaurant could service the inn, and vice versa. It might work. And it would give her something to focus her time, energy and resources on. The thought gave her a thrill.