Chapter 1
“What the hell was I thinking?”
Walker Bradshaw stood in the courtyard of the now deserted Lakeview Harbor Resort and sighed. It had been six months since anyone had been here and it showed. Planning the renovations on the massive property were already overwhelming him, but now that he was finally here in person and looking at it all, he seriously questioned his sanity.
“Fifteen hundred acres,” he murmured. “And I’m barely an acre in.”
Yeah, it was a monumental task he was taking on, but hopefully he could turn the place around and make it into the kind of vacation destination the masses would want to come to.
His great-grandparents originally owned the land and had put a few cabins on it for friends and family to use. Then, his grandparents expanded that concept and turned it into a rustic, family-oriented resort. It had been the kind of place that people from all over the country had come to for decades. Unfortunately, his grandparents—who he loved so much—hadn’t kept up with the times. Or with the renovations. What was still standing was run-down and almost inhabitable.
Raking a hand through his hair, Walker tried to envision what it could look like.
“Like it should be someone else’s responsibility.”
Another sigh as he shook his head.
Last year, his grandparents had made the hard decision to close the resort. They didn’t want to sell it, didn’t want to see it torn down, but the whole family knew it would only be a matter of time before that happened. Developers and real estate agents had been after them to sell for years. They called them vultures. His grandmother claimed there had been people calling her for years just looking to pick apart the resort for their own projects, but she’d never been tempted to sell. Walker was intimately familiar with the process and knew the property was worth an almost obscene amount of money.
Certainly more than he ever dreamed of.
But they were emotionally attached to the property, the resort, and all the memories that went with it. They hadn’t been shy about asking all their children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews—basically anyone who was related to them—to take over operations. Unfortunately, everyone knew it would be a lost cause. There was too much to do to turn the resort into what it was in its heyday.
And yet, he had gone and presented a loose business plan to his grandparents and—shockingly—they had accepted it.
Something he still couldn’t believe.
They were still the primary owners, but Walker and his team were going to take over the day-to-day operations and all the updates. Essentially, he had a small group of investors—all close friends who had spent large parts of their childhood summers right here at the resort—who all saw the potential in turning things around and bringing Lakeview Harbor Resort into this century. Walker had been managing a major luxury resort chain for the last several years, so he was familiar with the industry and what was needed and what travelers desired.
He was just going to have to seriously tone down his upscale luxury tastes and bring it down to a rustic kind.
“Still not even sure that’s possible.”
The scenery was spectacular. The lake, the view of the mountains…if they did this right and put more effort into making the cabins a bit more appealing—and optimized the views—Walker knew they could market them for everything from a family home away from home to romantic getaways. But it wasn’t just the cabins they had to contend with. There were fifty of them, but there was also the one hundred room lodge, and then a campground for campers and RVs. There was literally space for every budget, but it was all in dire need of upgrades and renovations.
“Or just bulldozing,” he mumbled.
That was a genuine possibility considering the state of disrepair in most of the cabins. The conservative estimate he got was around 10K per cabin just to make them habitable so they could pass inspection. They’d be fine, but that didn’t include furniture and interior decorating.
It certainly didn’t include turning them into something more rustic chic.
To say that he was in over his head was an understatement.
His buddies—who were also investing—would arrive in two weeks. It was Walker’s job between now and then to do the initial walk-through and come up with a tentative plan of action for them. The utilities were still connected for a handful of cabins, and even though staying someplace else would have been his preference, he knew he was going to have to fully immerse himself in this project.
Which meant sleeping on site and getting his hands dirty.
“I’m used to running and staying in five-star luxury resorts. How the hell am I supposed to handle staying in a run-down cabin for the next…who knows how long?”
Last night he stayed at a hotel about twenty miles away and it was the closest one to the resort. If things got too uncomfortable, Walker knew he could realistically stay somewhere else, but…
“Maybe I should stop acting like a damn baby and settle in.”
He’d taken a six-month leave of absence from his job. The only reason his bosses had agreed to it was because they knew he was damn good at his job and promised to be accessible while he was gone. It wasn’t ideal, but just in case this whole thing didn’t work out, he knew he was going to need a job to go back to.
Although…he was going to need a job anyway. The entire plan was to get the resort renovated and up and running again with someone else running it. Walker had moved on from his upstate New York upbringing and was enjoying life traveling between Orlando, Miami, Galveston, and San Diego. There was no way he was going to settle back up in the northeast with its cold temperatures.
No, thank you.
They were planning on hiring a management team to run everything once all the work was done. He knew he would oversee things from a distance—a little like he already did for his current job—but being here full time would never happen.
“Been there, done that, bought the plane ticket to get the hell out.” Shaking his head as a cool wind blew around him, Walker knew he needed to pick a cabin that he could call home for the next few weeks. “Preferably one with a functioning kitchen.”
He was here, and he was determined to make the best of it.
No matter how much he wanted to change his mind and bolt.
“Well, it’s official. The Oakeny Diner has closed its door.”
Harlow St. James tossed her purse down on her desk, sighing loudly.
Her friend and co-worker, Lisa, looked up from her computer screen and frowned. “What? Seriously?”
“Yup. I stopped there to grab some lunch to bring back to the office and the doors were locked. There’s a sign on the door saying that after forty years in business, the owners made the tough decision to close.” Sighing, she added, “Just one more thing in this town that’s gone. And you know whose to blame, right?”
“The economy?”
“No! The Bradshaws! You know, the Lakeview Harbor Resort owners! They totally let that whole place crumble and it took half the town businesses with them! They took off and now those fifteen hundred acres and all the buildings on it are just going to sit abandoned! It’s unfair!”
“How do you know they’re not going to sell? It’s possible.”
But Harlow was already shaking her head. “No, it’s not. Believe me. I have talked to Dale and Peggy Bradshaw more times than I can count about selling. I have a list of developers a mile long who have asked about buying the property, and they’ve turned them all down.”
“Wow. That just seems odd. If they sold all of it, they’d be millionaires like…a hundred times over.”
“I know!” Harlow snapped with frustration. “I’ve had offers to buy the whole thing and offers to purchase chunks of land, and they weren’t interested. Last I heard, they were fine with just walking away and letting the property just…just…sit and get overgrown!” Another long sigh. “Who turns down tens of millions of dollars?”
“What about the rest of the family?” Lisa asked. “Surely they have kids and grandkids who aren’t on board with just passing up that kind of money. Maybe you need to reach out to one of them and maybe talk some sense into them.”
“Ooo…I hadn’t thought about that. I seem to remember hearing that their family used to spend their summers here. I’d just have to figure out how to find them.”
“Find who?” her boss Charlene asked as she walked across the office to get herself a cup of coffee.
“We’re talking about Lakeview Harbor Resort,” Harlow explained. “And finding Dale and Peggy’s kids.”
“Why?”
So Harlow explained her theory about why all the local businesses were closing down. “Just because the Bradshaws didn’t care about what their poor business skills did to this town, doesn’t mean the next owners won’t. If we can convince them to sell and bring in new developers who can breathe some life back into the local economy, everybody wins!”
“We just need to figure out where to find some of the Bradshaw family,” Lisa chimed in.
“Well, you can start by driving up to the resort,” Charlene casually said as she poured cream into her coffee.
“Um…what? No one’s been up at Lakeview Harbor Resort in six months,” Harlow argued.
Grinning, her boss faced her. “Last night I was at the grocery store, and the guy in front of me at the checkout was talking about how he was staying in one of the cabins at the resort. Naturally, that piqued my interest, so I ditched my order and followed him out. In the parking lot, I stopped him and he introduced himself as Walker Bradshaw and said he was doing some…oh, how did he put it…he was doing some sort of evaluation on the property.”
“That’s a little vague,” Harlow murmured. “Evaluation for what? To sell it? Do you think he’s like the family representative who’s taking stock of everything so they can place the resort on the market and get the best price?”
The wheels in her head were already turning. Feeling motivated, she jumped to her feet, and immediately grabbed her keys, purse, and phone.
“Maybe I should introduce myself to Mr. Walker Bradshaw,” she said smugly. “After all, he might appreciate having a real estate broker there to assist him in getting top dollar for every single one of those fifteen hundred acres.”
“Damn, Harlow, I’m jealous,” Lisa said with awe. “If you convince him to sell all of it, do you have any idea what kind of commission you’d make?”
She knew the exact commission she’d make and already had an idea of how she’d spend some of it. But instead of bragging, she simply shrugged. “No doubt it would be fantastic. Now, if you’ll excuse me, it looks like I’m going to explore an abandoned resort.”
“You might want to change,” Charlene suggested. “I doubt your suede boots and silk blouse are conducive to walking around in the woods.”
“You’re right. The one day I dress up a little…”
“Run home, change, and then go and dazzle Walker Bradshaw! And good luck!” her boss said as she strolled back into her office.
“Thanks, Char!” she called out before stopping at Lisa’s desk. “This is kind of exciting. Maybe I should invite him to dinner and present some of his options to him. I’ll bet most of the offers I’ve had over the years would still be interested.”
“You never know. Hopefully he’ll be receptive to your help,” Lisa said. “But it wouldn’t hurt if you maybe made reservations someplace for dinner. You know, just in case.”
“Good idea. I’ll call Dominic’s and book a table for tonight on my way home to change.” The more she thought about it, the more excited she got. “Okay, I’m going! Wish me luck!”