Chapter 5
Chapter Five
A girl could only be patient for so long.
And if Liam wouldn’t give her a glimpse of his plans after three days of working on them, then Dani wasn’t above trying to sneak a peek when he wasn’t around. Because if he didn’t get this right, the council would never approve the plans. Nothing would change on Jonathon Island.
And her family would never come home.
She stepped from her office and peered down the hallway toward the lobby. All was quiet—not surprising, given the fact it was a Saturday evening. The only one who would be here at this time was Liam, who had taken to holing himself up in the conference room to spread out his plans and work ever since their tentative truce on Wednesday morning. And she knew for a fact he wasn’t here, because from her office window, she’d seen him head into Kelley’s Bar & Grill next door about ten minutes ago.
The only sound was the weak buzzing of the fluorescent light panels above her. Now was her chance.
She winced as the wooden floorboards beneath her feet creaked. “Stop it, Dani. You’re alone.” Holding her head high, she hurried the short way down the hall and pushed into the conference room. Eyes quickly scanning the space, she could see Liam had made himself quite at home—empty takeout containers in the trash, an open can of Coke, his leather messenger bag briefcase strewn over one of the chairs.
And there, in the middle of the table, alongside a dozen or so drafting tools and pencils, sat several large pieces of tracing paper.
After another glance over her shoulder, Dani approached the papers, which were upside down. Almost like Liam knew she’d be coming. Like he knew Uncle Seb had texted her at least once a day asking if she’d gotten a peek yet.
Well, today was the day. Trusting someone she barely knew could only take her so far. There was too much riding on this project to not know if Liam was truly up to the task.
Fisting her fingers tight, she unfurled them and started to reach for the papers.
“Whatcha doing there?”
With a yelp, she jumped back and pressed her hand to her chest.
Liam stood in the doorway, a large pizza box in his hands, a frown on his lips.
“What? Nothing.”
He placed the pizza box on the edge of the table and strode toward her. She barely had time to notice he’d discarded his suit jacket and tie, that his sleeves were rolled to his elbow, before he stopped right in front of her and placed his hand on top of the pile of papers. “Didn’t look like nothing. It looked like you were trying to see my plans before they’re ready.” His eyes bore into hers, squinting, and wow, he was standing close.
She wanted to look away but held his gaze instead. “It’s just…” Her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth.
“I thought we agreed you were going to trust me, Dani.” The words were softer than she’d expected, and her jaw loosened.
“More like you told me I should, but since then, you’ve given me nothing to go on.” And maybe she just needed to ask again. “Are you sure you can’t give me a small glimpse at what you’re planning?”
“That’s not how my process works.”
“I get it. You prefer to work alone.”
“It’s not that.” Liam took a step back, cleared his throat. “It’s just that the creative juices can’t flow when I’ve got too many voices in my head.”
“But shouldn’t the main voice in your head be that of your client? The whole point of this is to make the plans something the council will approve.” She placed her hands on her hips. “And how are you supposed to know what they’ll approve if you haven’t listened to what they want?”
He blinked, then nodded. “You know what, you’re right.” Liam moved toward the end of the table and opened the pizza box, turning it so Dani could see the golden crust, bubbling cheese, and pepperonis inside. “Why don’t you join me for dinner and tell me all about what to expect from the council? Let’s hammer out some of the details so I can foresee any obstacles. Because it’s important to me to get this approved too. Believe me, there’s a lot at stake for both of us.”
She narrowed her eyes, even as the aroma of garlic and onion filled the room. “What’s at stake for you?”
“Simple.” He picked up a slice of pie, nestled it onto a nearby napkin, and sat in one of the chairs, propping his feet up on another. “My dad is doing this project as a favor for Seb, and he’s staking his reputation and a lot of his finances on this. It can’t fail.”
“Oh. I guess that makes sense.”
“It does. And that means we both want the same thing.” He gave the pizza box a little push toward her and picked up his slice, taking a bite, chewing, swallowing. “So what do I need to know about the council?”
Well, if she wasn’t going to get a look at the plans, she supposed the next best thing was helping Liam create a foolproof strategy.
Sighing, Dani grabbed a piece of pizza and settled into the chair that was next to Liam’s footrest. “Okay, well, obviously you know Uncle Seb. He’s the mayor, but that doesn’t really give him any more power than the rest of the council. For the purposes of this revitalization project, he’s just another vote. He leads the meetings and sets the agendas, but he has to do his best to balance out the interests of everyone.”
“He’s probably very invested—being a Jonathon on Jonathon Island and all. How long has he been mayor?”
“He’s in the first year of his second term. But even before he was elected, he was viewed as a leader around here—and not only because he owns a large majority of the land and shops on the island.”
“So he’s got even more of a stake to make all of this financially successful than I thought. Smart guy.”
Dani raised a brow. “He is smart, which is why he’s making this a town-wide effort and not just doing all of this privately with the property he already owns. Having the council involved will help the naysayers who claim he’s got too much power, especially since this project has the potential to effect so much change on the island.”
“Small towns are so fascinating.” Grabbing a fresh napkin from his stack, Liam wiped his mouth. “So on the council, I notice we’ve got two Kelleys. I’m surprised they were both elected. People don’t think that’s a little unfair?”
“Probably only the Harts.” Dani chuckled, but at Liam’s raised eyebrows, she continued. “Remember the fudge wars I told you about? That was between those two families.”
“Ah. And Cody’s part of the Hart family, yes?”
“Yeah, although if you remember, some of the Harts were into fishing, not fudge. His dad used to own a commercial fishing boat, and Cody worked on it. There was a terrible accident a few years back. My cousin Mia’s husband, Troy, and Troy’s father, Steve, both died. Cody…” Well, Liam didn’t need to know all of the town’s dirty laundry. Just what was relevant to the topic at hand. “Anyway, back to the Kelleys. Patrick and Martha—who are siblings-in-law, by the way because Martha is married to Patrick’s brother, Frank—are some of the only local business owners left on the island after the economic downturn, and they’ve both lived here their whole lives, so it’s only natural they both have a stake in the council. They can’t really stand each other, though, so people definitely won’t see them as being in cahoots. But it might cause trouble for you, because you’ll have to sort of balance their interests. Though we only need a majority to get an approval.”
“Good to know. Patrick seems cool, though I only talked with him briefly when I picked up the pizza tonight. I met Martha the other night when I ordered a sandwich to go. She was…”
“Pushy? Loud? Opinionated?”
Liam laughed. “Yes to all three. Told me that Seb had spoken highly of my skills, but she wasn’t holding her breath that some city boy could understand the inner workings of a special small town like Jonathon Island. She didn’t know I have a secret weapon—you.” He glanced at Dani and winked.
“Oh.” Dani’s cheeks heated, though she didn’t know why. She picked at one of the pepperonis on her otherwise untouched piece of pizza. “Well, like you said, we want the same thing here.”
“Absolutely.” Liam polished off the crust of his pizza and brushed off his hands. “Okay, so that’s three of the council members. Anything I should know about Tara or Janine?”
Back on solid ground. Good. “Tara is kind of known as the island mom. She’s this former dignified debutante from Boston and came here on vacation with her rich family. She met poor seminary student Arnie Chamberlain, and that was it. She moved here to start a new kind of life.”
“That’s such an interesting story.” Liam removed his feet from the chair and sat fully upright. Leaned forward. “I wonder what would inspire someone to give up everything like that.”
“Isn’t it obvious?” But apparently, to Liam, it wasn’t. “She fell in love.”
His brow furrowed. “With the man or the place?”
“Both, of course. Eventually Arnie took over the pastorate here, and Tara stands by and supports all the ministries the church offers, especially the women’s ministry and several charities here on the island for the less fortunate. She knows practically everyone and is kind of the representative for the ‘every man’—or every woman, as it were.”
“So, will she pose any problems?”
“I don’t imagine so. I’m sure you’ll charm her easily enough.”
A grin stretched across Liam’s face, and he placed his hands behind his head. “So, you think I’m charming then. I was beginning to wonder.”
She couldn’t help but laugh at the ridiculous look on his face. “I’m going to chuck this piece of pizza at your head if you don’t quit.”
“You’re just so fun to tease.”
Dani finally picked up her pizza and wagged it at him. “I’m serious. This is no laughing matter. Because by far your biggest obstacle is going to be Janine Dirks.”
The smile left Liam’s face—and rightly so. “In what way?”
“She’s old school, completely against anything modern. Like me, she wants to maintain the historical integrity of things on the island.” Dani blew on her pizza slice, though it was far from hot at this point. “But unlike me, the only reason she wants things to stay the same is because she hates what technology has done for the world. She’ll probably request that we remove the air conditioning that was installed in 2007 and would even be crazy enough to ask that we revert back to kerosene lamps instead of electricity.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Liam’s eyes widened.
“Nope. In fact, when one of the underground power cables between here and Port Joseph was damaged—that’s how we get electricity to the island, you know—she sent around a petition to have it retired instead of repaired, which would have reduced electricity to seventy-five percent of its current usage.”
“But why would anyone want things to be so…backward?”
Dani shrugged and put her pizza back down. “She just firmly believes that we’re better off staying in the past.”
“Wow. I don’t think there will be any pleasing her with my plans. Might as well write her off as a no and work on getting the other votes.”
“Show me the plans and I can help see if you’ve kept things historically accurate enough for her.”
“There it is again. You don’t trust me.” Leaning forward, Liam snagged Dani’s hand. “I’ve got this, Dani. I’ve presented to heads of major corporations before. I know how to make a persuasive case.” His palm was warm, and there was something comforting in it. And his eyes—they were earnest. Like he really believed what he was saying.
“I know you do. But this is my home, Liam. If we don’t do this right…” She couldn’t even fathom what came next. Because without this, there was no hope for more.
“We will.” Liam squeezed before letting go of her hand. “Look, I know what it’s like to feel like you’re alone, carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders. But we’re in this together, okay?”
She swallowed hard. “Okay.”
“One question though.”
“What’s that?”
“You said that unlike you, Janine wants things to stay the same because she hates technology. I assume you mean that you want things to go back to how they were before. So why is that important to you?”
She sat back in her chair, turned her eyes to the white-washed ceiling. How could he even begin to understand? But he had shared something personal with her the other day. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to tell him why this meant so much to her. Or an inkling of the reason anyway.
“Because something about Jonathon Island calls to me—has always called to me. This is home. In addition to my uncle, aunt, and cousins, I’ve got a big immediate family—six siblings—and they’ve all left the island for one reason or another. But here…here is where we were a family, you know?”
“And you’re not a family anymore?”
“It’s not the same.”
Liam waited a beat before responding. “That must be nice. To have a home.”
Oh? She glanced at him again. “Isn’t California home for you?”
“Sure, it’s where my driver’s license says I’m from.” Liam tapped the tabletop with his knuckles. “But it’s hard to really have a home when you’re on the road constantly for work.”
“I can’t imagine that.”
“It’s part of the job. Though I’m trying to find a way to change things up a bit.” Without explaining, he plowed on. “Does your family visit you often? It’s probably hard to get them all in one place, huh?”
“That hasn’t happened in years, unfortunately.” Did she tell him the rest? She may have just met Liam a few days ago, but in this moment, he felt like somewhere safe to land. Like maybe he was trustworthy. At the very least, knowing why this mattered to her might persuade him to do his very best on the hotel plans—though from what he’d told her, he already felt that way. “That’s why I feel this aching need, deep down, to preserve this place—our home—not just for my family but for future generations. Who knows? Maybe if things go back to the way they once were…”
“They’ll have a reason to come back.”
She gave the barest of nods. “I know it’s probably a ridiculous dream, but I have to try.”
“It’s not ridiculous. And Dani?”
Her heart tapped double time at the earnestness in his voice. In his gaze. “Yeah?”
“Everything is going to work out.”
Something in her chest loosened at those words. At the prospect that maybe she wasn’t alone in this after all. That Liam had understood her ramblings and that they really were working toward the same goal. “Promise?”
“You have my word.”
And if she couldn’t get a peek at Liam’s plans, then maybe his reassurance was good enough.
* * *
His head throbbed, his neck ached, and his fingers were sore, but the plans were done.
Liam sat back from his spot at the small table in his hotel room and heaved a sigh. Sunlight filtered in through the window onto the mylar drafting paper where he’d sketched the final lines.
After he’d caught Dani snooping around last night, he’d thought it safest to move here, but he really did miss the space afforded by the conference room table. No matter though.
After tomorrow morning’s meeting, he’d be on the next ferry out of town and back to his posh L.A. office.
There was a knock on the door and Liam stood and stretched before making his way over. Who’d be visiting on Sunday afternoon?
But when he opened the door, he found Cody there, holding a wrench that he wiggled in the air. “You rang about a radiator?”
Liam snorted a laugh. “Oh, yeah. I forgot. It started clanging the other day, and I think I mentioned it to Sarah this morning on my way out to breakfast.” He waved Cody in.
“Hope it didn’t keep you from working.” Cody caught a glimpse of Liam’s plans and whistled. “Looks like it didn’t. This for the hotel?”
Liam rushed to roll up the paper. “Thought that was supposed to be a secret.”
Cody snorted. “A secret in Jonathon Island? Impossible.” He kneeled by the radiator, which abutted the chair where Liam had been sitting. Holding his hand in front of it, he smiled. “Good, it’s cool.”
“Yeah, with the weather heating up this week, I haven’t even needed my overcoat.” Liam grabbed his laptop off his side table and settled on the bed, which squeaked when he sat.
Cody turned. “Has it been doing that all week?”
“What, squawking like a baby bird that needs its mom? Yeah. Why?”
“I’ll look at that next. Probably just a bolt needs tightening.”
“Can you fix the loose bathroom door handle while you’re at it? Oh, and the closet keeps getting jammed.” Liam chuckled as he opened the computer on his lap and booted it up. “They call this place charming, but I think that’s just another word for old.”
“Can’t it be both?” Cody smiled and started examining the radiator with his tools. “Did you know this place started out as a family’s beach home? Then it was bought by a retired military captain—he served on a boat on the Great Lakes, actually—and turned into a hotel way back when.”
“Aw, so you’re a history buff then?” Liam peered over the lid of his laptop as the guy wiggled the radiator.
“If you live on Jonathon Island long enough, everyone becomes a history buff.”
“And how long have you lived here?”
Cody pulled a short silver tool from his belt pouch and placed it on the radiator valve, turning it. Air hissed from the contraption. “My whole life, same as Dani.”
“Oh right. She mentioned that your family was in both the fudge and fishing trades. Those don’t seem to go together.”
“Mom was the fudge maker, but her arthritis has stopped her from doing that for a while now. My sister Lily took up the candy making, but she doesn’t live here anymore.” His new friend offered a sad smile. “And as for the fishing, well, Dad retired a few years ago. And I’m doing this now. A lot of people have had to make adjustments to their livelihood just to stay on the island.”
“Really? Dani mentioned a downturn in the economy, but I didn’t realize it was so widespread.”
“Oh, yeah. Tons of shops had to close because the economy is so highly influenced by tourism. No tourism, no money coming in. That started with the closure of the Grand, but when the pandemic hit, this place became a shell of its former self. All it needs is a little fixing, a little paint—and a new hotel and crop of fresh residents, of course.” Cody shifted to look at Liam. Air continued to leak from the radiator, but the pace had slowed. “If this plan of yours doesn’t work, I’m afraid even more people will leave, and it’ll become a complete ghost town.”
The radiator clearly wasn’t on, so why did it suddenly feel stifling hot in here? “Dani said something similar, but I guess I thought she had some other plans up her sleeve too. You know, things to re-attract the tourists, to boost tourism numbers.”
“Can’t have tourists if you have nowhere to house them. And this hotel only has about thirty-five rooms.”
“Makes sense I guess.” Heat crawled up Liam’s neck. “I promised her I’d get this right.”
“Dude, you look a little green around the gills. I didn’t mean to freak you out. I’m sure those plans are great. Between your skills and how much Dani cares, you’ll knock it out of the park.” Cody turned the valve key back and studied the radiator again.
Liam closed his computer lid and pushed it from his lap onto the white comforter beside him. “She really does care, doesn’t she? I’ve never met someone so passionate about their home before.”
“That’s Dani—always putting others before herself. She’s got a really big heart.”
At the words, Liam’s gut pinched. He coughed. “You, uh, don’t have a thing for her, do you?” Not that it mattered. Why would he care?
“What?” Cody threw back his head and laughed. “No, man. She’s like a sister to me.” Then he cocked his head at Liam as he stood from his squat. “Why? Do you have a thing for her?”
Yeah, definitely it was burning up in here. “What, me? No. Not like that. I mean, she’s cute and all, and super smart, and determined, and I…”
And he kind of wanted to knock Cody’s huge smile off his face.
“Shut up, man. Dani’s cool, but I’m not looking for anything right now. Besides, I’ve done the long-distance thing before, and it only ended with both of us being disappointed.” Liam scooted to the edge of the bed and tugged his suit jacket off. Why had he even bothered to wear it today, given he’d mostly stayed inside? But there was something comfortable about it, something that made him feel more like himself.
More secure in his abilities.
“If that’s all true, then why are you acting so flustered, huh?”
Liam stood and started to pace. “Maybe because the more I think about it, the more I hear about what this whole hotel restoration means to you all, the more I wonder if my plans are going to pass the council. If they’re going to approve the plan. If my plans have what it takes to wow visitors so you all can breathe new life back into the island as a whole.” Frowning, he stared at the threadbare carpet. “Because I’m starting to realize I can’t separate the one from the other, can I?”
And that it was all up to him.
He was going to fail the town.
Fail her.
Just like…
“No. You can’t. But Liam, have you done your best? Do you feel like the plans you’ve drawn up are the best way to help revitalize the town?”
“I do, yeah. And I’ve gone over them again and again, tweaking them till they’re perfect.” But there were so many unknown variables. Despite what Dani had told him, what did a city kid from the beach know about what these small-town Midwestern residents wanted or needed in a hotel?
But the meeting was at ten o’clock in the morning. It was too late to do anything but double down on the plans he already had. And honestly, he should be fine whatever the result. Because even if the council rejected his proposal, he could tell Dad he’d given it an honest shot, and he’d be home in time for supper either way. Ready to pitch the Bertram project and provide a path for Dad’s eventual retirement.
So why did the idea of letting Dani down twist Liam’s gut like it did?
Cody approached and placed a steadying hand on Liam’s shoulder. “Then trust that what you’ve done will be enough. That things will work out just the way they’re supposed to.”
“Thanks, man. I appreciate the vote of confidence.”
“It’s about time this town came back to life, and I’m happy to be on the sidelines watching it happen.”
“On the sidelines? What do you mean?” Liam pointed to Cody’s tool belt and gave him a little friendly shove. “From where I’m sitting, you’re fixing up the place one broken radiator at a time.”
“Ha. Not quite yet. I bled the pipes, but I think part of the problem may be that it’s tilted. I’m going to snatch a piece of wood from my workshop. Be right back.”
“No worries. I’ve got some emails to go through anyway.”
At Cody’s exit, Liam sat back on the bed and dove into his extremely full inbox, which he’d neglected since arriving on Jonathon Island.
But he couldn’t focus on anything on the screen. His vision swam, and frowning, he closed the lid again and re-approached the plans on the table.
Just one more look wouldn’t hurt.
Because whether for Dad, for Seb, for Jonathan Island, or for Dani herself, Liam would make these plans the best he could with any hours he had left.
He’d given his word, after all.