Chapter 12
CHAPTER TWELVE
Vivian sighed as she leaned over and expertly wiped off a table with a damp rag. She was at The Lighthouse Grill, helping clean up after the lunch rush. Around her was the sound of the remaining customers talking and laughing, and she could faintly hear the sound of pots and pans being jostled around in the kitchen. The warm, savory aroma of French fries, clam chowder, and meatloaf filled the air. It was comforting, being there in the pub, a place that she’d spent countless afternoons in.
It was the day after Frank’s funeral, and although she’d told herself it was best for her to not go into the pub that day, she had felt too restless and sad at home. She wanted something to do with her hands, to help get her mind off the disturbing news of Frank’s secret. As much as the grief of his passing was still weighing on her, the news that he had been gambling behind her back was worse for her mind, because it was difficult for her to not dwell on it and start to worry about what the future might hold.
Four people stood up from one of the remaining tables and started to walk out of the restaurant. They all had big smiles on their faces, and they continued to talk and laugh together until they’d disappeared through the front doors. Vivian felt glad that the pub was still a place where people could come together to have a good time.
For now, she thought, her heart twisting with worry. What are we going to do about all these debts?
She walked over to the table that had just been vacated and started to clear up the dishes. As she was walking toward the kitchen with stacks of plates in her hands, a man walked into The Lighthouse Grill.
He was wearing a suit, and for a moment, all that she registered was that she didn’t like him, and he made her uncomfortable in some way. Then she recognized him in a flash. It was Judd McCormick, the man who had been trying so hard to buy The Lighthouse Grill from Frank for years.
“Hello there, Vivian.” He smiled at her as if they were old friends. “How are you doing today?”
She blinked at him, wondering if he’d heard about Frank’s death. “Well, my husband’s funeral was yesterday, so I’m about as good as somebody can be under the circumstances.”
“I am so sorry to hear that.” He had an expression of sympathy on his face, but it looked so wooden and insincere that it was almost patronizing. “I’m sure it’s very difficult running this place without him.”
“We’re managing fine,” she said coolly, shifting her weight as some of the plates she was holding started to slide a little. “Now if you’ll please excuse me, I should get these put away.” She smiled politely at him and walked through the swinging doors into the kitchen.
She carried the dishes over to the sink, placing them alongside it. She stopped to talk to the teenager who was working the dishwashing shift that afternoon, lingering on purpose so that Judd would be gone by the time she went back out into the dining room.
When she’d finished chatting with her young employee, she stopped by the pub’s office for a few minutes. There wasn’t anything she needed to do there, but she was determined to wait long enough for Judd to give up on her and leave the restaurant. The last thing she needed that day was to talk to that man.
For a while, she simply sat at the desk, looking out the window at the sunlight glinting on the ocean. She found the sight comforting and soothing, and her jangled nerves steadied a little. Finally, she glanced at the clock on the wall and sighed. She should get back to work. She had a restaurant to run, and Judd was surely gone by then. It had been almost fifteen minutes since she’d gone into the kitchen, and she had a feeling he’d had no intention of stopping there for lunch, only to talk to her.
She got another damp rag from the kitchen and went back out into the dining area. As soon as she stepped through the swinging doors, her heart sank. Judd was standing there smiling at her, still in the exact same spot he’d been in when she’d left him. For a moment she felt as though he was some kind of vulture, waiting patiently for his prey.
“Must be busy in the kitchen.” He grinned at her in a way that was probably meant to be charming but came off simply as toothy.
“It’s always busy here. It’s one of the most popular places in town.” She moved past him toward a table that still needed to be cleaned, and to her frustration he followed her there.
“Well, it’s a great spot. The land is good, right on the lake, and the location is ideally central. You’ve had a great run here, Mrs. Owens, but things must be rough for you because of your husband’s passing. I’d be only too happy to go through with the deal that I’ve proposed to your husband many times over the years.”
Vivian swallowed. She had to admit to herself that she was in a vulnerable position, considering what Julia had recently discovered about the pub’s precarious financial situation. Perhaps that was why she had been so anxious to avoid talking to Judd, since she knew that talking to him might convince her that she should consider his offer, now that her perception of her circumstances had changed.
She hesitated before replying to him. She knew that in theory, considering his offer was the wise thing to do, but her heart rebelled against the idea. She hated the idea of selling the pub’s land to Judd McCormick and his sons for many reasons. Not only did she dislike him and how persistent he’d been in trying to buy the land, but she knew that he would tear down the pub if he bought it. She couldn’t bear the thought of their beloved building being razed to the ground, disappearing forever.
At that moment, Julia walked inside the pub. Vivian glanced at her, and saw her daughter frown the moment she laid eyes on Judd. She didn’t know if Julia had ever met Judd before, but she guessed that Julia knew a businessman when she saw one. There was something about Judd’s overly-confident demeanor that screamed, “I think I have all the power here.”
“What’s going on?” Julia asked, stepping up beside Vivian, almost protectively. She fixed her eyes coolly on Judd. “Is this guy bothering you, Mom?”
“No, not at all, not at all.” Judd flashed his toothy smile again, but his eyes glittered coldly as if he was sizing Julia up. “Your mother and I were just having a pleasant conversation. I’ve had my eye on this land for years, and I was renewing my generous offer to take it off your hands.”
“What?” Julia’s eyes flashed. “We’re not interested.”
“Come on now, sweetheart.” His smile became wider, but not any more sincere. “I’m giving you the best option that you have right now, and on a silver platter at that. Your other options are to keep on struggling with this place until it falls apart, or to sell it to someone who isn’t going to give you as good of an offer. I want the land—someone else will just try to buy the building, and let’s be honest, the building isn’t worth that much. Especially when word gets out that the pub isn’t doing so well financially. People won’t realize that the finances aren’t due to any lack of quality in the restaurant itself, but due to—well, how shall I put this? Lack of quality in the management, perhaps. Frank always meant well, though. I don’t mean any offense there. He was a visionary—always looking ahead to a bright future. Sometimes that made him forget about the present a little too much.”
Vivian’s heart felt hot and then cold for a moment. Did Judd know about how Frank had damaged the finances of the pub? Her head spun. She didn’t know how he possibly could have, since he and Frank had been far from friendly, but his words and the knowing glint in his eyes made it seem as though he knew all about what had been going on.
She looked at Judd’s face, and the calm, plastic smile he was wearing. She wondered if he actually knew about Frank’s gambling somehow, or if he had just somehow found out that Frank wasn’t good with money. Whatever he seemed to know, the fact that he knew it made her feel flushed with embarrassment.
Beside her, Julia stepped forward confrontationally. Her eyes flashed angrily at Judd.
“Our finances are entirely under control. Frank Owens made this pub the most popular place in Rosewood Beach, and you have no right to come here the day after his funeral and throw shade onto his legacy. You clearly have no respect for those in mourning.”
“Now, Miss, I?—”
“No.” She tapped her heel on the floor for emphasis. “Please leave.”
For a moment, he hesitated, as if he was considering saying more, but then he smiled again and took a few steps toward the door. Before going through it, he turned and said, “You’re right. My timing was off. I apologize. Maybe we can find more to agree on soon.”
Julia opened her mouth, looking ready to retort, but he slipped through the front door of The Lighthouse Grill before she had a chance to respond.
“Oh, that man.” Julia glared at the doorway. “How dare he—and I’m sure that he—ugh!”
“Don’t fret, sweetheart.” Vivian wrapped an arm around her daughter and laid her head down on her shoulder for a moment. “He’s out of our hair.”
“For now! He made it perfectly clear he wants to come back. It’s like he won’t take no for an answer.”
“You don’t know the half of it.” Vivian sighed.
“What do you mean?”
“Come with me to the office. I’ll show you something.”
They made their way along a back hallway to Vivian’s office, where they sat down on either side of the desk. It was quiet there, and Vivian took a deep breath, grateful to be away from the hustle and bustle for a moment.
“What do you have to show me, Mom? Has he tried to buy the pub before?”
“Not once but many times.” Vivian sighed as she opened a drawer and took out all of Judd’s offers to buy the pub. She laid them down in a stack in front of Julia, who frowned and started to read them. “I was going to throw them away, but then when I heard your news about the debt, I—well, I thought better of it.”
Julia shook her head emphatically. “You’re not thinking of selling to that man?”
“Oh, no, I—it just seemed foolish to throw them out. Just in case. Perhaps as a last resort.” Her heart felt heavy as she said the words, even though her impulse to keep the papers had been only a half-formed idea. She hadn’t spent any time seriously considering Judd’s offer, and she still loathed the idea of selling the pub’s land to him. But she knew that she was in trouble. She had never run the pub without Frank before, and never tried to take care of the finances all by herself. She wasn’t sure she could do it, especially now that they were in trouble.
Julia shook her head at her mother, but the look in her eyes was gentle. She looked down and finished perusing the letters. Her frown became deeper and deeper the more she read. Finally, she tossed the stack to the side with a huff of dismay.
“He really wants this land, that’s clear.” Vivian sighed. “And the price is fair.”
“No.” Julia’s voice was firm. “He wouldn’t be paying for the way we would all feel if we lost this place. If you lost this place. He’s pushy, but don’t give into him. There’s no reason to. I told you I would help you with all this, and I will.”
Vivian smiled at her daughter for a moment, her heart warming with gratitude. “I know you can help me. You’re amazing at this kind of thing. I’m so glad you’re here with me.” As soon as the words had left her mouth, she regretted saying them. Julia was only there still because she had lost her job, and Vivian didn’t want to feel happy about her daughter’s misfortune.
But Julia smiled at her and nodded. “I’m glad I’m here too. All of this is so much more important to me than my job ever was.”
Vivian placed a hand on her heart, touched by her daughter’s words. She knew how much Julia’s career mattered to her, so the fact that the family business meant even more to her meant a great deal to Vivian. For a few moments, both of them were quiet, lost in their own thoughts.
“You know,” Vivian said softly, “if you ever want to talk about what happened at your job, I’m here to listen.”
“Thanks, Mom.” Julia smiled at her and then heaved a long sigh. “Oh, it just all feels so ugly in hindsight. People here in Rosewood Beach would never do that kind of thing. People are too cutthroat in the city, always looking out for themselves.”
“What do you mean? What kind of things did they do?”
“I got lied about—there was a woman at my job back in New York who didn’t like me and told my boss things about me that weren’t true. I guess I could have been a better team player, but she took one little truth and then turned it into a whole big lie.”
Vivian nodded sympathetically. “Deceit is usually like that. The truth gets twisted. Either because people’s emotions are keeping them from seeing clearly, or because they’re being devious on purpose.”
“Yeah. I guess she was upset, but she must have known she was lying about me in this case. Anyway, my boss didn’t ask for my side of the story and I got fired. I just… I feel so betrayed on top of everything else. I thought they respected me there.”
Vivian pressed her lips together, feeling a wave of sadness for what her daughter had been through. “I’m so sorry, sweetheart. Don’t let it make you feel like any less of a person. After all, there could have been all kinds of other things going on that you don’t know about. Maybe it was more about budget cuts than they made it out to be. And besides, you don’t want to work for people who would treat you like that. You know your worth, and I know your worth. You want to be somewhere where your employers know it too.”
Julia smiled at her mother, and there was a light in her eyes that hadn’t been there a moment before. “Thanks, Mom. You’re right. That makes me feel better about everything.”
“I’m glad, sweetheart. You can always talk to me, you know? No matter what.”
Julia nodded and leaned forward to give her mother a hug. Vivian’s heart warmed, feeling glad that she could be strong for her daughter even while Julia was also being strong for her, supporting her in the midst of the bleak discovery of Frank’s gambling habits.
“I know, Mom. Thank you.”
“Of course. You know I’m always here for you.”
Vivian held her daughter tightly, grateful that whatever was coming next, they were in it together.