Chapter 26
Twenty-Six
Ali
Ali tried to process the sheer magnitude of the numbers Patsy had quoted. The real estate agent had left her card and a palpable craving for the listing as she drove away.
Ali needed to talk to Faye and Blair. She needed her sisters’ thoughts and support.
She’d sent them several videos and pictures of the hotel and the cottages. She also sent a photo of the bog-like swimming pool so they had the most realistic idea possible.
After a few texts, all three sisters got on Facetime together.
Ali had set up a foldable lounge chair under the largest palm at the side of the beach and popped in her earbuds. She still felt like all this was some sort of out-of-body experience.
Seeing her two sisters in the little boxes warmed her from the inside out. She had only been gone a week, but the last few months had been a blur from the trauma of losing their dad to her husband to all the upheaval of what they’d learned since.
It was so much; maybe too much. It all sat on Ali’s chest right now and she had a hard time taking a deep breath. Seeing her sisters though, that was bringing her back to herself. They needed her. She needed them.
They’d sort this out, whatever this was.
“Well, how are things?”
“Cold and gray, the usual,” Faye said. Ali could see her sister’s kitchen in the background, with dozens of plants on every available surface. Her weapon against seasonal affective disorder was as many green things as she could find.
“Yeah, here too,” Blair said. She was in a coffee shop in Cinci.
“Yeah, quite cold and icy here too,” Ali joked as she pointed the camera to the beach and then back toward the little cottages.
“That’s it. I’m officially jealous,” Faye said.
“I can’t believe Dad never told us this, never let us go there on Spring Break. That’s so frustrating,” Blair said.
But of the three of them, Blair had enjoyed the most stuff. Their father had indulged her, and they had too. Blair was their baby doll.
“Well, here’s the bad news. The pool is in disrepair, the hotel needs an inspection and makeover, and the six cottages are all in some state of musty.”
“But the beach!” Faye exclaimed, and she was right.
No matter how Ali tried to be practical, the spectacular here drowned out any talk of disrepair.
“It’s calming and invigorating at the same time. I’m not going to lie.”
“Any progress on how we came to be the owners?”
“Unfortunately, no. But the caretakers are adorable. I can’t put my finger on why I connect so well with Didi, but I love her. Anyway, they’re a little addled; this job is too much for them these days. That’s clear. And they have never actually met anyone at the management company. So, I don’t know who owned it before us or who even put the management company in place. Because ostensibly, they’ve been managing it FOR us for decades. They have an account they work from for expenses, their salaries, and taxes, and the surplus stays in the account.”
“What the heck? Was Dad holding out on us? Does he have cash somewhere?” Blair asked.
“Not that I can see. No one has ever withdrawn from it, other than the caretakers for legit expenses that have gone right back to this business. There was a surplus, but the decline of this place has drained it.”
“So there was money, once, and it’s gone. Just our luck,” Faye sighed.
“And it’s operating on fumes right now,” Ali continued. “The place isn’t exactly teeming with people. Honestly, that’s really only because it’s so hidden. I did a little research. It’s one of the last affordable ways for a family to stay on the beach around here, so it really could be fully booked if it was fixed up. Or if we got new management in here.”
“What are you saying? Are you going into hotel management now?” Faye asked, her eyes wide.
“No, no, just what I found out doing the research. Though I will be sad to leave. It turns out I think I love it here.” But she didn’t think, she knew .
Ali had started to fantasize about coffee with her new friends in the morning and Grand Finales every night. She could envision how she’d decorate the cottages and entertain a wedding party. But it was a pipe dream. It really was a fantasy. She had a million loose ends in Toledo, and didn’t everyone in the north fantasize about chucking it all to live on a beach? It was childish and impractical.
Still, Erica and Henry were doing just that. And Patsy’s information had changed the equation entirely.
“Earth to Ali, hello?” Blair said.
“Sorry, sorry. So here’s the reason we can’t keep it. If we sell it, we’re talking upwards of ten million dollars.”
“Wait, my connection glitched. You did not just say what I think you said,” Faye gasped.
“Holy Toledo!” Blair chimed in.
“Yeah, they’ll tear it down, sell it to a condo company, and make three times that on condo sales and then rentals. Or a celebrity buys it, tears it down, and builds a mansion on the beach. Either way, it’s life-changing money for us. Split in three, well, that’s three million each, before taxes.”
“Oh my gosh, oh my gosh!” Blair was waving her hands in the air like she was drying nail polish.
Faye appeared to have grabbed a pen and paper and was doing some sort of math.
“Look,” Ali went on. “That’s just an estimate from the real estate lady. So, yeah, do not pass go, do not collect two hundred dollars, go directly to the market.”
“How fast would we get the money?”
“I don’t have an answer for that, Blair, I’ve never sold a multi-million-dollar property.”
“This is almost too much to process,” Faye said.
“That’s the way I feel, too.”
“Just so we’re clear, you said ten million dollars ?” Blair was shaking her head and still processing, just like Ali had been.
“Yeah, now that’s provided this real estate lady is right and knows her stuff. But she was recommended to me as the best.”
“I can’t breathe.” Blair was waving her hands in front of her face.
“Honey, calm down. It’s okay,” Faye said.
“I just, what? That amount. It’s what?”
Ali was concerned. She couldn’t be right next to her baby sister if she passed out.
“Blair. Put your hands on your knees. You don’t need to spiral. It’s okay. We’re the same three Kelly Sisters. This is just data we need to process. Take a breath.”
“I get where she’s coming from. This is like hitting the Powerball,” Faye said.
“Breathe,” Ali said.
Blair nodded. “I’m okay. I’m okay. I was just starting to get overwhelmed. I can barely manage Darla, much less a gazillion dollars.”
Darla was Blair’s cat, who seemingly ruled Blair’s life and suffered from several skin conditions.
“You’ll be able to hire Darla a butler if this is true,” Faye pointed out.
“Okay,” Blair said. “We can handle this. It’s a strange problem, but a good problem.”
“True that,” Faye agreed. “If I become a millionaire, I am getting my chin hairs lasered off. Job one.”
“What?”
“I’m so sick of plucking,” Faye said.
Ali burst into a hearty laugh, and Blair did the same. Faye had helped them all see the absurdity of their current reality.
When they’d recovered, Ali said, “It’s like it’s all a fairytale that came after the weirdest stretch of my real life.”
“Oh, gosh,” Faye exclaimed. “We forgot to ask you! How are things moving with Ted?”
“No movement. My lawyer is waiting for him to get a lawyer. He wants my house, the house I worked so hard to make a home. So just how you’d expect.”
“I’m sorry honey, men are the worst. Get this, Sawyer wants to leave college and take a gap year like he’s a Kennedy or something.”
“Oh, he had such great grades in high school. That’s a shame,” Ali said.
“Yeah, see, men, just not all right in the head.
Blair stayed quiet on the subject of men; they didn’t know much about her current boyfriend.
Looking at her sisters surrounded by the ocean breeze gave Ali an idea.
“Why don’t you both come down here? We aren’t going to own it long. And it’s got something so fun, so special, that it would be a shame not to experience it before we get rid of it.”
Blair shook her head immediately.
“I can’t, uh, Darla is under the weather.”
“Oh, come on, just a weekend?”
“No, just let me know what we need to do to sell.” They heard Blair’s boyfriend call her name. “Coming! Gotta go.” Blair clicked off the call abruptly.
“Well, goodbye then,” Faye said and rolled her eyes. “You know, I like that idea of a visit. I’m going to hop on a plane, and I’ll see you, what, on Friday, okay?”
“I love that idea.”
“And we’ll figure out how to be millionaires!!! Love you, Big Sissy!”
“Love you too!”
Ali was thrilled. Having Faye down here would be wonderful. She wouldn’t have to decide everything herself.
And they’d get to experience a little of the magic of the Sea Turtle together before it floated out of their hands.