Chapter 4 #3
“On that we’re in full agreement. And we need to be in full agreement about the Hideaway,” Celeste said. “Once you’ve both read the offer, we can discuss it.”
Veronica flicked away any concern. “You don’t want to sell.”
“Not doing that.” Celeste shook her head. “Read it all. This isn’t about one of us, it’s about all of us and our business.”
Natalie kept quiet, choosing to be the good example. After stuffing her mouth with fried shrimp, she blotted her hands and started reading the offer letter page by page.
Big mistake.
She choked when she saw the number on offer.
At first glance it was worth consideration, especially since it spelled out an all-cash offer with a thirty-day closing.
When she could breathe again, she ate more carefully before picking up her phone and opening the reports her sisters didn’t know she kept.
From their first month in business, Celeste paid each of them from the profits of the B&B.
For a time, Natalie simply enjoyed having steady money in the bank.
But then it didn’t seem fair for Celeste to be carrying all the burdens of the Hideaway, so Nat had started paying attention.
And when they changed the business model from by-the-room to full-house rentals, the profit margin increased. Quickly and exponentially.
“This is a lowball shot in the dark,” she blurted. “Damned insulting actually.” Feeling the stares, she looked up. Veronica gaped at her and Celeste set down her fork way too carefully.
“What? I’m not an idiot.” Her sisters knew she was intelligent, though she often leaned into the assumption that she was flighty and didn’t have a head for business details.
“No one said you were,” Celeste said, recovering first. “And yet, you routinely dodge business discussions. Why do you think it’s a lowball offer?”
Veronica nipped the offer pages from Natalie, reading it for herself.
“Well first up, it’s postmarked the day the body washed up on shore. That’s sketchy. Would anyone offer us top dollar after that? And second, private beach. It’s our claim to fame around here and a huge rental value boost.”
“You’re right,” Veronica said. “Cash or not, this barely covers the value of the house itself. Why didn’t you just toss this out with the junk mail?”
“Again, I say, togetherness.” Celeste glared at her plate. “My first inclination was to file it away and never think of it again,” she admitted.
“Pitch it and forget it is my vote,” Roni said. “Why bother to file it?”
Nat tapped the envelope again. “Agreed. I don’t want to sell, either. But I do want to look into this address and make sure Jackson isn’t behind it.”
“Lowballing us would be his kind of move.”
Natalie agreed. “It’s on me if he is involved. When he showed up at the Hideaway, I was clear that he shouldn’t return. Not that he ever takes no for an answer the first time.”
“Nobody is blaming you for this,” Celeste said.
She forced a smile for her sisters. “That’s not what I’m hearing,” Nat assured her.
“It’s only…” She shook off the dark thoughts racing through her head.
Jackson wasn’t worth any more lost sleep.
He’d conned her, stolen her confidence, and nearly destroyed her career before it started.
Marrying him had caused significant damage to her relationships with her parents and sisters.
“I know y’all aren’t used to this side of me, but if further action is required, you can count on me to take it.”
She’d take down Jackson. Gladly. Someday, she’d tell her sisters the lengths she’d gone to to make sure her ex-husband would have no claim on anything related to the Hargrave family.
“We’re lucky that this happened with a guest like Trent,” Celeste said, pulling Natalie out of her thoughts.
“The Guardian Agency isn’t bothered, Jess let me know,” she explained to Nat.
“As it is, word is spreading fast that this is a murder victim. We need to be ready for a slump if that goes public.”
“A slump is one thing, but everyone around here knows we’re not at fault,” Veronica said, her gaze fierce. “Surely this isn’t enough to cost us the entire business.”
While her sisters speculated on the intensity and reach of local gossip, Natalie’s thoughts drifted back to darker times and ugly memories. Rumors had only added fuel to the fire, turning vicious during the year she’d been married to Jackson.
Her appetite gone, she sipped sweet tea to settle her stomach.
She wasn’t that girl who trusted blindly anymore.
No longer innocent or naive. He had clipped her wings in too many ways.
Maybe it was worse than that. Maybe he had only put her in a cage and she was the one who clipped her own wings to fit his mold.
His needs. So happy and eager to be a wife that she’d discounted her own value and interests.
It had taken years after the speedy divorce to find herself again.
To trust herself enough to reclaim the artist within and let her creativity be seen.
Just thinking about Jackson was like rubbing salt into an open wound. Shoving back from the table, she cleared the dirty dishes and empty take-out containers. The chore done, she summoned a stronger smile for her older sisters. “Thank you for dinner. I’m going out.”
Celeste looked alarmed. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing serious. I’ve got my phone.” She patted her pocket. “I can stay if there’s something else to discuss.”
Celeste shook her head. Veronica grinned. “Go have fun. Unless that will spoil things for your newest piece.”
“As if.” She could only hope those dark vibes would dissipate before she finished. Then she could tuck it away or dismantle what she had so far. “I’m a professional, remember?”
With a wave, she was out the door, that recurring chill pinching her shoulders. She needed quiet. Or maybe a roar. Either way, the beach would do.