Chapter 33
33
J ace walked into the town hall meeting holding Margo's hand. He saw Quinn's truck already there. And he saw Sid pulling into the parking lot as they neared the front of the building. He waited for his friend on the sidewalk.
He was nervous. He wasn't gonna lie about that. He hoped tonight would work out well. And if it didn't, if the town council could not see a two-story building on the beach, he'd still make the expansion happen. With the thrift shop gone, he would have plenty of room.
But now all he could see was a two-story building there with beautiful views from the upper deck. Sid approached, and Grace was with him. They both smiled.
Sid nodded. "Are you ready, bud?"
"I'm ready as I'm gonna be."
Margo hugged Grace. The two women smiled sweetly at each other. And Jace felt lucky.
Luckily, his friends' wives got along with Margo.
They could be a big group of friends for a long time. Until they all left this earth.
What could be better than having a strong group of friends and a woman you love? And everyone getting along? Plus a thriving business. All of them. Quinn and Sid both had thriving businesses. Grace's little short-term rental business was doing well. She'd added two more bungalows. Hanna had her bakery. Margo had a real estate company. My god, the six of them together. They were unstoppable.
They turned and walked into the town hall meeting together.
Margo took his hand as they entered the building, and he felt great comfort from that.
She squeezed, knowing he was nervous. And gratefully, she didn't pummel him with a ton of questions.
They saw Quinn and Hanna sitting in the aisle chairs. They'd saved empty chairs next to him.
They sat down and greeted each other, and it wasn't long before the president of the board tapped his gavel to start the meeting.
They had to sit through other agenda items. The approval of last month's meeting minutes, the treasurer's report, and he agenda items for the night.
There was a dispute about dog walking, and a request for additional stop signs at intersections.
Both of those were denied.
And Jace was beginning to get nervous that the board wasn't in the mood to approve anything tonight.
Margo glanced up at him and smiled. She squeezed his hand. "It's gonna be alright."
He squeezed her hand in return. She had given him a list of buildings earlier that were two-story buildings along the water's edge, in case he needed the argument.
Quinn was here with him with the drawings, and the architect was supposed to be somewhere in the room.
He wasn't sure. But he was as armed as he could be to present the best case he could.
His agenda item was called, and he stepped before the board where the microphone was set up.
The president said, "Please introduce yourself."
He swallowed the big knot in his throat. "My name is Jace Marriott. I own Sarge's Sandbar on the beach. I've owned the bar for two years. Since that time, I've improved it in many ways. On the outside, there wasn't a lot I could do. I painted, repaired shutters and awnings, and created a deck out back to keep the sand out of the inside. Inside, I've upgraded the kitchen equipment. I've built a business. A beautiful business. We have a stage out back. We play live music on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights and Sunday afternoons. We showcase local musicians. We've had one police call the entire two years I've owned the bar. That was a year and a half ago when the biker gang rolled into town and tried to cause trouble. I run a respectable business. I only hire veterans. And with my friends Sid Hoffman and Quinn Kurtz, who are also businessmen in town, we run a support group at the Legion for veterans."
"Quinn, as you know, is building housing for our veterans, and as a group, we are supporting our veteran community. This request is not only to increase the size of my bar and restaurant by knocking down the thrift shop next door, which I've recently purchased. But also to expand out that way toward where the thrift shop is now so that I can increase the size of the restaurant and kitchen inside. I'd also like to put a second story on with a wraparound deck so diners can sit up on the deck and look out at the beautiful views our waterways offer. I've got the drawings from both Quinn Kurtz of Kurtz Construction and the architect. I believe you've all been given copies of that before I came in."
"In closing, I promise the bar will be an upstanding bar kept clean and in good repair. We serve great food. We draw a wonderful clientele, and we help our veterans. I can't think of anything that would be a detriment to Blossom Springs in this town that I've grown to love."
The president nodded at him, turned his head back and forth to look at the council members, and said, "Does anyone have questions for Mr. Marriott?"
A couple of the council members asked questions about the building and construction, and Quinn joined him up front to answer those questions.
The board looked at Jace. The president said, "We would like to go behind closed doors and discuss this. If you'll please excuse us for a moment. We'll be back shortly."
He tapped his gavel, and they all rose and walked to a back room.
He and Quinn took their seats with their friends.
Margo took his hands in hers. "You did great, Jace. You did beautiful."
"Thanks." He smiled at her and the nervousness that he felt from before dissipated. It just disappeared.
Quinn patted him on the back. He looked down at Sid who nodded. "Good job, bud."
And they waited. They chatted lightly to pass the time.
An older lady from the community turned to stare at them. He'd known her from previous meetings. She was usually complaining about something, and he wondered if she was about to give the board an earful about the sins of his business or something.
Her eyes dropped to his and Margo's hands, their fingers interlocked together. She sniffed. She was a pearl clutcher from way back.
To his surprise, Grace leaned forward and addressed the woman. "Isn't it nice they've found each other? Margo's dead husband was having an affair for seven years with some whore in Miami. Poor Margo has been through so much. But Jace here, ever the hero, has made her happy again. It's that lovely?"
Margo giggled under her breath and the old woman looked into his eyes for a moment, then at Margo. She sniffed again and turned around.
Margo leaned over and took Grace's hand and squeezed. She mouthed, "Thank you."
Grace simply winked in return.
The board finally entered the room. It seemed an interminable amount of time, but in truth, when he looked at his watch, it was only about fifteen minutes.
The board sat down, recalled the meeting to order with a tap of the gavel, and the president stated so. He looked directly at Jace and said, "Mr. Marriott, will you please stand in front here?"
Jace once again walked to the microphone before the board and waited. "The board as a whole has decided to grant your two-story request. The only other improvement we would like to see is a buffer of trees between your building and the fire department. Just to add some green space since you will be expanding the hard space. The hard space that you intend to add to the ground on the first level is a little bit more than I believe..." He looked at another board member. "What was it?"
One of the other board members nodded. "Fifteen square feet."
"Yes." The president finished. "Fifteen square feet more than the thrift shop property currently takes up, so to make up for that green space being lost, we would like trees planted at your expense to make up for that green space."
Jace nodded. "I'm happy to do that. Actually, I think it'll be beautiful, and it'll be a nice buffer between the buildings."
"Then Mr. Marriott, thank you for your contribution to Blossom Springs and this board has approved your request."
"Thank you." Jace turned, and the first set of eyes he sought were Margo's.
She smiled, stood, and met him halfway, with a big hug.
They quietly filtered out of the meeting as the president called the next issue to be discussed. And the second they were outside, his friends hugged and congratulated him, and his heart was full.