Chapter Nineteen
“It’s going to be such a relief to finally have the boutique open again,” Mom said, glancing at Ben.
“They’ve had those windows covered for the last month,” Ben answered gruffly, feeling grumpy for some strange reason. “I wonder what they’re doing in there?”
“I was allowed the opportunity to peek inside. The store is really going to be beautiful when they’re finished, Ben. More modern and unique. The place definitely needed remodeling. Rene never wanted to close the place long enough to do anything other than paint.”
“What’s the new owner like?” Ben asked distractedly. He was having a hard time readjusting to civilian life after opting out of the Air Force. But he’d only been out for a month, and everything seemed to be coming back to him quickly. The hardest task was training on some of the new and improved security features Dad had installed. He’d always been big on new technology, since there’d been numerous domestic terrorism threats in the past. The town had a large military population because of the wounded warrior home and retraining center, which seemed to leave them more vulnerable.
Ben had been working for AFOSI for the past few years which had allowed him to visit home regularly. But when he’d been offered a covert position with an elite domestic terrorism investigative unit, it had seemed like the perfect time to start training to take over the Dragonfly Pointe Inn. It was hard to believe that both Mom and Dad were in their sixties now. They planned to do a lot more traveling since Ben had returned home.
“Oh. I’m sure you’ll get along fine with the owner,” Mom said strangely. “She has her own line of clothing and has been doing a lot of modeling.”
“What’s going to happen with the other space that was purchased next door?”
“She’s remodeling it for either weekly or monthly fashion events and possibly filming videos. It should bring in a lot more business for the Inn, that’s for sure.”
Ben grunted, continuing to study something on his notepad.
Mom sighed. “Aren’t you going to eat your breakfast?”
Ben blinked, giving Mom a sheepish smile. “I can’t believe how much trouble I’m having getting back into management. It used to seem so easy. It was all routine.”
Mom smiled back. “I can’t believe you didn’t realize how much you were doing to help run the place back then. It took a while for Dad to be able to handle things on his own again. When you weren’t off playing basketball or football in high school or working out, you were always here at the Inn.”
“I’m sure glad that Lara’s going to own your grandparents’ house next door since we grew up there. She belongs there.”
“Now that she’s touring, we never see her anymore so if we continue to live there too, to have a place to come home to when we’re not traveling, someone will almost always be in residence to take care of the place. But she seems happy.”
“She does,” Ben admitted. “She’s a natural. Even more so than Eve, I think.”
“I agree. Eve never enjoyed performing as much as Lara does.” Mom hesitated. “I can’t wait to see the house that you bought. I’m glad you found a place so quickly. You need to be able to get away from this place occasionally because otherwise it will take over your life. Unless we left town, your Dad and I were always on call since we lived next door. It’s funny how I can’t seem to remember the place you bought.”
“Probably because it was run down and falling apart ten years ago. The couple that remodeled it did a fantastic job. The house is right on the lake, so it has fantastic views, kind of similar to our house next door but more open concept.”
“Why’d they move?” Mom asked.
“The wife’s mother was having health issues so they decided to move in with her down in Georgia rather than move her north where it would have been much harder on her health. But it never even went on the market since your realtor, Jack Wellman, knew that I was looking for a place and called me right away.”
When Mom made a point at staring at his breakfast, Ben laughed and finally started eating.