Finding Pride (Pride Series) (8 page)

Lacey smiled, “I know that Iian was more part of it then anyone. I think they had come up with a business plan. I’m sure there are print outs and spread sheets somewhere in the office.” Lacey scooped up the last bit of a yellow cake.

“I always liked the idea. The cabins are a perfect setting for a romantic getaway or a family fun weekend. They’re very close to the beach which is a great bonus for bringing people in. Pride is the kind of place people love to visit. Currently, the only place to stay is the Motel 8. Which is seven miles out of town and always full of truckers. Not a very nice place for vacationers.” Setting the plate aside she scooted closer. “Just what are your plans Megan?”

“I, well, I really hadn’t given it much thought. I had planned on coming out here to stay with Matt until I was back on my feet. Maybe even find a job in Portland. That was before this,” she lifted her arm unknowingly, “But, I didn’t want to burden Matt. I didn’t want to upset him. He always did so much for me, I couldn’t let him down like that. But, before I could heal and get here…”

“Megan,” Lacey said waiting until her friend looked her in the eyes. “Nothing you could have ever done would have made your brother think differently about you. He always was proud of you and I believe even now he would be proud of you.” Lacey could see the tears in her friends eyes and walked over and gave her a hug.

“I think we need some of my melted ice cream to wash this cake down,” she said. With these words they both knew that she was going to stay in Pride.

When the sun finally made an appearance a few days later, she decided to walk over and take another look at the cabins. Taking a pad of paper and pencil with her this time to jot down some notes.

Focusing this time on taking notes, she noticed every detail that needed to be done. There were really only two cabins that still needed a bit of work. Some of it, she thought she could do herself if she didn’t have a large cast on her arm. She had painted rooms before and always found it relaxing to do so.

She would need to hire a contractor to look at the electric and plumbing to make sure everything was up to date, something she knew nothing about. Someone to help paint and do the floors since she was limited not only in her knowledge, but her mobility. She had taken notes for each cabin, this was hard since she was right handed, but she had scribbled as best she could using her left hand.

She was standing on the porch of the largest of the cabins, which had a wonderful view of the beach. Turning, she headed down to the surf.

She enjoyed the short walk to the beach on a path that had been cut out of the tall grass. The beach itself was beautiful; it was not only private, but would make a nice place for visitors to enjoy. Even on cold days, its charm outweighed the chill. She walked up and down enjoying the quiet and the fresh air.

She was humming a happy tune several hours later when she walked back to her front porch and saw Iian sitting in one of the wicker chairs smiling back at her.

“Hi,” she said and sat down next to him, turning her body, so that he could easily read her lips.

“
Visiting the cabins?” he asked, when she nodded he continued. “What did you think?”

“Oh, they are quite lovely. I think you and Matt were right. They would be perfect to rent out, just a little work.” She handed him her list. He chuckled at her writing but read over it. As he looked down at the paper she noticed how strong his profile was. He was quite different from his brother; not only in looks, but in the fact that she felt very comfortable around him. When Todd was around her, she was full of butterflies.

When he was done reading the list, he looked up at her, “I’m very impressed. Matt and I had come up with almost the same list, come, I’ll show you.” He stood and held out his hand for hers to help her up from the chair. She hesitated for a second, then easily put her hand in his larger one, then walked into the house. Iian went into the office and pulled out a file from the cabinet that sat on the left side of the desk.

Then he sat the file on the desk and motioned for her to sit. She sat in the soft leather chair and pulled open the file. Matt had done his homework alright, down to the contractor’s bids for work and the color of the walls. He even went to the lengths of having furniture picked out and ordered for each cabin. There were receipts in the file all labeled for the work done on the smaller three cabins that were almost completed. Holding the receipts, she looked up at Iian.

He smiled and said “The furnishings are already at the warehouse, ready to be delivered when the work is done. Matt, Todd and myself had been doing a lot of the work ourselves, but here is the list of contractors we used for the rest.” He pointing to a bid and said, “I’m sure he would be happy to add more work to this. As for the landscaping, well, there’s a place outside of town.” He trailed off.

“Oh, I could do that easily, I just love working with…” Megan trailed off, she realized she wasn’t facing him and there was no way Iian would be able to read her lips. She blushed and turned back to him and repeated her statement continuing with, “plants, I have quite the green thumb. I have some really good ideas too. Of course, I would have to get familiar with what kinds of plants are best for around here.”

He smiled one of those quick, heart stopping smiles, “Pretty much anything grows that you put in the ground. Matt said you were good with making things grow; I kind of figured you would want to take care of that part. You know,” he said walking over and sitting on the couch, “Since the cabins aren’t equipped with full kitchens, you could provide meals here in the main house. How are you with cooking?” he asked.

“Hmm,” Megan said frowning down at the paper. How could she tell someone, that she couldn’t even fry an egg without fire departments in two counties standing by? “Well,” she said looking back at him. “Not so good.”

“That’s okay,” he jumped in, “Lacey and I can help in that department. We’d talked about making it a joint venture as far as the meals go.”

“How so?” she asked leaning forward.

“
Well, The Golden Oar would provide the breakfast, lunches, sandwiches, soups other items along those lines.” He waved his hands about.

“We could provide special discount rates to your customers for dinners. Of course this could all be worked out later, but Matt had come up with the idea about helping each other out. You see, we would have advertisements on the back of our menus for your cabins, and the extra customers coming in for the discounts, would help the restaurant out.”

“That sounds like a great plan,” she said beginning to see the smart business plan her brother had put into motion.

“Have you given any thought to what you might want to call it?” he asked.

“Did Matt?” she asked with a smile.

He smiled back. Standing up. He walked back to the file cabinet. Pulling out a large folder, he set in on the desk in front of her.

Megan slowly opened it and blinked in surprise. There in front of her was an artist rendering of herself and Matt, smiling in front of one of the cabins with the ocean behind them. Pride Bed and Breakfast was printed across the top. It was a very well done sketch of the two of them, taken from a picture before Megan had married. It brought tears to her eyes seeing that Matt had thought of her and made her a part of this.

Megan remembered one of the last conversations with her brother, no wonder he’d been so insistent on her coming out here to visit him. He had planned all along on her being a part of this.

She, however, had been going through her own private hell. Not to mention the guilt, that had caused her to keep putting off the visit. Guilt sank in and she kept her eyes focused on the paper.

“He had hoped that you would move out here to be closer to him.” Iian said leaning over her shoulder and looking down at the picture of his friend. “He loved you very much, he would have done anything for you. You know we viewed your brother as part of our family. Since, he never stopped talking about you, we view you as part of the family as well.”

“Thank you,” Megan said shaking her head and wiping her tears, then she smiled back up at him, “I think I would rather enjoy having you as a-”. She didn’t get any further. Iian had stopped looking at her and glanced up towards the door. Megan turned her head to see what had taken his attention away.

Todd stood just inside the doorway, his fists were balled by his sides. He had a fierce look on his face and was staring at his brother like he wanted to tear him apart. Todd quickly signed in jerked motions to his brother. Megan was starting to shake and feel uncomfortable around the display of anger. Iian signed something back to Todd and his whole attitude changed. He shoved his fists in his jean pockets and walked back out the door without another word. Megan could hear him pacing on the front porch.

“I’m sorry, what was that all about?” Megan asked looking back up at Iian.

“He thinks I was the cause for your tears,” he said. Then he put a hand lightly on her shoulder, which caused her to wince a little. The bruises had started to fade, but the muscles would take a while still to feel better. Iian noticed and removed his hand as if he had burned her, and quickly looked away. “He wants to talk to you. I must be going; maybe you will stop by the restaurant for dinner tonight? We could continue our conversation.” He asked, looking back at her for an answer.

“That sounds great.” Megan said.

“Good, I’ll see you tonight then.” He leaned over and placed a small kiss on her cheek. Megan really did like Iian and his laid back ways, she was starting to feel more comfortable around him every time she saw him. Todd, on the other hand, made her feel like a bundle of nerves. She didn’t know what to think about the anger she had seen in his face, she felt comforted that he cared about her, but could have done without seeing the anger.

When Iian left the room, she started to look through some of the advertising ideas that they had come up with. She didn’t hear Todd come back into the room, but instantly knew when he stood in the door way. Her stomach did this little nervous jump, and her skin tingled. She looked up slowly and stared into those silvery eyes.

“I’m sorry about barging in, the front door was open, and well – I suppose I’m used to coming and going around here,” he said with a shrug as he walked over and sat on the couch.

“That’s alright. I don’t mind. I’m actually enjoying feeling like part of your family. Everyone has made me feel very welcomed. Your brother said you needed to speak with me.”

“Yes, well – how are you adjusting?” he said, looking a little uncomfortable. “I hope my brother doesn’t bother you too much.”

“
No, not at all, we were just discussing business. I think I’ve decided to following through with Matt’s plans for the Bed and Breakfast.”

“That’s why I came to talk to you. As you may know, your brother and I were business partners. I usually took care of all his legal aspects of the business, and well, to be honest Matt trusted me to take care of this part as well,” he said and pickup up the file he had tossed on the couch beside him. “This is a copy of your brother’s will,” he said walking over and setting it on the desk over the file that Meg had been looking at. “I know you have already talked to Matt’s lawyer, but I just wanted to deliver these other papers directly to you.”

Megan slowly opened it. At first glance it seemed very confusing.

“It looks very confusing, but it actually is pretty simple.” Todd said moving behind her. “You know that your brother named you successor of all his assets, well, it’s the stock he had in our business I wanted to talk to you about.”

She knew by the meeting with Matt’s lawyer a few days earlier, that there was about twenty acres that came with the house and five cabins and other buildings. The cars, well, just the old jeep was left after the accident, but it was paid for. The lawyer said that the auto insurance company was going to be cutting a check for the Porsche. Then there was the stocks he had in Jordan Shipping as well as other holdings. There was also a property in France somewhere. It had been too much for her to take in the day she had met with the lawyer.

Megan herself had quite a bit of money left over from the inheritance her parents had left her. Thank goodness Derek had never known about it, in truth, she had never touched it since it had been released to her when she had come of age. She had assumed she would’ve had to pull money from it to help pay her way until she could find a job.