Hunks, Hammers, and Happily Ever Afters (25 page)

~*~

G
abe flung another rock into the ocean, skimming the flat stone it along the surface of the water. His arm was getting sore enough it was going to be a trick to lay the rest of the shingles.
I might as well finish that today. They’re the last supply that’s been paid for
.

He never would have believed in a million years that Mr. Will would do this to him. And to his own
flesh and blood
? It must be a mistake. But Marie had no reason to lie. He just couldn’t understand why she wouldn’t have told him, months ago. What had she been afraid he would do?

Fear pulled at his stomach, churning it and making him burp like he’d had spicy food. But the taste in his mouth was bitter, acrid.

Sophie was leaving. Why did that bother him more than losing the motel . . . or the guests having no home?
Because she walked into my life long before she stepped out of that limo.

Was he crazy to have fallen in love with a picture? He had to be, because he couldn’t seem to get her out of his mind. He picked up another rock from the stack he’d collected and heaved it across the waves.

“Impressive,” came a male voice from behind him. Gerard LeBeaux’s Cajun accent dropped off the first two letters, so all that came out was
Pressive
. “Flipping ‘em ‘cross the waves. Never done seen that afore.”

He really didn’t want company, but he was getting tired anyway, and it wasn’t like he could stop people from coming to the beach. “The harder you throw, the faster it skips. Want to try?” He turned, trying to be polite, while hoping he didn’t really want to stay.

The old man rubbed his shoulder. “Bursitis. Probably couldn’t pick’n up without droppin’ it.” Gabe nodded and tossed another stone.

“You heard the fight?” He presumed that’s why the old man had come down to talk to him.

“Twasn’t much of a fight, if’n that’s what’cha call it. But a’yup. I did.” He paused for a long moment and they both stared out at the ocean. The scent of the salt air seemed to soothe Gabe. “Ya seem a fool t’me, boy, carryin’ on when she’s just tryin’ to protect ya.”

He turned to look at the side of LeBeaux’s face, but the thick shock of gray hair blowing in the breeze covered all but one eye. If only he would have hair that full and luxurious when he was old. But all of the men in his family had smooth heads by the time they reached fifty. “Protect
me
? She said she couldn’t live without a salary . . . that she was leaving. How is that protecting me?”

Now LeBeaux stared at him, obviously incredulous. The wad of tobacco in his cheek pulled his lips into a sneer. “Ya got wax in ya ears, boy? T’aint what she said a’tal. Said she couldn’t bear to watch
you
starve. Didn’t say nuthin’ ‘bout herself. Said the two of you couldn’t live on one salary. All the words was ‘we’ and ‘us.’ T’wasn’t no
I
in there.” He paused for a moment and then shook his head and spat a brown wad of tobacco onto the sand.

He pointed a thin, bony finger and then tapped it against his chest.  “You listen to me, Gabriel Silva: Willy-boy owed ya
nuthin
. Ya ‘member that. He ain’t blood kin t’ya like Miz Sophie. But he gave ya half a
city block
a’land. So what if his kin got the other half? Ya got some nerve to whine.”

It wasn’t at all what Gabe had expected from the old man, who had been nothing but kind and gentle since he’d moved in. It stunned him into silence.

LeBeaux gave a short, curt nod. “That’s right. Ya think on that. Then ya get yer sorry ass back there an ‘pologize to that little girl. She’s in a tougher spot than ya are, but she’s bein’ the noble one. Pride’s an honorable thing, but there’s a time to swallow it back down, boy.” He turned on his heel and started to walk back toward the stairs to the roadway, his movements slow and painful as he leaned on his cane, his back bowed with each step. It must have taken a great deal of effort to make it all the way down here to the beach. Gabe heard him mutter under his breath before the whistling wind drowned it out.“Willy-boy, I loved ya like my own kin, but I’d punch your nose ya right now if ya weren’t already dead.”

Gabe stood there for a long moment, letting the wind and waves clear his head. He didn’t want to insult Mr. LeBeaux by offering to help, or beating him back to the motel.

But he was right. It was time for Gabe to swallow his pride.

When he got back to the hotel, he saw Sophie and Marie talking excitedly on the second floor landing. They were both smiling and pointing this way and that. It was such a different expression he’d seen Sophie have for a few days that it made him curious.

He took a deep breath and climbed the stairs toward them. When he got to within a few feet of them, Marie nudged Sophie. “Go on. Tell him.”

“Marie—” The tone was a warning one, as though she didn’t want to say whatever Marie wanted her to.

“
Sophie
,” the old woman responded, her voice like a mother who would put up with no more nonsense. “It’s half his motel too. Be the adult.”

She let out a slow breath, ready to speak. But Gabe raised his hand. “Please. Before you say anything, I want to apologize. I was told I acted the horse’s behind earlier. And it is true. I have not listened, and have not shared. That was wrong of me. Mr. Will put you in a bad place. I should not add to that. There is enough money for us to live. Frugally, yes. But I will share. We will not starve.”

Marie nudged Sophie in the ribs. “You see? I told you.” He didn’t know what that meant, but it made Sophie’s face soften.

“No. We won’t. Because I have the answer. I know how to fix the motel.”
Fix
? He felt the old, familiar pride well up and it apparently changed how he held himself.  She let out a sigh. “It’s broken, Gabe. Accept it. It’s not your fault, or mine. But it’s broken.”

I’d punch yer nose if ya weren’t already dead.
It was true. As much as he hated to admit it, there was no denying it. “Yes. I do accept it. But I cannot fix it if it means breaking the people here to do so.” He couldn’t. It wasn’t their fault, any more than it was Sophie’s. Or his.

Marie touched his arm. “Please, Gabe. Just listen. She really
does
have the answer. It’s one that Will would have liked.”

He looked from one to the other woman and then nodded. It was time to let go of the past. If she had a way to make this work, he would listen. “Please. Tell me.”

“There are ten units empty right now. Right?”

Gabe nodded. He wasn’t proud of that, but, “Yes. Correct.”

“If Marie moved to the unit on the other end of the second floor, that would mean all ten units would be together.” He nodded a second time. “My original idea for this motel was a high-end resort spa. There’s a great view of the ocean from the second floor, and they all have the potential to have balconies.”

His head started shaking before he even realized he was doing it. “No, the people here can’t afford that much money. Mr. Will lowered the prices specifically because—”

“Gabe,” Sophie said. “They’re
empty
units. I’m suggesting cutting the motel in half, figuratively. One half stays like it is. The second half gets renovated. With the oversized tubs, ocean view and the sauna, it’s perfect for a resort. It even has direct road frontage, and most of the parking is over there. We can make it a real
spa
.”

Marie joined in the conversation in an excited voice. “That little breakfast bar that nobody uses, Gabe? We make it a massage room. It’s the perfect size. Mrs. Hernandez’s daughter is a professional masseuse. We could bring her in a day or two a week, let her charge her own rates. If we don’t keep a cut at first, she could make good money. It would bring people back.”

The more he thought about it, the more he realized it could work. “We could paint the two halves different colors, and decorate the rooms differently.”

Sophie smiled. “And there are a
lot
of local people, residents who live nearby, who might like to have a place to get a massage or a lunch hour facial. Maybe even find a make-up or nail artist. I even thought of a new name and slogan.”

“Slogan?” They’d never had a slogan before. “What is it?”

Sophie held her arms and spoke the words as though they were written in lights above her head. “The Starlight Resort and Residence Suites. Pampering so decadent that you’ll never want to leave.” And in the residence half, they never do.”

It was brilliant. Completely brilliant. It also made him remember something. “We must go to your room. There was a drawing that Mr. Will had made long ago— of a new sign. It used the base we had now, but updated it. Come. I want to see that. I think it would work.” He started to pull the keys out of his pocket as he quickly walked that way, leaving Sophie and Marie to catch up.

“I was all through the room, Gabe, I don’t remember seeing anything like that.”

“You wouldn’t have,” he called back over his shoulder.  The jumble of emotions that was flowing through him right now had him giddy. From anger to fear, to shame and now excitement. It was hard to focus. But he needed to get the drawing. Opening the door to Sophie’s room, he barged into the room until he was kneeling in front of the old oak desk. “You didn’t look in the side drawer, did you?”

“Side—” Sophie paused and then slapped her forehead. “Oh. My. God! I completely forgot about that. I remember finding it as a kid. He would hide candy there for me to find when I visited.”

“He would put important things inside that he didn’t want to forget.” Gabe pressed inward on the left side of the knee well and a small door spring open. Inside was the bundle of papers that Mr. Will had shown him nearly a year ago. He spread it out on the bed. “You see? This would lower the height of the sign, but make it stand out more.”

Sophie wasn’t looking at the picture with he and Marie. She was staring at something in her hands. It must have come out of the drawer.  “The rainbow lady box. I can’t believe he still had this.”

Rainbow lady box
. “What is that?”

Sophie held it out for he and Marie to see. It was a black laquer wooden box with inlaid Japanese figures. The tiny women in long gowns looked like they were made from rainbows. The inlay must be of mother-of-pearl. They walked under blooming cherry trees, where the flowers were made of some sort of translucent pink stone.

Without hesitation, she pressed it against Marie’s chest and closed her hands over it. “
This
is the box. It has to be. He knew I would know the box as soon as I saw it. He wanted you to have it.”

Marie touched the smooth surface, her small fingers tracing along the edges of the figures. “It’s lovely.”

“What is inside?” He was terribly curious all of al sudden. He shouldn’t be. It was not his place to ask, but he couldn’t help himself.

Marie sat down on the foot of the bed and lifted up the top on smooth metal hinges. Inside were a stack of letters and photos, bound with pale purple ribbon and a sprig of some sort of dried purple flowers. She smiled and lifted the dried flower to her nose and inhaled. “Will picked this lilac bloom for me on our first date. He tucked it behind my ear. I thought it fell off when we were walking. He must have gone back to get it.

She ran a finger across the stack of letters. “All of the cards I gave him. Birthday, Christmas, a silly get-well card when he got the flu.” She picked up the stack and put it to the side. Underneath was a small, ornate blue box, made of velvet with gold edges. A single slender piece of paper was wrapped around the box and held on with a rubber band. “Oh. What could this be?”

Pulling off the band, she opened the page. It was written in Mr. Will’s hand and had multiple scratch-outs and rewritings, down the margins and on the back. Marie handed it to him. “I don’t have my reading glasses with me. Would you read it?”

He nodded, happy to be able to know what Mr. Will wanted to say to her. He cleared his throat and felt suddenly nervous, as though it was him saying the words, not Mr. Will. It was hard to follow the arrows and scratched out areas. “My dearest Marie. Has it already been two years? They’re the happiest I’ve had since Lindy died. I want them to continue for as long as we have. Please, do me the honor of wearing this for me. You deserve more, but I know you wouldn’t take more, even if I gave it. But know every day you have it on that you have all of my heart. Please say yes. Will”

She was petting the box, her fingers trembling. When she opened it, Gabe caught his breath. The ring was a riot of diamonds and rubies. It looked like a fireworks burst had been frozen in mid-air. She pulled it gently out of the box and whispered, “Oh, Will. You silly man. How could I say no to you?”

But her fingers were trembling too much to put it on her finger. Sophie took the ring from her hand. Marie held out her right hand, but Sophie lifted her left and put it on the ring finger. “That’s where he wanted it to go, Marie.”

The old woman nodded, tears rolling down her face. “Yes, I suppose he did.” She paused and then took Sophie’s hand in one of hers, and Gabe’s with the other. “He also wanted you two to meet and build this place into something wonderful. If you haven’t already figured it out, he salted the mine a little. You each had pictures of the other. That was intentional. He knew . . . somehow he
knew
that you were meant for each other. He told me so, that he saw it through the camera lens. So he gave the Starlight to you to meet, and share and find each other.”

Sophie looked at him, and she also had tears tracing down her face. He wanted to touch them, dry them away. But he knew they weren’t tears of sadness, but of happiness. “Have we?” she asked.

“Mr. Will saw things with his camera that nobody else could. That one photo of you captured me long before you came here. You deserve so much more than a simple man like me. But I will promise to try to make you happy for as long as you want to stay here.”

She smiled and it went all the way up to her eyes, shining through the tears. “I’ve never wanted anything fancy. I’ve always liked simple things. Simple makes me happy. We both build things. It’s what we do. It makes us happy. Between the two of us, I think we can build it up, make a go of this.”