Last Chance Harbor (34 page)

“Leave it to a guy. It looks good anyway. My omelets never look like they do in magazines. That’s why I usually serve eggs up scrambled.””

Ryder came in the back door and after washing up, he reached over to plant a kiss on Julianne’s forehead. When Zach handed him a beer from the six-pack he’d brought, he twisted off the cap, leaned back on the counter. “Smells good in here.”

Once the cornbread came out of the oven, the five of them gathered around the table, eager for the food.

“Looked over the proposal, looks fine to me,” Troy muttered in between bites. “What about you Zach?”

“I like the way you laid out the responsibilities of each of us.”

“Nick may ask how you know this Jacob Hettinger. Are you willing to tell him?” Ryder asked.

“Other than the fact the multimillionaire owes me a huge favor? Not a problem.”

“What about a name for the business?” Bree asked.

“No point in doing that until we take the first step,” Ryder said in between scooping up macaroni.

“Yeah, we should make sure we get the go-ahead before getting too excited about all this.”

“I still don’t see how the bank will loan us money,” Zach said cutting into his eggs.

Bree sent a glare in the direction of her brother. “Do you think you could can the negativity for five minutes? Just once try a little positive thinking instead of that dour, sour face.”

Zach nodded and buttered his cornbread. “Sure, I can try. We’ll see if it does any good.”

M
onday morning Ryder, Zach and Troy stationed themselves outside the First Bank of Pelican Pointe before it opened. They’d told Logan about their plan and the boss had given them the time off along with a much-appreciated thumbs-up.

When Ryder spotted Nick’s car pulling in, he readied for the meeting they’d both dreaded and prepped for.

“Hey guys, good to see you.” But then Nick noticed that all three men were sporting matching white shirts. The only difference in their attire was the varying fade of their jeans and a different shade of brown work boots.

“I hope you’ll feel that way when you hear our crazy idea,” Ryder stated.

“What’s up?”

Zach and Troy let Ryder do the talking. “Remember at the party for Julianne when you encouraged locals to apply for business loans. The three of us are here to do that. Zach and Troy grew up here. I’m the outsider but one who decided to make this place home, put down roots and see them grow.” He went on to explain about building boats.

“Okay, let’s go into my office.”

Before they all sat down, Ryder handed Nick the proposal.

Ryder watched Nick look it over, flip through the pages—a little too quickly to suit Ryder. After a short five minutes of perusing what had taken him days to put together, Ryder feared that was the end of that. That’s why Nick’s speech took him by surprise.

“When I took over this job, the bank was in deep trouble. Not only had the previous president, Milton Carr, pretty much run it into the ground by showing favoritism to certain depositors in town, he mismanaged funds to do it. He wouldn’t extend loans to anyone with potential. In fact, he discouraged taking applications. Even after Carr resigned, for six long weeks, we had the feds crawling up our ass. It was an embarrassment to the hardworking people who make up this town—the ones who had a dream, who busted their tails to keep it from turning into a ghost town.

“Having the feds here was awkward and a humiliating experience. Something I never want to see happen again in my lifetime for obvious reasons. Not only did Carr bring shame to the town, but he refused to keep up with technology. The bank lagged behind in how it did business every day. I tell you all this because after skimming your proposal, my initial reaction is positive. So relax. But I wouldn’t be serving the depositors if I didn’t ask a series of pertinent questions.”

“Okay, shoot,” Ryder said, his dread beginning to ease up.

“First, do you three actually know each other well enough, get along well enough, trust each other enough, to go into business together, share bills, headaches, lean times. Because it’s almost like a three-way marriage which is tough enough with two headstrong people let alone three. Each of you has to be willing to accept each other’s imperfections, as well as recognize your individual strengths and build on them.”

Ryder nodded. “We’ve only really gotten to know each other over the last three months. I admit there might be some things we still need to iron out. But we all share the same work ethic and the same approach to putting out a quality product.”

“I echo that,” Troy said.

“Okay then. I need to know what unique talent each of you brings to the partnership?”

Zach took this one. “Ryder prepared the business plan. As you well know from his work at the farm, he has the know-how to use the computer and the software to keep the books, pay the bills electronically, that sort of thing. And Troy and I can certainly learn. If we have to, we’ll take a course to get up to speed in the tech arena so it all doesn’t fall on Ryder’s shoulders down the road. Add to that, we all three have above-average carpentry skills. Ask Logan and he’ll tell you the same. We plan to all three share in the physical labor. All three of us plan to work on the boat design. To do that we’ll probably have to take a class to get more familiar with the software program they use for drawing up models.”

“And if it’s a requirement to getting the loan, we’ll seek out an advisor, someone who has experience in the industry. There’s a guy up in the Pacific Northwest who mentors the younger generation,” Ryder added. “We’re more than willing to pay him as a consultant.”

Satisfied with their answers, Nick said, “I don’t know anything about boatbuilding, but I guarantee I know a few high-rollers who’d love nothing more than to own a watercraft, one custom made, especially for them.”

“Really?” Troy said.

“Los Angeles. My old stomping ground where there’s a lot of money, egos and people who’ll pay for the privilege of made-to-order…anything.”

“Does that mean…we get the loan?” Troy asked.

“Come back and see me in forty-eight hours. I want you three to do a bit of soul-searching among yourselves during that time. I need to know you’re committed and willing to not kill each other at the first crisis that comes up. And believe me, I guarantee a crisis of some sort. There always is.”

“You and Jordan deal with a crisis at the inn?” Zach asked in disbelief. “But I’ve been told you make it all look so easy.”

Nick grinned. “We both try. That’s where a professional approach comes in handy along with a willingness to roll. Almost weekly there’s something that goes south or not as planned or not scheduled. Of course, we have kids, which is another potential for disaster altogether.”

Nick leaned over the desk, linked his fingers. “The point to the forty-eight hours is a cooling off period. If, after you’ve had time to find out things you don’t like about each other, things you won’t be able to overcome, like personality traits that just piss you off about the other. If, after all that, you decide to back out, then we’ll revisit the plan or chunk it altogether. How does that sound?”

Ryder looked at Zach, then at Troy. The three men exchanged long stares before Ryder finally said, “If those are the terms, we’ll take it.”

“See you in two days,” Troy said with confidence.

As soon as they got outside on the sidewalk, Zach admitted, “That wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Mind telling me what exactly a three-way marriage is though? Come to think of it that might be a good enough reason to tie the knot.”

Ryder laughed. “I was wondering that myself. Maybe we should consider this partnership more like forming a band of blood brothers. I always wanted one.”

“Never had a brother before,” Zach said. “Might be interesting.”

“Me either,” Troy repeated. “If we take Nick’s advice how exactly do we find out if we can’t stand each other until we’re up against the wall?”

“That’s easy,” said Ryder. “Lock ourselves in a house for two days and see if we kill each other.”

“But we have to head back to work.”

“Figuratively, not literally,” Ryder stated. “I propose we go home tonight and make a list. In one column we put every single thing we don’t like about each other. Don’t leave anything out. Write out the stuff that drives us crazy. Be brutally honest. Then, in the other column we jot down what we like. We meet tomorrow at work and go over the list. Bang out any problems.”

“I can do that,” Troy said.

“Come clean about it all?” Zach mused. “Sure. I just hope we’re still speaking to each other afterward.”

That afternoon Julianne
couldn’t wait to find out how it had gone at the bank. Under dark overcast skies, she left school and turned the car toward Pelican Pointe. Even though she could’ve just called him for the update, she wanted an excuse to see him, to catch a little alone time with him. She told herself if it hadn’t gone well with Nick, then he’d need cheering up.

Traffic was heavy even for Monday drive time. Halfway there, she started to fret that there had to be a reason she hadn’t heard from him. He hadn’t called. But then she’d been in class all day. He hadn’t bothered leaving her a text though. How long did it take a person to key in a text?

Indecisive about making the trip, she talked herself into using the book about boats as an excuse, which was just plain obvious. Any reasonable sort could figure out you didn’t drive all the way from Santa Cruz to give someone a book.

It didn’t matter. The whole thing was rather tricky because if Nick said no to the venture, Ryder couldn’t put the know-how in the manual to good use anyway.

By the time she pulled into the farm it was five-thirty and she’d worked herself into a serious doubt-fest. She didn’t see Ryder’s truck anywhere so she got out of the minibus to wait on the porch. She grabbed the book Hayden had wrapped in pretty blue foil and headed to the house.

Thunder rumbled overhead so close it shook the ground. Glancing up at the clouds it looked as though the dark billowing masses were moving way too fast for them to hang around for long.

She didn’t feel like waiting on the porch so she decided to wander around the property. Leaving the book on the welcome mat in front of the door, she wasn’t sure which way to go. She’d seen the barn but she’d never checked out the rows of vegetables and the grove of fruit trees. If she intended to bring her students out here on a field trip, she needed to familiarize herself with the layout.

Before the rain hit, she crossed to the growing area, marveled at the height of the plants and waved to a couple workers who were diligently tending the crops. She’d have to remember to ask Ryder how they were able to grow such hardy kale.

She’d reached the orchard when she spotted Ryder’s truck hauling down the lane at a fast clip headed toward the house. She tried to wave him down but he blew by leaving a trail of dust.

Ryder saw the minibus before he came to a stop near the porch. He got out, caught sight of the pretty package by the door, wondered about it and then looked around for Julianne. She was nowhere in sight.

About that time the sky burst open and the rain poured down. Instead of darting into the house or the barn, which would have made more sense, he took off in search of Julianne.