Last Chance Motel 1 (Last Chance Romance Series) (6 page)

Eva thought Jenny’s talk about hurricanes a little odd. She wondered if she should mention it to Mike. It was obvious that Jenny was terrified of hurricanes.

Eva pulled into the driveway of the Last Chance Motel and saw Mike working on the pool. She drove the jeep to where he was working.

Jenny grabbed the food and jumped out.

“Be careful, Jenny. Better let me help,” cautioned Eva.

“Dad, we got you some soup. It’s got lots of hamburger in it. And a really big salad. I got a strawberry milkshake and a cheeseburger.”

“I can see that,” grinned Mike. He pointed to a makeshift table he had made from scraps. It was actually very beautiful. The table had a dreamy quality about it as Mike had carved mermaids and sea creatures into the wood. It was complete as far as Eva was concerned. A raw primitive. All it really needed was shellac to protect it. People in New York would pay a lot of money for a table like this.

Eva and Jenny laid the food out on the table. Several pelicans roosting on the rooftops moved closer, flapping their wings.

Jenny yelled at them. “Get your own food. This is ours!”

“Jenny, go wash your hands,” ordered Mike. “They’re filthy.”

Jenny looked dubiously at the pelicans now on the ground and inching their way closer to the table.

“I won’t let them get your cheeseburger. Hurry up now,” Mike reassured.

“She doesn’t like animals?” asked Eva, watching Jenny turn on a hose and rinse her hands.

“I’ve been meaning to get a kitten for her but that would just make more work for my mother. We live with her and I feel we are too much of a burden as it is.”

“Does your mother say that?”

“She denies it. She says she loves having us in the house, but Mom is getting older and I think Jenny is getting to be too much for her.” Mike rubbed a thumb under his chin. “With my long hours though, I don’t have much of a choice.”

“Jenny was getting on me for not having a car. She was talking about getting out while there was still time when the hurricanes come.”

Mike’s face drained of color.

Eva became alarmed. “Did I say something wrong?”

“I’ll tell you later,” warned Mike, watching Jenny skip back to the table.

Concerned that she had stumbled onto a painful subject, Eva followed Mike’s lead and didn’t mention cars or hurricanes the rest of the day.

After lunch, Mike took Jenny home, giving Eva time for a much needed nap. She awoke to the sound of hammering. Looking at the clock, she found she had been asleep for several hours. She hurriedly combed her hair and washed her face before stepping out into the bright sun.

She found Mike working again on the pool. “How’s it coming?” she asked, leaning over into the basin.

“I can replace the popped-out tiles. No problem. But we have to wait until all the water is drained to see if there is a crack at the bottom. All the pipes in the pool house look okay but I think the pump needs to be upgraded.”

“How much will that cost?”

“I’ll have to go into Homestead and see. I don’t think it will be ridiculous though. All in all this pool was built to last. Nothing cheap about it.” He looked at the chain-link fence surrounding it. “I think the fence just needs a little paint to hide the rust. We don’t need to replace it.”

“That’s good news.” She thought for a moment. “Mike, you should have told me that you were in the hospital instead of letting me think you were irresponsible.”

“Jenny?”

“Yes.”

“I just don’t like people to know.”

“That’s stupid. Half the country has diabetes. It’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

“People can be funny. I’m trying to save money for Jenny and me. I can’t take chances anymore.”

Eva thought the last statement was strange. “Can you tell me what happened to Jenny’s mother?”

Mike looked at Eva with a pained expression. “It was two years ago. I was working on a housing development in Sarasota. A hurricane came through the Keys. Unless the hurricane is graded three or more, most people in the Keys stay put, but the storm was worse than predicted. Beth, that’s Jenny’s mom, decided to leave. I was to meet them in Orlando at my aunt’s house.

“As they passed Pennekamp Park, witnesses say a freak wave swept over the highway and took Beth’s car with it. The car flipped over and submerged into water. People stopped and tried to help, but the rain and the wind made it difficult to get to the car. They could only get Jenny out in time.”

Mike looked out to the ocean. “I feel like it’s my fault. I should have told Beth to leave earlier, but neither one of us took the storm seriously. Storms come through here all the time. Usually they are nothing to worry about, but this time we were wrong.”

“That explains why Jenny wants me to get a car.”

“She’s worried that you might get caught in a storm and not get out of Key Largo.”

“I see.” Eva reached over and squeezed Mike’s hand. “I’m so sorry. I was feeling so unhappy for myself and then I hear something like your story . . . well, it makes me feel ashamed.”

“What
is
your story?” asked Mike, realizing that he liked Eva touching him.

“The long and short of it is that my marriage went south and then so did I.”

Mike gave her an inquisitive look. “There’s got to be more.”

“It’s such a cliché. My husband left me for a younger woman. There! See. Pathetic, isn’t it?”

“She must be a stunner then because you’re pretty hot yourself,” he blurted out. “Oh jeez. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.” Mike backed away. “I’m going to get started on demo before I stick my foot in my mouth again.”

Before Eva could respond, Mike hurried into a bungalow. Surprised, Eva looked down at her too tight clothing. Was Mike just massaging her ego to keep his job or was he telling the truth? She didn’t see how any man could think she was attractive. She certainly didn’t feel pretty.

The truth was that Eva needed to lose some serious weight. She was also sunburned and peeling plus she could braid the hair on her legs, as she hadn’t shaved since she arrived. But still Mike had confessed she was hot. Eva didn’t mind being called hot. She didn’t mind at all.

T
he next day Mike caught Eva shooing a large iguana out of her bungalow.

“Where did he come from?” asked Mike, amused at Eva’s frustration.

“I don’t know but he keeps following me.”

“He might be someone’s pet,” Mike suggested, watching Eva throw some old bread to the iguana, which caught it in mid-air. “That may be why he’s following you. You’re feeding him.”

“He looked hungry.”

“If you’re going to do that, put a bell around his neck and keep him as a mascot.”

“I’m afraid he’ll get on the highway and get run over.”

“He looks pretty happy here. I don’t think he’ll be moving soon.”

“Why are you here? Today is Saturday. Your day off.”

Mike looked hopefully at Eva. “Mom took Jenny shopping for some summer clothes and I didn’t have anything to do.”

“How about sleep?”

“I thought . . . if you were free . . . we’d go north. I could get a new pump for the pool. That would save me some time and we stop off and look for a car for you. Have any car type in mind?”

“You would go with me to look for a car?”

“Sure. I know lots about cars.”

“That’s great, because I don’t. People in New York don’t own cars unless they’re millionaires. I haven’t a clue what to get. That’s why I’ve been putting it off.”

“Are you going to need a passenger van?”

“I thought about that but I decided against carting tourists around. They are going to have to have their own vehicles.”

“Still you will need to carry things for the motel. And I would like to see you in a vehicle that has some height on it. It floods around here and the higher your car is the better it is to get around at times.”

“Let me get my things and we can go.”

“Great.”

Eva ran to get her purse and then followed Mike through the gate. She locked it and was surprised when Mike jumped out of his jeep to open the car door for her.

“Thank you,” she murmured.

“No problem,” he grinned.

After he got back in the car and turned on Highway 1, Eva asked, “How old are you?”

“That’s a funny question to ask. I’m forty-two. How old are you?”

“I turned forty this year, but this place makes me young. I feel so rejuvenated. It must be the sea air.”

“I know what you mean. I feel like a teenager and then I make the mistake of looking in a mirror. Oh, boy is that a surprise.”

Eva laughed.

“I like it when you laugh. It’s not that often I see you light up. You’re always so serious. Divorce must have been hard, huh?”

“I thought my world had ended. My husband was everything to me.”

“He sounds like a jerk.”

“Actually, he’s a very nice man. He just fell out of love. Happens all the time.”

“Wow. I’ve never heard anybody speak so highly of an ex.”

“As I said, he’s a nice man and I hope never to see the son-of-a-bitch again.”

“Thatta girl.”

Eva laughed again. In fact she laughed a lot that day with Mike and realized she hadn’t had such fun in a very, very long time.

They got a pump in Homestead and then traveled to southern Miami where used car dealerships were plentiful.

Eva was excited about purchasing a car. She hadn’t owned one since her college days.

At the second dealership, she test-drove a used pick-up truck and decided she really liked it.

Mike checked out the engine and took it out for a spin, giving her the thumbs-up when he returned.

After an hour of dickering with the salesman, Eva wrote a check, got the keys, and followed Mike home driving her new truck. Eva was ecstatic and felt really independent.

It seemed everything about her new life was falling into place.

T
ired of working on the website for the motel, Eva went over her checklist.

•    Landscaping and outside lighting done

•    Pool repaired and ready to go

•    Pathways and parking areas ready

•    Boat dock rebuilt

•    Flamingo sign repaired and hung

•    Web PR and brochures done

•    Business permits and tax numbers acquired

•    Insurance paid

•    Kitchenettes upgraded

•    Pest control done

Now the next month could be spent on restoring the bungalows to their former glory. Unfortunately, repairing the two bungalows closest to the water was not cost-effective and they would have to be torn down.

Eva would use their concrete pads for games until she saved enough money to rebuild the bungalows. All in all, things were going well. Her estimates were holding so far. With good weather and luck, she would come in under budget.

And also due to Mike.

He had done a wonderful job keeping costs down. She knew from experience how general contractors, not keeping their eye on the bottom line, could cause costs to soar.

As Mike’s other job had finished, he now arrived at seven each morning and worked almost non-stop until five.

Knowing that he had a tendency to forget to eat, Eva made sure he had snacks during the day, complete with a lunch with lots of protein.

Eva looked forward to hearing his jeep pull up next to the office. Each morning she would have a treat ready for him like an egg sandwich or slices of country ham–food consisting of protein. She was sure it helped keep his sugar from spiking even if it didn’t help his cholesterol.

She could tell that Mike enjoyed their little breakfasts together while going over the day’s list as well. Eva began to wonder if Mike might like her more than just as a friend and boss. It was improper to say anything now, but once the restoration was over, maybe she should say something to Mike . . . or even ask him out.

Regretfully, Eva pushed that thought from her mind. Who was she kidding? When Eva looked in the mirror, she knew she was no prize catch. Her best years were over. Besides, she didn’t need to get tangled up with a man at this point of her life. She had been there, done that. She may have to face the fact that the romantic part of her life was over.

Still, her heart raced when she heard Mike’s jeep.

Maybe that was all there was going to be.

A racing heart on her part.

E
va, Mike, and Juan decided to take a break after the third bathroom they had “demo’d” that day and it wasn’t even eleven yet.

Juan brought his teenage sons to carry out the debris while the Demo Trio, as Mike, Eva, and Juan called themselves, ripped out medicine cabinets, chipped sinks, corroded tubs, leaking toilets, and wall tiles. All bathrooms were to be given a complete makeover.

The Demo Trio worked like a well-oiled machine. Eva tackled the tile while Mike and Juan tended to the heavier items.

So far only one floor was so weak that they had to rip out the entire sub-flooring. Otherwise, the construction was tight.

Eva loved the look of the old bathrooms, but they were just impractical with current bathing practices. Most people today showered rather than bathed. Only three of the bungalows would have deep soaking tubs installed. Eva knew what today’s hip young people wanted in a bathroom.

Marble subway tiles with a water motif would be used for the walk-in showers. Marble would also be used for the sink counters as well as the backsplashes. Marble stone was a classic and could endure much abuse over the years.

The floors were to be a black and white tile pattern popular in the forties. All bathrooms were to have handicapped railings and bars installed. Also a special pulley would be installed in each bathroom that a guest could pull if they fell. A bell would sound in the office, notifying the staff.

Eva was very pleased with her design. The bathrooms would be new and slick, but with the bygone era look of the ’40s. And buying all the materials in bulk kept down costs.

After the demo was complete, then the plumbers and the electricians would do their thing. That’s where the heavy costs might arise.

They worked steadily throughout the day until Eva brought the workday to an end, telling everyone to go home at four. She was exhausted and knew they must be too.