Summer at the Shore (Seashell Bay Book 2) (18 page)

Morgan didn’t look surprised though. She’d known exactly what was coming, which he should have picked up on by the way she’d been hedging on his earlier questions about the insurance.

At least the adjuster had authorized a restoration service. Ryan had already lined up the company his dad had recommended. They were set to begin work that afternoon once he gave them the go-ahead.

“I have the list of contents your father submitted to us last year,” Delaney continued. “If you could take a look at it right away and update it with any additions or deletions, it would speed the process along.”

“My sister and I will work on it this afternoon,” Morgan said.

“Good, because I need you to sign off on a final version before I can finish calculating the depreciated values and approve the claim.”

Morgan nodded, her blue eyes shadowed with exhaustion. “I understand.”

“If you’re ready, we could meet at my office tomorrow and go over the list. I’ll do some preliminary calculations this afternoon so, if there aren’t too many changes, I expect we could finalize that part of the claim and issue you a check as soon as you confirm the damage with photos.”

“That sounds good,” she said, forcing a smile. It practically broke Ryan’s heart to see her struggling to hold it together.

Delaney checked his cell phone calendar. “Ten o’clock, then. I’ll look forward to seeing you.” He gave her a big smile and a nod and started to walk away.

“Don’t you want me to drive you back to the ferry?” Morgan said.

“No, thanks. It’s a beautiful day. I love coming to Seashell Bay. It’s a little corner of paradise if you ask me.”

Morgan’s blank look suggested that Seashell Bay was the opposite of paradise for her, right about now.

After the adjuster disappeared down Island Road, Ryan wrapped his arms around Morgan and gave her a quick hug. “Now I get why you didn’t want to talk about the insurance policy.”

She pulled away and sighed as she leaned against the truck. She wore jeans and a wrinkled cotton shirt, having changed earlier in her room. Her clothes were fine other than suffering from a little smoke smell. Ryan’s stuff, on the other hand, was still quarantined in his room upstairs.

“I thought the deductible might be a disaster waiting to happen as soon as I found out about it,” she said. “But
reducing it was going to cost an awful lot, so I hoped I could get away with it until the inn was making money again. I guess it’s just a case of Murphy’s Frigging Law.”

He wasn’t about to pile on more misery. “Babe, it’s not like you didn’t have a million other things to deal with. Not to mention coping with your father’s death and taking care of Sabrina.”

“I appreciate that, Ryan. But this is going to cost fifteen thousand right off the top, then a lot more to replace all the ruined furniture. The stuff upstairs was on its last legs to begin with. We’ll get next to nothing for it from the insurance.”

Ryan couldn’t argue the point. The furniture in his room had all been old and in need of replacement. From what he’d seen of the other guest rooms, the same thing applied. “Maybe we can find stuff at secondhand stores and auctions that’ll do the job. I don’t see why not.”

“Probably, but it’ll still cost tens of thousands of dollars to get the place back on its feet, and in the meantime, I’ve got a mortgage to pay and no income. I can’t borrow any more from the bank. The only option I can see is to somehow keep the repair costs down to what we get from the insurance.” She threw up her hands, finally starting to look pissed off. “How am I supposed to manage that? It’s not like I can afford to close down any of the rooms. We need all of them to be booked to keep open.”

He leaned against the truck and gazed out at the spectacular view of the ocean. “Okay, let’s not worry about that for now. We should stick to the immediate issues, like getting the restoration company going and cancelling all the guest bookings for—”

“Forever,” Morgan interrupted.

Ryan shook his head. “I’d say a month. Maybe even a little less.”

She turned to face him, slapping her hands on her hips. “Are you kidding? The place is half-burned and mostly waterlogged. What planet are you living on, Ryan Butler?”

Boy, she was really rattled to be snapping at him like that. She was a woman who rarely lost her temper or her cool.

“Morgan, honey, you have to start believing that you can figure this out. You’re smart and creative and you’ve got a whole island full of friends ready to help you out.” He slung an arm around her shoulders. “And you’ve got me. I’ll be here with you every step of the way until the place is back up and running.”

Morgan squeezed her eyes shut for a moment and then shook her head. “You are many things, Ryan, many wonderful things. But I don’t think you’re a magician. And that’s what this place needs.”

He squeezed her a little tighter. “You might be surprised.”

She opened her eyes and looked up at him. The vulnerability and grief he saw in her gaze practically killed him.

“Please don’t give up, Morgan,” he said. “We can do this. We can do anything if we want it bad enough.”

As long as Morgan was willing to keep fighting, he’d be right at her side. He’d never once let a buddy down in the field, and he sure as hell wasn’t going to let down the woman he’d come to care about more than he’d ever thought possible.

R
yan could tell Aiden was giving him the hairy eyeball from behind his Oakley shades.

“We should have taken my truck,” Aiden said. “It’s a long way down to Miss Annie’s at the speed of this piece-of-crap golf cart.”

“The whole point of coming home was to slow down, you moron. Take it easy and contemplate life.” Ryan threw his friend a taunting grin as they passed the trash transfer station on their way to the south end of the island.

Aiden laughed. “And how’s that working out for you? You’ve been busting your ass ever since you got here, and now you’re about to take on a Mount Rushmore–sized project.”

Ryan had filled Aiden in on his plans earlier, after Lily had left for her lobster boat and Morgan had caught an early ferry to Portland to meet the insurance adjuster. Not that Lily wouldn’t be involved up to her neck in what he had in mind—he just didn’t want her talking to Morgan before he had some of the key pieces in place. Later, he’d made calls to three guys he wanted to rope into helping do
some of the repair work at the inn. All had responded with generous enthusiasm.

“Seriously?” he scoffed. “This coming from the guy who’s building a big-ass resort and coaching college baseball at the same time?”

“I’m not exactly
building
the place. I’m just coordinating some stuff.”

That was a hell of an understatement from what Ryan had heard. “Well, I’m thinking in the same terms about Golden Sunset.”

Aiden snorted. “You do realize that, if you get Field Marshal Annie Letellier involved, there’s no chance you’ll be in charge of the army, right? Miss Annie doesn’t play second in command to anybody.”

“Sounds good to me.”

A few minutes later, Ryan eased the cart to a stop on the grass beside Miss Annie’s two-story clapboard house. The eighty-year-old place sat on a piece of coastland that had belonged to the Letellier family for over a century and a half.

Roy Mayo opened the door and sauntered out onto the small porch, barefoot and in jeans and a sleeveless T-shirt that showed off his still-fit build. The old guy was a walking example of the island’s hearty stock.

“Well, if it isn’t Seashell Bay’s very own baseball heroes.” Roy had been a vocal spectator at most of the Peninsula High ball games back in the day, always supporting the local kids. “You boys want a beer?”

“Jesus, Roy, it’s not even ten o’clock,” Aiden said, stepping out of the cart.

“So? Did the government pass a law that stops a man from enjoying a beer at home in the morning?” Roy
held the door open. “But hell, if you’re going to be pussies, there’s coffee too.” His resigned shrug seemed to suggest that the world had come to a sad state.

Miss Annie bustled out of the kitchen as Roy pointed them toward a comfy sofa covered by a red, white, and blue afghan. “So nice of you boys to drop in on a couple of old coots.”

When she held her arms open, both Aiden and Ryan gave her warm hugs. “Well, Miss Annie, it’s always a pleasure to see you and Roy. Actually, not Roy,” Aiden said with a grin.

“Miss Annie, we wanted to talk to you about Morgan and Sabrina,” Ryan said.

She nodded. “I’d been hoping you boys would come see me about that.” She sat down primly in her favorite plush blue armchair. Roy remained standing, rocking back and forth on his heels. “Roy, why don’t you get these boys some coffee?” Miss Annie suggested patiently.

The old guy rolled his eyes but trundled off to the kitchen.

“I’m just heartbroken for the girls, and I feel bad for the guests too,” Miss Annie said. “The people who stayed here for the night said almost everything they had was ruined.”

The fire department had retrieved the guests’ belongings from the upstairs rooms late yesterday afternoon before clearing Morgan and Ryan to go upstairs. Ryan had chucked his sodden, smoke-damaged clothes straight into the trash. The contents of his wallet had been mostly okay after they dried out.

“A restoration company has been on site since yesterday,” Ryan said. “They say the lower floor and the annex are going to be fine, but we’re looking at repairing a section
of the roof and replacing just about everything upstairs except the studs, floorboards, and plumbing. Almost all the furniture is shot, and all the wiring is going to have to be replaced.”

Miss Annie exhaled a weary sigh. “Poor Morgan. She’s been trying so hard, and all she gets is one setback after another. Still, if I know that girl, she’ll find a way to bounce back. I always told her father that she was the most resourceful young lady I’d ever met. She and my sweet granddaughter Lily. Like peas in a pod, those two.”

“That’s what we’re here about, Miss Annie,” Ryan said. “We’re worried about Morgan. The fire has really kicked the, uh . . .”

“Stuffing out of her,” Aiden interjected.

Miss Annie scoffed. “You don’t need to protect my delicate ears, Aiden Flynn. And I’m sure Morgan knows that, whatever she needs, we’ll be there to help. I don’t know a soul on the island who doesn’t love that girl.”

That sounded good, but he needed something more concrete. “Here’s the thing, Miss Annie. The insurance that Cal had on the place isn’t going to cover the costs—not even close.”

“Especially not if Morgan has to hire contractors to do the work,” Aiden said.

“And that’s where we come in,” Ryan said. “Aiden and me. Josh, Brett, and Micah too. We’re ready to do as much of the work as we can ourselves, so that’ll cut the costs down a lot. But even with all that, the bill is still going to be huge. It’s going to take a lot of new material and a lot of hours of skilled workmanship for the stuff our guys can’t do. And then there’s all the replacement furniture on top of that.”

“Morgan has no resources beyond what she’ll get from insurance, Miss Annie, and the deductible is a killer,” Aiden added as Roy arrived with huge mugs of black coffee.

“I’ve offered to lend her money,” Ryan said. “Aiden too. She won’t take it because she’s not sure she’ll be able to pay it back.”

“That sounds like Morgan all right.” Miss Annie slapped her thin, blue-veined hands on her khaki-clad legs. “That means we’ll just have to raise the funds she needs, won’t we? I presume that’s what you boys came here to talk about?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Ryan said. Miss Annie was probably already a step ahead of him. Relief flooded through his veins, and the hammering that had been going on in his head all morning started to recede.

“That’s all well and good, Annie,” Roy piped up, “but maybe the fool girl will be too proud to take that kind of help either.”

Roy was just being Roy. He loved Morgan and hadn’t intended to disparage her. Besides, there might be truth to his words.

Still, Miss Annie shot her boyfriend a steely glare. “The only fool around here is you, you old codger.” Then her attention switched back to Ryan. “While Seashell Bay folks are nothing if not proud, we take care of each other. I’ll make sure the girl accepts our help.”

Ryan smiled at her. As a kid, he’d wanted nothing more than to escape the stifling confines of the island and see what the world had to offer. Now he’d seen more than his share, and too much of it had left a bad taste in his mouth. Whatever the drawbacks of life in a small town
like Seashell Bay, folks did take care of their own. If you needed help, you got it. In his book, that unquestioning generosity was starting to count for a hell of a lot.

“Could we ask you to take over that part of the operation, Miss Annie?” he asked. “There’s nobody better to head up a fund-raising campaign than you.” He took a swallow of Roy’s superstrong, sludgy coffee and nearly gagged. “Just don’t let Roy make the coffee for any of the events.”

“Hell, boy, you are a pussy,” Roy said with a smirk. “That coffee will put hair on your scrawny chest.”

“You did a hell of a job organizing the battle against the car ferry,” Aiden said, ignoring Roy’s barb. “That’s the kind of effort we’d need.”

She waved her hand. “Lily can take most of the credit for that. But it did turn out rather well, didn’t it?”

“It did at that,” Aiden said with a smile. “For everyone on the island.”

“Well, we’re not about to let that sweet old inn close its doors for good,” Miss Annie said with conviction. “It might not be the Ritz, but it’s an institution around here, and we’re darn well not going to let it die if we can help it. It would be like letting a piece of our history die.”

Ryan hadn’t thought of it that way, but Miss Annie was right. The inn had changed hands a number of times, but it had been in operation for decades—first as an old-fashioned boardinghouse and then as a small family hotel.

“I took a run down there after dinner yesterday,” Roy said. “Looks to me like you got a big demolition job, for starters.” He poked a bony finger against his chest. “So listen up, because this is the guy you want for that kind of work. I did that stuff for a living back when the T. rex was kicking the shit out of everything else.”

Ryan remembered how adamant Miss Annie had been that Roy not be involved in anything dangerous when they were repairing the B&B’s roof.

But she simply eyed Roy and then nodded. “If these boys are foolish enough to want you there, then fine. But if you fall through the ceiling or something, it’s straight into the nursing home for you, Roy Mayo. I’m not taking care of some codger who tries to act like he’s still thirty years old.”

“Yeah, well, in some ways, it’s like I still am thirty, isn’t that right, Annie?” He gave Ryan a wink.

Miss Annie shot him a look that should have slayed him dead. Ryan figured he and Aiden better get out of there fast before all hell broke loose.

“I’ll talk to Lily as soon as she gets home tonight,” Aiden said, backing toward the door. He probably felt as alarmed as Ryan did at the prospect of hearing details of Roy and Miss Annie’s sex life. “You know she’ll want to be on your fund-raising committee.”

Miss Annie popped to her feet. “The girl’s busy. She’s getting married soon, or have you somehow forgotten that?”

Aiden’s grin made it clear to Ryan that he was used to his future grandmother-in-law yanking his chain. “Yeah, but don’t forget that Morgan’s her maid of honor.”

“Then we’d darn well better make sure that the maid of honor is happy so they can have a good time at the wedding,” Miss Annie added. “I’m looking at you when I say that, Ryan Butler,” she said, turning her eagle eye on him.

The old gal was nothing if not perceptive and direct.

“Got it, ma’am,” Ryan said. “Loud and clear.”

Morgan eased her pickup through the gap between the hedge and the two Kingsley Restoration trucks that clogged the driveway. She parked beside the annex and headed in through the kitchen door, automatically glancing around to see if Ryan was there. Boy, she missed him. Though they’d seen a lot of each other since the fire, no longer sleeping under the same roof had brought home how quickly she’d become used to his reassuring presence.

She’d followed his advice to treat herself to lunch and a stroll through the shopping district after meeting with the insurance adjuster. After a painful discussion with Delaney, she’d needed it. First she’d tried to relax at Starbucks with a decaf latte and a copy of
USA Today
that someone had left on the table. That had been an utter failure, so she’d pulled out some paper and a pencil and jotted down rough estimates of what she figured it was going to cost to replace each item of lost furniture. When she totaled up the figures and compared it to what Delaney had said the insurance was going to pay, she’d come up with a horrifying deficit.

New furniture was simply out of the question.

Hopefully Ryan had been right when he said they should be able to find replacements by trolling consignment and secondhand shops and maybe even auctions. In fact, she’d even felt a little frisson of pleasure when she thought about the two of them poking their way around Portland or even farther afield. It was such a thoroughly domesticated and couple-like thing to do, and something she’d certainly never have imagined doing with her Soldier Boy.

She dropped her keys and bag on the kitchen counter. “Ryan? Are you still here?” she called out.

“Upstairs.” His voice barely carried over the low, steady whine of the industrial dehumidifiers Kingsley had placed on both floors.

She went out to the hall and headed upstairs. Ryan emerged from the guest room she’d been using before the fire, his big work boots clomping on the pine floor. As always, seeing his gorgeous, masculine self had her stomach going kind of funny.

“Huh.” She dropped her gaze to her cute summer sandals. “Maybe I should be wearing work boots up here too.”

Ryan’s mouth quirked into a grin. “You’d look darn cute in them. Especially if that was
all
you were wearing. Now that’s a fantasy I could get down with.”

Her mouth dropped open, but she regrouped. “I see your dirty mind has already returned. I don’t know whether to call that progress or regression.”

“I was just trying to see if a day in the city had lightened you up a bit,” he said, moving closer. “Tell me you managed to have at least a little fun.”

Not so much. Most of the time when I wasn’t agonizing over the B&B, I was tying myself up in knots about how much I was going to miss you when you go.

Even with everything else she had to worry about, Morgan couldn’t shake the image of Ryan waving good-bye to her from the ferry. Yes, he’d said he’d stay until the inn was back on its feet—or closed—but the day would come all too soon when he’d go back to his life.

His real life.

“It was a good idea,” she said brightly. “I’m glad you pushed me to do it.”

“And how was your friend Delaney? I think he has a big-time crush on you.”

Morgan answered with a little snort. “He’s being helpful, at least for an insurance adjuster.”

Ryan made a fake grimace. “Okay, now I am jealous.”

Morgan couldn’t believe how upbeat he seemed. He’d been solid and supportive every minute since the fire, and now he was practically bouncing on his toes. “Why do I get the feeling something’s going on here?”

He grasped her elbow in a gentle grip and steered her back to the stairs. “Let’s go outside and talk. I’m done up here for now.”