Adrift

by Robin Wainwright

whether or not he should bother sneaking out of her apartment before dawn and they decided that until the proposal was finalized that it would probably be prudent to do so.

  On Saturday night Heather, Daniel and Jennifer counted the voting tokens and they laughed when Spicy Betty came in first place. It was a close race with Sailors’ Delight and Spicy Scuttlebutt coming in second and third place respectively.

  Heather pulled out the original entries and found the one with Spicy Betty scribbled on it, “Well it looks like Mr. Lambert wins first place.” She turned to Jennifer and asked, “Which one is Mr. Lambert?”

  “He owns the little flower shop on Main Street. He’s the one that Mrs. Johnson is sweet on even though his dog is always tearing down her laundry.”

  Recognition lit Heather’s face and she nodded. “Good, I’m glad a fellow villager won.”

  Jennifer looked at Heather to see if she had caught her Freudian slip and when Heather didn’t correct herself Jennifer just smiled.

  Sunday slid into Monday, and Monday into Tuesday. Villagers swung by the Junction to see who had won the contest and either groaned when they saw that they had lost or laughed when they saw the name that had won. By Wednesday, the stream of customers slowed down to its pre-contest trickle.

  As Heather helped Jennifer close up the café for the night, they chatted about their day and the Scuttlebutt. Most of the Scuttlebutt had to do with Wednesday’s council meeting, but Jennifer had a new tidbit to add to the discussion.

  With a gleam in her eye, she turned to Heather. “Guess who was in earlier to claim his prize?”

  “Mr. Lambert.”

  “Yep and he brought Mrs. Johnson in with him.” Heather’s eyebrows shot up in amusement and Jennifer continued. “He used some of his prize to buy two Spicy Bettys—one for each of them to celebrate his win.”

  They both laughed, “Spicy Betty bringing people together.”

  Wednesday was all about the council meeting. Heather spent the afternoon with Sarah and Daniel at Gnome’s Rest watching Sarah bake batch after batch of cookies in an effort to keep herself from going mad from the stress.

  In the early evening, Daniel suggested that they adjourn to the Foghorn so that he could buy his ‘two lovely ladies’ an early dinner. They all agreed and soon they were settled into what was becoming their customary booth in the back of the restaurant.

  They had finished their meal and were settling in to their after dinner coffee when people began to arrive for the council meeting.

  Many of the villagers swung by their table to offer support and wish them the best of luck.

  By 7:00, the room was packed and all the council members were in place, Mayor Shue called the meeting to order. He quickly took care of old business and then moved on to the topic everyone had gathered for, the lighthouse station renovation project.

  “First let me thank all of you who swung by my office to voice your opinion about this project. I know that many of the other council members experienced the same thing.” The other council members smiled wryly and nodded their heads in agreement. “I’d like to take a straw poll of the council members to see where we stand.” Mayor Shue called on each council member and asked yay or nay for the proposal. When he was done, the council was split 50/50 and the audience groaned.

  Sarah’s raised her hand and Mayor Shue gave her the floor. “If I may, would each of you who said nay tell me what you concerns are?” Each of the council members said that their only concern was the cost. Sarah had expected this might be the case, but she had one more trick up her sleeve.

  “I thought that might be an issue, and I have a possible solution. I have been in contact with a brick making company and they are willing to produce customized bricks, at cost. Individuals and companies could buy a brick, or bricks, with their name on it and these bricks would be placed at the lighthouse station. For companies, this would be a terrific advertising opportunity that would show their support of our village. For individuals, it is a way to support the lighthouse project and have their name associated with it in perpetuity.”

  A hand shot up from the audience, it was Mr. Lambert. Sarah nodded and he stood up. “How much would each of these bricks cost?”

  “Fifty dollars would purchase a brick, and you could buy multiple bricks. Each purchase would net the lighthouse project a profit of $42 per brick.”

  Another hand shot up, it was Mrs. Stanley owner of A Peace of the ‘70s.

  “Sarah, how would these bricks be used at the lighthouse?”

  “I can answer that,” Daniel said. “They would be placed in the walkways to the cottage and lighthouse, much like the walk of fame in Hollywood.” This statement was met by a generally positive sound and quiet chattering.

  A man dressed in a beautifully tailored suit stood up and looked at Sarah. “Sarah, Creative Crafts would like to purchase ten bricks.”

  Heather stood up next, “Mrs. Abers has authorized me to purchase fifteen bricks.”

  The room erupted in a cacophony of business owners and individuals shouting out how many bricks they would like to buy.

  Sarah stood in the center of it the chaos smiling and nodding her head, she shot Daniel a wink and he smiled back.

  Once again, Mayor Shue had to bang on the table and shout to restore order to the meeting. “Please, please, Sarah has the floor.”

  Once order had been restored, Sarah continued. “Thank you Mayor Shue and thank you to everyone who has so generously offered to help fund this worthwhile project.” She turned back to the council members. “I think you can see that the village is behind this project and is more than willing to put forth their own money to help fund it. With that in mind I feel that we should take another straw poll.”

  This time, bowing to the overwhelming positive sentiment of the community, the straw poll showed four to two in favor of approving the project. With that, Mayor Shue called for a binding vote and the proposal passed four to two. The room erupted in cheers and even Mayor Shue couldn’t call the meeting back to order. Finally, he just yelled, “Meeting adjourned!”

  Sarah spun around and grabbed Daniel for a big hug and smooch.

  “We did it!”

  “You did it Sarah, you were amazing.”

  “We make a good team,” before she could say more she was surrounded by villages requesting information on how to purchase the fund raising bricks. Sarah whipped out a clipboard with an order sheet attached and began handing out informational fliers. She was grinning ear to ear and beaming with her accomplishment. Her cherished lighthouse was going to be brought back to life.

  22

  Having received a green light from the city council, Daniel was able to start the next part of the project, demolition.

  He ordered a trailer to be placed on-site to act as both an office and sleeping quarters, and he flew in his favorite project manager, Michael Tuitt, to begin assembling his crew.

  Daniel convinced Heather to go with him to pick up Michael from the Monterey airport and he turned it into a leisurely and romantic adventure.

  Heather’s first thought when she saw Michael Tuitt was God, how tall is he? Her next thought was, He looks like a young John Corbett. What a hunk! Michael’s voice boomed when he saw Daniel and he swept him up in a bear hug pounding his back in greeting.

  Heather just stood back and smiled as the two old friends greeted each other enthusiastically.

  Still smiling, Daniel turned to Heather. “Heather, I would like you to meet my old friend Michael Tuitt.” Then he shot Michael a sharp glance and added, “Michael this is Heather Moore.”

  Michael laughed, “Got’cha. I’ll be on my best behavior.” Michael put out his hand for Heather to shake, “Hello Ms. Moore, it’s nice to meet you.”

  “You too, but please call me Heather.”

  “And you can call me Michael.” Then grinning mischievously, he continued. “Since I’m new to town maybe you could make some time to show me around.”

  “Nope,” Daniel said
as he took Heather’s hand out of Michael’s.

  Michael laughed loudly, “Just checking. You can’t blame a guy for trying.”

  “Do I need to ask if you’re hungry?”

  “You know me so well, I’m starving.”

  “Okay, let’s get some dinner before we head back to the village. The trailer isn’t installed yet so I’ve booked you a room at the local B&B. I’m staying there too until we get everything settled.”

  Michael nodded and they left to claim his luggage and get some dinner.

  Over dinner, Heather discovered that Daniel and Michael had grown up together and that during the summers Michael had worked part time for Daniel’s father. After high school, Michael had received his contractor’s license and been hired on full time by 1906 Renovation.

  “Don’t let Daniel fool you, he can weave some pretty dreams, but I’m the one who does the real magic.”

  “Yeah, yeah, you may swing the hammer but it’s my vision you’re building. Without my vision you’d be building salt boxes.”

  Michael reared back in mock indignation.

  The playful banter went back and forth and Heather smiled at the obvious affection the two friends felt for each other.

  After dinner, Michael patted his flat belly and said, “Okay that should hold me until we get to your village, as long as you drive fast.”

  Shaking his head Daniel turned to Heather, “I’m pretty sure that I could pay him in restaurant gift cards, but legally I have to pay him money.”

  “An army marches on its stomach Daniel. But