Maggie set aside the drink menu. “That sounds good. I’ll have the same.”
Heather shook her head. “Nope. I may be in Paradise, but I still don’t care for coconut. I think I’ll try the lifesaver.”
Rose focused on the drinks menu. “That does sound good. Peach vodka, triple sec, orange juice, pineapple juice and grenadine. Oh, and it comes in this pretty souvenir mason jar glass. Yep. I’ll have a lifesaver too.”
“Two chichis and two lifesavers coming up.”
Heather cocked her head to one side, keeping the waiter in her sight, until he turned the corner. “I don’t suppose we could order one of those too?”
“Not unless he comes in a model about ten years older.” Rose continued to peruse the dinner menu.
“Oh, get with it, Rose. Cougars are totally acceptable now.”
“Don’t you have to be over forty to be a cougar?” Annette asked, even though she knew the answer.
“Details.” Heather laughed.
“I’d be more worried about jailbait.” Maggie smiled easily at her sister.
Even though the waiter was nowhere to be seen, Heather cocked her head to one side. Annette could almost see her mentally recreating the man. Shaking her head, Heather straightened in her seat. “Can’t possibly be that young. Those were definitely man muscles.”
Rose rolled her eyes again, and Annette smothered a laugh. All day she’d listened to Heather’s comments, as she ogled one man or another. Tall ones, thin ones, tanned ones. She didn’t seem to have a type. Something that had Rose raising her eyes skyward with every comment. Maggie on the other hand remained oblivious to her sisters’ antics. Though Annette felt sure Maggie’s response was more strategic than clueless.
“This is surfer country.” Annette kept her gaze on the dinner menu. She knew it by heart but took her time rereading it anyway. “No such thing as a wimpy surfer. At any age.”
Frowning, Heather looked off in the distance and gave a resigned shrug. “I don’t have time for men this trip anyhow.”
“Attagirl.” Maggie saluted her sister with her water glass.
“Speaking of men”—Rose clinked her water glass against her sister’s—”did Evelyn find our dear brother?”
“He’s with Ava,” Annette said without thinking, the sudden silence catching her attention in time to notice three sets of eyes staring at her. “And the Everrett family.”
“I still think we should have gone to the hospital.” Maggie set down her menu. “At least made an appearance.”
“Nonsense.” Heather waved. “Babies and hospitals are family events, and we’re not family.”
“Heather’s right.” Rose patted Maggie’s hand. “I know you’re very fond of the Everretts, but, in this case, following standard etiquette is best.”
“Perhaps but I should at least check.” Maggie was tapping out a message on her cell when a short whistle sounded. “It’s him. Long day. Baby is beautiful. Be home soon.”
“Sorry for the delay, ladies. We’re short one bartender, and things got a little backed up.” The waiter set a drink in front of each of them. “Are you ready to order?”
The young man, who Annette had to admit was definitely mighty-fine eye candy, took her order first, then worked his way around to Maggie last. Orders taken, he tucked the menus under his arm, flashed Heather a warm smile and walked away. Annette figured the guy was either a mind reader or had bionic ears.
“Well”—Heather took a quick sip of her colorful drink before finishing her sentence—”if he is with Ava, maybe someone in this family will see some action on this trip.”
Rose did the eye thing again. “I doubt they’re having sex in the maternity ward.”
Maggie remained silent, but a single line appeared between her brows. The same line Annette had noticed whenever Maggie would analyze something one of the children had said or done.
“And besides,” Rose continued, “our dear brother, who doesn’t take the time to build a relationship with eligible women, isn’t going to take time to hook up with a family friend.”
It took a few seconds, but the crease in Maggie’s forehead eased. “The Everretts are a very nice family. I think Rose is right. We can enjoy our meal, confidant Forrest isn’t fornicating among the newborns.”
“But I will say”—Rose looked at her older sister—”I would have expected him to be on the first flight back to his precious office by the crack of dawn after your party.”
Maggie nodded. “I was afraid of that too, but Hawaii has a way of seducing you.”
“I’ll attest to that.” Annette was more than happy to help steer the conversation away from Forrest and Ava hooking up. “Our original plan had been to spend the summer here. I was supposed to finish my rehab back in L.A.”
“But you stayed?” Heather asked.
Annette nodded. She hadn’t been ready to deal with the memories lurking in Los Angeles.
“Do you think you’ll ever go back?”
This time she shook her head. “Not to live. There’s a sense of peace here that’s hard to explain.”
And, if Forrest John Maplewood knew what was good for him, he’d take the time to notice too.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Nick and Kara had left at least an hour ago, Emily and Doug a short while afterward. With fewer people in the room Ava took advantage of her mother and Billy fussing over the baby to approach Angela on a different subject. “I stopped by the office you mentioned.”
“Oh, good.” Pressing her hands flat at her sides, Angela pushed herself higher on the hospital bed. “What did you think?”
“I’m wondering what the story is.”
“It’s pretty simple. House has been in the same family for almost one hundred years. About thirty years ago the current owner converted the downstairs into an office and used the upstairs as his apartment. He and his wife never had children. The wife passed away maybe a dozen years ago. Three years ago my client had to move to a nursing home. After listening to his distant family argue for the last year over who should inherit, he’s decided to sell it now.”
“Oh.” The bitter taste of disappointment burned her tongue. “I thought it was for lease.”
“That’s the thing. The seller has turned down a few offers already. A developer wanted to tear it down and put up a condominium, but that went over like a lead balloon.”
“What about the other offers?” Forrest asked.
“We could understand why he didn’t want to see the place torn down, but the other offers were pretty solid. Cash at full asking or over. One was a law firm. The other was an oncology group.”
“And he turned them down?” Incredulity laced each of Forrest’s carefully enunciated words.
“We finally figured out he didn’t want the place going to a corporation. He wants to see it go to someone who will love the place as much as he and his wife did.”
Ava shook her head repeatedly. “I still don’t get what I have to do with it.”
“For the right person he’s willing to do special financing.”
She knew she shouldn’t pursue the discussion. That old house was nowhere in her means. There wasn’t financing special enough to spin dreams into gold, but the soft-spoken words tumbled from her lips nonetheless. “Special?”
Angela nodded.
“I ate through most of my savings after leaving E&S.” No point in mentioning how much of that was wasted on her ex.
“I told the seller you were strapped for cash, when I mentioned what a shame it wasn’t for lease, because my sister-in-law would be a perfect fit.”
“You told him that?”
“I did.”
“And what did he say?”
“To show you the place.”
None of this was making sense to Ava. She didn’t have money saved for a down payment, and, between her last job and starting her own company, there were those stark months of unemployment on her credit history. No bank would give her a mortgage, and even th
is glowing new contract wouldn’t be enough to bolster her position. Would it?
“How much is he asking for it?” Forrest asked.
“A million two.”
Ava almost choked on her own spit.
Her sister-in-law actually said that with a straight face, as though Ava kept a fairy-dusted money tree growing in the backyard.
“You’ve lost your mind.”
The corners of Angela’s mouth curled upward, until her eyes twinkled with satisfaction. “But, from the right person, he’s willing to take less.”
“This is ridiculous.” Ava’s bank account didn’t even have a million pennies. “Leasing was most likely a stretch for me. There’s no discount that could make me afford that place at any price.”
“Not even a dollar?”
All heads snapped around to face Angela. Even Maile and Billy, who had been happily making faces and squeaky sounds at the baby, looked up.
“Is there such a thing as postpartum insanity?” Ava muttered.
“Didn’t any of you guys ever read about the city of San Francisco selling off old Victorians for a dollar?”
“Sure,” Forrest answered. “Move the massive structures somewhere else, commit to a rehab, and for a dollar the houses are sold. That is assuming the buyer has a million plus for the rehab.”
“Except my client doesn’t want the house moved.” Angela folded her hands on her lap and leaned back with the same satisfaction as a cat that had just had her fill of cream. “All he’d want is a commitment to restore and a promise not to sell for at least ten years, once the restoration is complete.”
“You said your seller is in a nursing home?” Forrest asked.
Angela nodded. “A private facility.”
“Then it’s safe to conclude he’s elderly?”
“Very.”
Forrest turned to Ava. “Once he’s no longer alive to file suit against you, enforcing the conditions of the sale would be nearly impossible.”
“A dollar,” Ava muttered falling into the nearby chair. Who sells a house to a total stranger for only one dollar?
John stood behind her, his hands clamping gently on her shoulders. “What are the rest of the terms?”
“None really.” Angela shrugged. “She can do as she likes and take as long as she likes. She just can’t sell it until it’s restored plus ten years.”
Under her breath Ava repeated, “A dollar.” There had to be a catch. If it looked too good to be true, then there had to be a rat lurking nearby, waiting to steal the cheese.
“Who owns this house?” Maile asked.
“Harry Malakii. Do you know him?”
Maile hefted one shoulder. “Not personally. That’s one of Kona’s oldest families. My mother had been best friends with his youngest sister. What was her name?”
“He had two sisters, Abigail and Edna.”
“That’s right. Edna. I was in junior high when she moved to California with her husband. She had one son. Real jerk. Thought he was better and smarter than everyone else. He wasn’t.”
“If his name is Walter, he hasn’t changed.” Angela said.
“That sounds right.”
“And from what I understand, his two cousins and their offspring aren’t any prizes either.”
“Too bad. I remember Edna being a really nice lady.”
“What about the brother?” Ava asked. “Do you remember him at all?”
Maile shook her head. “I don’t think I ever met him. Never met the other sister either.”
“This offer sounds like something we need to run by Kara.” Billy carried his daughter to his wife’s side but kept his eyes trained on his sister. “If this is legit, I don’t see how you can pass it up, but a good lawyer will be able to tell us for sure if this is some kind of scam.”
Her brother made perfect sense. Kara was not only a good lawyer, she was practically part of the family, but, in Ava’s mind, she had already skipped ahead to calculating all the things that could break the bank, the funds she didn’t have. If all she had to do for now was clean off a few years’ worth of dust and add a fresh coat of paint, she could make that work, but she’d never known an old house that wasn’t a money pit. And damned if she didn’t want this one.
* * *
“We were starting to wonder if you were planning on moving in with the Everretts. How’d you get home?”
“Ava and her mother.” Cold beer in hand, John meandered into the large living area, where his sisters were sprawled about, and collapsed into the nearest chair. “It was definitely a busy day.”
“All this from a leaky toilet.” Heather chuckled.
“Actually a leaky roof.”
“Roof?” three voices echoed.
“The dormer to be more precise. Then there was egg decorating going on.”
“Already?” Maggie looked up. “Easter’s not till next week.”
John shrugged.
“I used to love decorating for Easter,” Rose said on a sigh.
Heather shook her head. “I like shopping better.”
Rose chuckled. “True.”
“You all like shopping better. I’m amazed Father didn’t spend his entire fortune keeping his daughters in shoes.” John took a long swallow. The refreshing ale slid down his throat but did nothing to cool his thoughts of dessert—not the culinary sort. “Then on the ride back here we stopped—”
“We?” Heather asked.
“Ava and I.” He didn’t miss the way his three sisters cast sideways glances at each other, but he was too damn tired to worry about it. For now. “Then she got the call that Angela went into labor, so I went with her to the hospital.”
“Maile called us, because Ava wasn’t answering her phone.” Maggie hooked one foot around the leg of a nearby ottoman and pulled it in close. “Was glad to hear all went well. Maile sounded like things were a little hairy.”
“I certainly thought so. The words emergency anything sounded critical, but the doctors made if feel very routine.”
“Maybe for him.” Heather kicked back a long drink.
“Her.”
“Really?” Heather smiled. “Nice.”
Some days John was amazed by how little his youngest sister had changed. She tended to forget not everyone was raised by Ironman Maplewood to think a woman’s sole purpose in life was to marry well. Heather had done that twice already. Somehow she’d conveniently forgotten the other half of their father’s mantra—to make babies. Which in Heather’s case was probably a good thing she hadn’t. He loved Heather to death, but she had the maternal instincts of a praying mantis. Though he couldn’t blame her. Their father hadn’t been the best of parental examples, and Heather was too young to really remember their mother.
“I have to admit, baby brother”—Maggie angled her head at him—”you had us a little concerned when Mr. Can’t Put Down His Phone didn’t answer.”
Like Pavlov’s dog, the mere mention of the word phone had him reaching into his pocket. John frowned down at the screen. Off. He’d turned the phone off. Now he remembered. After texting Maggie all was well with the new baby, he’d thought to silence his phone. Instead, he’d opted to simply turn it off. At the time he hadn’t thought twice about it, but now it gave him pause.
Not only had he turned it off but also it hadn’t occurred to him to check for messages. Not once had he given a thought to any of the current projects. Or the men in charge. He’d been totally and completely at peace. From almost the day his eldest sister and the Deluca children had landed on the Big Island, Maggie had relentlessly touted the wonders of living in Paradise. When Annette Deluca decided to put down permanent roots in this corner of the world and leave the L.A. madness behind, Maggie’s pleas for a visit from him had continued with even more vigor.
Sunshine and fresh air were a wonderful cure for whatever ailed you. But he’d be a big fat liar if he gave the weather credit for his newfound contentment. For a desire to live rather than to succeed. Not that he was ready t
o shut down his business and become a beach bum, but he wasn’t willing to go back to eating, sleeping, and breathing commercial development 24/7. Not anymore. He’d gotten a taste of a balanced life. A less lonely life. Life with Ava Everrett, and he was absolutely sure he wasn’t ready to give her up either. He had to figure this all out.
“I recognize that look.” Maggie leaned forward in her seat.
Heather frowned, and Rose shifted her attention from her brother to her older sister, much like a spectator at a tennis match.
John, on the other hand, merely stayed his thoughts and faced his big sister. He wasn’t sure what she was seeing, especially since he wasn’t all that sure what the hell was going on in his head himself. A jumble of thoughts and feelings had taken over his ordered world, and he’d yet to sort them out. Plan. Decide.
“Allison Kelley,” Maggie said.
“You’re dating her again?” Rose asked.
John almost laughed. He hadn’t seen Allison since high school graduation. Though he’d seen plenty of her on prom night. “Don’t be ridiculous. Last I heard, she had married the captain of the debate team and had two-point-three children and a pedigreed Yorkshire terrier.”
“That was her last husband.”
All heads turned to Heather.
“He had a weakness for young admins. In pants.”
“Whatever.” Rose waved dismissively at her younger sibling and addressed Maggie. “What am I missing here?”
John resisted the urge to squirm and instead took another long pull of his beer. Maggie had always been too insightful. He wasn’t sure he was up to whatever she might say.
“For a full week before senior prom”—Maggie focused on him—”you planned and plotted and smiled so much we thought your face would crack.”
“A man can’t smile?”
“It’s a different smile. What I can’t decide is if whatever major coup you’re about to pull off is business or pleasure.”
John took another calming swallow to hide the grin threatening to take over his face. Definitely pleasure. His big sister had called it. He had plotted and planned every seductive detail for prom night. He’d used those same planning skills for every successful business takeover and acquisition since leaving the navy—on his mission to become the best. Above and beyond his father’s stellar reputation. But with Ava, he hadn’t planned a damn thing. He’d gone with the flow, much like a piece of flotsam in a hurricane. And, starting now, that was going to change.
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