Elli watched from the deck as Ed Rockingham pulled up in front of the Sol~Mate. He broke into a smile as he got out of his car and took a look around.
“Want to see the beach or the house first?” Elli called out from the deck.
“The house. I love it already.” He took the stairs at a quick clip, pushing his sunglasses on top of his head as he hit the top one. “Great place.”
“Aren’t the views terrific?” She pointed toward the water. “You can see right over the dune line. You’ll have uninterrupted views from upstairs. I’ll show you, but those dunes are a precious part of the land here. They’ve kept this place safe from storms for years.”
“I like it.”
“Wait until you see inside.” She opened the front door, and Nana’s famous chocolate chip cookies welcomed them. It was the oldest trick in the real estate sales handbook, but it really hadn’t been planned. Nana had done that on her own.
Elli led Ed through the first floor, ending in the kitchen where Nana offered him warm cookies.
“Don’t mind if I do,” Ed said. “Wow, these are really good.”
“So, you’re thinking of moving here to our little town, are you?”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said. “Love your house.”
“Thank you. Are you married? Any little ones? It’s a lot of house for one. That’s the only reason I’m leaving it.”
“No wife. Two exes, but I don’t see me inviting them over. Especially not at the same time.” He laughed. “I do have a son. He’ll be twelve this year. I’d love to have a place where he and his cousins could come and spend the summer.”
“Oh, that would be great. All of my grandchildren loved staying here. Elli used to spend every summer here. I could even leave the bunk beds for you. I sure don’t have any use for them.”
“Nana, let me keep showing him around. He hasn’t bought the place yet.”
“It was nice chatting with you,” Ed said as they headed for the stairs.
Nana was standing at the bottom of the stairs when they came back down. “It’s a great house. Such a great aura about it. Many, many happy memories here.”
Elli had to laugh at Nana’s attempt to sell the house. It didn’t need any help. It would practically sell itself on location alone. “I’m going to take him down to the beach and show him the rest of the property.”
Ed grinned. “It is a great place. I really like it. It’s exactly what I had in my head.”
Brody walked in the door just as they were heading for it. “Oh, excuse me. Am I interrupting?”
“No,” Elli said. “I’m just showing the house. Ed here is looking to relocate to Sand Dollar Cove. Nana and I are going to be putting the Sol~Mate up for sale. He’s getting an early peek.”
“You’re selling?” Brody asked. “Is this …” He glanced at Nana and back at Elli.
“No. Nana just needs a few less stairs and a lot less space at this stage of her life. We’ve been talking about it for a while.”
“Oh, yeah. Okay. Well, I’ve only been staying here a few days, but I can tell you this place has a great vibe.” He reached for Ed’s hand. “Brody Rankin.”
“Nice to meet you. Ed. Ed Rockingham.”
“I knew you looked familiar. Nice to meet you in person.”
Ed seemed casually amused. “Yeah, most people don’t put two and two together.”
Apparently she was one of those “most people.” She’d have to ask Brody about that later. “Shall we?”
“Sure,” Ed said. “Nice to meet you, Brody.”
Elli kicked off her shoes as they headed for the dunes.
Ed didn’t say much as they walked over the dune and down to the beach. She thought he might explain to her his comment to Brody, but since he didn’t, she didn’t ask.
When they got to the top of the dune, Elli started down and realized Ed had stopped at the top.
He stood there staring out across the wide span of beach. “Wow.”
Low tide was always so impressive. Sometimes she took that for granted. She let him take it all in.
Ed took a moment and then headed down to Elli. “I’ve walked up and down this beach the last week or so. I love it, but nothing is as beautiful as this cove. This is the spot the whole town was named after, isn’t it?”
“I like to think so.” She walked closer to the where the water was licking the dry sand. “This is how Sand Dollar Cove got its name.” She dug her perfectly painted toes into the sand and shifted four small sand dollars to the top. “See.”
“No way.” He reached down and held them in his hand. “No one comes down to this part of the beach?”
“Not so much anymore. It’s private beach now. Part of Sol~Mate.”
“I’d own this?”
“Yes, sir. There was a time when you couldn’t do what I just did. People were taking the live sand dollars home for souvenirs, and they were diminishing. That’s when my great-grandfather built the pier and made this part of the cove restricted. He wanted to let them replenish. Now I think we might have more than we actually need. It’s like a sand dollar orgy down here, but Nana comes and gets the retirees and gives them a second life in her artwork.”
“Cool. So you just collect some of them? Like a certain size or something?”
“When they die they’ll wash up on the shore. We just use those.”
“This is amazing. What are all those buildings over there? Some kind of a shopping center?”
“Not anymore. There used to be a bait shack, a little restaurant, and my grandfather made surfboards in the bigger section. It was called the plaza. I don’t really know if it ever had an official name, but that’s what Pops called it. Matter of fact, my grandmother and grandfather lived in that building while the Sol~Mate was being built.”
“Those are with the property too?”
“Yes. The property line goes from over there, where that sand fence is, down to where that light post is then past the plaza. Your own private beach, and there used to be a parking area just beyond there. It was shell sand, still should be a pretty sturdy roadbed there although no one has really used that in years.”
Elli started heading up the beach. “Come on. I’ll show you around those.” She punched in the code and let him in. “My grandfather was using this place as a workshop. You can ignore all the lumber. That’s why Brody is here. He’s helping me on a project.”
“I love the house and the beach. Can’t say that I’d need these buildings.” But then Ed looked like he had an idea. “Or maybe there is something I could do with them. I’ll have to think about that.”
Elli hadn’t really thought about these buildings sitting out here not being used. Probably because they’d always just been that way. “It’s kind of sad how once things finish their time of use they just get let go.”
“Sound like that’s personal.”
“Kind of is. Turns out the pier might not be reopening.”
“Not surprised. I saw that big bite out of the middle of it. Made me think of that giant shark in the movie Jaws.”
“Yeah, last storm that came through did that. Trouble is even though the very front end is fine the town can’t afford to make it safe and no one will insure it. It breaks my heart. My Nana has worked that pier for years…as long as I can remember. And I have, or I guess I had, a business there.”
“Real estate?”
“No, actually when I was in high school I spent the summers here and my grandfather, Pops, helped me start my very first business to raise money for college. I made homemade ice pops, like Popsicles.”
“Enterprising little thing, weren’t you?”
“Still am. I select two kids from the local high school each year and let them run the stand. I provide their first supplies and the recipes, then they do the rest. Kind of a scholarship, but a teach-’em-to-fish way of doing it.”
“I like that.”
“I hate to let that go. Anyway, enough about my problems. What do you think?”
“I hadn’t really thought about that as an option. I could check.” But if Holden was in charge of making those decisions, she didn’t hold much hope that his decisions would be in her favor, if yesterday was any indication.
She and Ed walked back over to where he was parked. “Did you want to take a look at those other properties? I’ve got it all set up.”
“You know, I don’t think I do. I looked at the others online. They are not even in the same ballpark as this.”
He liked the house, and that had been her hope, but now that it actually felt like there was a possibility he’d come back with an offer, an unwelcome feeling of sorrow settled over her. First the pier. Now the beach house.
Nana would be dying to chitchat about every little thing, wanting to know what Ed said. What he liked or didn’t. She wasn’t up for it. Instead, she headed back over the dune. The beach was a best friend no matter what was going on. And the best part was it never demanded an explanation.
CHAPTER TWELVE
“I thought I might find you here.” Brody’s voice held its own over the waves breaking. “I brought you something to eat.”
Elli let the wet sand run through her fingers and pile upon itself into a stalagmite formation. She was nearly surrounded by the little structures, like her own little fortress. She looked up and met his gaze. “How’d you know to find me here?”
“I’m a beach guy. We beach types…East Coast, West Coast…it’s all the same. We aren’t all that different. I figured this would be the place you’d come. I mean you seemed so close with your granddad and all. So the beach. Near the workshop. Seemed logical.”
“Yeah. Brilliant deduction, Watson…er, Rankin.” She laughed at her own joke. “Things are changing so fast.”
“The ocean has a way of putting things into perspective, but I have to ask. Why are you sitting in the water in your jeans?”
She’d barely noticed the tide coming up. The water had been a chilly burst when it first slapped against her legs, but she’d gotten used to it, and now, well it probably did look a bit silly to be sitting three feet into the splash zone even if it was only barely over her pant legs. “It was low tide when I got here.”
“You’ve been out here a long time then.”
She nodded. The will to get up seemed more than she could manage. She’d prayed that maybe an answer would roll in from the tide. She was plumb out of ideas to save her grandparents’ legacy here in Sand Dollar Cove.
“You okay?”
“Just thinking about everything.” She lifted a handful of wet sand and wiggled her fingers until just the sand dollars remained. Three teensy ones. She laid the sand dollars on the leg of her jeans. The next wave just washed them back down into the sand.
“With the pier gone,” she said, “I hate to think what that town council is going to think is a good next move for Sand Dollar Cove. Some fast food chain setting up shop on one of the main drags? Then what? A mall? A national-chain grocery store? That would be just great. Poor Mr. Martin would never be able to compete against the likes of a Food Lion or Harris Teeter. The locals look out for each other around here. It’s simple, and we kind of like it that way. The same families back every year for their annual fishing outings. They’ll probably find somewhere else to go.”
“Things will change. That’s part of the cycle. It’s not always bad.” He put a hand out to her. “Come on. Let’s go sit up on the sand where it’s dry and get some food in you.”
She reached for his hand, and he tugged her up in one easy pull. Her jeans felt like they weighed about twenty pounds as she trudged up to the dune line. Brody led the way up the beach then plopped down in the sand, and she sat down beside him.
“Here. I made a meatloaf for Nana.”
“You really cooked again tonight?”
“I did. Nana said it was the best meatloaf she’d ever had. But I have a feeling she was just trying to work it so I’d cook again.”
“She’s sly like that.”
“I figured sandwiches would be easier on the beach.” He handed her one of the paper towel wrapped sandwiches and bit into the other.
“Thanks.” She took a bite to be polite, but she wasn’t hungry.
“So, I’ve been thinking,” he said.
“Me too. It’s a sorry state of affairs.”
“You sure got defeated easily.”
“It’s not like me, but I’ll be darned if I can see a way out of this one.”
“That’s because you’re too close to it.” He took another bite of his sandwich and let the silence hang between them. “It’s why I believe that bringing in fresh members on a team is the best way to problem-solve. Fresh ideas. No connection to what it’s always been.”
“I’m listening.”
“You might have the answer right here. Nana was telling me all about how your granddad’s workshop used to be part of the plaza. She also mentioned there’d been some kind of a preservation down here at the cove at one time. Is that still in play?”
“No. It was set for twenty-five years. It can be reopened whenever someone …” Her eyes widened, and a slight smile played on her lips.
“Like I said. You might be sitting on the answer.”
“The plaza?”
“Yeah. I mean it needs work. A lot of work, but it could be done. There’s plenty of space. In fact I walked down to the pier. The plaza has more space than the shops on the pier took up. You have room for everything that was on the pier and some new tenants too.
“I can’t believe I didn’t think of it.”
“Because you’re too close to it. It’s what you’ve always known it as, just your granddaddy’s man cave. But it would be great. With all that lumber you have we could build out something pretty nice. Plus, then technically you’re still giving the folks who donated to fix the shops exactly what they paid for.”
“Could we get it up by summer?”
“If we do it the old-fashioned way we can.”
Something in his manner soothed her. “What exactly is the old-fashioned way?”
“We call in all of our friends. Like a barn-raising.”
Elli felt her mood soar. “That’s an awesome idea. We could totally do that. We’d need some pretty specific project plans, but this place is solid. Good thing about structures built that long ago, they were built to last.”
“You’ll have to get the permits, that might take some time, but I think after what went down at the town meeting, they should be in an amicable mood to get the locals back on their side. Those guys I was talking to the other night at the meeting. I think they can help with that.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, and this isn’t that far off from the pier. I bet if you could get clearance to put some signage down there you could re-route the regulars.”
“You’re a genius!”
“I’m your genius for the next month or so. What do you say we give this some serious consideration?”
“I say I’m in!”
Elli and Brody raced over to the workshop. It felt good to run off the aggravation that had settled into her muscles. She tugged on her jeans as they slipped low on her hips from the weight of them being so wet.
Brody punched the code into the door lock and then started talking as fast as a seagull going for a French fry. He shared his ideas on how they could build out the space. “The way I figure it, we’ll still need the lumber you have, and I took the liberty to write up a preliminary list of supplies.” He produced a yellow legal sheet of materials. “It’s an informal guesstimate, but I think it’s in the ballpark. But for a relatively small investment this can work.”
“I’ve got money I can put into it, and quite frankly Nana will net a pretty big profit off the sale of the beach house. Oh, wait, what am I thinking. If we sell the
beach house, this all goes with it.”
His brows flickered a little. “Maybe we build out a ground-level place for your grandmother right there. She wouldn’t have to move.”
“I don’t know. I think she’s really ready to just downsize, and quite honestly I’m not sure a bunch of construction is healthy to put her through at her age.” Then she thought of her talk with Ed. “Unless…you know, when I was talking to Ed he asked about subdividing, but I don’t think the town will go for it. Why does everything have to be so complicated?”
“Subdividing and rezoning can take a lot of time,” Brody said. “Trust me, if it’s one thing I do know it’s about how long it takes to get zoning and things like that changed.”
“That’s not good news.”
Brody cocked his head. “Do you think Ed’s really interested in the property?”
“He seemed to be.”
“Do you have any idea if all of this property is zoned for houses, or if the plaza is still zoned for business?”
“I don’t really know. Easy enough to check though.”
Brody pulled a tape measure from the workbench. “Help me take a measurement of this place.”
The two of them worked their way around the building and got the keys for the other two units from the box hanging on the wall. Brody jotted down measurements in ink on his forearm as they went.
“By the way, how do you know Ed?”
“I don’t.”
“But you said —”
“Oh yeah, I recognized him. He didn’t tell you?”
She shook her head as she backed up for the last measurement.
“He plays guitar. I met him through a friend of a friend once.” Then he tugged the measuring tape and it zipped back at him faster than Elli could get there. “You’ve got about 3,200 square feet of prime real estate here, girl. We could easily turn this into four units, or even make three nice-sized ones and three little kiosk-sized ones at one end.”
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