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Whenever someone entered a Trent’s Tavern along the sunny coast of California, he wanted them to be met with the same charm and comfort that they received from the O.G. location in Blue Moon Bay.
Trent pulled his Jeep into the lot of a run-down, old, country saloon-looking building an hour outside Blue Moon Bay and cut the engine. Climbing out, he met his real estate agent, Meredith Blau, at the front door. She was dressed in a bright teal suit, coral blouse, and matching heels, her big blond hair reaching an impressive height. He almost needed sunglasses, looking at her, and her interior matched her sunny exterior.
“Hey, Meredith. Nice to see you again. Thanks for meeting with me,” he said, shaking her hand.
“I’m glad you reached out, darlin’,” she said, her thick Southern accent on display. “This place has been sitting on the market for a while now…” She lowered her voice. “Between you and me, it’s because it’s overpriced. The owners were about to do another price drop, so if you’re interested, let’s hang tight for a few weeks before making any offers.”
This was why he’d hired Meredith Blau—she was fantastic in making sure her clients got a fair deal. He nodded. “Thanks for the tip.”
He scanned the exterior as she unlocked the door. The place had some decaying wood along the windows and doors, but the rest of the building looked structurally sound. He knew from the listing that the roof had recently been replaced, after a bad storm along the coast had ripped part of it off. He wasn’t worried about another occurrence of that. That storm had broken records and was unlikely to happen again. New windows and doors would be necessary as well as a new awning, paint, and some cosmetic work.
Landscaping would be easy enough, as the place was only steps from the beach. The outdoor wraparound deck extended almost all the way to the sand, without a lot of greenery to be maintained. The view would be spectacular any time of year, and he could build an enclosure for the cooler, wetter months. There was plenty of parking and easy access to the highway.
So far, not bad.
He followed Meredith inside, and his optimism faded slightly as she flicked on the interior lights. The place was a bit of a nightmare. Country saloon from the wild, wild west vibe, the interior seemed it hadn’t been updated since the early 1900s. Might have been part of the charm the owners had been going for, but it wasn’t Trent’s style, and based on the lack of business in recent years, it didn’t seem to be a draw for the Gen Z crowd, either.
But…the place had good bones.
“Don’t judge it for what it is. Judge it for what it could be,” Meredith said.
This was where her other skill set kicked in. Talkinghiminto making a decision.
The location on Main Street had been an easy acquisition—the timing and price had been perfect—and the bar at the Game Room had made sense…but this one was a little riskier. Being an hour away from Blue Moon Bay, he’d oversee operations, but he wouldn’t be there on a regular basis, running the show. He’d have to trust that someone else could handle the day-to-day operations.
“The seating capacity is two hundred and fifty,” Meredith said, checking the listing information on her cell phone. “Including the outside deck space, it can accommodate up to three hundred.”
“I assume you have access to the numbers they were bringing in before they shut down?”
She nodded slowly. “I’ll be honest—they aren’t great,” she said, confirming his suspicions. “But look at this place. You can see why. No one under seventy-five would walk in here.”
He sighed as he looked around. She was right about that. The deer heads on the wall alone would turn away the vegan crowd that populated this area, and the musty, lingering smell of cigarettes wouldn’t appeal to anyone, especially health fanatics.
“But with the right improvements and the right marketing, this place could be the next hot spot along the coast,” Meredith said.
Right marketing… There was only one person he’d trust with that job, but she was already so busy. Could he really put that extra pressure on Whitney when he was always saying that she took on too much already? But he couldn’t hire someone else to do it without completely pissing her off or making her feel like she wasn’t absolutely the right person to do it.
Stuck between a rock and a hard place on that one.
He sighed as he shoved his hands into his jeans’ pockets. “How much lower do you think the owners would be willing to go?” He anticipated at least a $30,000 reno budget, and the start-up costs would cut into profits from the other locations for at least the first year.
But it took money to make money, and he was smart in his risk-taking.
Meredith smiled. “I’m confident we can get them under two hundred thousand.”
Still a little higher than he’d wanted, but the location was perfect, so it was worth the extra investment.
“Okay,” he told Meredith. “If you can work your magic, then let’s do it.”
She hesitated despite her own best interests. “Do you want to discuss it with Whitney first? It’s a big decision.”
He did. He absolutely did. But if he had to wait on his fiancée’s availability to have this conversation and have her take time to come see the place, he’d lose the opportunity. He didn’t doubt that there would be other offers on the place once the owners posted the price drop. He suspected Meredith had other clients interested already as well. He couldn’t wait on Whitney.
And while that thought unsettled him, he refused to let it bother him too much. He knew it wasn’t that Whitney wasn’t interested in what he had going on, she just had her own career, her own life…and lately that gap had seemed even more expansive. Meredith was right. These decisions should be made together when they impacted both their futures, but he wasn’t sure his fiancée needed this extra burden right now, and Whitney trusted his instincts anyway.
“I’ll be sure to run it past her before I sign on a dotted line,” he said.
Meredith’s bright, pearly white smile returned. “Great, darlin’! Well, let me start haggling.”
