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Clara fingers hovered over the phone. She had to send this text now, or she’d lose all of her nerve and never do it.
Who can meet for lunch this week sometime?she typed out.I’d love to hear the stories of Friendship Inn and Island, and Kelli, I’d love to know if your husband can help me get ferry service out here.
She read over the words again, fixed a couple, and sent the message. Her pulse sprinted in her chest, and she threw her phone away from her. It skidded across the new countertops and onto the floor. A loudcrack!echoed up toward the ceiling, and Clara groaned as she hustled after her device.
“You don’t have money to replace this,” she scolded herself. She picked up the phone and checked it. Only a spider-web crack in the top left corner. Still usable.
No one had responded to her text, and her phone rang while she held it in her hand. She didn’t know the number, but it had a local Five Island Cove area code. With a ball of nerves in her throat, she tapped to answer it.
“Hello?”
“Is this Clara Tanner?” a woman asked.
“Yes,” she said.
“You’re restoring Friendship Inn, correct?”
“Yes, ma’am.” Clara turned toward the door, but no one came inside. What if no one came to the inn? What if she couldn’t achieve all of the things that needed to be achieved to get the doors open? What would she and Scott and Lena do then?
“I’d like to meet with you,” she said.
“About?” Clara came to her senses and pushed the panic out of her head. It had no place there, and she couldn’t think around it. “And to whom am I talking to?”
“I’d like to propose the idea of being a silent partner,” the woman said. “I’d love to see your business plans. Your sketches and ideas. All of it. If there’s a way I can help from the sidelines, I’d be interested in seeing if we can work out a deal.”
Clara’s throat had gone dry. “You want to fund us,” she said. She’d been married to a financial investor for over twenty years. She knew how people could talk in circles sometimes. “And be part-owner.”
“In name only,” the woman said. “I have several business ventures around the cove. This would just be another one.”
“In exchange for…?” Clara prompted.
“Those details would be worked out in the future,” she said. “Right now, I’m just asking if you’d like to sit down with me, have some lunch, and go over a few things. I want to see ifyou’rethe type of businesswomanIwant to work with.”
Clara suddenly felt completely out of her element. She was no businesswoman, she knew that. Her chest pinched; she closed her eyes and tried to think.
“I could always use a good meal,” Clara said. “But I’m not agreeing to meet someone whose name I don’t know.”
The woman chuckled—not a giggle. Not a laugh. Something deeper and less feminine. “I wouldn’t expect anything less from a potential partner, at least a smart one.” Another light chuckle. “You already know me, Clara. It’s Jennifer Golden.”
“Jennifer Golden?” Her landlord? The woman whose house she and Scott lived in? Robin’s mother.
“Yes,” Jennifer said. “And there is a condition of our meeting and potential partnership.”
Clara swallowed. “What is it?”
“You can’t tell my daughter about it. Ever.”
An hour later,Clara signaled to Scott. He left the construction site and came toward her. She met him, Tessa at her side. She gestured between them. “We’re going to Diamond for lunch. I’m meeting with all of the girls there to talk about Friendship Inn and Island.”
Scott beamed at her, and thankfully, he didn’t embarrass her in front of Tessa. Of course he wouldn’t. He’d never done that to her. “That’s great, hon,” he said. “Have fun.”
“Did you want to stay? Ryan said he can come back and get you at the normal time.” She hoped Scott would stay. He had nothing to do at the house on Diamond Island and plenty to get done here.
“Yeah, I’ll stay,” he said, and relief poured through Clara. “Have fun.”
“You too.” She wasn’t sure why she’d said that. She turned with Tessa, and they walked toward the dock. “Now, remember,” she said to Tessa. “Not a word to anyone during lunch today about Jennifer Golden.”
Tessa nodded, her mouth pressed into a tight line. Clara had managed to get Jennifer to agree to lunch with her and Tessa, because she needed an outside opinion. She barely trusted herself anymore, and she wouldn’t go into an agreement with Jennifer without a second opinion. She didn’t know Tessa extremely well, but well enough to trust her. After all, she had no vested interest in the inn. She came and worked a few hours for a few days each week. Nothing more. Nothing less.
