Chapter Nine

 

* LUKE *

 

After Kelsey left the café, I went back to the beach house and went for a long run. I didn’t normally eat so much sugary food for breakfast, so I was feeling a little off and thought some exercise might help. But I would have gone for a run anyway, sugary breakfast notwithstanding. I had so much on my mind, and running was the best way to burn off steam.

I got home around noon, only to find that I had several missed calls from my writing coach. I was supposed to send her an email every morning with my goals for the day, but I hadn’t done that this morning because I’d been too preoccupied with thoughts of Kelsey. When I’d gotten home, I had still ignored my phone. My goal for today didn’t involve writing, and I knew that wouldn’t make my coach happy. But I didn’t care. I was beginning to think that perhaps I should just quit the whole writing coach thing. She wasn’t actually motivating me at this point. She was just adding more annoying things to my to-do list.

The only thing on my to-do list that I cared about right now was figuring out a way to stay close to Kelsey. I had an idea up my sleeve, but I wasn’t sure it was going to work out. I knew Kelsey thought I wasn’t taking the situation seriously, and that I was just going to give up and head back to San Francisco when this month was over, but she was wrong. If today went as planned, then I was about to become a permanent resident of Driftwood Island. And if today didn’t go as planned, well, then I’d find another way. I wasn’t giving up on Kelsey. I was a billionaire, for crying out loud. If using my money to find a way to stay with the most beautiful woman I’d ever met wasn’t a good financial move, then I didn’t know what was.

I ignored the emails and texts on my phone, took a quick shower, and hopped into my ridiculous rental pickup truck. As soon as I had dealt with figuring out a way to stay on Driftwood Island, I would deal with getting myself a permanent vehicle here—a vehicle that would be more practical to drive around in the traffic-filled downtown area. But first, I needed a house here. And I was on my way to meet Jimmy, the man who owned the beach house I was renting. If all went well, I would convince Jimmy to sell me the house. I knew it had been in his family for a couple generations, so he might be resistant to selling it. But I also knew that he rarely used the house, and that he had trouble renting it out. Most people who visited the island headed for the resort. If I offered him a nice chunk of change for the place, maybe he’d part with it.

I was willing to pay significantly more than the place was worth. I had the money, and spending extra was worth it to me. I loved the stretch of beach the house was on. There was plenty of room to remodel and expand the house itself, which I might want to do if Kelsey and I started a family. I grinned at the thought. We hadn’t talked about kids yet, but we also had been completely reckless and hadn’t bothered to use condoms. I think we both felt that if a kid happened now, it happened, and that we’d be happy with that.

I was excited about the idea of settling down in this beach community. There were some good people, and I wanted to get to know them better. Besides, the pace of life here was better for my writing. True, I hadn’t gotten much writing done since I arrived here. But that was because I’d been busy trying to figure out what to do about Kelsey. Now that I knew I wanted to stay with her, and I knew I wanted to settle on the island, I felt confident I’d find my groove.

I parked in front of the parking lot where Jimmy worked, took a deep breath, and got out of my truck. I crossed my fingers that this would work out, thinking of how awesome it would be to take Kelsey to dinner tonight and invite her to move in with me at my new Driftwood Island beach house.

Jimmy greeted me at the front door, then told me to come back to his office to talk.

“So, Mr. Foster, what can I do for you?” he asked once I’d settled into a rickety old folding chair in his tiny office. He sat across from me in an old office chair from which the stuffing was coming out. I’d noticed that the rest of his store was in a similar state of disarray. This man needed money, and I had plenty to give him, if he was willing to bargain with me.

“I’d like to talk to you about your beach house,” I said, watching carefully for his reaction. He nodded as though he’d expected that.

“I figured that was it. You want to extend your rental?”

“Not exactly. I want to buy it.”

He nearly choked on the swig of coffee he’d just taken. “Buy it? I…I’ve never really thought about selling it. It’s been in my family for a long time.”

“I understand, and I respect that. But I’m willing to offer you a price that’s more than fair.”

Jimmy leaned back, scrunching up his eyebrows. “Why would you do that? I mean, of course I think it’s a nice place, but I know you’re a rich, famous author. Seems like if you wanted to buy something, you could find a lot nicer islands with a lot nicer beaches.”

That actually made me laugh. “Jimmy, I’ve been to a lot of beaches, and I have to tell you that what you have here on Driftwood Island is really something special. Your beaches are a step above almost everything I’ve seen. And, well, the truth is, I’ve fallen in love.”

“With the island? I guess it does get under your skin.”

I laughed. “No, not with the island. I mean, yes, the island has definitely gotten under my skin, and I couldn’t be happier to be here and to be experiencing life on Driftwood. But I meant I’ve fallen in love with a girl.”

Jimmy raised an eyebrow and leaned back in his chair with a grin. “Well, I’ll be, Mr. Foster. You found yourself a local girl, huh? Who’s the lucky gal?”

“Please, call me Luke. And the lucky girl is Kelsey Young.” I watched as Jimmy nodded his head, almost as if he’d expected this. I hadn’t come in here planning to mention Kelsey. I’d had all these fancy ideas in my head of how to explain that selling the Beach House made good financial sense for Jimmy. But once I was here, none of that had seemed to matter. The only thing that mattered to me was Kelsey, and loving her was the only reason I could give with a straight face for wanting to buy a beach house on Driftwood Island. I took a deep breath, and decided to pour out my heart to Jimmy. It wasn’t something I normally did. Normally I only poured my heart out when writing in the pages of a novel. But something told me that giving Jimmy the real, whole truth was what I needed to do here.

“I met Kelsey almost right after I landed on Driftwood Island,” I said. “I was quite taken with her from the start. As you know, she’s a librarian, and loves books. Naturally, as an author I love books as well. We had a long conversation at Joe’s Sandbar, and then I couldn’t get her out of my head. I’ve seen her several times since then, and as cheesy as it sounds, she’s totally captured my heart. There’s no one else like her. Now, the beach house and the beaches nearby are part of my memories of her. I want to live there forever, in the place where our love first blossomed.”

Jimmy shook his head in wonder or amusement—or perhaps a mixture of both. I couldn’t quite tell. But what I could tell was that he liked my story. He was grinning at me with a look off understanding in his eyes. “I haven’t wanted to let go of that land because that was where I met my dear Ethel. We were married for thirty years before cancer took her from me, and she loved that beach house. I moved out after she was gone, because I couldn’t stand being there without her. But I couldn’t stand to sell the place, either. It just seemed wrong.”

I grimaced, hoping I hadn’t opened an old wound. But Jimmy was still smiling.

“I tell you what, Luke. I can’t think of a better person to sell it to than someone who fell in love on that property, too. Name me a fair price, and the property is yours.”

I didn’t often gawk, but I gawked at Jimmy. This had been much easier than I’d thought. I hadn’t expected him to cave so soon, and I definitely hadn’t expected him to tell me to name a price. His reaction to my heartfelt story only confirmed for me my decision to stay on Driftwood Island. The locals here might be a little protective of each other, but that was a good thing. They had a real community here, and I’d always wanted to be part of a real community. “Alright then. Here’s my offer.”

I grabbed a pen and paper and wrote a number down that was easily twice what the property was worth. Jimmy looked at it, threw the paper back at me, and shook his head.

“No way. I can’t accept that. That’s way too much money.”

“Jimmy, you know I’m rich. I have more money than I know what to do with, and I want to do this. I want to give the money to you in exchange for the land and the house. I want to do it to honor Ethel, even though I never met her. Now that I’ve found love myself, I know how devastating it must have been to lose her. Please, let me do this for you in memory of her.”

Tears sprang to Jimmy’s eyes. “Luke, that’s very kind, but—”

“But nothing. Take the money and make your life a little better with it. Revamp the store, and maybe the house you’re living in as well. Take a nice vacation. You’ve been through a lot in life, I can tell. You deserve a break.”

Jimmy hesitated for several more moments, but finally nodded. “Okay, Luke. If you’re sure about this.”

“I’m sure. I’ve never been surer in my life.”

Jimmy smiled and extended a hand to me. “Well, then. Welcome to Driftwood Island. It looks like Kelsey found herself a real good guy. And you’re gonna love being a local.”

“I think so, Jimmy,” I said with a wide smile. “I really think so.”