CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Eva intentionally stood and waited for the Lunds to arrive, enjoying the way her high heels pinched her toes. The slight pain reminded her she was stronger and tougher than all those around her. The door opened and in walked two gloriously tall, obviously related people, a man and woman with similar short pale hair and striking blue eyes. Strong cheekbones and jawlines carved from stone. They moved with grace—what she wouldn’t do with that height. The woman wore unflattering jeans and work boots. She hadn’t even bothered with lip gloss. The man, at least, had on khaki pants and a neat dress shirt with a button-down collar. Even in her heels, she didn’t reach their shoulders. They must be the Lunds, Anders and Sanna. She’d heard from her source that they were tall.
They would need to sit.
The two were already talking about something and didn’t realize she was their appointment. She stepped a little closer to hear them better.
“Please keep your mind open,” Anders said, his face even stonier. “You aren’t the only one in this family.”
He stood close to the woman so they didn’t have to speak loudly, but it was clear from their stiff bodies they were fighting.
“Dad doesn’t want to leave the orchard. We spoke last night when I went back to the hospital.”
Anders huffed out of his nose.
“Dad is on a lot of pain meds. When he comes home, he’ll realize he can’t jump back into work.”
“That doesn’t mean he’ll want to leave Idun’s.” Sanna played with her necklace, rubbing her fingers on the medallion. “Why are you so against the orchard? Julie commented last night that ‘not everyone wants to be trapped here.’ Did you feel trapped?”
Anders’s mouth froze into a grim line.
“She’s not talking about me.”
“Then what was she talking about?”
“I’m not getting into it right now.” He looked around the coffee shop and his eyes settled on Eva. Sanna hadn’t noticed her yet.
“How am I supposed to believe anything you say when you won’t tell me the truth?”
Eva could use that infighting to her advantage.
“I’m not lying to you. Withholding information is not the same thing as lying. You’d be wise to remember that.” He held out his hand to her and spoke in a louder voice. “You must be Eva.”
She pulled out her most friendly and innocent smile.
“Yes. I knew who you were right away. You must be the tallest people in the county. Who knew Finns were so tall?”
Anders smiled at her right away—getting men to smile at her was never difficult. Sanna was another story—definitely not charmed. The tall woman snorted and rolled her eyes.
“We’re Swedes, not Finns.”
Eva blinked. That mistake would cost her, she’d have to appeal to Sanna with a different strategy.
“Well, now I know.” She cleared her throat. “I’ll grab us a table while you get your drinks.”
Eva left them to it while she settled into a tiny table in a corner. The shorter chairs would bring them down to her height. She set her binder of documents on the table. It shouldn’t take long to convince them that the money was definitely worth it. Her offer was well over market for their land. In a few minutes, they were all settled.
“Eva, why don’t you start with what you plan to do with the property?” Anders began.
Eva paused. Most people didn’t care what WWW planned to do with the land. They just wanted the money. But easy enough to change her pitch on the fly. She pulled out another binder and opened it to a rendering of the proposed hotel and water park.
“Here is the initial sketch. It always changes during the project, but you can see this is the road, the parking lot, water park, hotel.” She pointed to one end. “This will be an adults-only pool. We find some of our patrons prefer a quieter atmosphere.” She winked at them, grinning. Anders smiled. Sanna just stared at the image.
“Where are the trees?” Sanna asked.
“The trees?”
“You’re buying an apple orchard. In Door County. You’ve even named it The Orchard.” She pointed to the top of the image. And it’s true, they were planning to name the complex The Orchard, or at least something tied into a Door County theme. Her designers were still working on final interior plans.
“I guess we’ll plant a few along the edges after construction is done. See, you’re already seeing how plans can change.” Eva smiled, giving it her best “I’m with you” look.
“You’re going to cut down all the existing trees to build this.” Sanna pointed at the picture. “Then plant some new apple trees.”
“In my experience, it’s easier for construction to remove any existing physical obstacles, then bring those elements back as newer or updated.” Eva didn’t understand what was so complicated about this. “Let’s move on to the financi—”
As she spoke, Sanna stood and walked out of the coffee shop with no warning and no explanation. How unprofessional. Anders rubbed his forehead with one of his huge hands.
“Is she coming back?” Eva asked.
“No.” Anders looked at her. “Let me be frank. I think it makes sense to sell. I think your offer is a good start. But if you want any chance of making this deal happen, you either need to find a way that she won’t care about those trees being cut down or build the water park around them. Call when you have something new.”
He stood and followed his sister out.
Save the fucking trees? Who cared about trees? You can always plant more trees. But Eva’s mind already started churning out ideas. Her brother would have strong-armed the sellers into an agreement using more money as his blunt tool, but Eva could tell money alone didn’t matter to Sanna. This was what her dad and brother never understood about women, about people, really. There was usually more to any deal than dollars alone. She needed to win Sanna over, earn her trust, find a way to save those trees, and then her deal would be done.