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“You don’t understand.” Wes pulled at his hair. He felt as flustered and confused as a very sick old man. “We need the inn. We’ve always needed the inn to survive.”
But the men turned around without another glance and retreated from the foyer. Wes and Rhonda stared down at the legal document, and Rhonda had a hungry glint in her eyes. She looked at her cameraman and asked, “Did you get any of that?” When the guy said yes, she snapped her fingers. “Yes! Now that’s a wild story.”
Wes’s heart thudded. He was in over his head.
Chapter Fourteen
Genevieve had just fallen asleep when Sam burst through the door. He was frantic, his eyes bloodshot, waving around a folder. Amanda pressed her finger to her lips to remind him to stay quiet. He couldn’t wake the baby.
“I need your help,” Sam rasped.
Amanda carried Genevieve upstairs to her crib, pulled the curtains, and took the baby monitor back down. Her thoughts hummed like a speedboat. She hadn’t seen Sam look like that in ages—maybe not since the car accident they’d been in together nearly two years ago. She focused on her breathing so as not to start shaking. She had to stay calm.
Sam sat at the kitchen table with a stack of papers in front of him and his head bowed. He looked defeated. Amanda sat beside him, and Sam slid the stack over to her so she could read it. Her heart dropped into her stomach.
They were closing the Sunrise Cove Inn. Effective immediately.
“They can’t do this, can they?” Sam demanded. “Tell me they can’t do this.”
“Let me read,” Amanda said, trying to keep her voice normal. “Why don’t you make yourself a cup of tea? Relax a little?”
Sam was on his feet. He cut across the kitchen and retrieved a beer from the fridge. After he popped the tab, he drained half of it, his Adam’s apple bouncing. Amanda tried to focus on the words in front of her to make sense of the legal terminology that had come second nature before she’d begun to doubt herself. She knew Sam wanted her to find a reason this wasn’t legal so he could throw it back in the State of Massachusetts’s face.
But Amanda was struck with how airtight the paperwork was. Due to the potential weight of history in the basement, they wanted to preserve the Sunrise Cove Inn as best as they could. They didn’t want to put it at the mercy of any guests eager to pry or destroy it, either on accident or on purpose.
“I don’t like the look on your face,” Sam said from the fridge.
Amanda raised her eyes. She didn’t smile. “I don’t think you can fight this. Not yet anyway.”
Sam’s hand clenched in a fist. He staggered to the counter and stared at his shoes for a long time. The beer hung sadly in his other hand.
Amanda had a strange thought. All this had happened so quickly. It was just one day after they’d learned of the potential of that downstairs room. It twisted her up inside. Was it possible that the Arnouts had had a hand in this, too? That they’d decided to go after her husband’s career rather than just her own? They had ties with the governor that surely allowed them wonderful relations with the Historical Society of Massachusetts. All the governor had to do was make a call.
If the Arnouts were really behind this, they were craftier than she’d thought. There was an entire legal arena that involved protecting historical sites. They were using everything they could.
Amanda had poked the bear. And now he was hungry for blood.
Amanda shook her head of her suspicions. Regardless of whether this was the fault of the Arnouts or not, she had to help Sam.
“We need to get everyone out of the Sunrise Cove immediately,” Amanda said firmly. “If we don’t, they could fine us thousands of dollars.”
They couldn’t afford that. Not after the desolate winter they’d had. Not if tourist season wasn’t a given. Amanda shivered at the implications of this closure.
Sam tugged his hair. “I don’t know what to do. Where can we put them?”
Amanda’s head thudded. “How many guests do you have right now?”
“We’re more than half full,” Sam said. “Six rooms. One of them is a family, so they’ll need two beds and a cot.” He groaned. “I could call around the island. See if anyone has rooms. But we can’t afford to put everyone up for the remainder of their vacations.”
Amanda shot toward her cell and grabbed it without telling Sam what was on her mind. The phone rang out across the island before the answer.
“Amanda! This is a surprise.”
“Hi, Aunt Kelli,” Amanda said with a smile. Kelli wasn’t officially her “aunt,” but she grouped all the Montgomery siblings as second-tier aunts and uncles rather than second cousins. “How are you?”
“I’m doing well. I just spoke to my mom on the phone about all that madness at the Sunrise Cove. She’s beside herself. She wants to get in the basement.”
Amanda shivered with fake laughter. Sam watched her from the kitchen and nodded along. He’d caught on.
