Page 10 of You Know You Wanna

“I know what she said, but there’s a big market on, and I thought you might like to go shopping.”

She blinked away what I could’ve sworn was disappointment before she nodded. “Sure. Shopping. Of course.”

I glanced at her in the rearview mirror. “Is there suddenly something wrong with shopping?”

“No,” she said quietly. “Not at all. I just don’t know what there could be to buy in a place like this.”

“Well, we’re about to find out.” I turned down the street I’d been directed to by the arrows attached to the trees and road signs along the way.

A surprising amount of cars lined the sidewalk. It took us a bit to find an open spot. I parked and slid my sunglasses on, waiting for her to do the same before we headed toward the market. “Why don’t you go explore a little bit? I’ve just got to call Declan real quick, but I’ll catch up.”

“Declan,” she muttered. “Of course. Have fun. Call me when you’re done.”

She took off then, quickly disappearing into the crowds moving through the aisles made up of colorful tents scattered across the local park. Without even having looked back at me once, she was gone and I was wondering when exactly I’d gotten to the point where I could watch her get swallowed up by a crowd without having a panic attack and chasing after her.

Years ago, Remington. It’s been years.

I let out a deep breath, sliding my phone out of my pocket and finding a spot under a big tree to make my call. Declan Graves was my business partner, which was why my daughter had been so snotty about me having to speak to him instead of walking around with her.

Since I had no interest in supposedly hand-stitched leather purses or locally produced honey, however, this was a far better use of my time.

Dec picked up almost immediately. “How’s it going in the Smokies, Remi? I was wondering when I’d hear from you.”

“I’ve been busy,” I said curtly. “Partially because I couldn’t stay at the Greens. Something changed after we did our due diligence. The place is practically a ghost town.”

“Excuse me? Are you saying it’s haunted?”

“No, it was empty. When I finally spoke to the manager, he told me that they were only at about thirty percent occupancy.”

“But it’s the summer,” Dec said slowly. “They’re supposed to be fully booked.”

“Look who finally caught up with the rest of the class. Yes, exactly, which is why I immediately asked what was going on. He told me that some other resort had been sucking up all their business. The place is called Blue Pines, so that’s where we’re staying now.”

“Hang on,” he said, his voice a little muffled. “I’m looking it up.” A keyboard clacked in the background. “Blue Pines Resort in some town called Bluebell Hollow? Is that the one?”

“That’s the one,” I confirmed.

He whistled between his teeth, sounding shocked when he spoke again. “You’re really staying at this place? I don’t know if there have been any upgrades since they took these pictures, but it looks ancient.”

“The word everyone around here keeps using is rustic,” I said. “I’ve done some exploring though, and surprisingly, I really like the place. There’s a certain charm to it that explains why they’ve got guests flocking there while the Greens is limping along. That resort has no character whatsoever.”

“Character, huh?” He sounded distracted again. “I guess I can see what you mean, but how is it possible that one other resort has caused such a dip in the other place’s occupancy rate? I thought that region was packed over the summer.”

“It is, but apparently, Blue Pines put in a Nordic Spa last year, and that appears to be what’s attracting so many more people there. Plus, from what I learned this morning, their yoga retreat is also wildly popular, and apparently, families like that it has a camp for the kids.”

“Oh.”

“Yep.”

“Well, I mean, obviously, we can’t let that stand,” he said.

I chuckled. “It’s like we share a brain sometimes. That’s exactly what I was thinking.”

“What’s the plan?”

“The plan is that you should come check this place out. It’d be a really good investment property and the owner is as old as the hills. I’m hoping he’s going to jump at the opportunity. Well, not jump. Not with those old knees.”

“Old people rarely make things easy,” he said, once again echoing the thoughts I’d had myself. “I’ll see if I can swing by sometime and see what’s what.”