“Not really. I just bought the pier.”
Ally’s mouth fell open as she slowly put the jug down. “You’re the one who bought Paxton’s Pier?”
Her shock would have been funny if Autumn didn’t still feel the same way herself. “Um, yeah. That’d be me.”
“Do you work for a real estate company?” Ally asked, filling an espresso cup with a double shot, then pouring it into the milk.
“No company. Just me.” Autumn took the coffee from Ally and pulled her wallet out.
“Oh no. This one’s on the house,” Ally told her. “So what are your plans for the pier?” She shook her head. “Sorry, that’s really nosy of me. It’s just been for sale for the longest time. It needs so much work.”
“Yeah. I can see that,” Autumn said dryly. “And to be honest, I’m not sure what I’m going to do yet. I’ve called a meeting for all the interested parties tonight to try and get started.”
“Are you planning to stay in town for a while?”
“I guess. I need to find somewhere a little more permanent. The Silver Sands Resort is nice, but I can’t live in a hotel room forever.”
“Hmmm.” Ally tapped her finger against her lips. “You know what, I’ve got a friend with an empty, fully furnished cottage. They were talking about renting it out. I can call them for you if you like? It’s little, but it’s walking distance from the pier, and it’s been completely modernized.”
“But you don’t know me.” Autumn frowned.
“You just bought our pier. You’re practically part of the community.” Ally shrugged. “And you have references, right? And can pay a deposit up front?”
“Well… yeah.” This was so surreal. Like walking onto the set of a TV show where everybody knew everyone else.
“Great,” Ally said, passing her the cup of coffee. “I’ll call Ember and see if she can bring the keys over later.”
* * *
“You’ve not even been there a day and the locals are already giving you free drinks and offering you somewhere to live?” Lydia said through the phone line as Autumn sat on the deck of the coffee shop and made some notes for tonight’s meeting. “Where the heck is this pier again, Stepford?”
“Hey, you’re the one who keeps telling me to take the stick out of my ass and take life as it comes,” Autumn reminded her sister. “I’m just following your advice.”
“And I’m very glad you did.” There was a grin in Lydia’s voice. “Now you just need to have some unbridled sex with a handsome stud, and all my dreams for you will be complete.
For some reason, Autumn’s mind turned to the man she’d seen on the pier last night as she was delivering letters to her new tenants, informing them of tonight’s meeting. He wasn’t her type at all. She liked them neat, lean, and dressed in designer suits. Not Aquaman wannabes with shaggy hair and hands that could crush you without trying.
Even if he was singing the cutest song to his kid over the phone.
“So what’s next?”
“I meet with the pier’s tenants tonight at six.”
“What are you gonna say?” Lydia asked, her voice hushed.
Autumn had absolutely no idea. Telling them that she’d bought the pier while under the influence of tequila, thanks to her recent divorce, wasn’t going to be the best way of getting them on her side. They were going to want her to have a solid plan and reassurances and everything else a new owner would give them.
“I’ll tell them it’s business as usual.”
“Dad’s throwing a fit. You know that, right?”
Autumn pressed her lips together. Yeah, ten missed phone calls and five texts she couldn’t bring herself to read told her that. But she wasn’t ready to let him rain on her parade.
“Autumn?”
She looked up from her notepad to see Ally looking at her, smiling. Smiling back, she covered the phone. “Yes?”
“I just heard from my friend, Ember. The beach cottage is yours if you want it. She can meet you there during her lunch break if you want to look around?”