‘I had an online meeting with him on Saturday morning. It didn’t go well.’
Pop’s eyebrows shot up. ‘Why? What did he want?’
‘He wants to buy the agency.’
To her horror, Pop didn’t appear shocked. In fact, he looked downright uncomfortable as he drained the rest of his coffee and placed the mug on the veranda beside the wicker sofa. ‘I told a few mates I’m thinking of retiring, and word probably got around.’
Confused, Karly shook her head. ‘But if you’re retiring, I’d keep running the place. I mean, I know we’ve never discussed it, but I always assumed?’
By Pop’s guilty expression, that was not what he had in mind. ‘Sweetheart, if I retired, I’d sell. I want to travel, explore new places, have new experiences, before I get too old to do any of that adventurous stuff, and I can’t do that with my equity tied up in the agency.’
Disappointment made her chest ache. She couldn’t afford to buy him out and run the place herself, which meant Hudson Grenville might get his wish after all, damn him.
‘I’d sell it to you in a heartbeat,’ Pop continued, ‘but I don’t want you to be burdened with massive loans. Besides, you’re too young to be tied down to this place. You could get a job anywhere you want. Broaden your horizons. See what else is out there.’
She managed a wan smile, dying on the inside. The ultimate irony: she’d stifled her dreams to escape Acacia Haven out of loyalty to Pop. He’d left his city life for her; it was the least she could do. Now here he was, granting her the freedom to leave town, and she dithered. The kicker? She didn’t know if she wanted to stay out of gratitude to Pop and wanting to sustain his legacy or sheer stubbornness to cling to something a hotshot like Hudson wanted.
‘I love it here and the agency is my passion, Pop, you know that. I have so many ideas to revamp it—’
‘I know, sweetheart, but why don’t we listen to what Grenville has to say? Even if he does buy me out, I can’t see him turfing you. You know the locals and you’ve been doing this job for over a decade. He’d be mad to get rid of you.’
And she’d be mad to contemplate working for a city shark like him. He’d radiated smugness during their meeting, like he knew something she didn’t. Turns out, maybe he did.
‘He said he might come to town to check things out.’
‘In that case, I think we should listen to what he has to say.’
Oh, she’d listen all right, but it didn’t mean she had to like what she heard. Hudson Grenville was intent on turning her world upside down and she’d be damned if she let him.
CHAPTER
7
Hudson liked the vibe of small coastal towns. Quaint cafés and shops, old-fashioned pubs, unspoiled beaches, but driving into Acacia Haven provided a sweeping vista prettier than most, with deep blue ocean as far as the eye could see at the end of Main Street. He’d have time enough to explore but first he wanted to check in to the motel and pop by the agency to schedule a sit-down with Jeremiah Vogel.
Considering Karly had ignored his call late morning before he’d left Melbourne, he hoped he had better luck with her grandfather. He could’ve rung Jeremiah but if Karly had worded him up he doubted the old man would’ve taken his call either. They couldn’t ignore him in person though, and the sooner he set the wheels in motion, the better. If he didn’t secure the investors for the kids’ emergency housing soon, they’d move on to other projects; he couldn’t let that happen.
This agency would be a welcome addition to his portfolio and allow him to gain a foothold in eastern Victoria with the local investors. He’d made inroads in western and northern Victoria, and once he owned an agency in the eastern part of the state, he could instigate the next part of his plan: opening shelters for kids in country hubs. Underage homelessness wasn’t confined to the city, and with fewer resources for country kids, he wanted this project happening sooner rather than later.
He followed his sat-nav to the motel and turned into the carpark, surprised to see it devoid of cars but filled with tradesman vans and utes. He’d barely stepped out of the car when an elderly woman in jeans and a flannie bustled out of the reception area and made a beeline for him, her wiry grey hair practically standing on end, her expression flustered.
‘Hi, I’m Hudson—’
‘Sorry, you can’t stay here,’ she said, almost wild-eyed as she jerked a thumb over her shoulder in the direction of the motel. ‘Burst water pipe has flooded most of the rooms. Major insurance headache. Going to shut us down for ages. Bloody disaster.’
As she threw her hands up in the air he wondered whether she spoke in short, clipped sentences all the time or if the burst pipe had shaken her up.
‘Sorry to hear that. Do you know of anywhere else I can stay for a few nights?’
‘Go see the real estate agents. Karly and Jem will look after you. Tell them Dot sent you.’
With that, she turned on her heel and hustled away, muttering curses under her breath before she disappeared into the motel again.
So much for small-town hospitality.
Then again, the flooded motel may have given him the perfect opportunity to expedite his meeting with Karly and her grandfather and set his plan in motion. It would be interesting to see them in action, to watch them come up with a few nights’ accommodation for him on short notice.
From the town map he’d studied back in Melbourne, he already knew where their office was, and he was parked outside the Acacia Haven Agency in under five minutes. He’d studied their office location and all the houses they’d sold over the last ten years, getting a feel for what he’d be getting himself into. He liked what he saw. While the agency was predictably quieter in winter months, they did a roaring trade in summer, with holiday-makers flocking to the sleepy seaside town. People searching for a sea change also bought into the intentional living community of Serenity, and that ensured the agency had a steady trade.