Page 7 of Apple Martinis

“I mean like the one down the street from Sweet Cocktails.”

“You mean the one where they allow women to throw their bras into the rafters to be left as a souvenir? That bar?”

“Yeah. Kind of like that. They are open to everyone until a certain time of day, then it becomes adults only.”

“That would be some stuff competition, man.” He shakes his head.

“It would if I was planning for this to be here.”

“If not here, then where?” He asks, sitting up now.

“I’m not sure yet. I want to look more into it. Run all the numbers, look at several locations but I’m leaning towards Hawaii.”

“So that’s why you mentioned it earlier when we were talking about waves.” I shake my head in answer.

“I’m nowhere near a complete plan yet. It’s just something I’ve been thinking about for a while. It might just be a pipe dream.” I sigh, staring off across my tiny yard.

“Nah, don’t think like that. Rome wasn’t built in a day.” He chuckles at his own joke. “If you want it bad enough, man, you’ll make it happen.”

“Thanks. You’re a good friend, August.”

“Of course you think so. I’m the only one you have.” We both laugh because we both know he’s right.

Chapter 2

Piper

I’m beginning to lose faith in finding a rental when I walk into the fourth place on the list that Bianca texted to me earlier when she found out that I was headed down ahead of finding a place.

“Good afternoon! How can I help you today?” The woman behind a counter asks with a smile.

“I’m hoping that you have a vacancy?” I form the words into a question, holding my breath for her answer.

“You’re in luck! One of our guests checked out a week early about an hour ago.”

“Great!” I truly smile for the first time since arriving in the beach town. “How long is it available for?”

“It’s pretty open right now for the rest of the month. How long do you need it for?” She asks, sliding over some paperwork for me to fill out.

“Two weeks if that’s okay. I have some friends that’ll be coming in to join me at the end of next week.” I begin filling everything out and handing her my driver’s license as well as a credit card.

“That’ll be fine. Just be sure to list them on that sheet there as guests. I’ll need their driver's license information once they arrive as well.”

Thirty minutes later, I’m all checked in and walking into the condo that’ll be home for the next couple of weeks.

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