Page 57 of Everything I Crave

“Mmnot his wuman,” I mumble around a mouthful of food.

“Oh, honey, you’re for sure his woman.” Hunter laughs.

My cheeks redden.

“Okay, can we get down to why we’re here?” Gunnar asks, still glaring at his brothers.

“Yea, so you can all tell me what a shitty job I’m doing.” Liam lifts his fist like he’s going to slam it on the table but then stops.

Emma takes charge, ignoring Liam’s comments, and goes around the table asking each brother for their five action items. Most are duplicates of the others but shortly Emma has a list of items sorted, and dates for things to be done, and who is going to come help. Hunter is going to ask some of his crews if they’d be open to a side job to help out with the bigger, more complicated tasks. The stairs to the cove are number one and to be done before we leave. No one wants a lawsuit on top of all the repairs.

“Okay, that leaves the books, marketing, and meals.” Emma looks around, “And probably a cleaning lady.”

“Mom was cleaning. But she slowed down when her arthritis got too bad,” Liam answers flatly.

“I’m going to put myself down for cleaning, I’ll come home every weekend and help you clean until you can find a more permanent solution. Maybe Jessica can help you out too, at least until I'm home more. I think she has a cleaning business.” She pulls out her phone and starts typing, presumably to Jessica.

“The books are a mess. And I don’t do any marketing or cooking.” Liam looks at his hands.

I wonder if he was prepared to take over the inn, or if he just thought Mr. Keaton would be more helpful. It makes me wonder what a mess this was before he took over. It seems like more than too much for one person.

“Can you do books too, Em?” Cooper asks. “You can do them from school as long as Liam emails everything to you, you’re almost done with your degree so you should be able to know what you’re doing right?”

She writes more on her notepad. “Yea, I’ll do that.” She chews on the tip of her pen.

“I don’t mind helping with marketing,” I say quietly.

“Really?” Emma asks.

“Yea, I mean I know my way around a marketing plan, and social media. I bet my sister Scarlett would be willing to help with the marketing too. If I offer to help her do the actual work she’d probably give you a good deal. She just opened her own business.” I pull out my phone to text Scarlett.

“Oh, good idea. I didn’t even think about using her.” Gunnar squeezes my hand under the table. “Scarlett runs a marketing firm that specializes in helping small businesses. She lives in Lupine Valley but has clients all over. Willow and I could manage the day to day stuff with her, and you guys could probably send anything she needs for the social media.”

Emma jots more down on her notepad.

“Ok, that leaves meals.” Emma taps the table.

“You should see if Margaret could provide some breakfast pastries.” Wyatt shoves almost a whole donut in his mouth. I can’t imagine feeding this group.

“Mmm, that would be an excellent idea. I would stay here just for the cinnamon rolls.”

“Oh yea, and what about Roman, could he cater some dinners maybe just on weekends until we can hire a chef?” Cooper asks.

“I’ll ask him. I’m going to go by and see him this afternoon to order some new beers for The Bar,” Gunnar says.

“I’ll come too,” Hunter adds.

We get the rest of the details down, and organized before splitting up to start on the list. The guys are on yard duty. Emma and I are on social media content.

With my social media presence already established, we shoot some videos and photos that we can use to post later. I texted Scarlett before coming down to the beach to ask her about helping, and of course she’s already in her research phase. Another benefit to using Scarlett is that she refuses any money for the project. She picks one business a year to help pro bono, and The Balsam Cliffs Inn just got chosen.

We work in the cove for a while, giving the guys time to spruce up the rest of the property. Gunnar was not happy that we jumped the boards to get down here.

But what choice did we have? The property wasn’t ready for filming yet.

Emma films me singing a few covers on the rock slabs, and we take a bunch of photos on the beach with some props that she had in her parent’s house, showcasing all the uses of the cove.

After a long morning of creating content, we head into town to make a grocery run. Filling the kitchen was on us.

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