Page 34 of Meet Me at the Grand

“You all ready to begin?” Seb cleared his throat behind them.

Dani and Liam turned to find the rest of the council seated. Tara’s gaze bounced between the two of them thoughtfully, but the rest of the members were either looking at their phones or paying very close attention to their sticky buns and coffee.

“Yes, sir,” Liam said.

Dani nodded her agreement and tugged at the bottom of her blouse. For this meeting, she’d worn her nicest blouse and a pair of slacks she’d had to drag from her closet just so she didn’t look like a hag next to Mr. Stylish over there.

She glanced down at Uncle Seb, who gave her a smile, but she couldn’t help but see the creases in his furrowed brow. Clearly, he was still worried over the fact Dani hadn’t been able to convince Liam to show her his plans.

Well. Here went…everything.

“Welcome, everyone,” she said. “As you know, Seb and I have been working on a plan to revitalize the island’s economy, and it starts with the rebuilding of the Grand.” Her throat grew thick. This really was momentous. “I’ve been working with a development company out of Los Angeles that specializes in renovations and rebuilds to draw up a proposal that will both honor our island’s legacy and help us move forward into the future. Once we’ve presented you with the plans, we’ll open it up for discussion and questions, and at the end of the meeting, we will vote whether we want to move forward with these plans or not. Majority will rule.”

Everyone blinked back at her, expressions neutral. Dani’s toes fidgeted in her black flats. “So, without further ado, let me introduce Liam Stone.” Turning, she smiled at Liam—and she felt his returning grin to her fingertips. “Liam, take it away.”

“Thank you, Dani.” Liam grabbed his presentation clicker from the table while Dani slid into the chair farthest from Liam—a good way to view the crowd and their reactions. “I want to thank you all for taking time from your busy schedules to be here. It’s been an absolute honor to spend time on your island this past week. I’m sure it comes as no surprise to you that I’ve been utterly captivated by the beauty of Jonathon Island—especially its hotel.”

Oof, he was a charmer, wasn’t he?

Janine nodded along, and Martha tucked a piece of her gray-streaked, dark hair behind her ear and leaned forward, her top-heavy frame pressed against the table.

“Now you might be asking, who is this Liam guy and what are his qualifications? And you might be skeptical of me too. I know some were.” His gaze flickered to Dani—hopefully quickly enough that nobody else noticed. “But I want you to know that I’m fully qualified to be here and help you. I’ve got degrees in architecture and business, and over a decade of experience in the field. Here are just a few of the properties I’ve helped to take from old and worn to shiny and new.”

Liam flipped to the first slide of an impressive beachside hotel. Then another and another, each one fancier and more luxurious than the next. Uncle Seb folded his hands on the table and studied them with extreme focus, as did the rest of the council. Janine frowned, but that was to be expected.

None of the properties had the historic glamour of the Grand.

“Now that that’s out of the way, let’s get to the reason we’re all here. The future of your island.”

Dani blew out a breath as Liam hit the clicker. An architectural rendering of the rebuilt Grand appeared on the screen—but this was not her family’s hotel.

The Grand, a veritable bastion of history, had been transformed into a shining, completely modern shell of what it had been. Liam’s drawing had the hotel painted red and gray. Gone were the familiar turrets. The curving terrace. Gone was the long summer porch. In its place were divided, individual porches for each ground-floor room, and a public porch where a hotel outdoor restaurant would now be. In the sketch, a grand staircase led down to an outdoor pool in the shape of Jonathon Island, and there was a whole new addition labeled “villas” abutting a separate pool where the gazebo currently stood.

Her eyes frantically searched the plans, finally seeing the gazebo moved to the waterfront where, sure, people might gain a fabulous view of the lake but would lose all the privacy and quiet currently afforded by the location.

“This is just the outside, of course. I’ll get to the inside in a moment. But as you can see”—he mashed the clicker down, and a pinpoint of light appeared on the projector screen—“we’ve got three pools, one of which is an adults-only spa retreat pool, as well as a new garden, tennis and pickleball courts, a walking path that will strategically take visitors past the state-of-the-art fitness center and spa so as to encourage them to make use of such facilities, and of course, the golf course, which will be expanded from the current nine-hole course to a full eighteen holes.”

If she’d been a cartoon character, Dani’s jaw would have smashed straight through the desk, maybe even the floor, beneath her. This couldn’t be right.

Her gaze swung to Liam, desperate for him to look at her. For him to confirm that he was joking.

Hehadto be joking, right? If not, how could he have gotten it so wrong?

But maybe…maybe the inside was better?

He flipped to the next slide and the next—and just…no. Dani hadn’t blinked, and the dry air stung her eyes, so she rubbed them. Maybe she could somehow clear away what she was seeing. But it was still there.

“The indoors will boast a new and improved foyer, designed to impress and welcome visitors to their luxurious new home. There will be space for three restaurants and a conference center for larger events. What used to be the Grand Pavilion will now be the island’s one and only movie theater. And I haven’t even gotten to the rooms.”

The rooms, at least, he surely wouldn’t change. The Grand was known for its unique guest rooms, each one featuring a different style and color scheme, from the wallpaper to the paintings and curtains.

And then Liam flipped to the slide labeled “Accommodations,” and when Dani saw a sleek room with black furniture, swanky wall hangings that looked like they belonged in a modern art museum, and lush dark carpet to replace the real wood floors and brightly-patterned carpets that were all part of the Grand’s historical charm—she nearly couldn’t hold it in any longer.

But Janine beat her to it. “I can’t look at this anymore. What is this monstrosity you’re showing us?”

Liam stopped talking mid-sentence. “I’m sorry?”

Janine pointed an accusing finger at the screen. “Did you even look at former pictures of the Grand? We never had fancy jet tubs in the bathroom or TVs above the desks. And we certainly never had tacky Andy Warhol paintings. We had Monet or Renoir on the walls—the perfect way for guests to calm themselves at the end of a beautiful day of stepping back in time. What you’ve done is just ruin the whole effect with your cookie cutter plans that degrade the historical integrity of our island.”

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