Page 4 of The Deal Maker

TWO

DUKE

Have I always wanted to see a flash mob in person? Yes.

Check that one off the bucket list. The fact it’s for a proposal is even more interesting. The amount of work that went into the choreography and all that is impressive.

The song is one of those romantic ones women always put on their future wedding playlist, and while I wouldn’t have chosen a song from this century to propose to someone I wanted to spend the rest of my life with, everyone in the crowd looks pleased.

A guy comes from the back and kneels down, asking the excited woman to be his wife. There are the customary tears andshe says yes before they embrace. It’s not until I take a step to the right that I recognize the woman as Hope Stevens. We’d graduated the same year. Although we didn’t hang out a lot then, I’d learned a lot from her mother during my short stint as a real estate agent six months ago. She’d also hooked me up with the office space next to The Candy Jar.

I turn to look at the woman a few feet from her. Maggie Dean.

We have a love-to-hate kind of relationship. Not really from my side. I’m just good at pushing her buttons.

I study her face, wondering how she feels about this scene. I remember the first time I met Maggie. It was the summer when I was ten and me and my friends had built a fort in the tree out back of my parents’ house. We shared a backyard fence with Hope’s family and Maggie was staying for the summer.

She and Hope were dressed up as brides, in dresses and with what looked like handkerchiefs covering their faces.

Right now, Maggie looks like she’s trying to smile, and I wonder what’s going through her head. The little I’ve heard about why Maggie is here on a more permanent basis was that something happened with a previous relationship. Now I’m even more curious, which means my brain is trying to come up with made up scenarios.

Her ex-boyfriend died from choking on food at dinner. Maybe he decided to scale Mt. Everest and she didn’t want to join him.

Just another reason my vivid imagination has a hard time sticking to one career. It’s the biggest imperfection on my mother’s life list. She doesn’t have a son who’s willing to take over the family business and also has no real direction in his life.

I don’t want to dwell on that right now. My mind is more curious about Maggie’s background.

The mob claps and then disperses, which reminds me I need to open the store. It would’ve been better to be open before theproposal happened, so I could talk to several people walking by, but I’d watched instead of working. Typical Duke.

Someone told me that watching is learning once and I must’ve taken it to heart too much.

The newly engaged couple is still hugging outside. Hope ends up leaving with her fiancé, and Maggie is nowhere to be found.

Willow Cove is only so big, even with the influx of tourists every summer and to make this business work, I have to be constantly talking to people, trying to set up appointments for them to learn about the amazing travel perks that come with timeshares.

It’s a new adventure, but there are strings attached to this one. I’m a serial careerist, if you will. I work at one job for several months until I move onto the next one, sometimes by my choice. Starting my own franchise business is a first, but I was able to give my grandpa enough data and a promise to check in often about my progress, that he loaned me enough money to get started.

Now I’ll just have to pay back the loan from him and then start saving to buy points in the timeshare. I’ve had the travel itch since college, when we would take road trips on the weekends to everything we could drive to. Buying points with DreamTime Vacations will allow me to plan trips to places I’ve always wanted to see.

I know, many people look at me like I'm the bad guy, that I'm out to swindle people for money and that they'll rarely use what points they have. I’ve already gotten that argument several times from my parents and other family members. But my goal is to travel the world, and what better way to do it than to share with people how I've been able to vacation on these timeshare points. It’s a win-win.

Have I actually been to that many places yet? No, but I'm hoping to change that soon. We never went anywhere growingup, since my parents were more homebodies and avoided enormous crowds like their lives depended on it. They own a wedding boutique in town called The Bridal Barn and have done a lot to make this the wedding destination spot on the East coast. Maybe that's why I'm obsessed with seeing fresh places.

I’ve gotten a lot of heat for wanting to escape Willow Cove. The beauty of it and all the things to do, with the bonus being that we're only steps from the ocean and beach, have been enough for my family.

But I need to see what’s outside of this place more than just the few years I attended college. The world is full of so many amazing things to see. It’s like an itch I’m desperately trying to scratch, but my bank account says I can travel to the backyard.

That’s what happens when I bounce from one job to the next, trying to decide what I want to be when I grow up. My friends have things figured out. King, owner of the surf shop, will be engaged any day. Coop has his flying business, and even Beck has a grown-up job in construction around town. Perry will probably be on the water until he’s eighty, bringing in fresh fish.

Me? I’ve had at least six jobs this year alone, if I don’t count the one-week stints.

I wheel in my last few boxes of pamphlets when my cousin Frank calls. "I need my truck back. My shift is almost over, and I've got to head to my other job."

That’s another thing about this town. We’re few in numbers in the off-season, but once summer hits, our population shoots into the thousands. That usually means we have several seasonal workers or that each Willow Cove resident has several jobs to keep things running. Summer comes and there’s no time for relaxation, not even on the impeccable beach tourists enjoy.

"I'll head out right now." The drive there only takes me about ten minutes. It’s usually less but I had to wait for the Mama Duck and her line of ducklings to cross the road.

Once I get to Frank’s mechanic shop, I hand him the keys. “Thanks, Frank. I appreciate it.”

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