Page 23 of Blame It on the Bikini
"Not that many. Like I said, we moved a lot, and even when we stayed in one place, we were often traveling. It wasn't like I had a crew of childhood friends."
"When is your birthday?" she asked curiously.
He gave her a pointed look. "It's not this month, I'll say that."
"I wasn't suggesting I would throw you a party."
"Not yet, you weren't, but I could see the wheels turning in your head." He cleared his throat as their gazes met and lingered for a bit too long. He really needed to stop telling her so much about himself. "Should we carry this out to the pool?"
"Yes. I'll set it up out there and put a big bow on it."
They each grabbed a side of the dollhouse and carried it out to the courtyard together. Once they'd set it up, Lexie went back to her apartment to grab all the items to put in the house, and he was about to go upstairs when he ran into Serena again, who wanted to introduce him to her husband, Brad, and her sister, Ava.
Before he knew it, he was in the center of things, hearing about Brad's bar and grill, Liam's surf school and sports chalet, and Ava's financial investing company. Ava was definitely quieter and more reserved than the others, but he could see her giving him a sharp look every now and then as if she was trying to figure him out. He still hadn't read the report she'd compiled for Lexie, who had sent it to him six months ago, and he was very afraid he was going to get called out on that. He kept wanting to slip away, but every time he tried to back out of a conversation, someone else came up and introduced themselves.
It was a happy, friendly blur of faces and smiles, all of whom were probably hoping to find a way to change his mind by welcoming him into their community. Even if their reasons for being particularly friendly to him were a little suspect, he could also see how much they genuinely cared about each other, how much they knew about each other's lives, their struggles, and their recent triumphs. It was definitely a unique environment. He couldn't remember knowing more than one or two neighbors, if that, in any of the apartment buildings he'd lived in, nor the condo tower he lived in now.
The birthday girl arrived just after noon, and after shouting "Surprise", and watching Olivia race to the dollhouse with wonder and awe in her eyes, he was introduced to more people, including Olivia's mother Bree, Hunter Kane, and Emmalyn McGuire.
One conversation led to another, and despite his efforts to extricate himself from the party, he found himself eating pizza, singing Happy Birthday, and enjoying a piece of decadent cake. As he tossed the empty plate into the trash can, he finally saw an opportunity to slip away, but the cool blonde, Ava, cut him off.
"I wanted to ask you if you'd ever read my analysis," she said.
"I did read it when I first got it, but I will take another look at it."
"If you have any questions, I'd be happy to chat with you about some of my conclusions."
"I appreciate that," he said in a neutral voice.
"But you don't really want to hear anything that will sway you from selling," she said, giving him a knowing look.
"I don't think there's anything you could say," he replied. "The land underneath this building is the most valuable part of it, and the only way to extract that value is to sell."
"You're right. But if that's what you want to do, why are you here?"
"My father asked me to spend time here before making my decision. So that's what I'm doing. Everyone has been very nice, and I appreciate the community spirit?—"
"Which is, in fact, much more valuable than the land this building sits on," she said, cutting him off. "But it's an intangible, intrinsic value to those who have the good fortune to be tenants. It doesn't benefit you and your company at all. I told Lexie that when I wrote the analysis. But I also tried to show you that there are things you could do to improve profitability. Unfortunately, it's not the profitability of this building you're interested in."
"That's correct."
"I do understand, probably more than you might think. I was living in LA when my sister moved here, got a job in a bar, and then fell in love with the owner. She wanted to get married on the beach with her reception in this courtyard, and I thought she was completely out of her mind. When I came for the wedding, I felt like an outsider and also a little jealous that my sister had made so many good friends. Then she asked me to pet sit for her cat while she was on her honeymoon, and it didn't take long for me to see why this place made her so happy."
"The place or the people?"
"They go together. It's hard to explain. If you don't live here, you don't get it, so maybe it's good you're here. At least you'll know what it is you're selling. Anyway, I'm around if you ever want to talk business. I love accounting. If you want to talk numbers, I am happy to do so."
He smiled. "I also like numbers and accounting. It's very straightforward."
"If only life were the same," she said. "But I've come to appreciate the unexpected twists and turns, the intangibles, more than I ever imagined."
"Would that have something to do with your surfer guy?"
"A lot to do with Liam," she said with a laugh. "He changed my life. Anyway, if you want to escape, now's a good time." She tipped her head toward the stairs.
"I do have some work to take care of."
"Then you'd better go quickly because Josie and Margaret are setting up a card game, and if you don't leave now, you'll be here for hours."
