Page 8 of The Library of Second Chances
“Yeah, the kind that wail outside your window at night in heat.” Pete laughed as he picked up the glass of champagne Steve had sat in front of him.
“What are you celebrating anyway?” Bob asked Pete, pointing at the champagne glass.
“Life, my dear man. Cheers to being on this earth one more day.” Pete held up his glass to the others and they begrudgingly followed suit.
“It wasn’t exactly the day I had in mind,” Pam grumbled.
Steve soon returned to take their orders, and they all got their usuals: a fried fish sandwich for Bob, crab bisque and a house salad with grilled shrimp for Pete, shrimp and grits for Pam, and a burger and fries for Lucy.
“I know this building isn’t historic,” Lucy said, looking around, “but it’s been here for thirty years. I’d hate to see it go.” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “And what will Marty and Mildred do? They’re so close to retirement, I doubt they’ll want to start over in the new development.”
The group continued discussing Marty and Mildred’s dilemma until Steve reappeared with Pete’s crab bisque.
“Oh, crab bisque, I’ll miss you the most.” Pete dramatically dragged his spoon through his soup, lifting it high before letting the contents pour back into the bowl.
Lucy’s shoulders slumped as she took another sip of her drink. This was depressing.
“Pardon the interruption,” came a deep voice that had been foreign to her until today.
Now it seemed she couldn’t escape it. It was him.
Logan Lancaster had appeared out of seemingly nowhere. “I couldn’t help but overhear. I know you probably all see me as the enemy, but I assure you I’m here to help. I want to find a plan that works for all of you.”
Logan focused on Lucy, the green of his eyes deeper in the dim light of the restaurant. She noticed gold flecks she hadn’t seen before glimmering in the candlelight. Unable to hold his gaze any longer, her eyes fell to his lips, and she found herself imagining what they would feel like on hers.
Pam’s voice interrupted her thoughts just in time, and she forced her mind back to the business at hand.
“You do realize you’re saying that as you stand in a building that will almost certainly be torn down?”
“If you’d tried this crab bisque, you’d understand what a tragedy that would be,” Pete said as he lifted the spoon to his mouth and sighed with contentment as he swallowed the creamy liquid.
Logan looked around the room as if really seeing it for the first time before turning his gaze back to them. “Have you all seen the engineering report the city commissioned after the last hurricane? As charming as it is—and that crab bisque does look divine”—he looked at Pete’s bowl appreciatively—“this building is on borrowed time. Instead of wasting money on a legal battle over whose responsibility it is to fix the damage, theWaterway Café could have a state-of-the-art restaurant in the new development.”
Lucy hadn’t read the full report, but theHeron Isle Observerhad summarized it. So much of the substructure of the restaurant had been damaged that it would only take one more strong storm to wipe it out. The building had been deemed safe for now, but it needed substantial repairs to withstand the next severe weather event. The Bankses had been embroiled in a legal battle with the city for months over who would fund the repairs, each claiming the poorly written lease agreement from decades prior put the burden on the other.
The table had fallen silent; they’d all seen the newspaper article and knew about the ongoing legal fight. They also knew the Bankses couldn’t afford the structural repairs on a building they didn’t own, especially not so late in their lives.
“And what are the Bankses supposed to do for the next two years while they’re closed down and waiting on a new building?” Lucy didn’t give him a chance to answer. “And what about the competition from the other waterfront restaurants that will go in? Right now, they basically own the waterfront, so how is this plan what’s best for them?”
“See, those are the kind of things we all need to sit down and discuss. They are valid concerns that should be taken into consideration when the city makes them an offer to end their lease a few years early.”
He wasn’t hearing her. The Bankses didn’t want someone to write them a check and send them on their merry way. They wanted to keep running the restaurant they’d spent the past thirty years here building. She’d heard Marty say it himself at a previous planning meeting.
Suddenly, Lucy had an idea. “You know what? Stay here. I’ll be right back.”
Logan gave her a curious look but said, “Sure.”
Lucy got up and approached the host stand where the owner was waving goodbye to a family shuffling out the front door. “Mildred, I need you to come with me for a minute.”
Mildred’s eyebrows knitted together, deepening the wrinkles in her forehead. Lucy wasn’t sure exactly how old Mildred was, but she had to be in her mid- to late sixties.
“Is something wrong?” she asked as she began to follow Lucy back to the table.
“No, nothing like that. I want you to meet someone.”
When they arrived at the table, Lucy noticed Logan rocking back and forth on his feet. He was uncomfortable standing there waiting for her return. Good.
“Logan Lancaster, I want you to meet Mildred Banks. She and her husband Marty own the Waterway Café. I’d introduce you to Marty, but I think it’s best you let him take out his frustration on the fish in back instead of on you.”
