Page 36 of Trusting Fate (Hope Falls: Brewed Awakenings 2)

After parking her car, Grace walked past the hopefuls and entered the building.

“Hi.” A petite brunette with a wide smile and perky energy greeted her before the door closed. “We’re not seeing people for another hour.”

“I’m here to see Lauren.”

The girl looked down at the iPad she was holding, and she tapped on the screen. Her eyes widened as she lifted her head. “I’m so sorry. You must be Grace.”

“I am.”

“I’m Frankie. Lauren is on a call right now, but I’ll let her know that you’re here. If you’d like to take a seat, she might be a few minutes.” Frankie motioned to the mid-century chairs in a small sitting area.

“No worries, I’m just happy she could fit me in.” Grace had known Lauren since they’d vacationed here when she was younger. Lauren didn’t have any sisters, but she had three friends that were as close as sisters one of which was the pop star Karina Black. And there was Samantha, who had ended up competing in the Olympics and had won several gold medals. And their fourth Musketeer was Amanda, who owned Mountain Ridge Resort, and if Grace wasn’t mistaken had just had a baby.

Grace remembered the girls called themselves The Fabulous Four. Grace and Lauren had bonded because they were both the oldest in their respective sisterhoods and both type-A personalities.

“Can I get you anything? Tea, coffee, water, mimosa?” Frankie offered as she stepped back into the reception area.

“Water would be great, thanks.”

“Mineral, spring, sparkling, flat, alkaline—”

“Dealer’s choice,” Grace cut her off. She’d been to one too many meetings and knew the list could just keep going.

Frankie nodded and then disappeared into what Grace assumed was the kitchen area.

Grace had just lowered into a chair when Frankie was back with a boxed water and a paper straw.

“So, what are you seeing people for?” Grace asked as she took the water.

The girl’s face lit up. “It’s a new reality show Lauren and Ben are hosting to promote their new program to help first-time house flippers, Home Sweet Flipping Home: Virgins versus Vets. The basic premise is that there will be four teams of two. Each team will get a home and a fifty-thousand-dollar budget. Two of the teams will be house flipping veterans, and the other two teams will be house flipping virgins. The virgin teams will go through the program before they flip. Each team will be judged on design, budget, and increased market value and the winning team will win a hundred thousand dollars and be featured in the first season of Home Sweet Flipping Home.”

Grace’s mind was spinning as she listened to Frankie detail the show. That sounded like exactly what her next step should be. She could flip a house.

“Do you have a press packet?” Grace asked.

Frankie’s brow lifted in surprise, either that Grace would be interested in that or that she even knew that press packets existed, but she quickly recovered. “Um, yes, actually I do.”

She rounded the large reception desk and grabbed a folder. As she came back around and handed the paperwork to Grace, Frankie said, “Oh, and I forgot the best part, or at least what I think is the best part. All of the judging is going to be done blind. Each expert that comes in to judge, including the public voting, will have no idea which team did which house. The public will get to vote on their favorite team and their favorite house, but they won’t be able to vote on a house just because a team they liked did it. Then the experts and public’s votes combined will determine the winner.”

Grace thought that was a pretty genius twist. It would increase viewership because people would want to tune into see if their favorite couple had flipped their favorite house.

As she read through the rules and regulations, she stopped when she came to line item number fifteen.

Grace lifted her head. “Do all of the participants have to be in teams?”

“Yes.” Frankie nodded. “And they need to have a shared history. They can be siblings, married, childhood friends, dating, even exes.”

Okay she needed a partner. Since she wasn’t married and didn’t have an ex and her pool of childhood friends was dry, that left her sisters. Ava was too busy with her new business and planning her wedding. Audrey and Viv might be able to take the time off. It looked like the entire show was a six-week obligation, which sounded great to Grace but might be a little too long to ask one of her sisters to commit to. Especially since they had the coffee shop.

“Oh, and they are looking for one participant to have a background in real estate, and one to have a background in construction or design,” Frankie added.

She had the real estate covered but neither of her sisters had a background in construction or design. They’d designed the coffee shop and it was adorable. They’d gone with an Old Hollywood theme in honor of their mom. There were large black and white photos of all of their namesakes, Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly, Ava Gardner, and Vivien Leigh as well as other Hollywood icons of that time including James Dean, Fred Astaire, Clark Gable, and Cary Grant.

But one coffee shop did not give them a background in design.

But…she did know someone who had a background in construction. And he didn’t have any work obligations. Technically they weren’t a couple, siblings, exes, or childhood friends, but they did have a shared history.

Grace had saved his life. He’d mentioned it again after they’d fooled around. The wind picked up and Grace had said how scared she’d been when she’d seen the tree falling. He’d kissed her and told her that she saved his life and he owed her.

It looked like it was time to cash in her IOU.

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