Page 36 of There I Find Hope

He wondered if she was thinking about the letters he had been sending. In one of the first ones, he told her that he didn’t know what to do, so he sent her a letter. Maybe other people had done the same thing. He had never even considered that she might be writing to multiple people. For her sake, he hoped so, but for his, it made him a little bit sad. He wanted to be special, not one of many.

Still, he wanted what was best for Sunday. What made her feel better.

Tempted to ask but not wanting her to get suspicious about him possibly being one of her pen pals, he moved to a subject he had wanted to discuss with her. “Do you think your mom might be interested in selling the bed-and-breakfast?”

Her head jerked back as she snapped it around to look at him.

“I’d never considered it,” she said with a little bit of wonder in her voice, like she couldn’t believe she hadn’t. Or maybe she was just surprised that he’d even thought of it.

“I just now thought of it. I was sitting on the porch this morning, and it’s so beautiful there. So relaxing and peaceful. It just feels like the cares of the world are somewhere far away when you’re sitting on that front porch.”

“It’s a magical place, isn’t it? I don’t know how Mom does it. She makes it feel homey, but it’s functional at the same time. I mean, she doesn’t have knickknacks or other things stuck everywhere that you’re tripping over. It’s spacious and clutter free, but still welcoming and warm.”

“She definitely has a knack for that. The inside of the bed-and-breakfast is the same.”

“And so are the rooms. She just... Just is able to make everything look beautiful wherever she goes, but without a whole lot of fuss. That’s Mom. No fuss.”

“She has the right atmosphere going. And I don’t know, it wasn’t that I was looking for a bed-and-breakfast to invest in, I just thought that might be a good place for your candy store too.”

“The bed-and-breakfast?” Sunday said, surprise heavy in her voice.

“Sure. There is a kitchen there, you’d be available anytime your guests needed you, and you could have your candy on display. Everyone would see it and hopefully talk about it. It would draw people to the bed-and-breakfast, and it would give them something to buy while they’re there. You could probably even offer gift samples on their bed in their room when they check in.”

“Oh my goodness. All kinds of ideas I’ve never even thought of. Those are awesome.”

“Yeah, I guess that’s just the way my mind works. Always thinking about how you can leverage what you have to make a living on it. So many people are stuck for years in jobs that they hate, and I don’t know, I just think about the things that I love and try to think about how I can make a living doing them.”

“That’s so smart. I mean, this is more than just putting out a product that is good. It’s about marketing it too. About reaching people. Although, it seems kind of cold-blooded just to try to sell it to them. You want to...be a blessing to them somehow.”

“That’s exactly what we were thinking about with the hotel. We wanted to be a complement to Strawberry Sands. I think things like that fit in with the community better. Where it’s not cold, hard cash and all about profit, but it’s about the community. And sometimes you sacrifice profit in order to do that, but it feeds your soul that way, and it’s not a soul-sucking job, but a job that makes you happy, one that makes you feel good about doing good in the world.”

“Yeah, I can see how that kind of turns business models on their side. Where, maybe you could make more money, but that’s not the only goal.”

“Yeah. Franklin is used to me thinking along those lines and coming up with things a little outside of the box. I think most investors thought Strawberry Sands was too small to invest in. Maybe they’re right. Maybe we’ll never turn a profit on the hotel. But it’s a beautiful place, and I think it’s unique because of the horses. There isn’t much of that along the shores of Lake Michigan.”

“The winters are pretty harsh. Michigan can be an unforgiving state at times. You have to be tough to survive here.”

“But it’s beautiful. Sometimes the things that are hard or maybe difficult destinations are the most beautiful ones as well. And there are plenty of people who are willing to suffer a little, or at least go on an adventure, in order to experience the beauty of their destination.”

“You would know that more than me. I just know I love it here.”

By that time, they’d gone down to the beach and walked around the pasture to get to the barn.

“We’re right on time. He said seven o’clock should be the first feeding, and then we’re supposed to do it every three hours after.” She bit her lip. “It’s okay if you can’t make it every time. I actually thought I might stay here and maybe take a ride.”

“I have the entire day.”

He wanted to spend as much time as he could with Sunday. But he didn’t want her to question that too much. Just knew that he enjoyed her company, and that sometimes when he liked a person from afar, getting to know them was more eye-opening about the things that he missed and maybe didn’t like so much. But the more time he spent with Sunday, the more he enjoyed spending time with her, and the more he wanted to spend with her.

“If you have an entire day off, you don’t have to spend it all here. Or with me.” She lifted her brows, and he shook his head.

“I don’t want to sound like a stalker, but I can’t think of anywhere else I’d rather be than with you.”

---