For Now and Forever

Chapter Eighteen

“Wake up,” Daniel whispered in Emily’s ear.

She stirred awake and took the cup of coffee he was offering to her, then noticed that Daniel was dressed. “Where are you going?”

“I have something to do today,” he replied.

Emily looked around and noticed that the sun had barely risen. “Something? What something?”

He gave her a look. “It’s a secret. But not a ‘my name is actually Dashiel’ kind of secret. You don’t need to worry, is what I’m saying.” He pressed a kiss into the crown of her head.

“Well, that’s reassuring,” Emily said sarcastically.

“Anyway,” Daniel said, “I’d just be in your way.”

“Why?” Emily asked, bleary-eyed.

Daniel raised his eyebrows. “Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten.”

“Oh my God!” Emily gasped. “The town meeting. It’s today, isn’t it?”

Daniel nodded. “Yup. And I think someone’s having a meeting with Cynthia at seven a.m. It’s currently six forty-five.”

Emily leapt up. “You’re right. Oh my god. I have to get dressed.”

Though appreciative of Cynthia’s offer to talk to her about all things B&B, she wished the woman hadn’t insisted on such an early meeting time.

“That got you moving,” Daniel said with a chuckle. He finished swigging his coffee, then grabbed his jacket.

“Just don’t forget the meeting tonight, will you?” Emily said. “Seven p.m. at the town hall.”

Daniel grinned. “I’ll be there. I promise.”

Cynthia arrived at the house with her two pet poodles in tow. She was dressed in a fuchsia pink maxi dress, the color clashing horribly with her ginger hair.

“Morning,” Emily called out, waving from the door.

“Hello, sweetheart,” Cynthia said. She seemed to be in a rush as she hurried up the path.

“Thanks for meeting with me,” Emily added when the woman was a little closer. “Do you want some coffee?”

“Oh, I’d love some,” Cynthia said.

Emily led her into the kitchen and poured them both a cup from where the pot was still brewing. As she did, Mogsy leapt up at the glass door between the kitchen and utility room. Cynthia went over and looked through the glass.

“I didn’t know you had puppies!” she cried. “Oh, they’re just adorable!”

“The mom was a stray,” Emily said. “I didn’t realize she was pregnant then suddenly there were five puppies.”

“Have you found a home for them yet?” Cynthia asked, cooing through the glass at them.

“Not yet,” Emily replied. “I mean the pups are too young at the moment to leave their mom. And I can’t exactly kick her out to fend for herself. So for now they’re mine.”

“Well, once they’re done weaning, I’ll happily take one off your hands. Jeremy passed his entrance exams to St. Matthew’s and I wanted to get him a congratulations gift.”

“You’d take one?” Emily asked, feeling a sense of relief. “That would be great.”

“Sure,” Cynthia replied, squeezing Emily’s arm. “We look out for each other in this town. Want me to ask around? See if anyone else wants one?”

“Yes, that would be amazing, thank you,” Emily replied.

Emily went and fed the dogs, then the two women settled down at the table.

“Now,” Cynthia said, pulling out a thick folder. “I’ve gone to the liberty of getting you some of the forms that you’ll need to fill out. This is for hygiene.” She slapped a blue piece of paper in front of Emily. Then a pink one. “Gas.” Finally, she placed a yellow one on the table. “Wastewater and sewage treatment.”

Emily looked at the forms with trepidation. Something about their officialness made her feel woefully under-prepared.

But Cynthia wasn’t done. “I’ve got some business cards here for you, as well. Names and numbers of some really reputable guys. They’ll get everything up to scratch for you. I used them back in the day. Good guys, the best really. I’d trust them with my life.”

Emily picked the cards up and slipped them into her pocket. “Anything else?”

“Trevor’s going to try to make it difficult for you. He knows the names of every code violation known to man. Make sure you know what you’re doing in terms of the legal and logistical stuff and you’ll be fine.”

Emily gulped. She was feeling more apprehensive that ever. “And here’s me thinking I just need to give a heartfelt speech.”

“Oh, don’t get me wrong,” Cynthia exclaimed, waving one of her hands, the bright pink nails like talons. “The speech will get you ninety percent of the way there. Just don’t let Trevor stump you with the other ten percent.” She tapped the papers on the table. “Learn your stuff. Sound competent.”

Emily nodded. “Thank you, Cynthia. I really appreciate you taking the time to speak to me about all this.”

“It’s no problem, hon,” Cynthia replied. “We look out for each other in this town.” She stood and the poodles leapt to their feet as well. “I’ll see you later. Seven p.m.?”

“You’re coming to the meeting?” Emily asked, surprised.

“Of course I am!” She clapped Emily on the shoulder. “We all are.”

“All?” Emily asked nervously.

“All of us who care about you and the B&B,” Cynthia replied. “We wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

Emily led Cynthia to the door, feeling a combination of grateful and apprehensive. That the people of the town would want to support her made her feel good. But to have them all watching her, and to risk making a fool out of herself in front of them, was a prospect that terrified her.

Later that evening, Emily was just putting the finishing touches to her outfit when she heard the doorbell ring. She frowned, confused as to who would be calling, and went to the door to see. When she opened it, she was shocked by the person she saw standing before her.

“Amy?!” Emily cried. “Oh my God!”

She pulled her friend in for a hug. Amy squeezed her back.

“Come in,” Emily said, opening the door wider. She looked up at the clock quickly. There was still time to chat with Amy before she had to leave for the town meeting.

“Wow,” Amy said, looking around. “This house is bigger than I expected.”

“Yeah, it’s kind of huge.”

Amy wrinkled her nose and sniffed. “Is that smoke? I smell burning.”

“Oh, long story,” Emily said, waving a hand. Just then the puppies began yapping from the utility room.

“You have a dog?” Amy asked, sounding shocked.

“One dog, five puppies,” Emily said. “Which is another long story.” She couldn’t help but glance at the clock again. “So what are you doing here, Ames?”

Amy’s expression fell. “What am I doing here? I’m here to see my best friend who dropped off the radar three months ago. I mean, I should be the one asking what you’re doing here. And how the hell your long weekend turned into two weeks, then six months. And that’s not even mentioning the text I get from you saying you’re thinking of starting a business!”

Emily could hear a hint of disdain in her friend’s voice. “What’s so crazy about the idea of me starting a business? You don’t think I can?”

Amy rolled her eyes. “That’s not what I meant. I just mean that things seem to be moving really fast up here. I feel like you’re settling down. You have six pets!”

Emily shook her head, feeling a little exasperated, not to mention attacked. “It’s a stray and her pups. I’m not settling down. I’m just experimenting. Trying things out. Enjoying my life for once.”

Now it was Amy’s turn to let out an exhalation. “And I’m happy for you, I am. I think it’s great that you’re enjoying life, you really deserve it after everything with Ben. But I just think you maybe haven’t spent enough time thinking about it. Starting a business isn’t easy.”

“You did it,” Emily reminded her.

Amy had been running a home fragrance business from home since she’d finished grad school, selling items online. It had taken her a decade of sleepless nights and seven-day work weeks to make enough money to sustain herself, but now the business was soaring.

“You’re right,” Amy said. “I did. And it was hard.” She rubbed her temples. “Emily, if that’s really what you want to do, can you at least come back to New York for a bit first, look into it properly and thoroughly? Get a business proposal together, speak to the bank for a business loan, find an accountant to help with the books? I could mentor you. Then, if you’re really certain you’ve made the right decision, you can always come back here.”

“I already know I’ve made the right decision,” Emily said.

“How?” Amy cried. “You have zero experience! You might literally hate it! And then what? You’d have wasted all your money. You’d have nothing to fall back on.”

“You know, I expect this sort of shit from my mother, Amy, not from you.”

Amy sighed heavily. “It’s hard to be supportive over this when you’ve shut me out of your life completely. I don’t want to fight with you, Emily. I came here because I miss you. And I’m worried about you. This house? This isn’t you. Aren’t you bored here? Don’t you miss New York? Don’t you miss me?”

Emily’s heart ached to hear the distress in Amy’s voice. But at the same time, the clock on the wall told her that her time was ticking away. The town meeting would be starting shortly, a meeting that would determine her future. She needed to be there for it, and she needed to be composed.

“I’m sorry,” Amy said tersely when she noticed that it was the clock on the wall where Emily’s gaze kept darting. “Am I keeping you from something?”

“No, of course not,” Emily said, taking Amy’s hand. “It’s just, can we talk about this later? I have a lot going on in my head and – ”

“Me turning up unannounced was never a problem before,” Amy grumbled.

“Amy,” Emily warned. “You can’t just disrupt my life, tell me I’m living it wrong, and expect me to be gracious about it. I’m happy to see you, I really am. And you can stay as long as you want. But right now, I have a town meeting to go to.”

One of Amy’s eyebrows rose. “A town meeting? For God’s sake Emily, listen to yourself! Meetings are for boring backwater towns. This isn’t you.”

Emily lost all sense of patience. “No, you’re wrong. The girl I was in New York? That wasn’t me. That was some silly woman who followed Ben around like a lovesick puppy, waiting for him to tell her she was good enough to marry. I don’t even recognize the person I used to be. Can’t you see: this is me. Where I am now, who I am now, it’s feels so much more right than New York ever did. And if you don’t like it, or can’t grow to support it at the very least, then we’re done.”

Amy’s mouth dropped open. Never in all the years of their friendship had they fought like this. Never had Emily raised her voice to her oldest, closest friend.

Amy clutched her handbag tightly to her chest, then pulled a packet of cigarettes out of her purse. Her fingers moved deftly, sliding one out and placing it between her lips. “Enjoy your meeting, Emily.”

She walked out of the house and to where her Benz was parked up in the street. Emily watched her speed off, her sense of regret already swirling inside of her.

Then she went to her own car, started it, and sped down the street toward the town hall, more determined than ever.

Chapter Nineteen

Sunset Harbor’s town hall was a formal but quaint red-brick building. There were small trees on the lawn and a vintage wooden sign outside with gold, embossed lettering. As Emily raced up the stairs, almost dropping her folder of papers in her haste, she could almost sense the ancestors of the town watching her.

She burst in through the double doors and ran up to the reception desk, where a woman smiled at her kindly.

“Hi, I’m late for the meeting,” Emily said, rummaging through her papers to find the letter that informed her what room she was supposed to be in. “I can’t remember which room it was in. It’s about the property on West Street.”

“You must be the B&B lady,” the receptionist said with a knowing smile. “Here’s your name tag. The meeting’s been moved to the main hall because of high level of interest. Just go through the double doors on your right.”

“Thanks,” Emily said, fastening her name tag to her dress and wondering what a “high level of interest” meant.

She went over to the double doors the woman had indicated and pulled them open. She was stunned to see how crammed full of people it was. A large number of the townsfolk had turned up for the discussion. She noticed the Patels, Joe from the diner, the Bradshaws, and Karen from the general store. Clearly whether her property was a B&B or not mattered to more people than she’d anticipated.

Her heart soared as she noticed Daniel right at the front. He’d come. He hadn’t let her down this time. Heads swiveled as she rushed up to the front and took her seat beside him. He squeezed her knee and gave her a wink.

“You’ve got this,” he said.

Just then, Emily saw Trevor Mann in the next aisle along peering over at her with a raised eyebrow and a sneer. She returned his cool expression with narrowed eyes.

Thankfully she’d only missed the first five minutes of the meeting. The mayor was just finishing up introducing people on the panel and running through the agenda.

“So,” he said, gesturing to Emily and Trevor, “I give you the floor. Your arguments please.”

Trevor didn’t waste a second. He leapt up to his feet and turned to face the audience.

“I live in the property behind this house,” he began. “And I am fully opposed to it being repurposed as a B&B. We already have B&Bs in the town, there’s no need for one on a quiet residential street like West Street. The disruption to my life would be immense.”

“Well,” Emily said, her voice small, “strictly speaking you don’t live on the property. It’s your second home, isn’t it?”

“Strictly speaking,” Trevor hissed, “yours isn’t your home at all.”

“Touché,” Emily muttered under her breath, realizing that Trevor Mann was not going to be holding anything back, certain that he would play dirty if he needed to.

She shrank back in her chair, feeling overwhelmed by the situation, listening as he rattled off statistics about noise pollution and increased refuse collections, the tourist trade and locals being priced out of the area by exactly “this sort of thing.” Emily kept trying to speak but Trevor never gave her a chance. She started feeling like a gaping fish, just opening and closing her mouth.

“At the end of the day,” Trevor Mann said, “we’re dealing here with an inexperienced woman who doesn’t know the first thing about running a business. I for one do not want the land behind my house to be used in her little vanity project.”

He sat down triumphantly, expecting to hear some applause or sounds of agreement. Instead he was met by deafening silence.

“Are you going to let the poor woman speak now?” Dr. Patel said.

A cry of “Hear, hear” went up from the audience. It made Emily happy to know that the townspeople had her back. For the first time, she felt like she’d made some true friends here, something she needed at the moment what with Amy and her fighting. Thinking of Amy made the butterflies in her stomach flutter even more.

She stood up, feeling that every eye on the room was on her. She cleared her throat and began.

“First and foremost, I need you all to know how touched I am that you came. I think it’s safe for me to say I wasn’t very popular when I first got here. I was guarded and skeptical. But this town showed me nothing but love, warmth, generosity, and friendship. Thanks to you, I’ve grown to love this place, and to love all of you. I feel like I did when I came here as a girl. You’ve all been like parents to me, mentors, showing me how to grow into a woman. I am not looking to get rich. I just want the chance to be able to live in this town, and to find a way to support myself doing it. I want the chance to fix up my father’s house, which meant more to him than anything in the world. I’m not ready to leave it yet. And I also just want the chance to give back to this community.”

Emily noticed all the encouraging smiles in the room. A few people were even dabbing their eyes with tissues. She continued speaking.

“The house on West Street belonged to my father. Most of you knew him. I believe, from the fond stories you’ve told me, that he was a cherished member of the community.” She felt emotion threaten to choke her. “I miss my dad. I think you miss him too. Restoring his home feels like a way of honoring him. Turning it back into a B&B feels like a way of honoring the town he adored. All I ask is that you give me the chance to do him proud, and do you proud.”

All at once, the room erupted into applause. Emily felt overjoyed by those around her, by the love and care they’d shown her once she’d been willing to let them in.

Before the clapping even had a chance to die down, Trevor Mann was back on his feet.

“How touching, Miss Mitchell,” he said. “And as lovely as it is that you want to give back to the community, I have to highlight once again how grossly underqualified you are to do up a property of that magnitude, let alone successfully run a B&B.”

This was it. The fight was on. And Emily was ready for it.

“Contrary to Mr. Mann’s beliefs,” she said, “I’m not inexperienced. I’ve been working on the property for months and during that time I’ve completely turned it around.”

“Ha!” Mr. Mann called out. “She blew up the toaster just yesterday!”

Emily ignored his attempts to bring her down. “I’ve also obtained all the necessary permits for the work that’s been done, and plans for the work that would need to be done in order to convert the property from a home into a business.”

“Oh really?” Trevor sneered. “Are you telling me you’ve gotten plumbing and electrical permits? From licensed tradesmen?”

“Yes, I’ve got those,” she said, pulling the forms out that Cynthia had given her.

“Well, what about your HHE-200 Sub Surface Wastewater Disposal form?” Trevor said, sounding increasingly frustrated. “Have you filled in that?”

Emily produced some more of Cynthia’s documents from her folder. “Three copies, as required.”

Trevor’s face was beginning to turn red. “What about that barn that was damaged in the storm? You can’t leave it like that, it’s a hazard. But if you fix it up, it will have to comply with the land use ordinance.”

“I’m well aware of that,” Emily replied. “These are my construction drawings for the damaged outbuildings. And before you ask, yes, they comply with the 2009 International Building Codes. And,” she continued, raising her voice to stop Trevor from interrupting, “I’ve had them stamped with the Maine State Architect’s stamp.”

Trevor scowled.

“This is all irrelevant,” he finally snapped, no longer able to contain his frustration. “You are forgetting the gorilla in the room. This house was deemed uninhabitable years ago. And she has not paid her back taxes. She is living there illegally, and technically, this house is no longer even hers.”

The room grew silent as all eyes turned to the mayor.

Emily’s heart pounded in her throat; this was the moment of truth.

Finally, the mayor stood and faced everyone. He was trying to hide his smirk but failing miserably.

“I think we’ve all heard enough, haven’t we?” he said. “The house was deemed uninhabitable because it was sitting empty for so many years. But we’ve all been through it, and it is more than inhabitable now – it is beautiful.”

The crowd let out a light cheer of agreement.

“And as far as the back taxes,” he continued, “Emily can pay them over time. I know our town would rather have a resident paying them off, however belatedly, than not collect any taxes at all. Besides, the new taxes and commerce a B&B would generate would much more benefit the town in the long run.”

He turned to Emily and smiled wide.

“I am prepared to grant Emily the permit to convert the house into a B&B.”

A cheer went up from the audience. Emily gasped, hardly able to believe what had just happened. Trevor Mann sat back in his seat, stunned into silence.

People came over to Emily, shaking her hand, kissing her cheek, clapping her on the shoulder. Emily bit her bottom lip, overwhelmed with emotion. Birk and his son Jason, the fire fighter Emily had met, came and congratulated her. Raj Patel reminded her about the chickens he was trying to rehome.

“If you need some help with plumbing or electric, I’m eager to get on board,” a man said, handing her his business card.

“Barry,” she said, reading the name. “Thank you. I’ll be in touch.”

Karen said that if she used the general store for all her goods she’d be able to work out some kind of wholesale deal. Emily was overwhelmed by everyone’s generosity and encouragement.

“When you open your B&B, I’m going to be resident artist, right?” Serena said, giving her friend a big hug.

Emily replied with a laugh.

Daniel made his way through the crowd, then swept her up into his arms and held her close to him. “I’m so proud of you.”

“I can’t believe it!” Emily cried, throwing her head back and laughing as he twirled her around. “We got the permit! I bet you never thought I’d get this far when you first met me.”

Daniel shook his head. “To be perfectly honest, I thought you were going to do something ridiculous like leave the gas on accidentally and blow up the house. Helping you was only ever out of self-interest,” he added, jokingly.

“Is that so?” Emily said, leaning in and planting a gentle kiss on his lips.

Daniel kissed her back tenderly. Emily breathed in the scent of him, thinking about how unpredictable life could really be. It hadn’t been that long ago that she’d been kissing Ben, thinking she was going to marry him. How stupid she’d been. How completely different Daniel’s kisses felt.

When he set her back down on her feet, Emily glanced up at him and took his hand. Amy’s words were ringing in her mind, about how difficult it really was to start a business. That the majority of them failed in the first year. “Now the serious stuff starts,” she said to Daniel. “The planning. The financial investment. It’s a big, big risk.”

Daniel nodded. “I know. But why don’t we celebrate first? Just enjoy the moment.”

“You’re right,” she said, smiling. “This is a victory. We should celebrate. But you’d better not drink too much. You need to be up early in the morning.”

Daniel frowned, confused. “I do? Why?”

Emily gave him a look. “I know where you’ve been disappearing to,” she said. “The marina.”

“Oh, that,” Daniel said, suddenly awkward. “What about it?”

“I’ve arranged for someone to deliver a new engine for your boat.”

Daniel’s eyes widened with surprise. “You have? But you don’t have the money!”

She smiled. “You didn’t have the money when you bought me the toaster but you did it anyway, just to pick me up when I was down on my luck. So I wanted to do something for you, to say thank you.”

Daniel looked thrilled, and Emily knew the small financial sacrifice was worth it just for the look on his face.

“Right, this calls for Gordon’s bar!” Daniel said.

Emily raised an eyebrow. “Really? You want to go out into town? What about all those busybodies and their whispering?”

Daniel just shrugged. “I don’t care about them anymore. You’re what’s important to me.” He pressed a kiss into the crown of her head.

Emily looped her arm around his waist.