Tuesday Tales: From the Word CAREFUL

Welcome to this week’s Tuesday Tales, the weekly blog where a select group of authors share their work in progress with you. This will be my last post from Sea Breeze since the book is finished and will be posted in paperback format later this week. Our word is CAREFUL.

“Before Seamus could sign the papers,” Sean continued, “he worsened and had to be too heavily sedated to legally sign anything … He’d hoped to stop the pain medication long enough to be able to, but he worsened and died. Before he did, he made me promise to bring this matter to your attention. You’re under no legal obligation to offer Cal the same deal.”

“Is Cal still interested in investing in the resort?” I asked, my heart landing square in my stomach. Was he being nice to me only to secure this investment?

Sean nodded. “He is. We discussed it just before I sent you the notification of inheritance. In fact, if you’d decided you didn’t want the resort and wanted to sell it, he would’ve made you an offer for it.”

“Where would he have gotten the money? You said the resort is worth twenty million dollars.”

“Cal has some money, including the hundred thousand currently in an escrow account, the boat, the tour company, the building, and the potential income he gets from his paintings. He spoke to the rest of us, and we were all willing to put up whatever we could for collateral to help him secure the mortgage.” He shrugged. “The bank manager had agreed to advance him the money since keeping the Sea Breeze in local hands means a great deal to everyone. But now that you aren’t going to sell, it’s a moot point. You should know that Cal has already invested a significant amount of time and his own money in the kitchen renovations, but as I said, you’re under no obligation to honor what your uncle wanted. What’s in the will is all that matters. A contract that was never signed is worth less than the paper it’s printed on, but I had a moral obligation to your uncle to at least mention this to you.”

“I see. Does Cal know about the insurance policy and the bank account?”

Sean shook his head. “To my knowledge, no. He might assume a careful man like Seamus would’ve had life insurance … but Seamus was closemouthed about his personal life and finances.” He reached for a box beside his desk. “This contains all the condolences we received from former regulars at the resort. When you reopen, you’ll have no problem filling the place.” He placed the box beside me. “What do you want to do about Cal?”

That’s it. Stay safe and don’t forget to check out the other Tuesday Tales