The Inn at Eagle Point Read Online Free PDF

thing to
do.

She didn't want to lose the inn. Even as a little girl, when she'd first seen
the sprawling structure less than a mile away from their own house, Jess had
imagined herself owning it. Just over a year and a half ago, right before
Christmas, in fact, she'd spotted the For Sale sign in front of the inn as she
was driving home. Bored silly by her job at Ethel's Emporium, her heart had
immediately done a stutter step. For the first time since she'd come home after
college, she could feel a sense of anticipation and excitement building deep
inside. This was it, her chance to grab the brass ring, to give herself a sense
of purpose, to build the kind of future her family would approve.

Initially, she'd told no one in her family of her plans. She wasn't entirely
sure why. Probably because she'd feared their ridicule or their lack of faith
that she could possibly succeed. She was, after all, the baby and the wild
child. She'd never stuck with anything for long. Unlike her sisters or her
brothers, she'd never displayed a real passion for work, never found her niche.
She'd been drifting, and everyone in the family had known it. Worse, they'd
expected nothing more of her.

"Oh, you know Jess. She never sticks with anything for long." How
many times had she heard some family member say that, especially her father?
When it came from Abby or her brothers, she took it in stride. When Mick said
it, it cut Jess to the quick. She'd grown up believing she would never measure
up to the high standards he set for all of his children. The inn was her chance
to prove him—to prove all of them—wrong.

Fortunately Jess, like her siblings, had a modest trust fund that had come due
when she'd turned twenty-one. It had been invested wisely, the amount growing,
especially since Abby had taken over managing the account. It was enough, she'd
hoped, for a down payment.

Impulsively, she'd made an appointment the next morning with the Realtor.
Naively and because she was caught up in the dream, she hadn't asked to see the
books or any other proof that the inn could be operated in the black. She'd
done a cursory inspection and found it to be in good shape. After all, one
thing she knew about her father and Uncle Jeff, they designed and built things
to last. She'd made a conservative bid, which had been accepted at once. The
Pattersons were anxious to leave. All that remained was to get the financing in
place.

That's when she should have called Abby, she realized now. Or her father. Even
her brothers could have offered sound advice, but, stubbornly independent to
the end, she'd handled it all herself. To keep the payments within reason,
she'd accepted an interest-only loan for the short term, then planned to
refinance once the inn was open and operating at a profit.

Best-laid plans, she thought now, sipping her wine as she waited for Abby to
come back from tucking the kids into bed. Nothing had gone as she'd
anticipated. The Pattersons had never installed any kind of up-to-date
reservation system. The heating and air-conditioning systems were barely
functioning and needed to be replaced with something more energy-efficient.
While the building itself was sound, the rooms were shabby, the curtains faded,
the linens unacceptable. The exterior looked dilapidated, which had been easy
enough to fix, but even a coat of paint cost money.

The down payment had depleted her funds, so she'd applied for a business loan,
using the inn as collateral. She'd been approved easily.

Filled with excitement, Jess had finally revealed her purchase to the rest of
the family. Predictably, Gram and her siblings had been delighted for her. Mick
had asked a thousand and one perfectly reasonable questions for which she
didn't have adequate answers. That was when she'd gotten the first nagging
sense that she was in over her head.

Then, a few months ago, while she was still trying to complete the necessary
redecorating, she'd gotten a letter from the bank pointing out