Seth blinked, clearly stunned. Jill squeezed her hands together as she waited. Maybe it could work.
“If you lowered the price that much and put the house back on the market,” Seth said eventually, “an investor would snap it up before a family ever had a chance to see it. Then, a smart investor would put the house back on the market. He might even hire me to list it. In that case, I’d contact the buyer you turned down and we’d would sell to them anyway.”
Jill shot Ellie a look of desperation.
Ellie understood. She rose from the table. “I, for one, could use a five-minute break. Would anyone like a bit more coffee? Won’t take more than a minute to start a fresh pot.”
Sheri glanced at Seth, then went to join Ellie. “I’ll help you.”
“Ms. DiFiore,” Seth began, when they were alone. “Is it your intention to sell this house? Because I thought that’s what you wanted when you hired me to list it.”
“Yes, of course. You’re right. I do need to sell this house,” Jill said quickly.
Seth’s phone buzzed with an incoming text and he glanced at the screen. “It’s the buyers. They want to know if you’ve accepted their offer.” He stood up. “I’ll give them a call and tell them we’re just finishing up.”
Jill left the table as well. She made her way to the far wall, to the bank of windows overlooking the ocean. A wisp of fog floated across water and a pale orange sun lit it from behind. Even this early in the morning, there was activity on the beach. On the shoreline, a trio of young women walked together barefoot, their pant legs rolled to the knee. An unexpected wave reached them, and they jumped, howling with laughter as the cold water splashed their legs. Further up the beach, a man and his daughter kneeled on the wet sand, pointing to something in the tidepool. He grabbed her suddenly, breaking her concentration and making her giggle. A moment later, he wrapped his arms around her, enveloping her toddler body in a bear hug, both their faces alight with joy. Jill felt herself smile.
Then she imagined that same little patch of shore strewn with beer bottles and garbage from a party hosted in this very house. The noise and the traffic would change Dewberry Beach, and not for the better. The image made her recoil. She couldn’t do it, couldn’t take advantage of them as Marc had.
But she didn’t seem to have a choice.
As much as she wanted to protect Dewberry Beach from Shore Parties Unlimited, she couldn’t afford to. This was a solid offer and she couldn’t afford to wait for another. And Seth was right—an offer this good would not come again.
She returned to the table, decision made. Even if it wasn’t the one she wanted.
“I’m sorry, Seth, you’re right. This offer is extraordinary, and you sold the house faster than I’d imagined.” As she reached for the pen, a movement outside the window next to her caught Jill’s attention. It was her neighbor, Nancy Pellish, in her wide-brimmed sun hat and gardening gloves, circling the plum tree her grandfather had brought over from Italy.
Jill glanced toward the front of the house, at the road in front of the Pellish home. The street was still in the quiet of the morning, the black asphalt road dusted with beach sand. She imagined a street lined with cars, littered with broken bottles and trash. The inside of this house thumping with music and noise.
The idea was heartbreaking, and Jill couldn’t be a part of it.
“I’m sorry. I can’t do it.” She put down the pen and hoped Seth would understand. “I can’t sell to Shore Parties. The people here don’t deserve what’s about to happen to them.”
After delivering the news, Jill looked away. There would be repercussions, of course. Seth would refuse to continue the listing and the bank would foreclose. But after everything Dewberry Beach had been through, Jill couldn’t bring herself to add to their pain.
“Looks like we’ve come just in time.”
Jill’s gaze flew to the foyer. Chase and Mrs. Ivey stood there, windswept and pink from the morning’s chill, with Ellie right behind them. After the last conversation she’d had with Chase, she was surprised to see him here, suited up and determined, with a briefcase in his hand. Well, if he’d come to make her feel bad, he had another think coming.
As Ellie guided Mrs. Ivey to the table, Jill rose and went to meet Chase.
“Hello, Jill.”
“Mr. Bennett.”
“I’ve come to apologize. I like to believe I’m a good judge of character, but in your case, I was wrong. I know Marc’s feelings about this house, and I imagined you felt the same way. When you came to town to sell it, I was convinced, but I was wrong. I’ve misjudged your attachment to this house as badly as I’ve misjudged you, and I’m sorry. I was so swept up in telling you our side of the story that I didn’t listen to yours.”
“What changed your mind?”
“Ryan showed me the video you sent him, from your lunch meeting with Marc.” Chase glanced at Ellie and his expression changed. Jill thought she saw a flash of admiration. “Then Ellie came to see me yesterday afternoon.”
“Ellie? As in my best friend Ellie?”
“Oh, yes. She had quite a bit to say to me and she can be refreshingly blunt.” He smiled over at Ellie. “Among other things, she insisted that you didn’t want to sell this house at all—that given the choice, you’d raze it to the ground. Is that still true?”
Jill glanced across the room to the side window, where Mrs. Pellish was cutting back her plum tree in a losing battle to keep it alive.
“Yes,” Jill said simply. “It is.”
Chase beamed. “Wonderful. Then the problem becomes one of finance and those are easy to solve.” He gestured to the agents at the table. “Would you mind
