limit.
Those were her father’s words about her new business. Summer didn’t see it quite the same way. Maybe if she could afford more help, it would be different. Right now, she felt as though she were drowning in work.
Beach Love Yoga was her new business. Her first business. And it kept her busy—busier than she had ever imagined. But being busy meant there was a lot of business—at least for the moment. She was grateful for all of the business from the tourists.
It was the lack of business from the permanent islanders that had her worried. Because the tourist season ran strong from May until September. After that her business would rely solely upon drawing in Bluestar’s locals, but would they come?
It was a warm July morning, and Summer was in her office finishing the payroll. So far, she had six part-time staff on the payroll. She was the only full-time person. She hoped to be able to hire more staff one day in the near future.
To some it might seem like a sufficient number of employees for the crush of tourists. They were running out of room in classes. She’d considered advertising for more instructors, but she worried about what would happen when the tourist season ended. She didn’t want to have to lay anyone off. That would be awful.
Buzz-buzz.
Summer reached for her phone, wondering whom it might be at such an early hour. When she saw her employee’s name on the caller ID, she breathed easier. It wasn’t uncommon for Brenda Tempest to call her at various times of the day.
Summer pressed the speaker button as she continued to type on her computer. “Good morning.”
“I don’t know how good it is. I’m on the way to the hospital.”
Summer’s fingers slipped, hitting the wrong keys. Surely she hadn’t heard her friend correctly. It was still early, and the caffeine hadn’t fully kicked in. That must be it. Time to try again.
This time she picked up the phone and pressed it to her ear. “What?”
“I slipped on the steps this morning. Bob thinks I might have broken my ankle. I think—I hope it’s just a bad sprain. Either way I won’t be able to make it to work today.”
Today or any time soon. “Don’t worry about a thing here. You just take care of yourself.”
“I hate leaving you in a lurch, especially with the growing list of clientele and you being short on instructors.”
“That’s my problem not yours. The only thing you have to worry about now is taking care of yourself.”
“I’m really sorry.”
They wrapped up the conversation as Brenda had just arrived at the Bluestar Medical Center. It was smaller than a hospital and yet larger than a doctor’s office. They had ten beds in the facility and some diagnostic equipment. For anything beyond the facilities capabilities, they were medevacked to a Boston hospital.
Summer asked Brenda to check in later so she’d know she was all right. Then, she could arrange for some food deliveries from friends and neighbors. It was what Bluestar did for each other in times of need.
After disconnecting the call, Summer pulled up Brenda’s schedule and found she’d taken on a private session. It didn’t have the name listed. And it was to start in five minutes. She sighed. Even if she did know who it was, it was too late to cancel it now.
Summer shut down her computer and then stood. It was time to get to work. It was going to be a very busy day with her covering Brenda’s classes as well as her own obligations. Still, she had to do this because with this being a new business, she couldn’t afford to turn away any customers, and private clients paid a premium for the service.
She’d risked her financial future on this business. She just had to keep putting one foot in front of the other and believe it would all work out in the end. Because it would all work out. If she didn’t believe that, she wouldn’t have started Beach Love Yoga.
She made her way from her office in the back of the building to the reception area in the front. It was now almost eight o’clock, and the doors had been unlocked by Janie, the front desk receptionist and sometimes instructor. Right now, people were pulling double duty until she had the finances to hire more staff.
“Good morning.” Summer approached Janie Grayson, a Bluestar native who had just graduated from Bluestar High.
Janie was reviewing the roster for that morning’s class. It consisted of both regular clients as well as walk-ins. Generally, the walk-ins were tourists, whereas the regulars were islanders. “How are things looking?”
Janie glanced up with a smile on her lightly tanned face with a smattering of freckles over the bridge of her nose. “Good morning. Things are looking good. The classes are full.”
That’s news she liked to hear. “I just heard from Brenda. She fell and hurt her ankle. They don’t know if it’s a severe sprain or if it’s a break. They’re at the medical center.”
“Oh, no. That’s terrible.”
“Agreed. I’m going to be taking over her classes today.”
Janie’s blond ponytail swished to the side as she leaned over and glanced at the schedule. “She has a private session that’s supposed to start now.”
Summer nodded. “I’ve got it. I also want to arrange for food to be sent to the house this week, so she can rest and not have to worry about anything.”
“No problem. I’m on it.”
“I didn’t mean for you to organize it.”
Janie nodded. “I know. I volunteered. After all, you’re taking over her classes. Let me do this.”
It wasn’t like Summer to ask for help, but she was beginning to burn the candle at both ends. This was probably for the best. “Thank you. I really appreciate it. And put me down for something tonight.”
“Something?”
Summer shrugged. “I don’t know yet. It’ll be takeout from somewhere.”
Janie smiled and nodded. “Okay.”
As Summer walked away, she realized she should call her mother. If she heard the news about Brenda from someone else, she would be upset. Summer selected her mother from her list of contacts and pressed the phone to her ear.
“Good morning,” her mother said. “What are you up to today?”
“The same thing I do six days a week.” Her life had become rather routine these days. “And how are you? How’s Dad?”
Her parents had retired and recently moved to Maine. Summer knew in part that her mother wanted to be closer to Summer’s aunts. Her parents ended up settling just outside of Portland. The other reason was so her father was closer to a five-star hospital.
“I’m good.” Her mother’s voice was upbeat. “Your father is doing more than he should. But trying to tell him to slow down, well, it’s like talking into the wind.”
Her father had a heart attack a year ago. The doctor put in stents to open things up, and he’d been good since then, but it didn’t keep Summer or her mother from worrying about him.
“Do I need to have a talk with him?” Summer asked.
“Thanks, dear, but I’ve got this. You’ve got enough on your plate.”
“Speaking of which, I’m going to be taking over Brenda’s classes for the foreseeable future.”
“Oh. What happened?”
And so Summer filled her in as she made her way upstairs to one of the smaller exercise rooms. She stepped through the open doorway and immediately noticed she wasn’t alone. As her mother sympathized about Brenda’s injury, Summer’s attention focused on the man and woman with their backs to her.
The man was tall, well past six feet. His hair was dark with short curls. And then there were those broad shoulders and long arms. The woman was much shorter and curvy with short auburn hair. Summer gasped.
She knew these people without them turning around. It was Greg and his mother. But what are they doing here?