Free Granddad's House (On Geneva Shores) by Kate Vale

figured out how to keep garage space, one car for each, with a little extension over the RV space on the side.  The other plan was similar to what you and I talked about a long time ago—turning the upstairs into a full-fledged house. You know, expanding the apartment in the entire upstairs.” He smiled at her. “That plan was just a sketch. I think he did it right before he came over here, but it was nice, too.”
    “And the garden building?”
    “A cute little duplex, one unit down, the other up.”
    “Hmm.” She bit her lip. The two men seemed to have bonded, an outcome far worse than she’d hoped.
    The old man looked at her. “Come over here and give me a hug.”
    She did so, afraid she was going to burst into tears.
    As if he sensed her mood, he rubbed her back. “I don’t want you to worry about me. I’ll be fine. I’ll find another place to live. Maybe I’ll even move into one of the units in the back, the duplex without any stairs.”
    “But, Granddad, you wanted a family to live in your house. What did he say about that?”
    “Oh. Well, we talked about it. He said the people wanting to run it as a B&B will live in it, or maybe one of the places out back, and they’ll run it as if it was a special house, just not to the same people all the time. But he needs to make some changes first—which is why his company is buying it.” He patted the seat next to him on the couch. “I still would prefer a family, but we haven’t had any offers from a family. Maybe the property’s too big for a family, or too expensive.”
    “But it’s barely been two weeks, and you know our market’s slow right now. It usually takes longer with higher priced properties.” Maybe he doesn’t think I’m doing my job.
    “I know, honey, I know.  So I’m thinking I might just follow up one other suggestion he had.”
    Almost afraid to ask, she hesitated then blurted, “What’s that?” She squinted at him through her tears.
    “Mr. James seems to think a rezone will be necessary, splitting off the back buildings, and keeping the house on the front part of the lot. That might slow things down a bit. What do you think?”
    She didn’t know what to say. Instead she wiped her eyes and blew her nose and went into the kitchen for a cup of tea. “Want some, Granddad?”
    He shook his head. “Opportunity knocks—that was one of the other answers I knew before the other people, the ones on the Questions.
    “Good for you.” She stirred her tea. “Do you trust him?” Please say no.
    “Nothing not to trust. He gave me his business card, invited me to stop in any time. He’s a nice man, Livvy. Lots of enthusiasm for what he does. And he’s got moxie. I like that. The kind of man you would be happy with, I think—”
    She gasped, her stomach doing back-flips when he said that. “No! Never! He’s so not my type,” she exclaimed. “How could you possibly—”
    “Well, he’s got a lot more on the ball than that Ted, or Fred, or Jed, fellow you brought around a few months back.”
    “His name is Ned. Ned is stable and quiet and nice. How can you possibly compare him to Ned?” Except, come to think of it, Ned is boring, and all he ever wants to do is have dinner and try to get me into bed. And his job, the one he doesn’t have, which he should have found months ago. He must still be living off the money his mother gave him. Even his car is boring. Why did I ever agree to go out with him? Not like Beau James—but what am I thinking? That he’s exciting? No. He’s offensive! And officious. Too handsome for words, but he’s so confident, actually insolent, the way he walked into my office and all around Granddad’s house, as if he already owned the place, and …
    “Ned is a dunce,” her grandfather interrupted her wandering thoughts.  “How much do you want to bet he hasn’t had an original thought in his head since he got out of grade school? I’ll bet he never does anything when you’re with him except