SOMEWHERE by the Sea

Collision

Baxter watched his mother throughout dinner and knew something was wrong. Although she spoke with animation to their guests, it was forced, and he wondered what had happened between her playful goading that morning and now.

Faith wasn't at the table because she'd said she was dining with Vicky and Sandy, and he missed her. He made polite conversation with their guests, answered their questions, and talked about local attractions, all the while impatient for dinner to be over so he could question his mother.

Several guests retired to the library for dessert and Baxter felt obligated to join them. His mother declined with the excuse that she had to prepare menus for the next week. Baxter knew she was stretching the truth and let her know by his expression.

Finally, the guests retired to their rooms and he escaped upstairs. When he entered the sitting room his mother was on the floor in front of the coffee table shuffling through papers strewn across it. She was wearing her reading glasses and glanced up with a worried expression.

"Mother, what the hell is going on?"

She straightened and leaned back against the couch. "Leo stopped by today to deliver some bad news." She glanced at the coffee table.

Baxter sat on a chair across from the couch. "I'm listening."

"As you know, when Oliver Hope divided up Hope Cove, he left the northern end to his son, Sebastian, and the southern to his son, Randall, which through inheritance has resulted in Leo owning the southern headland and me the northern. As for the land in between, he gave it to the town with the city council having governing power. And, for years, that's worked just fine because the council has protected our town from corporate takeovers."

Baxter nodded. "Okay. So what's happened that has you and Leo so concerned?"

Gabby balled her hands into fists and said with conviction, "I love this town!"

Rather than force her to continue, Baxter waited.

Finally, she said, "Because you're gone most of the year, I'm not sure if you're aware that two new council members were elected six months ago. Before then, like always, the council wanted to keep big business out of our town, but I just discovered that the dynamics changed with the new members." She stopped speaking long enough to inhale. "Leo stopped by to tell me that Henry Ward, our longstanding board member, privately came to him with a heads up about a corporation wanting to negotiate the purchase of a portion of the public beach. They said they wanted to build a resort that would 'substantially increase our tourist base'." She made air quote marks and stared at her son. "And you know what that means."

Baxter blew a breath. "Yeah. It means Somewhere will become a huge tourist destination and other corporations will want to buy up downtown and put our small shops out of business. And our quaint town will disappear altogether." He glanced at the paperwork on the table.

Gabby waved her hand over it. "These are copies of the original documents dividing the property into the three sections. I was reading through them to see if there were any clauses that might throw a monkey wrench into selling part of the beach for commercial purposes."

"And?"

"So far I haven't found anything. Maybe you'll give it a go."

"Of course I will. I don't want Somewhere to become another cash cow for corporate swindlers. The only reason the town sold lots in the eighties was because it was going broke. We've been fiscally sound since then." He leaned forward and placed his hands on his knees. "This stinks."

Gabby started gathering the paperwork. "Yeah, to high heaven."

The next day Baxter read through the documents and could find no loophole, and by mid-morning he was angry and frustrated. As his mother had pointed out, he was gone most of the year, but Somewhere was his home and the place he wanted to retire when the time came. He loved the relaxed atmosphere, the friendly townspeople he'd known all of his life, the quaint town, and the inherent beauty of the land.