The Summer of Sunshine and Margot(42)

She nodded. “We do. But do we want walking or hiking and if we’re talking hiking, aren’t there different levels of hikes? Plus, we don’t want to scare any wild animals or hurt indigenous plants.”

Of course not, Declan thought. God forbid you disturbed a leaf with a walking trail when you’ve just ripped out three acres to put up a damned hotel.

Heath quickly put several large sheets of paper on the conference table, because James and Jessica weren’t into PowerPoint presentations. It wasn’t organic when it was on a screen.

“Here’s what we were thinking,” he said, as he pointed to the first sheet. “We start with an easy walking trail from the rear gardens. It will be well marked, lit with solar lights and have benches along the way. Once we reach the end of the manicured gardens, there will be three hiking trails all heading into the mountain. One easy, one moderate and one challenging. We’ll have signage explaining how long each trail takes and how difficult it is, along with a map showing the route.”

Jessica and James exchanged a look of delight.

“We love it,” James said. “It’s perfect.”

Having been burned by the shifting winds of opinion before, Heath passed them a pen. “Great. If you’d both initial the map please.”

As they scrawled their initials, Declan braced himself for his part of the presentation. He, too, had giant sheets of paper, which made no sense. A PowerPoint presentation was clean, easy to change and didn’t use resources like paper. Clients—they would be the death of him.

“We’ve brainstormed options for the rear gardens,” he told them. “We’re looking at just over an acre of relatively flat land. We can increase that by a bit if we use terraced gardens in the back.”

“Terraced rather than sloped?” James asked.

“Terracing makes it easier for us to capture rainwater. We’ll build in collection areas so there’s less runoff and flooding for those rare winters when we get a couple of inches in a day.”

Jessica nodded. “That makes sense. What else?”

He flipped to another sheet of paper. “You could have a produce garden over on the east side. The chef would work with your head gardener to determine what would grow best. The chef could pick the fresh produce at a certain time of day and the guests could either watch or participate.”

“Oh, that’s good,” James said. “We could offer that as part of a package. A true culinary experience. I wonder if we could have a couple of cows and make our own butter and cheese.”

“You’re still in the city limits,” Heath said quickly. “There are strict zoning laws.”

“That’s true.” Jessica pursed her lips together. “Too bad, because we do love cows.”

“Who doesn’t?” Heath muttered.

Declan cleared his throat to avoid chuckling. “So, ah, in addition to the produce garden, we were thinking some kind of maze. It would take a while to grow the hedges but it could be a real centerpiece of the grounds and fun for guests of all ages.”

“Yes, we’ll do that,” Jessica said.

James nodded. “Absolutely. That’s totally our brand.”

This was their first hotel, Declan thought. They didn’t have a brand yet. They had money and an inability to stay on topic.

“Another alternative is a butterfly garden,” he said, pulling out a third sheet. “This is more expensive as it would require a habitat, but it’s unique. We could work with one of the local universities, maybe breed an endangered species. If you’re interested in that, we’ll have to research the costs and find out where they’re doing research. UC Irvine for sure.”

“A butterfly wedding garden,” Jessica said dreamily.

“We could renew our vows there, Jess,” her husband told her.

“If you want the butterfly garden, that could be the overarching theme connecting the outdoor space,” Heath said.

“We want it all.” Jessica’s voice was firm. “Everything you’ve discussed.”

Of course they did. Declan spread out the pages. “There’s not enough room for everything. You’ll have to pick the items you like best.” And hey, decisions are not your strong suit. But, of course, he didn’t say that out loud. Or run toward the window. A big victory all around.

“We can’t possibly decide,” Jessica said, her voice a whine. “What are we going to do?”

“We’ll talk about it.”

James collected all the pages. Heath quickly pulled back the one they’d initialed. They would keep that so that later, if—or when—they changed their minds on the hiking trails, the company had proof they’d signed off on the plan.

“We’ll need a final decision in the next few weeks,” Declan told them. “We’ll have tentative numbers on the butterfly garden to you by this time next week. But until you finalize your decisions, we can’t draw up a plan, tally costs or reserve materials and crew.”

“Whatever you decide is going to be extraordinary.” Heath rose as he spoke.

James and Jessica stood. Declan joined them and walked them toward the door.

“Thanks for coming in.”

They all shook hands. When the hemp- and sandal-wearing couple was on the elevator, Declan sank into a chair by the conference table and looked at his business partner.