Love Bait

24| New plan

The rest of the night is spent thinking up a plan that will save the cafe. I keep asking myself, what would Mom do in this situation? She was always so good at coming up with ideas, at staying positive; I wish I could be the same way.

A fundraiser is the most likely solution, but I can't decide on what. What could possibly raise enough money for Jordan to fix up the cafe and move here? Anything I decide will just be a temporary solution, a bandaid to buy us more time, but at least it's better than nothing.

At breakfast, Lexi's on cloud nine because she's been offered the graduate job. She talks about a new apartment she's got her eye on in the mainland and asks if I want to come and check it out.

"I thought you were going to move in with your friend," I say.

"I was," she says, handing me a plate of eggs and toast, "but now that I've already secured a job, I can just find my own apartment. Oh, it's going to be so amazing, Evvy. Both of us on the mainland, just around the corner from each other. We could stop at the college today, too, and have a look around if you like."

She says it like this is somehow a selling point, and I don't have the heart to tell her no. "Okay, I'll come. I'm really proud of you, Lex."

She hides a smile by turning around, but I know she's proud, too. "Thanks, Evvy."

I spend the drive thinking up fundraising ideas. Lexi sings along to the radio, albeit quieter after what happened last time. I try to ignore the pitchiness of her voice and stare out the window at the palm trees.

It seems like everything is changing so fast that I just can't keep up. I'm going to college soon, and if Jordan sells the cafe and leaves, that will be the end of that. Everything I've worked for this past summer will have been for nothing.

"Lex?"

She glances over. "Mm?"

"Say you wanted to throw a fundraiser or something to raise money. What would you do?"

She thinks for a moment as she makes a left turn. "I've heard treasure hunts and scavenger hunts are fun. I bet a lot of people on the island would buy a ticket to participate. You could throw in a sponsorship element, too, based on how many clues someone might correctly guess. At the end of the hunt, it could lead to a beach party or something for the winners, where you could sell food and stuff to raise a little extra."

"Hey, that's not bad. How do you know people would want to do it, though?"

Lexi shrugs. "People love that kind of stuff. I can help set it up for you if you like. We need an incentive, though. Something big at the end of the hunt to make people want to spend money."

I look at my hands, then close my eyes and say, "The hunt could lead to Mom's secret beach. I bet locals would want to pay to explore a piece of the island they didn't know about."

Lexi looks over, surprised. "Are you sure?"

I nod. "I'm sure."

She makes another turn and says, "Well, if you choose questions to the treasure hunt that only locals would know, tourists could still buy tickets but wouldn't reach the secret beach."

I smile and look at her, suddenly overwhelmed with hope. "What would I do without you, Lex?"

"No idea," Lexi says, pulling into a parking space. "Let's go and do some shopping first."

We spend the rest of the afternoon shopping and ironing out the kinks in our fundraiser. Lexi is going to spread the word on social media and has set up an account for people to purchase tickets to enter. We set the price at fifty dollars, which I thought would be too steep, but Lexi assures me that the idea of a secret location on the island will drum up enough interest to make people want to pay. I just hope that she's right.