Stars Fall in Black Rock: Black Rock Beach

By S.M. Grady

Shayla is ecstatic when Madison and Nathan finally entrust her with a large project for the hotel. That is, until she discovers that they essentially want to loan her out as a private concierge for a famous performer. Since when does the Rockaway Resort offer that service? And why do they assume she has nothing better to do? Worse yet, she isn't allowed to communicate directly with the client for privacy reasons. All of her interactions will be with the manager. Never one to disappoint the family, Shayla reluctantly accepts the assignment.

It's not long before Nathan turns the one-time deal into an ongoing business opportunity, and Shayla finds herself juggling a client list and her fledgling interior design company. It's not the ideal situation, but it's manageable until one of Hollywood's most recognizable stars shows up in need of refuge and anonymity. Determined to remain true to herself and her goals, Shayla struggles to navigate the complexities of her responsibilities and the allure of new relationships.

To make matters worse, Jasmine, who up until recently never had any interest in her siblings' lives, is suddenly enraged at being left out. Already exhausted with her family's turmoil, Shayla is convinced this is a sign that there are even more secrets looming ahead, and she isn't confident that the Moore family can survive another round of chaos.

• Language: English
• Publisher: S.M. Grady
• Release date: Jan 8, 2024
• ISBN: 9798223694601

S.M. Grady

S.M. Grady is an award-winning author, and the owner of Scattered Thoughtz, a small business that allows her to combine her passions for writing, creating, and helping others. She uses her voice to showcase realistic fiction through her short and novel-length contemporary, suspense, and romance stories. When she's not writing, she loves to travel and explore new areas and restaurants with her husband and son. To learn about her and her books visit ScatteredThoughtz.com or follow her on social media @ScatteredThz.

Book preview

1

MADISON

Madison jumped as her office door swung open and the knob hit the wall. She turned, surprised to see Nathan in the doorway. He never barged into her office without knocking. He rarely came to her office. His was only a couple of doors down, but he preferred to work in the conference room when he needed to be at a desk. Usually, he was marching around the hotel driving everybody crazy.

You weren’t answering your phone, Nathan said.

Madison minimized the screen on her desktop as he walked towards her. Is something wrong? She looked down and saw the red light beeping on the phone on her desk. It was true that she’d been engrossed in an email exchange, but she also wasn’t the manager on duty right now. She shouldn’t have to answer every call that came in. They couldn’t all be emergencies.

VIP call on line two. He’s called twice.

Why didn’t you take it?

They want you. Said you would know exactly what it was about.

Madison rolled her eyes. The woman she chatted with in the waiting room at the dentist’s office last month called up and said the same thing. She had to remember to stop telling people that she managed the hotel. It was friendly conversation for her, but they were locking in her name to ask for discounts later. Discounts she never implied or promised. She picked up the phone anyway. Whoever it was, wasn’t going to stop calling.

This is Madison.

Hello, Franklin Sharpe here.

Hi. How can I help you, Mr. Sharpe? The name didn’t ring a bell.

Put it on speaker, Nathan whispered.

I heard from a good friend of mine that you really helped him out with one of his clients. Set up a whole VIP experience for her. Kept her under the radar and all that.

Nathan gave her a questioning look. Madison had no idea what the man was talking about. I’m sorry. I’m not sure I recall⁠—

Jonie? It couldn’t have been that long ago, Franklin insisted.

Oh, that’s right. Jonie was an up-and-coming singer. More of a social media star than anything. One of the younger girls at reception had to tell Madison who she was. They didn’t do anything all that special besides put her in a suite and let her go to the spa after hours. One of the girls found some local spots for her to check out and arranged a private car service. It was more than they would have done for the average guest, but it was a slow night and the two girls who arranged everything were really excited to do it. Madison did it more for them than anything else.

Well, I am hoping you could help me out with something along those same lines. Might require a little extra work though. My client is Nia James.

Nia James. Nathan and Madison silently mouthed the name to each other.

Why is she coming here? The question was out of her mouth before she could stop herself. The Rockaway Resort was nice. Luxurious even. But it was not A-list, celebrity, luxury. They didn’t have a private butler, or a Michelin starred restaurant on site.

Oh, no. Franklin chuckled. She won’t be staying there. I did check it out, but it’s too accessible to the public. Too much traffic in and out.

Okay…

I was looking for more of the concierge part of it. You know, so we don’t have to get someone else who isn’t familiar with the area to find reputable services. We also⁠—

I’m sorry to interrupt you, but I think you, maybe by way of Jonie’s manager, got the wrong impression. We don’t have any⁠—

Nathan snatched the handset off the base, taking the call off speaker and cutting Madison off. Hello, Mr. Sharpe. This is Nathan Moore, owner of the Rockaway.

Madison glared at him, but he continued.

If you can give me the dates and the location of where Ms. James will be staying, we’ll get back to you in…let’s say 72 hours. I’m certain we can work something out. Nathan jotted down the information and hung up.

He turned to Madison. Okay, so she won’t be here for another ten days, but we only have three to come up with a plan.

Is that all you have to say? Madison was fuming.

Well, no. I have a few ideas right off the bat. But I figured we’d come up with the plan together.

Really, Nathan.

What?

You snatched the phone out of my hand and announced yourself as the owner.

You were about to turn away good business!

What business? She doesn’t want to stay here! She wants a service we don’t offer!

We’ll figure it out. Do you know what something like this could do for the Rockaway?

So, your excuse for being rude and condescending is that it’s good for business? Meanwhile, you have no idea what you’re doing and no staff to spare to help with this.

Since when do you hate new ideas?

Don’t try to turn this around on me.

Nathan’s cell phone went off. I gotta take care of this. I’ll be back.

Madison turned back to her screen. Before she could get her email pulled back up, her phone buzzed in her pocket. They needed help in the salon, and they couldn’t find the spa supervisor. She grabbed her keys and made her way to the other building.

After lunch, Madison went to the office behind the reception area to get some work done. Her office had been like a revolving door all morning. As soon as she settled in, there was a light tap on the door.

You’ve got to be kidding me, Madison muttered under her breath. She didn’t answer. Maybe whoever it was would think it was empty and go away.

They knocked again. And a third time. Finally, the door creaked open. It was Nathan. He had his laptop and a notepad with him.

What do you want now?

First, to apologize. You were right. I didn’t have to snatch the phone like that. Or make it seem like I was the boss.

Okay. Madison went back to what she was doing.

And I’m sorry for walking off to answer the phone in the middle of our discussion.

That got her attention. She assumed the call was work-related.

It was Chelsea. I haven’t heard from her in days. I was starting to get worried, but I didn’t know if something was wrong or…she was busy with her other situation. He paused. She’s fine. Things just aren’t working out the way they should be at this point.

I’m glad she’s okay. Madison didn’t know what else to say to him about Chelsea. He had too much going for him to be chasing after a married woman. Or a recent divorcee. Whatever she was, she came with too much baggage. What else do you want? she asked when he didn’t leave.

To brainstorm.

Madison slammed her laptop shut. You’re still on this. We don’t have what the man is asking for.

Not yet. Nathan sat down and placed his notepad in front of her. Take a look at some of the ideas I’ve been tossing around.

She looked over the scribbles. Most of his suggestions were outrageous, but there were a couple of things they could build on. First, we have to decide how we’re coming at this. Is this a curated itinerary with special accommodations? Or are you giving them a glorified personal assistant to be at their every beck and call during their vacation?

What were you thinking?

Definitely not the latter. And I think we should focus on highlighting Black-owned businesses and services in the area. Madison opened her laptop and started typing furiously. She could see Nathan grinning out of the corner of her eye. He thought he was getting his way as usual, but she was just humoring him so she could get back to work.

It’s not the best plan, but it’s something. Nathan looked over the first draft of their concept. We have two more days to iron out the details before I call Franklin back.

Madison shook her head. You’re forgetting the most obvious problem. We don’t have time for this, and we don’t have anyone on staff to spare to take care of it. Let alone someone who won’t be starstruck and posting every detail of it on social media the second they get a chance. The whole thing will be over before it gets started.

Oh, I figured that part out hours ago. Nathan smiled.

2

SHAYLA

Mr. and Mrs. Patton were in the kitchen arguing about whether or not they were going to increase their budget. Shayla had just finished their consultation and there was just no way that she could squeeze in everything they wanted and still come in under their price. She hated telling clients that so much that sometimes she would take some of the extra costs out of her fee. She justified it by saying that she was getting the experience and the chance to build up her portfolio. If they couldn’t afford her, then she would lose the opportunity. Nathan had a talk with her about that recently. It was fine in the beginning, but she couldn’t put all that time and effort in for zero profit. She’d had enough practice.

Her phone was blowing up. All of her siblings were calling and texting back-to-back. Even Jasmine, and she never texted. Shayla felt like something must be wrong. She excused herself to step outside and check her phone. Not that the Pattons noticed. Their whispered debate was getting more heated by the minute. None of the messages looked like emergencies. Jasmine texted, Call me, twice. Nathan and Madi wanted her to come by the Rockaway as soon as possible. Nathan’s messages sounded urgent, Madi’s not so much. She would deal with them later. She wasn’t going to cut a client meeting short to work the front desk.

Shayla stepped back inside to find that the Pattons had finally agreed to slightly increase the budget and use less expensive pieces to get the look they wanted for their guest room, office, and living room. She spent more time than she would have liked convincing them that no one would be able to tell if they used designer label drapes or not. Same with the paint, and the shelves. She was going to have to find some special pieces to win them over with the final product.

After the meeting, Shayla reached out to Madison to see if they still needed her.

I was in a meeting. You still want me to come up there?

I’m already gone. At Shane’s. Nathan might still be up there.

Things couldn’t be too bad if Madi left. Alright. Guessing everything’s ok then. I’ll talk to you later.

Everything is fine. But do you think you can come by tomorrow? Too much to type.

Okay, so something really is going on up there. Yeah, I’ll swing by in the afternoon.

Shayla knew they were having some issues. Whatever Nathan and Madi were trying to do to get the systems and operations more modernized was somehow causing staffing problems. They were both more stressed out and irritated than ever. Shayla felt bad, but she hoped this was not about to be a plea for her to become a full-time employee of the Rockaway.

She didn’t mind helping out when she didn’t have anything to do, but now that her business was picking up, she couldn’t put it on the back burner. And it wasn’t fair that they always called her. Jasmine was literally doing nothing. She could work two full shifts at the hotel, five days a week, and still have free time left over. But that would require her doing something for someone other than herself, and everyone knew that was out of the question so there was no point in asking.

Meanwhile, if Shayla agreed to work up there it would put her behind schedule. She needed to spend the next couple of days shopping for materials. She also needed to find a couple of painters. She could handle everything else herself. Worst case scenario she would get Aaron, Shane, or Nathan to come help her move some heavy stuff around or put the bed together. Well, probably not Nathan. He would be too busy.

Pops came with her to a job once. He heard her talking to Nathan about it and volunteered to take his place. He claimed he was going to help, but all he did was sit and talk to her. He kept her company, but she could turn on a podcast for entertainment. She needed manpower.

The next morning, Shayla woke up early and set out on her shopping trip. She liked to stop and get a French vanilla cappuccino to sip while she browsed the local furniture stores and antique shops. Her favorite store was owned by a couple who rode around and picked up discarded items from the side of the road and restored them. It was almost guaranteed that every item she picked out for her clients would be one of a kind.

As she walked around the corner to the hardware store, she noticed a guy walking in the opposite direction slow down and stare at her. She kept going. A few minutes later she felt a tap on her shoulder.

Excuse me. I don’t mean to bother you, but I wanted to say hello.

Shayla stopped and turned to speak to him. Hi.

How are you doing? My name is Lance. The light-skinned man with a short, curly afro held his hand out.

I’m okay. I’m Shayla. She shook his hand.

Do you think I could get your number? Maybe take you out for coffee sometime? He nodded at the coffee cup in her hand.

No, sorry. I’m seeing someone, she lied.

Okay. No problem. I had to try. Lance smiled and walked away.

Shayla groaned and continued down the sidewalk. That guy was cute! But she froze up like she always did lately. He was nice too. He didn’t yell at her from across the street or ask her to follow him on social media. A nice, normal guy. But she still didn’t trust herself to pick a good one.

She’d only had one real boyfriend, Anthony Williams. It didn’t end terribly, but it ended, and it broke her heart. That was about four years ago now. She dated a few guys after that, but they were never as serious as Anthony. Or as sweet. The last guy turned out to be a real jerk. By the time it was over, he had her doubting everything about herself from her looks to her intelligence and everything in between. He flat out told her that she was lucky her family owned a hotel because she wasn’t smart enough to take care of herself. It lasted longer than it should have, but she cut him out of her life for good. Eventually.

The only person that knew about either relationship while it was going on was Aunt Carmen. She told Madi about them later during one of their sleepovers. It was another moment that made her wish she’d known Madi while they were growing up. Having an older sister that