“I admit my advertising experience is in copywriting and not design, but these aren’t that bad,” I say, leaning in to study them closely. “Are they?”

“They’re...” Again, he stops. “Very sweet.”

“Okay, Frank, I’m about to be offended here,” I say.

“I’m sorry,” he says, chuckling a little this time. “But they are sweet. Look,” he says, pointing to a bedroom I’ve named Soak Up the Sun.

The room has its own bathroom and views of the lake, but it needs new windows and a design makeover. I want to add a pretty board and batten wall, and sunny yellow paint to the bedroom and its attached bath.

“I want each room to be based on one of my family’s summer cottage rules,” I say, taking a sip of coffee. “This room—Boat Rides Are a Shore Thing—will have a nautical theme and vintage photos of the Adie Lou, and the Rock Hunting Room will be beach-glass blue and feature all of the beautiful stones that my family has collected over the decades.”

Frank turns to me and smiles. “It sounds beautiful, Mrs. Clarke...Kruger...Miss Kruger...Ms. Kruger.”

I laugh. “I didn’t mean to make you so nervous, Frank,” I say.

“Let me get down to brass tacks here,” he says. He pulls a pen and a stapled sheet of papers entitled Cozy Cottage RENO BID from the case on the floor. “I think this inn has the potential to be beautiful and unique,” he says patiently. “And your willingness to save this cottage, preserve its history and honor your family is admirable. But...” He stops and begins to move his pen alongside the bulleted items on the sheet. “You not only need the turret roof repaired now, you likely need a new roof altogether. The shutters are shot. The house needs a lot of new shake shingles, and the whole cottage needs to be restained. There are some issues with the foundation we need to address, and I’ll need plumbing and sewer out to check all the pipes and your existing tank. This cottage won’t have ever seen the type of water and waste usage you’ll get when running an inn. And the staircase to the beach needs to be reinforced, and you’ll likely need to bring in some earth and piering to stop any further erosion on the dune leading to the beach.” He stops and starts writing again. “And that’s not including your renovation—Updating all the rooms, turning the attic into additional bedroom space and adding baths to each guest room, renovating the fish house into a honeymoon suite.” He stops and surveys the kitchen. “And updating the kitchen since you’ll be cooking for so many now.”

He turns the page and tries to smile, although it looks like more of a wince.

“And now for the not-so-fun part,” he says.

“That was the fun part?” I ask.