Fuck this guy. “But I’ll warn you…don’t underestimate your daughter. She deserves so much more than that.”
“You don’t know my daughter.” Fischer shrugged. “She doesn’t know herself yet, either. And when she understands that you have put her inheritance at risk, she will choose the money. And you will be left with nothing.”
* * *
Later,Josh would regret not calling her before he got home. Because by the time he walked into his apartment, she was on a plane to Arizona.
“I’ll be home tomorrow night,” she promised, her voice so full of joy at this new responsibility she’d been given by her father, he couldn’t bring himself to tell her how badly the conversation had gone. “Did you see my dad?”
“Yeah. He wasn’t happy.”Do not burst her bubble. Not yet.“Maybe he’ll change his mind with some time.”
She groaned. “Sorry. But I love you.”
“I love you, too. So fucking much.” He fisted his hand against his mouth. Rage wanted to spill out, and she didn’t need that from him. “Hey, princess… You know I don’t want anything from you, right? Other than your sweet smile?”
She laughed in his ear. “And my sweet kisses.”
“Your sweet everything.”
“It’s yours,” she promised. “Gotta go.”
* * *
Two days later,she appeared on his doorstep, her face streaked with tears. And he knew before she opened her mouth that she was going to tell him it had all been a terrible misunderstanding.
It wasn’t his, after all.
Maybe it never had been.
10
Present Day
Monica had imaginedwhat it would be like to visit Pine Harbour many times.
Josh’s home town sat halfway up the Bruce Peninsula, a large jut of land between Lake Huron and Georgian Bay.
Inland seas, he’d called them, his eyes bright as he described the glittering waters he’d grown up on.
In their brief relationship, she’d pictured herself visiting it and meeting his brothers. In the years since, she’d looked it up in moments of weakness. And then yesterday, once she decided to come here, she looked them all up again. His brothers were married. His sisters-in-law all owned businesses in town.
Kerry, the midwife. Isla, the baker. Catie, the hairdresser-slash-real estate agent. Those were all on Main Street. And then down the hill, at the harbour, across from Josh’s garage, was Howe’s Marina, where January worked sometimes, although she was also a teacher at the school where Josh’s brother Will was the principal. Will, who was married to Catie—
You shouldn’t know all of this. It’s creepy.
She wasn’t going to stay in town long enough to meet any of them, though, so it didn’t matter if she’d done a deep dive on his whole family. Memorized everything she could about them as if that would help her figure out a plan of attack to make everything right with Josh.
Well, not everything.
Some things would never be repaired.
But she’d do what she could.
A sign on the highway warned her she was five minutes away. She passed a cluster of buildings, including an art gallery, and then on the left, at a crossroads, she saw the Pine Harbour Emergency Services building.
This is it.
She turned left, and headed through a forest that separated the town from the highway. On the other side of the woods was a diner with a large gravel parking lot, and then the road she was on turned into more of a street.
