“I didwhat?”
I waved in the direction of the carnage. “You’re hell-bent on getting rid of us, you hate that we’ve taken an inch of your precious parking, and you despise my flowers.”
Still scowling, he glanced at the patio for a second. “Like I said, I don’t have time for this.” He pulled out his phone and started typing. I could feel the iceberg freezing over and bulking up inside me by the second. “If you think I have the kind of time or energy on my hands to fuck up your playground, you know less about running a business than I thought.”
“Oh yeah? That’s how it is? Then you must know a lot less about pulling frat boy pranks than I thought. Did Lance just make up those stories?”
Beckett eyed me over the rims of his sunglasses. I got the sense he regretted not saving at least one flowerpot to crack over my head. Eventually, he said, “I had nothing to do with this, Sunny. You should have learned by now that my brand of activism involves buying things rather than throwing things.”
Hale whistled up at the sky.
Still dicking around on his phone, Beckett continued, “More to the point, Sunny, you need better security. Rather, you needanysecurity. You cannot have a seating area that isn’t visible from the interior and not expect to have problems. Especially when you’re situated on a stretch of coastline that takes the brunt of all the wind and water that comes this way. Not to mention the wildlife in this cove.” He pointed his phone toward a trampled heap of lavender. “It’s more than likely some raccoons and deer came through and made this mess.”
“Remember when those deer ripped the shit out of our new awnings?” Hale asked. “Damn, that was wild. Wouldn’t have believed it if not for the video.”
Beckett nodded. “One particularly strange year, a bear toppled the dumpster and forced his way into the kitchen. It was a disaster. You want to talk about destruction? I’ll show you the images we submitted for the insurance claims. But at least I had the footage to know what actually happened instead of blaming the first person who happened to be in the area.”
He went on typing while I stared at him. I was not a ragey, angry person. I did not lose my temper. Hell, I’d bartended through Super Bowls, World Series games, and many years of March Madness basketball. I knew how to keep my cool in the face of exasperating men.
But there was something aboutthisman that had me boiling over every damn time he spoke.
Hale drummed his fingers on the side of the cart. “Try as I might, these oysters still haven’t learned how to put themselves on ice. Catch you cuties later.”
As Hale strolled inside and Beckett occupied himself with his phone—he was probably writing a list of perfectly delightful things to ruin tomorrow—my frustration grew. It was like blowing a bubble gum bubble and watching it grow bigger than you thought possible and knowing it would pop all over your face any minute but doing it anyway.
“Look.” He held up his phone. While his arms were sprawling old oak branches, I still had to move closer to see the screen—and him. Such a dick. “There you go. There’s your culprit.”
I cupped a hand over the screen to block out the sunlight. A dark, grainy surveillance video showed eight or nine big raccoons hauling ass away from the patio only to creep back a few minutes later. They seemed to repeat this song and dance several times over the course of the night.
“That only shows them running back and forth.” I took a step, away from Beck and the faint scent of vanilla that seemed to cling to him. It couldn’t be vanilla. My brain had to be misfiring. “That isn’t proof of anything.”
With a rough, rumbly noise that seemed to start in his toes and vibrate all the way up through his body, Beck shook his head at me. Like there was no creature more aggravating in his universe than me and he needed me to understand that as deeply as he did. When he was finished with that, he asked, “Where are your dogs?”
I stared at his dark sunglasses, wishing I could see what was happening behind those frames to make some meaning out of his hard stare and harder tone.
“Please tell me your war games don’t include harming animals.”
“For fuck’s sake, Sunny.” He whipped off the sunglasses and rubbed his brow. “Aren’t you supposed to have them with you at all times? For your own safety? You know, in case something happens.”
“There are days when I leave them at home,” I said slowly. I was still trying to work out why he wanted to know.
“And you’re telling me that’s a good idea?”
“Not that it’s any of your business but I know my body and how it works, and—”
“Oh my fucking god,” he said, back to kneading his brow. “Please stop talking.”
A truck pulling a trailer filled with landscaping equipment turned down the lane and we watched as it pulled to a stop in front of us.
“About time,” Beckett called to the driver. He circled the front of the truck while several workers climbed out. “Listen, I don’t care what it takes, I need your guys to get all the broken glass. Replace the pots and whatever the hell was in them. Straighten it all out.”
I stood frozen in place while the crew sprang into action with dustpans and tiny brooms, along with several shop-vacs. Beckett went on talking to the driver—the same person who’d handled the patio stone I’d tripped over weeks ago—and I didn’t know what to think.
Beckett was terrible—he’d told me torun alonglast week. He’d condescended all over me this morning. And he had his on-demand maintenance team putting my patio to rights once again. I didn’t know how to make this make sense.
When he returned to my side, he said, “They’ll need a few hours to finish this.”
“I didn’t come over here for you to ride to my rescue. I wasn’t looking for that and I don’t need it.”
