I sniffed. “Thank you. Now, if my protesting this development looks bad for an article about a place that’s supposed to be the ideal small-town getaway, then your article is dumb as hell, and so is the magazine you’re writing for. Starlight Cove deserves the feature. The resort deserves the feature. My doing thisprovesit’s the perfect town—one worth fighting for. And I’m going to fight for it. Even if that means I have to chain myself to that tree every day for the foreseeable future and continue to get arrested by the grumpy-ass sheriff.”
Harper stared at me for long moments after I’d finished speaking, eyebrows raised. “Are you…are you done? Can I speak now?”
I exhaled a deep sigh, shoulders sagging. I’d said my piece. I’d taken a stand. Now, I could only hope for the best. “Go for it.”
“Great.” She grinned. “Excellent speech. Very moving. But there’s something you’re going to want to see.”
CHAPTERTWENTY-ONE
BRADY
I stoodoff to the side while Luna delivered her impassioned speech, my heart splitting right in two, cracking further with each word out of her mouth. While she’d probably intended to speak to just Harper, she’d gathered quite a crowd as she’d spoken, my family and me included. Aiden, Beck, Ford, and Addison had shown up right as Luna had gotten on a roll. Levi was even here, propped on a tree a few feet away. And now they stood silently behind me, and I had no idea where their heads were.
Hell, I didn’t know wheremyhead was.
I’d lived my life as one of order and control, shouldering responsibility like it was my mission. I’d taken on the responsibility of this town, of the resort, of my family, without thought or concern for anything else.
And then Luna had swept in and opened my eyes to something else entirely. She’d made me see. She’d made mesee.
It didn’t have to be all-or-nothing, black-or-white. She was every color of the rainbow and unapologetic about it. It was what had drawn me to her in the first place—what I thought I’d hated had come to be what I loved most about her.
And fuck. Yeah. I loved her. More than I thought possible, more than I could’ve ever hoped. There was no denying that anymore. She was settled so deep into my heart, I didn’t think I’d ever be able to push her out. Didn’t think I’d ever want to. I loved her sparkle and shine, her sass and her smart mouth. I loved how she goaded me, how she pushed me and challenged me. I loved how she listened, how she cared so deeply—for everything and everyone.
And yet, I’d doubted her. Accused her of something I’d known in my heart she’d never do.
But worse than all of that, I’d asked her to become something she wasn’t. I’d done the very thing she’d told me people had been trying to do to her her whole life—I’d wanted her watered-down.
While she may have gone through life on the whims of a breeze, her principles were deeply rooted and unshakable. She didn’t care how difficult it made things, and she refused to make herself smaller for anyone. The other night, she’d told me no one had stuck around, no one had taken her as is because she wastoo much. And I’d asked the same goddamn thing of her. Demanded it of her.
“Jesus, what the fuck did I do?” I mumbled, rubbing a hand over my tight chest.
Not just what did I do, but how did I fix it?
I needed to fix it because every word she’d said had rung true. Even I could admit that. If a national chain set up shop in Starlight Cove, all the mom-and-pop stores would feel the hit—there was no denying that. Just like my family had when those investors had come and flipped the properties along the beach, taking our meager income with them.
Fuck, I’d been an idiot not to just hear her out in the first place. I’d been too in my head, too focused on what I thought was right instead of whatfeltright.
“Sheriff, what are your thoughts on this?” Mabel asked, pulling my gaze away from Luna. She held a phone in front of my face, her brows raised. “You’re not in uniform, but do you have your cuffs on you to start doling out arrests? You’ll need an awful lot, considering the size of this crowd.”
“I’m not going to arrest anyone,” I said, searching the crowd for Luna, just so I had eyes on her. “I wish you’d stop stirring up shit just because you can.”
“You’re no fun.” She pursed her lips. “You want to get people to the resort, right? Maybe an interview is how to do it. Did you ever think of that? Or maybe Starlight Cove’s perpetual bachelor should take off his shirt and give the viewers a show.”
“Mabel, I’m not—”
She sniffed. “I was talking about Ford.”
At my brother’s chuckle, I dug the heels of my palms into my eyes, a frustrated groan leaving me. “Mabel, I’ve turned a blind eye to George’s and your late-night beach activities, but I won’t be as accommodating in the future if you don’t leave me alone.”
Mabel’s eyes went wide, and she breathed out a nervous laugh. “Point taken, Sheriff. I’ll just see if—”
And then she was gone and off to harass some other poor, unsuspecting residents.
I turned my back on the crowd and spun to face my siblings. All of them were watching me, looking for answers. Even Levi, whose sunglasses shielded his eyes, was looking to me to lead along with the rest of them—because that was how it’d been since Mom had died. Since Dad had checked out. And I’d done it without question or hesitancy. For ten years, I’d been doing what I thought was right. But sometimes right wasn’t black-or-white, and sometimes leading meant making the hard decisions. Sometimes you had to follow your heart instead of your head.
“This isn’t what she would’ve wanted,” I said quietly, Luna’s words ringing in my ears and firming my resolve. “Mom, I mean. She would’ve hated this. Yes, the resort is her family’s legacy—ourfamily’s legacy—and she loved it with everything she had. But she wouldn’t have wanted the resort to succeed if it was at the expense of the town. Can you honestly say that’s what you’d want?”
I clenched my jaw as I stared at them, none of them giving anything away. “That’s exactly what will happen if we keep sitting by and doing nothing about this development. Worse, if weencourageit like we have been.
