“Has the furniture arrived yet? I know you were looking forward to seeing the cabins get decorated.”
Thinking about that made him think of Maisie, and his heart kicked hard in his chest.
“Um…yeah. Some of it. Just for the lodge, though.” Swallowing hard, he asked, “How’s Dave? And Mark, Sharon, and the kids?”
“Everyone’s good,” she assured him. “You know, Montana is really growing on me. I know I’ve sent you pictures, but it would be wonderful if you came for a visit and experienced it for yourself.”
Maybe that’s where he’d go. Start fresh far away from Harbortown.
“Maybe,” he said, and hated how sad he sounded.
“So, how are you doing, Axel?” she asked, using her best mom tone. “I know you’re working hard, but you don’t sound quite like yourself. Is everything okay?”
No.
He swallowed hard again, unsure of how to answer. “I’m not having the best day,” he forced himself to say.
Joanne and Dave Blake had always been his safe space. They literally saved his life by taking him in, and even though it took him a long time to trust them, they never gave up on him.
“Okay,” she said softly. “Tell me what’s going on.”
And before he knew it, everything came spilling out—Maisie trying to break into the lodge, the interview, getting stranded together for the weekend, the fling…all of it up until today.
“So you have feelings for this girl beyond just a fling. Is that what you’re saying?”
He nodded. “It is.”
“I know you have some issues with trusting people, but maybe all the things she couldn’t tell you…”
“She’s an heiress,” he interrupted. “Although she claims she isn’t, everything else points to that.”
“Um…how…?”
He explained everything that happened today with him, Maisie, and…Bryce.
The fucker.
“Oh my goodness! That is just insane! That poor girl!”
“Poor girl?” he asked incredulously. “Joanne, she comes from the kind of wealth where two families need to merge so they can have mega wealth. I’m not seeing anything poor about Maisie’s life.”
“Axel, you’re lashing out, and I understand why.”
“It’s not…”
“You think you’re not good enough for her,” she said.
“Well, that’s what it feels like. And she was basically just using me to pass the time until she could get her life back.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Yes, I do.”
“Why? Because that…that…Brett person said so?”
“It’s Bryce, and yeah! He knows her. I don’t. Why shouldn’t I believe what he said?”
“Because you spent a lot of time with Maisie! Do you think she’s that big of a liar? Has she done anything else that would lead you to believe that?”
