“Tomorrow by six p.m. I’m meeting him and my mother for dinner.”
Pulling his phone out, he nodded. “I’m on it.”
Later, she was back at the hotel and packing. She told everyone that she needed to go home to finally put an end to this mess, and luckily, they all agreed. Harlow was going to take over doing the inventory of everything that was coming into the lodge, and Maisie promised to be back in a few days to finish this phase.
Connor had asked her to stay and have dinner with all of them, but she politely refused. And then thanked him and Milo again for all of their help in getting her life back.
She looked around the dingy hotel room and sighed. She’d be back in Harbortown, but the next time she’d be staying either in one of the cabins or the lodge. Walker insisted. It was crazy how this group of strangers—people who should have just been business acquaintances—were more caring than her own friends and family. Maybe being forced to run away and prove herself was more beneficial than she ever could have imagined.
She was tossing random things into her suitcase when her phone dinged with an incoming text. She’d told Harlow to reach out if she had questions about the furniture placement and figured that’s who it was.
But it was Axel.
Letting out a shaky breath, she read his messages. In her mind, she wanted to just ignore them, but the last one made her pause.
Axel: I’m so sorry, beautiful girl. Please tell me I didn’t screw this up.
Dammit.
As much as she wanted to be mad at him, she had to see it from his point of view too. Connor had warned her, and she didn’t believe him, but he was spot on.
So where did that leave her?
Sitting on the edge of her bed, Maisie stared at the phone as if willing it to tell her what to do. Ultimately, her heart decided for her.
Maisie: You didn’t screw this up. This whole situation just really sucks.
Maisie: I’m sorry for not being honest with you. I’ve just been in survival mode for so long and didn’t know how to handle it.
Sighing, she wondered if he was going to reply right away or if this was just a way of testing the waters.
“Screw this. What am I waiting for?” Done with texting, she called him. And if he didn’t answer, then that was on him, not her.
“Hey, beautiful girl,” he said, his voice soft and so damn good that she almost burst into tears.
“Hey, you,” she whispered. “Where are you? Can you come to the hotel? Please?”
“I wish I could, but I’m a freaking idiot who drove aimlessly and now I’m like three hours away.”
“What? Why would you do that?”
“Because I’m an idiot,” he said with a small laugh. “I just needed to clear my head and get over being butthurt.” She heard him sigh. “I’m so sorry for the way I behaved. I was only thinking about myself and—not that I’m trying to make excuses—I have a lot of issues because of my childhood. Everything about this situation today brought it all to the surface, and…I’m sorry.”
“Axel, you have nothing to be sorry for. Are you kidding me? You were so freaking amazing with how you just…you know…beat the crap out of Bryce!” The laugh was out before she could stop it. “And when you had him by the throat? At the moment, I was shocked, but when I think about it, it was kind of amazing. No one’s ever defended me like that. Ever.”
“Probably because they had better manners than I do.”
“No. It has nothing to do with manners and everything to do with being a decent person who defends people who apparently can’t defend themselves. For far too long I’ve been looking for someone to…not save me but just help me. Getting the job at the resort was me saving myself, but that didn’t mean I didn’t need help. And you did that for me.”
“Well, I don’t know about that. I kind of feel like Connor and Milo did the hard stuff,” he murmured.
And that’s when she told him about running into Connor at her cousin’s wedding and him telling her about his marriage.
“It was crazy how similar our situations were,” she told him. “He was the first person who could understand what I was facing. And when he offered to help me by doing a little digging, I never thought he’d find out what he did.”
He muttered a curse.
“I know you’re mad at him, but please understand that this whole thing has been so humiliating for me. I begged him not to tell you because I wanted it to come from me. When it was all over.”
