“That fast?” Stella asked. “Guess you’re a guy who knows his mind.”
“I do. Once I get this squared away, I’ll figure out where I’m staying the rest of the month or extend my stay at The Retreat.”
“You’re staying at The Retreat this whole time?”
Dollar signs flashed in Stella’s eyes.
“I’ve got a little over a week left,” he said and left it at that.
Forty minutes later, he was back at The Retreat and on his computer getting to work on his app.
Having a purpose was much more rewarding than floundering as he’d done for the past month.
His time was going by faster, his energy was higher, his mood lighter.
Or was it Natalie that made him feel that way?
Her presence relaxed him, making him feel rested but revived at the same time.
She made him want to do more, be better, accomplishsomething.
He hadn’t felt like this since his last job. Where he’d worked himself to the bone to prove he had what it took.
That he didn’t have to make a name like his parents had.
That he could find a passion and cling to it like a lifeline.
But he didn’t cling. His lifeline became his noose.
That noose strangled him mentally and physically until in the end his account was flush, but his body weakened.
He wouldn’t allow that to happen again.
He knew the signs. He knew what to watch for.
And he knew beyond a doubt that Natalie would care for and nurture him if he took a step down that road again.
But was it fair to even put that thought into his mind?
28
HURDLED OVER IT
“Sorry it’s taken a few days to meet,” Hunter said later that afternoon. “Things have been a little nuts.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Natalie said. “I knew you were off the island until this morning.”
Hunter was in Boston for the holiday, staying at his parents’ house with the kids and his sister Hailey’s family.
She’d also known Hunter took an active part in other Bond business ventures that would come to him at some point. For all she knew, he had some of his own.
Those were things she never talked about. It wasn’t her business nor anything she’d be part of. “We might have a little problem. I’m trying to get to the bottom of it but so far coming up empty.”
She didn’t want to bring this to his attention until she had answers, but after a day of getting nowhere she had no choice.
“What’s going on?”
“I don’t want you to think I’m making a bigger deal of this because of who it involves.”
