11
Dane
The storm came, just like they said it would. I’m not sure how, but when I came out to see if the mailbox was gone, I found it still standing. It’s like the universe wants to keep this space safe for those who have no one to talk to. -C
I couldn’t believewhat a fool I’d been. The inn had started feeling like home, but once again everything was being yanked out from under me. Brook knew how upset I was throughout dinner and offered for me to spend the night at his house, but I needed to be alone. I’d ignored the hurt in his eyes as we said goodbye outside Bomber’s, knowing he probably thought it was goodbye forever. Which would have been pretty shitty of me, since he’d made an off-handed comment about loving me.
Once I had my head screwed on straight, I’d call him and apologize. It probably didn’t help matters between us that I’d snuck back into the suite, shoved all my shit in a bag, and left. I didn’t have a destination in mind, which was foolish. It was only because of a late-night cancellation that I was able to find a hotel room now that the beach was bustling with summer tourists. I had until noon today to figure out what I was going to do.
Watching the numbers on the clock flip closer to checkout time, I was running out of options. I snatched my cell phone off the nightstand and dialed.
“Hey, stranger.” Jen’s melodic voice made me smile even if she wasn’t who I wanted to talk to. “Grady’s getting Pax dressed, so he asked me to answer for him. How’s things at the beach?”
“Oh, if only you’d asked that questions twenty-four hours ago.” I wished I could turn back time. Yesterday morning had been amazing. It felt right waking up next to Brook. I’d been filled with hope, seeing him still sleeping in my bed when I returned from my walk on the beach. I looked forward to our nights together and often found myself wandering into the lobby of the inn just to watch him work, hoping to catch a stolen glance or smile as he talked to the guests.
“Awww, boo, what’s wrong?” she asked. I wasn’t sure I wanted to go through this story twice, but maybe Grady wasn’t the person I needed to talk to. Jen was the financial wizard of the family; she’d have a way out of this problem.
“I know better than to go against my gut,” I started, recounting everything that’d happened at lunch. James insisted I’d be stupid to hang on to the inn when there was such a lucrative offer on the table. The man had no idea how little appeal money held for me at this point in my life. I’d been born poor, lived a comfortable life thanks to Dad’s hard work, only to have it all stripped away by order of a piece of paper. It was a rags-to-riches-to-rags story, and while I hoped to never find myself destitute again, I sure as hell didn’t need money to be happy. I needed a place in life. A connection. Something to call my own. Sometime after two in the morning, I realized I had everything I wanted, if only for the moment. I wouldn’t let James take that away from me, but I wasn’t sure how to save it either. When I finished rambling, I could hear Jen tapping her fingernails against the table.
“And you’re happy down there?” she asked. With everything I’d just told her, that was the first question that came to her mind? “I mean, other than the fact it sounds like your uncle is a class A dickhead. If you take him out of the equation, are you happy in Sunset Beach?”
“Yeah, I am,” I admitted, not holding back the smile as memories of the times Brook and I shared trickled into my mind. I didn’t want to leave him. Maybe it wasn’t the inn at all, but the man that I wanted to share my life with.
“Shit, if I didn’t know better, I’d say it sounds like someone’s in love.” She dragged the last word out a few syllables.
I snorted at the absurdity of her observation. I liked Brook, but I wasn’t sure I’d hit the point of love just yet even if he loved me. It could happen, probably would happen, but it was way too soon. And before that could happen at all, I needed to believe I could trust him. He deserved my trust, because the more I replayed our time together, the less likely it seemed that he was manipulating me. Bile rose in my throat because everything seemed to come down to that one complicated concept.
“I haven’t even known him a month,” I reminded Jen. “I wouldn’t be pulling out the bridal magazines to plan our wedding just yet.”
“You say that as if there’s some set time you have to know someone to fall in love with them,” she countered. “I knew Grady was the man I’d eventually settle down with the first night we met.”
“You mean the night you swiped on his profile picture and the two of you fucked?” I teased.
“Yes, asshole. It may not have been a conventional introduction, but there was something about him that was like a flashing neon sign that he was it for me.”
“And yet, how long did you two screw around before I got the boot?” If she knew the whole time that she wanted him, why did she let him keep fucking me whenever we got together? How was she okay with stepping aside when I had a rough visit with Dad and told Grady I needed him more than she did? Her admission raised her to saint status in my mind because I wasn’t sure I’d have been as charitable if I’d been in her shoes. Actually, I knew I wouldn’t, because I could still remember how it felt the night I stayed alone in Grady’s apartment while he was out banging the girl he’d been with before Jen. I hated it. I had never been a fan of sharing even when we were all casual.
“You know that’s not the way it was.”
“Yeah, I do. And I think Grady made a good call when he proposed to you. Doesn’t mean it didn’t sting at the time.” We’d had this conversation several times over the past couple of years. I was happy for them, truly. I paused a moment, taking stock of my thoughts, realizing I honestly meant it this time. I had the other times, too, but this time it wasn’t laced with bitterness over once again being cast aside. “But you didn’t answer my question.”
“Dane, when you love someone, you have to think not only about yourself but about them and their needs as well. When Grady and I met, he was still on his never-settling-down kick. If I’d pushed him into a relationship, he’d have bolted. And it worked for me too, because I knew I didn’t have the time to commit to him but didn’t want him to be alone either. And he wasn’t, because you were there. As for you and Brook, I stand by my statement that you’re in love with him, possibly also in denial, but you definitely love him. If you didn’t, you’d have rented a car and you’d already be sitting on our couch, bitching about what a piece of shit your uncle is and how much you hate Grady for telling you it’d be a good idea for you to go down there.”
“Would not.”
“Yeah, you would,” she argued. “It’s your way. When shit gets too heavy, you run like Forrest Gump. But sometime, you have to stop running.”
“I know.” Fuck, I couldn’t argue with her. Not today and sure as hell not before caffeine. “But that’s not what I called about. I need to figure out what to do about the inn. When I came down here, I thought it was just to get to know James and feel him out for Dad. Then I found out the grandfather I thought had abandoned me because of my egg donor left half the damn hotel to me and wished he’d been able to know me.”
“An inn,” she corrected me.
“Same difference.” I was too groggy for semantics. “Oh, and not only that, but before I can even come to grips with this news, my asshole uncle plans on using my boyfriend to coerce me into selling the place.”
“Do you want to?” Bless the woman for glossing right over the part where I’d called Brook my boyfriend. We hadn’t placed a label on what we were doing, but it felt right to call him that. Or it did in the fantasy world I was choosing to live in, the one where the past twelve hours were nothing but a cold-sweat-inducing nightmare.
“What in the hell am I going to do with an inn? And there’s the little problem of the asshole wanting to sell the place because he owes so many people money. He can’t sell without my signature, but that doesn’t mean the inn will be safe. Brook said he’s pretty sure the people James owes money have been hanging around. What if one of the people who are after him decides to send a message?”
“Good point. Now, let’s slow down for a minute and think about this….” I could practically see Jen grabbing a scrap of paper, drawing lines on it to make a pros-and-cons list; that was her answer to everything in life. Sure enough, she asked me to list off all the reasons selling made sense, followed by what was holding me back. The pros list was short but impactful: having something to tie me to the family I had never known, staying with Brook, giving Dad a place to start over once he got out.
