Her head darts in my direction, with her fumed expression cannonballing into me. “Listen.” She clenches her fists in pure anger. “Let’s be super clear from the get-go. We all were close at one time. You and me? We were supposed…” Summer can’t muster the words, and I don’t want her to.
The pain drips from every word. “But you were a coward. Your brother and I were friends. He did feel more, and I lovedhim differently. I wouldn’t change the fact that our marriage…” She keeps doing that, as if she realizes what she is about to say but she doesn’t want to. “Zac got to experience a marriage and fatherhood,” she simply states.
Only because I let him have you.
I close my lids tightly, only to open them, wishing I could turn the clock back. “Don’t say anything more.”
“Fine.” She’s not impressed.
I can’t even respond, which she takes as her cue to end this conversation. Summer pivots and grumbles as she leaves. “See you athome.”
I can’t help feeling that something isn’t right. She’s holding onto something she doesn’t want me to know.
3
NASH
Ilean against the reception desk inside the hotel. The man behind the desk whose name tag reads Stuart is busy swiping the tablet. I’m waiting patiently, but I crack a smile when Holden walks in my direction.
“Hey there, I heard you were back in town.” He pats my shoulder and joins me at the desk.
“Where did you hear that?”
He scratches the back of his neck. “I have my sources.”
I grin. “How bad is it?”
“Yeah, okay. I might have heard the other day when my wife and Summer were chatting about your mysterious impending arrival back at Lake Spark.”
“Ah… and considering I just saw Summer, should I give it ten or twenty minutes before Lexi phones you with the latest news?”
Holden slants his head to the side and quirks his lips out. “Meh, it’s school pick-up time, so probably twenty-five minutes.”
Despite my absence in almost everything around thistown, I know Holden and Stone, the other investor, well enough.
Holden’s face turns serious for a moment. “As much as I’m not impressed with your lack of involvement at the Dizzy Duck, that was always what you wished for, and we agreed on it from the start. That means we don’t need to have any awkward business conversations. I can just ask, how are you holding up?”
“I’m doing okay. It’s my brother’s uncanny knack to turn his passing into a time of… well, I’m not sure, but he made mourning easy until now,” I explain.
“Okay, that’s you all checked out,” Stuart, the receptionist, interrupts.
Holden’s brows furrow. “You just got here. I kind of thought that you would at least check on the place that you have some stake in?”
I hand Stuart my key, as the Dizzy Duck stuck to classic keys instead of upgrading to keycards. I glance at Holden. “No, I will be around more for the next few weeks. I’ll discover what I’ve missed and understand how you’ve made this place better than my parents ever would have.”
He grins and pats my shoulder. “Now that’s what I want to hear. We can have an informal meeting with Stone and catch up, plus go over some ideas for the coming months.”
“Sounds like a plan, and it will keep me busy I guess.” I shrug.
Holden’s smile fades, and his face turns puzzled. “Wait, what? You’re staying longer term? Why aren’t you staying here?”
“I have a new place that I’ll be lodging at.”
“Where might that be?”
I canalmostfind humor in all of this. “Turns out mybrother’s request is that I move in with Summer for a bit. Ensure she and Bo are doing okay.”
Holden has no words as he looks at me with a blank face, his brows raised.
