“Please,” I murmur quietly. “We only just got the strengthened ley lines back in Mystic Meadows. We can’t lose them again. My town’s future hinges on this.”
Stone’s voice is restrained when he speaks, as if he’s holding back from shouting. “I am building a multimillion-dollar state-of-the-art facility in anticipation of how much tourism will rise here. I’m investing everything I have into this. So is my brother. So is my cousin. This is everything we’ve got, and you’re telling me I’m supposed to bust it all up and start over?” His jaw clenches. “No. You canget lost.”
Stone storms off, gravel crunching under his boots. The lambicorn bleats pathetically as it follows. The poor thing’s probably starving.
Stone opens the trailer door and slams it shut behind him, leaving the lambicorn outside.
Lava rolls through my veins. What a jerk. Obviously, I didn’t give Stone good news. I own that. But the poor lambicorn is innocent. The creature can’t help it picked the worst mother in the world to nurture it.
Trust me, lambi, I know the feeling.
I charge over, scoop up the lambicorn, and bang on the door.
It flies open and Stone sticks his head out. “What?”
I press the baby into his arms. “I present your lambicorn.”
He pushes it back. “Take it. You have a mothering instinct—the kind of helicopter personality that’ll keep it bound in Bubble Wrap until it’s twenty.”
He slams the door in my face.
I open the door and walk in.
Stone whirls around and fumes, “What are you doing?”
“I’m giving you your lambicorn. Clearly the creature has terrible taste, but it picked you as its mother, so here you go.”
I place the lamb on the floor. Stone has removed his hard hat and set it on a desk—which is very neatly put together, I might add, with files organized, the surface, uncluttered. It even smells nice in here, like sand and sea spray.
“It’s not mine.” He closes the space between us. His body thrums with anger, and it wafts off him in sheets of heat that warm my skin. “How many times do I have to tell you?”
“It’s yours.” I poke his arm. “How many times do I have to tellyou?” There’s a long pause where it feels like the air has left the room. I lower my voice, doing my best to tamp down my frustration. “I’m sorry we got off to a bad start, but I’m here to help, to work with you. Someone should have come out sooner, but I only recently got hired to replace my predecessor. If you would just let me show you what I think—”
“No,” he snaps, venom lacing his voice. “I’m not changing the materials, and neither is my brother. We’re pushing forward. There’s a deadline. Supplies have been ordered. We’re doing what we’re doing, and that’s it.”
I brush hair from my face, and his gaze lands on the antique ring. His eyes narrow. “Nice ring. Did you destroy that guy’s life, too? Tell me, was it before or after he proposed?”
I want to scream. “Not that it’s any of your business, but this is my grandmother’s ring. A man didn’t give it to me.”
He smirks. “Not surprising.”
“For your information, I date plenty.”
“I bet you do.”
“I do.” We stare at one another, and as if the ring has heard us, it slips from my finger and lands on the floor.
Stone stares at it for a long beat. So do I. I glare at him until he bends over, picks up the ring, and hands it to me. “For you, princess. May you hook the best fish in the sea.”
I snatch the ring from his grasp. “Like you’re some catch. You’ve got money, but the personality of a piece of plywood.”
His jaw clenches. “I sure do.”
The tension in the room defuses and I sigh, tired of fighting. “For the sake of our town, please change the materials.”
He shoots me a condescending look before rubbing a hand down the scruff on his cheek. “For the sake of this town and the tourism that’s coming, I think I’ll keep it the way it is. Now, if there’s nothing else, you may leave.”
He turns around, steps behind his desk, and plops into his chair with a heavy sigh. Conversation over. Just like that. He’s decided we’re through.
