I clear my throat and move to the center of the deck, scanning the faces. The others got my message, via Steven, and made it up here. Good.
“I’ve an announcement,” I say as soon as the applause dies down.
“Good show, mate,” Ben says.
“Yeah, we all know it was you, no need to announce it,” Maxine huffs. I can’t help but smirk. This town will nevernotcall me out on my shit, I suppose.
“That better not be what you dragged me up here for,” Shelly adds quietly.
“It’s not,” I say. Everyone waits and stares. I look at Harper and she saysWell?With her sweet face. “Right. As you all know, you did not win the wager.”
A chorus of boos, led by Maxine, fills the evening air.
I hold up a hand, “Now, now, a deal’s a deal, fair and square. But I’ve made another deal.” I look at old man Newman. He’s smirking, the greedy bastard. “I’ve bought the old Sap Hill mansion from the Newmans.”
“You did?” Steven asks.
“‘Bout time someone fixed up that eyesore,” Maxine says.
Gary asks, hopeful, probably imagining the press coverage, and my taxes, “You’re moving here permanently?”
I hold up my hand yet again.
“I’m not going to live in it. I’m going to tear it down.”
The group explodes about how I’ve torn down enough, when will it end, how much money does one need and so on and so forth. I sigh and wait.
“Wait, wait, shut up, shutup!”Steven cries out.
I nod at him, “Thank you. I also bought the few rentals around it, so that whole side of Main Street is now mine.” Everyone waits, not understanding what I mean. “I thought I’d put in some retail.”
Most of the crowd frowns, Harper included.
I go on,“Yourretail. We can rebuild the west side of the street on the east side. I talked to an engineer, we can even keep the existing gazebo in tact and simply move it over.”
I pause, waiting for questions. No one makes a sound. It’s so silent on the deck we can make out conversations near the lake below. I think I can hear the individual bugs in the damn trees.
Finally Shelly sniffs and asks, “So, I don’t have to close?”
I reply, “You don’t have to close.”
“Eeeeeee!”
“Damn it,” I say, startled. The cheers and squeals that the humans around me are producing right now should be studied by science. They’re hugging, crying, jumping. The reaction to this news is bigger and better than to the fireworks show.
But there’s really only one reaction I care about.
I watch as the emotions play across her stunning face. Confusion, shock, awe, glee and then, as I suspected, something else. Because I don’t think she wants to reopen The Roasted Chestnut. I think deep down, she was glad to be free of it.
Her father, though, he’ll be thrilled.
And I suppose I care about how he feels to some extent but he, he’s not the one I...love.
Eventually Harper looks up and those unbelievable green eyes find mine.
She beelines it to me and before I can say anything she throws her arms around me. I hold her, greedy for as much as I can get in these last few minutes. I inhale her sweet scent, resist the urge to run my hands along the curves I’ve got memorized. “Thank you, thank you, thank you,” she murmurs into my shirt. “Dad will be so happy.” She pulls away and asks, “So…are you staying?”
“Come, let’s go round front,” I say, knowing the whole deck is watching us while pretending not to.
