by Sophie Moss
He turned, but his expression held no emotion at all. He was withdrawing, she realized. He was distancing himself from her, from Della, probably from everyone so he could prepare to leave.
She followed him out the door. He’d never said anything about keeping in touch after he left. He’d made himself clear from the very beginning. When it was time for him to leave, things would be over between them.
But how could she let him go when nothing had been resolved, when he still thought so little of her? “Will you at least say goodbye before you leave? If not to me, at least to Taylor?”
He nodded, but she caught the flicker of hesitation in his eyes right before he turned. She stood in the doorway, watching him walk away.
Somehow, she knew it was a promise he wasn’t going to keep.
Word spread quickly about what had happened that morning. By lunchtime, most of the islanders had come into the café asking if there was anything they could do to help. Tim Foster had come in personally to ask if Taylor was all right. After Joe had explained the situation, Tim had agreed to stop hunting on his property for the next few days.
Annie was grateful, but they both knew her daughter’s fear of guns couldn’t shut down the entire hunting season.
Tim’s blind was the closest one to the island—aside from Will’s, which no one used—but there were hunting spots all over this area. Taylor was going to have to get over her fear. Joe had offered to take her over to Tim’s farm in a day or two, once she calmed down, and walk her around the blind so she could get used to it.
So she would know what to expect when the gunshots went off next time.
It was the same philosophy Annie had used on Halloween. As long as Taylor was prepared, she would be able to get through this. They would both be able to get through this.
It was worth a try, at least. That’s all they could do—keep trying until they got it right.
Walking the last of the dishes into the kitchen, she set them in the sink, taking a moment to lean her palms on the edge of the counter and just breathe. For the first time since early that morning, she was alone in the café. She’d sent Della home a half an hour ago, around the same time she’d begun to give up hope that Will was going to say goodbye to them. She’d been watching the door all day, listening for the sound of his footsteps on the porch, hoping he’d come, if not for her, at least for Taylor.
But he was probably halfway to the airport by now.
She was going to have to break the news to Taylor tonight.
Pushing away from the counter, she paused when the bell on the front door jingled. Maybe he’d only wanted to wait to say goodbye until everyone else had left. Nerves danced up her spine as she stepped out of the kitchen, her heart sank when she saw who was at the door.
It wasn’t Will.
It was Blake, the one person who hadn’t bothered to stop by at some point today to make sure Taylor was okay. Everyone else on the island had offered to lend a hand, but Taylor’s own father hadn’t bothered to lift a finger. “Nice of you to finally show up again.”
“I figured you wouldn’t want me around, that I’d only get in the way,” Blake said, closing the door behind him.
Annie picked up a rag, running it over the tables. He had an answer for everything, didn’t he?
“How’s she doing?”
“She’s fine.”
He walked across the room, brushing aside the sugar that had spilled on the counter before turning and leaning against it, perfectly content to do nothing while he watched her work. “Last night, I asked if you and Will Dozier were friends.”
Annie moved to the next table, lifting the salt-and-pepper shakers to clean under them. “So?”
“You never answered me.”
She set down the salt, looking up at him. “My friends are none of your business.”
“Is that all you two are?” He lifted a brow. “Friends?”
“Like I said,” she repeated. “It’s none of your business.”
“I think we should talk about it.”
Annie threw the rag down. “What do you want from me, Blake?”
“I’d like to know what kind of relationship this man has with my daughter.”
Anger curled like whips inside her, threatening to snap. “In the few weeks Will has known Taylor, he’s been more of a father to her than you will ever be.”
Blake regarded her coolly. “Then you’ll both be interested to know that he agreed to sell the inn to me this morning.”
“What?” Annie froze. No. He would never sell the inn to Blake. She picked up the rag again, moving on to the next table. “I don’t believe you.”
“He agreed to my terms this morning.”
She shook her head. “Will would never sell the inn to you.”
Blake smiled, his gaze shifting to the porch as someone walked up the steps. Annie felt a prick of fear when she spotted Spencer holding a bottle of champagne. He opened the door, stepping into the café with a ridiculous grin on his face. He lifted the bottle. “Time to celebrate.”
Annie took a step back. This wasn’t happening. This couldn’t be happening. “Did Will sign the contract?”
Blake held out his hand to Spencer, and the two men shook hands. “We had to add a few clauses to the contract,” Blake answered, “but Spencer drew up the new terms and sent it off to him this afternoon. He’s going to sign it and send it back as soon as he arrives in San Diego.”
Hope sprang in Annie’s heart. It wasn’t official yet. There was still time to stop him.
Spencer popped the cork. “I don’t know how you did it, Blake.”
Blake walked into the kitchen, rooting around for champagne glasses. “I made him an offer he couldn’t refuse.”
The sight of Blake in her kitchen, rummaging through her cupboards, pushed her over the edge. “Get out.”
“What?” Spencer turned, his smile fading.
“Get out.” Annie’s fingers curled around the rag. “Both of you.”
“Why?” Spencer asked, confused. “I thought you wanted this?”
“I did.” Annie struggled to keep her voice under control as she strode to the door, holding it open. “Things change.”
Blake’s eyes met hers from across the room. “Annie.”
“I said, get out.”
Setting down the glasses he’d found, he walked out of the kitchen. “You don’t want to do this.”
“Actually, it’s all I’ve wanted to do since the moment I laid eyes on you yesterday.”
Blake paused in the doorway, leaning down and lowering his voice. “You’re going to regret this.”
“Oh, really? Why?”
“You can’t keep my daughter from me.”
“You don’t care about Taylor, Blake. You don’t care about anyone but yourself. I don’t know what you came here for, but it sure as hell wasn’t to get to know your daughter.”
Blake’s eyes narrowed. “I bet a judge would be interested to know that you moved Taylor to an island famous for hunting after she was traumatized by a school shooting. That doesn’t show very strong mothering skills, does it?”
Annie shoved him, hard, out the door. “Get. Out.”
“This isn’t over,” he said, straightening his jacket and stalking down the steps.
Oh, yes it is. Annie slammed the door, digging her cell phone out of her apron. There was no way Will would have accepted Blake’s offer unless he’d lied about something. Blake had to have spun some kind of elaborate story to convince Will to change his mind. Will would never have sold simply because Blake had upped the offer.
She punched in the number of the first friend she had made on this island, the one person she knew would do everything in her power to stop this sale.
Grace picked up on the third ring. “Annie?”
“Grace,” Annie said, gripping the phone. “I need your help.”
Will pulled to the curb outside the Governor’s Mansion in Annapolis. Putting the SUV in park, he turned to C
olin. “Thanks again for coming down and helping out.”
Colin nodded, gazing at the traffic crawling around Church Circle a block away. “I know there’s nothing I can say to change your mind.” His hand rested on the door handle, making no move to open it. “But you should know that Becca said some things after you went upstairs last night…things about Annie.”
“Did she?” Will asked indifferently.
“Becca’s on your side, man. We all are.”
Will watched a woman in a business suit and high heels dash across the street in front of them, ducking her head against the wind.
“Della told her what happened between Annie and Blake,” Colin said. “She was hoping Becca would talk to you, since you wouldn’t answer her calls.”
“Look, Colin,” Will said. He needed to get to the airport. At this rate, he was going to hit some serious rush-hour traffic heading out of downtown Annapolis. “I know you mean well, but I need to hit the road.”
“Della left a ton of messages on your phone last night,” Colin went on. “Will you at least listen to them before you sign the papers?”
Will tapped his fingers over the steering wheel. If he didn’t say yes, Colin might make him sit here for another ten minutes. “Sure.”
“That didn’t sound very convincing.”
“Do you want me to listen to them now, while you’re sitting here?” Will started to pull out his phone.
“That’s tempting, but no.” Colin shifted in his seat to face him. “I have something else I want to talk to you about.”
Something else? Will checked the clock on the dashboard. He still needed to fill up the gas tank and return the car to the rental lot before heading to the airport. Why hadn’t Colin gotten these things off his chest during the hour-long drive?
“I’ve been doing a lot of thinking over the past few days,” Colin began.
Will leaned back into the seat, tempering his frustration. This didn’t sound like the start of a short conversation.
“I know what I want to do after my father’s campaign ends next fall.”
“What?” Will asked, surprised. He knew his friend had been struggling with this for some time. He wished he’d brought it up earlier, but he was glad he’d made a decision.
“I want to open a rehab center for wounded vets—sort of a transition center for injured service members who’ve been discharged from Walter Reed but aren’t ready to go home yet.”
Intrigued, Will let his hands drop away from the wheel. “But you don’t know anything about medicine aside from the emergency training we used out in the field.”
“I’m not talking about opening a hospital. I’m talking about a place where a handful of vets could come and stay for a while, a place where they could do some volunteer work and learn some new skills while they figure out what to do next. They might still need physical therapy, but I could bring someone in for that a few times a week, or hire drivers to take them where they need to go. I’m talking about a place for the ones who are physically ready to be discharged from the hospital, but aren’t ready to reenter society yet. The ones who need a safe place to land until they can get back on their feet.”
It was an interesting idea, Will thought. There were a few organizations offering services like this to veterans now, but not nearly enough. Even if Colin could only help a dozen vets a year, it would be that many more who wouldn’t be struggling harder than they needed to be, who wouldn’t eventually end up on the streets. “With your father’s connections, you wouldn’t have any trouble finding funding for an idea like that.”
“I agree.” Colin let the words hang between them. “And I know the perfect place for it.”
Will pulled his gaze slowly from the windshield, where he’d been watching a thin branch bend at an impossible angle in the strong winds. “You want to buy the inn?”
“No.” Colin shook his head. “I want you to be my business partner.”
Will stared at him.
“There’s something about that place, Will. It makes you feel better. I don’t know how to explain it; it’s like there’s something in the air on that island. You can breathe easier. You can think more clearly. You can get from place to place in a matter of minutes. The people who live there; they’re real people—the kind of people who understand us, who understand what we’ve been through. It’s the kind of place I wish I’d gone after I got discharged from the hospital.”
“But you came here.” Will gestured out the window to the stately brick home. “To the Governor’s Mansion. You had people waiting on you hand and foot.”
“That’s the thing. I didn’t want people waiting on me. I didn’t want my family doting on me, hovering around me, feeling sorry for me. I wanted to get up in the morning and do something that mattered. I wanted to get my hands dirty, work on a project, do something besides answer questions about how my leg felt that day. I know it might sound selfish. I have a great family. We have plenty of money. It’s not like I needed anything, but I still felt lost. I wanted my team. I wanted my guys. I missed the camaraderie, that sense of belonging, of knowing what my mission was.”
Will thought about how he would have felt if he’d been stuck in a home for months where he didn’t have anything to do to get his mind off his injury and what he had lost.
He would have gone nuts.
But it didn’t change the fact that he already had a job, one he wasn’t ready to give up. “You’re asking me to walk away from the teams, Colin.”
“I’m asking you to consider your options,” Colin said. “We could give these guys a solid start at a new life. We could get them out on the Bay, helping Ryan with his environmental projects, helping with whatever other projects need to get done on the island. I could tap into my networks in Annapolis and D.C. to help them get interviews and find jobs. You and I could both work with them on physical training to get them back in shape. I could start securing the funding now to open by next fall.”
Will looked out the windshield, at a group of tourists huddled together under a sycamore tree, trying to read a map that was flopping around in the wind. “You’ve done a lot of thinking about this.”
Colin nodded. “That first night, when you went home with Annie and I went back to the inn on my own, I stayed up all night researching private rehab centers for vets. There aren’t that many, but the ones that exist are making a real difference in people’s lives.”
“It’s a great idea, Colin. One I could get behind if circumstances were different. But there are other vets in the area. You shouldn’t have any problem finding someone else to partner with.”
“I don’t want to partner with anyone else, Will. I want to open this place with you. I want you on my team again.” Colin opened the door. “Will you at least think about it?”
Will nodded. What else could he say? “I’ll think about it.”
Annie grabbed the phone on the first ring. “Grace?”
“Hey, Annie.” Grace was short of breath, as if she’d been running. “I have news.”
“Where are you?”
“On the hill, by the Capitol. It’s murder in heels. Hang on.”
Annie could hear horns honking, traffic whizzing past.
“Sorry. I’m back.”
“Are you walking home?”
“Yeah,” Grace said. “From the bar. I just had drinks with two of Blake’s old fraternity brothers.”
Annie sat up on the sofa. “You’re kidding?”
“You’d be amazed at how much information you can find on an alumni website.”
Annie stood and tiptoed across the living room, peeking in at Taylor to make sure she was still sleeping. Careful not to wake her, she crept down the stairs to the café. “How’d you get them to meet you?”
“I pretended to be a member of one of the sororities they used to party with. We all got a good laugh about the fact that they couldn’t remember me. Then we each ordered a Hurricane, for old times’ sake.”
“Wait,” Annie
cut in, concerned. “How drunk are you right now? Should you be walking home alone?”
Grace laughed, brushing her off. “I’m fine. I only drank a quarter of mine. Oldest trick in the book. Anyway, after we caught up with each other, we started gossiping about all our old friends.”
Annie pulled out a chair at the closest table, sinking into it. “Did they have anything to say about Blake?”
“They had all kinds of things to say about Blake,” Grace said. “Turns out, he owes them money—a lot of money.”
“That doesn’t make any sense. Blake has plenty of money.”
“Maybe he did when you knew him before, but he doesn’t anymore. According to the two guys I met with tonight, he has a serious gambling problem and he’s up to his ears in debt. We’re talking hundreds of thousands of dollars, Annie.”
“Oh my God.”
“Tell me about it. But that’s not all. Apparently, his father got wind of it and he’s threatened to cut him off if he doesn’t shape up. He sent him up here to close the deal with the inn, to prove he cared enough about the company for his father to give him another chance.”
“This is unbelievable,” Annie breathed. “But what does Blake want with me and Taylor if he doesn’t have any money? It’s not like we’d be able to help him pay off any of his debts.”
“His mother wants a grandchild.”
“What?”
“Apparently, she’s been after him for months to get married again and settle down. She wants a little girl to dote on.”
“Taylor,” Annie breathed.
“Yep.”
Annie stared out the window, at the wind chimes spinning in the wind. “When he found out Taylor was his child, he thought he could close the deal with the inn, and get a wife and a child at the same time—all so his parents wouldn’t cut him off.”
“Exactly,” Grace said. “But you know what really pisses me off?”
“There’s more?”
“Oh, there’s more,” Grace said. “I made a few calls to the management team at Morningstar this afternoon. Every staff member assured me they have no plans to move into the eco-resort business.”
