“Yes.”
The landlord’s voice grew wary. “I hope you’re not planning on putting a Café Oceanus in Eureka Springs. That kind of thing won’t fly here. Ever since that Mountain Cove development went through, the locals have been on their guard. Some folks don’t like change.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Cole replied. “If it makes you feel any better, I have no plans for a restaurant. I’m just looking to invest in some retail location, and I love this particular building and setting.”
“So you can help out that friend?”
Cole’s exasperation grew. “Something like that.”
“Well, my name is Ken Adams. Aren’t you interested in the building’s leasing history and other information?”
The man must think him daft and wonder how he’d made his money in the first place. “Yes, but it’s not my first concern at this moment.”
Silence crawled on the line until Ken spoke. “I guess I’d let it go for around seven hundred thousand.”
Cole wanted to laugh. The price was way above market value. “Let’s say five forty-five, and I pay closing costs.”
“I’ll choose the realtor,” Ken stated.
“And I’ll choose one of my own. They can hash out the details.”
“Done,” Ken agreed. Then he laughed. “If I don’t hear from your realtor in twenty-four hours, I’m going to consider this a hoax. I’m not taking down the sign yet, either.”
“Suit yourself. My realtor will be in touch later today.” Cole hung up and walked into the building. The interior of the old home had been remodeled into various suites for businesses. A therapy office was in the back. An accounting firm in another room and a yoga studio took the large space opposite of the vacant area in the front of the building. Many other businesses rounded out the second-floor suites. He hurried back downstairs to the location that interested Indigo with its big Victorian front porch and view of the tree-lined street. It was exactly what Indigo wanted. She had a good eye when it came to choosing a place where the Silver Stitch would thrive. The building was less than a mile from downtown, which kept it out of the trouble of downtown sidewalks and roads but still lent it the bustling vibe of a thriving retail area.
There was parking in the back, and the curb appeal was lovely with the gingerbread trim in white and cornmeal-yellow siding. The inside was completely modern with polished concrete floors and two newly remodeled bathrooms for customers. The paint was neutral, which would suit all sorts of costumes and dresses, and the light was soft but illuminating, giving the brides the best view of themselves and their dresses. With a little remodeling, the third floor could be turned into a comfortable living space with a balcony that looked over the street and rushing stream. Huge windows took in the view of the woods from the back.
Cole could see the furniture Indigo would choose, with pastries and cookies from a local bakery piled on a table and a coffee dispenser in the corner. It was perfect.
He whipped out his phone and began punching Indigo’s number, but halfway through, he changed his mind. This wasn’t the time to tell her that he’d be her new landlord. Nothing was signed, and he wasn’t sure how she would take this news.
Sadness filled him. Would Indigo see it as charity and turn down his proposition? If he’d learned anything from their Saturday afternoon argument, it was that Indigo had no intention of dragging him into her debt. She was proud and independent in the best way. That much was clear. He’d need to tell her of his acquisition so as to redeem himself from his earlier mistake while not making it look like she was incompetent or needy. He wanted this to be a peace offering. Even if she never wanted to see him again, he could at least provide a way for her to move beyond the debt that kept her locked into a limited future—even if that future was without him.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Indigo sat in the chair and pulled her pashmina shawl around her shoulders. Staring at her hands, she entwined the aquamarine fabric through her fingers, suddenly realizing it matched the waters off the Florida coast exactly.
She had tried to shirk this responsibility of attending Alyssa’s wedding, but she couldn’t think of a way to explain her absence without going into detail about her breakup with Cole. Actually, she wasn’t sure it was a breakup. They’d only been dating for a little over a month, but the pain of it still sliced through her like a hot knife.
She clenched her hands and took a quick look around. The east lawn of the Crescent Hotel was beautifully displayed with an abundance of spring flowers, green grass and budding trees. After the wedding, the bride’s family was hosting a reception in the conservatory with its exquisite tableware, white wood-paned windows, and French doors that went out to a balcony overlooking the lawn where the vows had been exchanged. The wedding was small, less than fifty people, and if Cole showed up, it would be hard to avoid him.
She thought back to his text about the availability of the storefront where she was hoping to lodge the Silver Stitch. She appreciated him looking out for the vacancy, but she felt no compulsion to tell him why it had fallen through. The landlord, Ken Adams, was kind but also clear. Although Indigo could make the monthly lease and she had the first and last months covered, along with a deposit, the heavy debt load she was carrying made him shy away from her application. He wished her luck.
Indigo shifted in her seat. She needed more than luck. She needed a place to run her business. Since she wanted to attract mostly brides, she was going to have to have a high-end building where her clients could have a memorable experience. No one, especially a bride, wanted to visit a decrepit building or neighborhood or a lackluster strip mall. Every part of their wedding experience needed to be pampered joyous, including altering the gown of their dreams.
Indigo wanted to be a part of that dream, but her own wish was slipping away. Her hope of escaping her problems in Oregon had become empty, leaving nothing more than a shell of melancholy.
A cool breeze brushed up against Indigo as the warmth from the sun retreated behind a blockade of white fluffy clouds. She shivered slightly. Taking a deep breath, she pulled her shawl close while trying to steel herself against the upcoming exchange of vows between Alyssa and Steven. With the hazy memory of Sam and the more recent and stinging break from Cole, along with the disappointment over the Silver Stitch, her heart filled to the brim with disappointment and anguish, like a river at flood stage. Any minute now, she thought she might cry.
“Just a couple of hours,” she whispered to herself.
“Hey there.”
Indigo looked up to see Cole. His presence and the familiarity of his voice was like the sun coming from behind a cloud, offering warm affection and light to the dismal day full of aching memory both recent and past. She didn’t want to feel this way.
“Mind if I sit next to you?” He pointed to the empty seat.
Indigo took in his sharp gray suit and perfectly appointed tie. His black hair curled around his collar, and his dark eyes smiled down at her. A furtive glance to those already seated told her that every woman in the venue was looking at him.
“I’d prefer that you don’t,” she choked out. All morning, Indigo had rehearsed these and other words in case she ran into Cole. Let him spend his time with Pamela if he wanted female company. Rejecting him would surely offer vindication and some sort of satisfaction. Only it didn’t. Instead, her words went up against everything she craved.
“Fair enough.” Cole moved to another seat, taking his warm affection with him.
Indigo slumped in her chair as the wedding march began. How was she ever going to make it through this day?
Indigo’s gloom was interrupted by Alyssa sweeping down the aisle on the arm of her father. She studied the dress and her own handiwork. It was lovely. The layered hem glided along the grass like butterflies hovering over a flower, and the bodice fit perfectly. The hat and veil she and Agnes had created was the perfect partner for the dress with its understated bead work and tulle. A small stone of sati
sfaction dropped into Indigo’s swollen and sorrowful heart, helping ease some of the pain.
She took a breath. Maybe if she focused on the dress, she could manage the rest of the afternoon, but her relief was short-lived. As Alyssa’s eyes lit up with each word of her vows, Indigo recalled her vows shared with Sam. Only this time, the memory didn’t carry its usual sharp definition. The edge was removed, sending a quick panic through her. Was she forgetting him? Quickly, she opened her phone to secure a wedding photo, but the picture didn’t bring her the relief she expected. Yes, she and Sam were nestled together in the photo, but the delirious joy of that day dimmed into the truth of everything that had happened afterward.
She missed Sam, yes. She missed their shared youth. But she also missed what never was: the steady march into adulthood that never quite happened for him, making her strain between what they once were and what they never became.
Indigo flipped the screen of her phone to the off position, expecting the flood of sadness to overrun its banks. Instead, the overflow of emotion drained from her, leaving her clearheaded.
She gazed at the wedding ring on her right hand, the aquamarine shawl as the backdrop. The sun made the diamonds shine, and she recalled the Floridian day when Cole helped her make the change from married wife to reminiscent widow. He didn’t want to dismiss the memory of Sam or overshadow it.
Looking up, she studied Cole’s profile. He was sitting alone. He turned to glance at her, his eyes full of some unknown emotion. Indigo returned his attention with a sad but fragile smile as regret overcame her. She expected the action of turning down his invitations since that terrible Saturday to bring solace and exoneration. Instead, she found only isolation, the misery of separation, and heartache. She missed him. Not in the same way she missed Sam. This was more urgent and also vital. Missing Cole was not stationed in her past. It was part of her fluid present, and that was something she had the power to change.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Indigo gently leaned into Alyssa, making sure she didn’t pull at the bride’s clothes or hat. The smell of crushed flowers fluttered between them. “You look beautiful,” she whispered in the bride’s ear.
“Thank you.” Alyssa smiled. “I’m so happy, and this dress is a part of that. Thank you for everything.”
“It’s been my pleasure,” Indigo responded.
Looking down the line, Indigo noticed Cole several steps behind her. She would wait for him to finish talking with the bride and groom before approaching. She didn’t have any idea what she would say, but she hoped it would come out right and he would listen.
Cole finished up with Alyssa and Steven before making his way to the food, where he took a small plate of Suzette’s spread and moved to the window that looked out over the lawn and profuse gardens.
Indigo followed, her heart beating in her throat and rushing through her ears. Coming to stand beside Cole, she turned. “Do you have a minute?”
Cole studied her, his dark eyes traveling over her face as if to discern her emotions. She hoped he could read her tenuity.
He nodded and put his plate of food down on a small table before they walked together out of the French doors to the deck, where they found a quiet corner. Together, they stood overlooking the glories of spring and the church bell tower below from St. Elizabeth’s church. All of it shone in the sun the color of lemon drops.
“I’m not sure what to say,” Indigo started. “I think you’ve been trying to talk to me for a while now, and I’ve brushed you off. I’m sorry for my rudeness.”
Cole turned from the view and looked at Indigo, his brown eyes searching hers. “It’s no more than I deserve.” His voice held that quiet, intimate warmth that called to her from the beginning. “I’ve wanted to tell you how sorry I am for how I behaved. I was out of line. I don’t know why you chose not to tell me your personal history, but I should’ve at least given you the courtesy to ask and the time to tell me when you were ready.”
Indigo looked down at her shoes as the burden and anguished distress of her marriage to Sam came to the surface. She returned her gaze to Cole. “I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want to face it myself. I’m not sure I even had the words to make an explanation.” She looked away from him, her truth on the edge of a confession she’d never wanted to make. “Sam didn’t always …” She searched for the right words. “He needed the river like some people need a lover.” She looked down at her wedding ring. “It’s been a hard realization to come to, but there it is.” The earlier sting of Indigo’s new reality dissipated in the spring sun and Cole’s presence, easing the accuracy of her disclosure.
“I’m sorry about Sam,” Cole said. “It’s hard for me not to be a little disappointed and angry on your behalf. You deserved a partner, someone who worked as hard as you did in the marriage. I can’t explain it, but it feels as if I’ve been betrayed somehow.” He shook his head. “I’m not expressing this very well.”
“I can understand. Because I couldn’t be entirely honest with myself, there was no way I was truthful with you. I can see how that would hurt.” She took a step back. “But if we’re going to speak of betrayal, whatever made you listen to Pamela?” Tears stung the back of her eyes, but she refused to give in to them.
Cole reached out and took Indigo’s hand, rubbing her palm in between his fingers. She treasured the warm familiarity of his roughened hand against her cold skin.
“Another serious regret,” Cole began. “I let her dictate this story, and I shouldn’t have allowed that to happen.” He let out a long breath. “But it’s not Pamela’s fault. Not really. I chose my reaction, although I didn’t think about it at the time. That’s on me, and I’m sorry.” He paused. “I’ll deal with Pamela because of my commitment to Isabella, but our correspondence will be through email from now on. There’s no reason for us to have any sort of relationship—not even as friends.”
Indigo nodded with relief. Cole wasn’t trying to defend his actions. He was trying to explain them and the choices he’d made. Still, something bigger than Pamela loomed between them. She hesitated. “And what about Jessica?”
Cole shifted his weight. “You’re wise to ask, but I’m sorry it’s even necessary. I didn’t think it through, but now I can see how I’ve let what happened between her and me get under my skin in ways that have changed me. I’m not proud of that.”
Indigo closed her eyes and lowered her head. “Do you still love her?” Her voice was timid as a small panic throbbed in her chest.
“Jessica? No.”
“Then why—?”
“Because it wasn’t the money. I lost so much in the face of her betrayal. I did love her once, or at least I thought what we shared was love.” He shook his head. “I’m not so sure anymore. Through that experience with Jessica, I lost my confidence and the ability to trust myself. Forget about anyone else. What kind of accountant am I, if I let someone who professes to love me steal from me and my family?” He took a deep breath. “Landon suggested I talk to her.”
Indigo’s eyes grew large. “Is that what you want?”
“No. She’s the last person I want to talk to.” He gave a short laugh. “Well, other than Pamela.” He grew serious as he squeezed Indigo’s fingers. “I can’t promise to always recognize the influence of that old betrayal, but it’s something I’m working on. I hope with time, it’ll become small and unimportant.”
Indigo studied Cole, perceiving the dance they shared as they went back and forth, clearing the air and talking through the hard moments they’d created. The taking of responsibility and the offering of another chance. The promise to do better. All of it without the full revealing of a future. She accepted his pledge and offered one of her own as their connection deepened. “I’ll work on seeing the truth of my marriage to Sam while also celebrating the youth we shared.”
Cole turned toward her. “You told me once that Sam was the lover of your youth.”
Indigo searched Cole’s deep cocoa-brown eyes. “Yes
, he was, and that’s sacred to me.”
Cole moved closer, taking Indigo’s hand in his own once again. “I don’t know what our future holds or even the next step, but if you’re willing to try with me again, I promise I’ll give you my best.”
Indigo smiled. She stepped within the circle of Cole’s warmth that seeped into her every bone, her body easing into what they shared. “You mean there’s something better than how you’ve treated me before all of this happened?” she whispered, reaching her arms around Cole’s neck.
“I’d like to think so,” Cole murmured as he bent down for a kiss, her breath mingling with the scent of cedar she knew belonged to him alone. The tentative gentleness of his mouth on hers opened Indigo, and she pressed for more, which Cole gave with firm but sweet tenderness.
“I’d like that,” she murmured as Cole gathered her into his arms, lighting up the darker parts of Indigo’s heart.
Cole broke from Indigo. “Let me show you something.” Leading her by the hand, he brought her to the Tesla, where they settled in for the short drive to North Main. He parked behind the building and helped Indigo out of the car.
“Why are we here?” Indigo asked.
“I think you need to reapply for this space. As you can see, it’s still available.”
Indigo sighed, her eyes traveling over the storefront she so desired. “What I didn’t tell you was that the landlord’s reason for denying my application was my debt.” She gazed at the gingerbread trim. “I love this place, though. It would’ve been perfect. I’m sure I’ll find something.” She moved back to the car.
Cole gently took her by the hand and led her to the large front porch. “Read the sign.”
Cole’s number was listed right there. Indigo’s eyes grew large in surprise. “You? You bought this?”
“The whole building.” Cole grinned. “I’m the owner of this lovely old Victorian, and I think you’d make the perfect tenant. When can you move in?”
Her Billionaire Betrayal (Billionaire Bachelor Mountain Cove Book 3) Page 20
