Chapter 18
Chapter Eighteen
M eetings were infinitely better without Henry. It was the third time the SOB group had met, and without his dominating presence it had been much more productive. Of course it could have been down to the fact they were in one of the local cafés, gorging on lattes and pastries. Or to the fact Claire had joined the group, too, and brought with her a much more positive energy– someone else who wanted to make saving the bookstore the focus of the meeting instead of hating Liam Haven. Although when Jade thought of the version who’d trounced out of the shop an hour ago, she was tempted to jump into the other camp.
‘I totally agree with Emma,’ Mary stated. ‘What better way to spend an evening than knocking back wine, munching nibbles and talking about books? I’m sure the library would be on board with supporting that. In fact we should hold it at the library because there’s more room there.’
‘We could promote it as a social event,’ Claire added. ‘A great way for islanders and tourists to mingle over a common interest.’
Jade nodded, excitement building. ‘We could run it like one of those speed-dating sessions.’
‘Pardon?’ Philip looked at her aghast.
‘I just meant it can be a way of mixing people up, but instead of looking for a date, you’re asking about books,’ she explained, curbing the desire to shake him out of his judgemental box. ‘We can pair up people who love crime, romance, literary fiction and so on. Give them a set time to ask quickfire questions.’
‘I like that.’ Emma again, who seemed to have found her voice now that Henry wasn’t there to talk over her.
‘It sounds tacky. I can’t see many people buying into it,’ Philip argued.
As Jade felt her face heat, Mary elbowed him in the ribs. ‘Don’t be such a snob. You won’t be forced to date anyone, heaven forbid you’d want to do that. It will be fun, and goodness knows we could do with a bit of fun around here.’
There was a bite to Mary’s words that made Jade wonder if the older woman had an ulterior motive in trying to shove Philip out of his comfort zone.
‘I thought this was meant to be about selling books,’ he grumbled.
‘Actually, about that.’ Jade cleared her throat. ‘I don’t think increasing book sales should be our focus anymore. Liam’s made it quite plain the bookstore will never be able to compete financially with his other plan.’
‘You mean the one that will rip the heart out of this part of the waterfront?’ Adam interjected sourly.
‘That’s one viewpoint.’ Was she really going to defend the man who, less than an hour ago, had coldly given her a week to leave the shop? But she couldn’t stop seeing his face just before he’d left, the hurt in his eyes when he’d concluded she’d taken sides against him. He was stubborn and hard-headed, yet if a barb snuck through his armour, he hurt like anyone else. ‘Another view would be he’s doing what he wants with his property.’ She looked pointedly at Adam. ‘Something I know you can understand.’
Adam flushed. ‘I was a kid when we did that.’
‘Did what?’ Mary interrupted, clearly sensing gossip. ‘Oh, are you talking about the infamous boat incident? I never did understand what really happened.’
‘That boat would never have sailed anywhere,’ Adam fired back, body language defensive.
‘Boat? What boat?’ Jade frowned. ‘I thought you stopped him from going to a cove?’
Adam shifted awkwardly on his chair. ‘It was a private beach that my family owned. He had no right to be using it in the first place.’
‘And now he owns the waterfront, so really we have no right to tell him what to do with it,’ Jade countered, earning a smile from Claire. ‘What happened with the boat?’
All eyes were on Adam now and a red stain crept up his neck. ‘Haven was trying to repair some heap of crap that was never going to be seaworthy. Another way to look at that , is to say by torching it, we probably saved his life.’
‘Oh, my God, you burned his boat? Why on earth?’ Jade demanded, horrified.
Adam’s eyes shifted away from hers. ‘Look, the guy was annoying, even then, always putting himself where he wasn’t wanted. Bad enough on land, but we didn’t want him following us out to sea.’
The twelve-year-old boy who’d wanted to fit in. Be part of the gang . Her heart lurched and as she scanned the room she could see the others were as shocked as she was, the view of the world they’d happily lived with, suddenly tilted. Adam of the warm hazel eyes and flirty smile had been a bully. Liam, of the wintry eyes and cool, do not get close to me expression, had been the one bullied.
‘I remember Liam as a quiet kid,’ Philip said into the stunned silence, his brow wrinkling as if he was trying to picture him. ‘Mother was highly strung. Used to be a housekeeper at the Chase Resort, like her mom. But then she just upped and left, leaving Pat to bring Liam up.’
‘A tough woman, Pat.’ Mary interjected. ‘Too proud to accept any help. I always wondered how she managed, suddenly faced with having to take care of a young kid at her age, and on a housekeeper’s salary.’
‘Well he went to the same boarding school as me so he wasn’t that poor,’ Adam muttered. ‘And he’s hardly short of cash now. Not content with buying up this part of the island, he’s bought a plot in Siasconset and is building a huge fuck-off mansion.’
‘Which he’s entitled to do, surely?’ Jade sighed. ‘Look, I’m only a visitor but I can see there’s a lot of tension around what’s happening to the island. I’m not sure being antagonistic is going to help though, because he’s not doing anything wrong. It’s up to us to show him what he could do with the waterfront and the bookstore that would still benefit his resort but also the island. Appeal to his heart, rather than his finances.’
‘Assuming he has a heart,’ Mary added dourly, but then she batted her hand in the air. ‘I’m not sure I feel right saying that after what I’ve just heard. But he is still hellbent on expanding his resort at the expense of parts of the island that many of us born and bred here hold very dear.’
‘So let’s continue with the plan to hold a book evening at the library, but let’s promote it as being a collaboration between the library and Haven Resorts, because technically the bookstore is part of that now, whether we like it or not.’ Jade couldn’t tell whether the group were with her, only that it felt right. That somehow her dream to prove she could manage the bookstore had morphed into a desire to get Liam and the island community working together to help them both. ‘It might begin to shift people’s opinions of him and he in turn could then see the value in getting the island on side, rather than always against him.’
‘It’s a nice sentiment.’ Adam shrugged. ‘It won’t work but you’re not going to take my word for it, so hell, why not. Nothing to lose at this point.’
‘Doubt you’ll get his agreement,’ Philip added.
‘Leave that to me.’ She was an expert at doing first, asking permission later. If she got found out.
The meeting wrapped up, and as the others left, Adam strode up to her. ‘How come you’re taking Haven’s side now?’
What was it with these men? ‘I’m not taking sides. I’m also not an eight-year-old. Maybe it’s time you guys tried to act your ages, too.’
He reared back. ‘Wow, for a cute blonde with a sunny smile, you sure pack a nasty punch.’
Gah. ‘Well, for a passably handsome fair-haired bloke, you say some pretty juvenile, sexist twaddle.’
She left him standing, jaw open. Feeling mighty proud of herself, she headed down the wide cobbled main street towards the bike rental shop. This afternoon, she was finally going to do some sightseeing.
* * *
Was he really driving across the island to look at a lighthouse he’d seen a million times before, on the off chance he might also see a short blonde figure? He should be going through the applications he’d had for the manager post. A post that once filled, meant he was no longer tied to spending every day on this goddamn island.
Yet here he was, chasing after a woman, when he knew damn well the only way he’d remain unscathed was to keep well away from her.
He was only here to apologise, he reminded himself. And felt marginally better.
Driving past the golf course, he turned into a residential lane and parked the car at the top. The red and white cylindrical lighthouse stood tall and proud on the cliff, the sweeping greens of the golf course to the left of it, and the vivid blue ocean to the right. But there was no sign of Jade. Had he missed her… His heart gave a little kick as he spotted a female figure on a bicycle cycling up the lane towards the lighthouse, blonde ponytail flying out of the back of a pink baseball cap, shapely legs peddling away beneath a pair of denim shorts.
Unable to help himself, he smiled and honked the horn.
She turned to look at him and, to his horror, began to wobble.
Then promptly fell off the damn thing.
Heart in his mouth, he lunged at the door handle and threw himself out of the car.
‘Shit, Jade, are you okay?’
Relief washed through him when she began to sit up. ‘I’d be better if you hadn’t scared the crap out of me.’
‘It was a hello honk, not a scary one,’ he protested, squatting on his haunches.
‘And I’m supposed to tell the difference how?’
She shifted, and guilt wriggled through him as he saw the long graze from her elbow to her wrist. Gently he lifted her arm to examine it, wincing at the combination of blood and dirt. ‘We need to get that cleaned up.’
‘Yeah, I need to do that.’ She jerked her arm away from him. ‘ You need to go back to whatever it was you were doing before you decided to scare people off their bikes with your nasty horn-blowing.’
He sighed and pulled the bike to one side so he could help her to her feet. ‘I came here to apologise.’
‘Oh.’ She stumbled a little, holding on to him as she balanced her weight away from what was clearly a tender ankle. ‘Well, I’m kind of busy right now, so maybe you can save it for another day.’
‘Jade.’ He exhaled, trying to keep a lid on his frustration. ‘You need to come back with me.’
‘Um, actually I don’t. It’s my day off today so you’re not the boss. I can do what I want.’ She shuffled away from him and bent to pick up the bike.
As he watched her struggle to lift it while balancing on one foot, blood dripping onto the ground from her scratch, the frustration bubbled over. ‘For fuck’s sake, Jade. Leave the bike, I’ll pick it up later. Get in the car and we’ll get you cleaned up and that ankle looked at.’
‘Actually, no.’ She brushed a few stray hairs that had whipped across her face in the breeze. ‘I came here to see the lighthouse.’
She began to limp off towards the damn thing, wheeling her bike.
Frustration bumped up against amusement, and both gave way to admiration as he watched her slowly make her way along the path. ‘Fine, if you insist on being stubborn, let’s do this in a way that will at least make me feel slightly less terrible.’ Carefully he prised the bike out of her hands, settled it against the fence, and lifted her into his arms.
She squealed, wriggling. ‘Oh, my God, you can’t just kidnap me. Let me down.’
‘You wanted to see the lighthouse, I’m taking you there.’
He started to walk, annoyance quickly giving way to a simmering arousal as his hands curled around the soft skin of her thighs. When she threw her arms around his neck to steady herself, he was done for, his erection jamming against the zip of his chinos.
‘This is ridiculous,’ she muttered.
‘The ridiculous part is you refusing to let me take care of you.’
Her shoulders rose and fell. ‘Fine. I’ll come back another day.’
‘Good decision.’
He swivelled and began to march back to his car.
‘It’s not like you could have carried me all that way, anyway.’
He halted. ‘Want to bet?’
She rolled her eyes. ‘Just get me into your car without dropping me.’
He eased her carefully into the passenger seat, trying not to touch or look at her any more than was necessary. He didn’t want to be this attracted, this aroused by her. This unbalanced by her.
‘Did you really come out here to apologise to me?’ she asked as he pulled back onto the road.
He glanced sideways at her. ‘What do you think?’ He let out a long breath. ‘I shouldn’t have given you an ultimatum like that. I… lost my temper.’
Her gaze skimmed over his face and she seemed satisfied with what she saw because she gave a little, pleased smile. ‘How did you know where I was?’
‘Jeremy told me.’ He cleared his throat. ‘We… talked. He seemed to think I might be interested.’
He caught the curve of her mouth. ‘Careful. If you keep that up, you and he might become friends.’
‘I don’t do friends.’
Again he felt those eyes on him. ‘Why not?’
He briefly considered veering off the road and pretending he had a flat tyre. ‘It wasn’t a conscious choice. More the way things worked out.’ Memories from his childhood swarmed through his mind like wasps, stinging as they went; shunned by classmates, ridiculed for his cheap clothes, laughed at when asked about his family, where he lived.
‘But that was at school,’ she said softly, guessing correctly. ‘What about after that?’
He shrugged. ‘I stopped trying. It was easier that way.’
‘What do you mean, easier?’
Easier than being rejected. He let her question hang in the air.
A beat later her hand covered his on the steering wheel. ‘Well, you have a friend in me.’
Emotion burned a trail through his chest and lodged like a rock in his throat. He couldn’t even speak past it. All he could do was wrap his fingers around hers and squeeze.
He’d come to apologise, yet here she was, in pain from injuries he’d caused, comforting him.
With a flash of terror, he realised his attempt to keep his distance had totally failed with Jade. His heart was letting her in, whether he liked it or not.