Chapter Eight
Eight
IT WASN’T A DATE. AND even if it was, that was no big deal.
Two people getting to know each other. He got to know plenty of guests.
No. Big. Deal. Grayson attached the nozzle to the inflatable stand-up paddleboard one of the guests wanted to try.
Crouched, he flipped the switch to inflate the board, staring at the horizon while the machine made soft noises and the waves from a boat washed onto the shore.
He’d never gone on a picnic with only one guest, so that was different, but this wasn’t just any guest. It was Bernie’s niece.
He groaned under his breath. It’s a date.
And he hadn’t been on one in longer than he could remember.
He tried to do the math in his head. His first date with Lana was over eight years ago.
How had he purposely let himself walk into this?
Gray had decided he was going to keep his distance.
He’d made a plan in his head and then he looked at her and everything went to hell.
In a rather enjoyable way. His type-A brain had already made a list with over a dozen pros and cons.
There was no reason for them not to date.
Except, what if it went sideways or they had nothing to talk about and then he still had to see her for who knew how long at his own dining room table?
What if Bernie got pissed off at him for taking his niece out?
And he couldn’t even take her out. Where the hell would they go?
Pete’s Place? Not that there was anything wrong with the small breakfast diner, but Smile wasn’t known for its wide array of eateries.
Anywhere he did take her, unless he went out to the north end of the island, would make them both the main topic of gossip the next day. Never his favorite thing.
Where to take her wasn’t the damn point.
The point was he didn’t want to date anyone because he didn’t have the capacity to build on something and commit to long term.
It would be fine if he was just hooking up—not that he’d ever been a just-hook-up kind of guy—but this was Bernie’s family.
You don’t mess with family. Charlie … shit, what was her last name?
Not Dayton. He needed to find that out. But regardless of what her last name was, Charlie was absolutely not hookup material.
She was the kind of woman a man took home to his family.
She’s already met your family. They love her.
“Dude, you’re going to pop that thing,” Levi said, crouching beside him and turning off the switch.
Grayson startled. “Shit. I wasn’t paying attention.
” He stared at his lifelong friend. Levi was marrying his sister.
They were having a baby together. Right.
So you can mess with family if you’re looking for a commitment.
That wasn’t Gray. Not anymore. He couldn’t go through that kind of pain again.
“You okay, man?”
Gray shook his head. “Fine. Just tired, I think.”
Levi nodded, but his lips shifted into a strange smile as he stood. “Sure. That’s it. You’re tired. Not intrigued by Bernie’s gorgeous and somewhat mysterious niece.”
Grayson stood, too, eyeing his future brother-in-law. “You’re marrying my sister. Should you be commenting on another woman’s looks?”
Levi laughed. Actually tipped his head back and laughed before meeting Gray’s gaze again. “Falling in love doesn’t take away your eyesight, you idiot. Also, your sister has a thing for Taylor Kitsch and has no problem telling me how hot she finds him.”
Grayson put his hands on his hips, wondering how this conversation had taken such a bizarre twist so fast. Still, he had to ask. “Who?”
“Friday Night Lights? We’re rewatching it after Ollie goes to bed. He plays one of the football players.” Levi picked up the paddle, checked it out. “Actually, I’m watching it alone since Jilly passes out right after we start most episodes.”
Gray lifted the paddleboard. It was surprisingly light for something as long as it was. He’d gotten two ten-foot boards. Beckett owned a small stake in a sporting goods store, so they often got great deals.
Happy that the chat had moved on from Charlie, he smiled. “It’s nice having her around for this pregnancy. I hated that we were all so far apart when she was pregnant with Ollie. Speaking of, you guys sure you shouldn’t tell her sooner rather than later?”
Levi shrugged. “It’s Jilly’s call. She’s almost twelve weeks now. I think once she’s through the first trimester, she’ll feel more comfortable.”
Grayson nodded, stared out at the water again.
He’d envisioned a family with Lana. Before Lana, too, actually.
Not in a concrete way. More of a one-day-it-would-happen thing.
Now, he didn’t know. If he was scared of fully committing to a woman ever again, the idea of having a child and then having things go sideways was a whole other level of fear.
“Oh, good. Two-for-one.” Presley’s voice rang out and both men turned in tandem to face her.
Grayson’s first impression of Presley when he’d picked her up at the dock in Smile a couple of years earlier was that she didn’t look like the type of woman who chose to spend a week at a run-down fishing lodge.
He’d read that right, but gotten almost every other thing about her wrong.
She hadn’t broken Beckett’s heart like Gray thought she would.
She hadn’t returned to the big city for good; she’d fallen not just for Becks but for the whole family, and she’d helped make Get Lost what it was today.
“Two-for-one? What are we, on sale?” Levi asked, laying the oar on top of the board when Gray set it down.
Presley wore a pair of denim shorts and a Get Lost with Me tank top, her newest marketing idea. The shirts and tanks were selling like crazy with the guests and in their online store. Also Presley’s idea.
Presley laughed. “I need to talk to everyone, but it’s nice to find two of you together, that’s all. You guys good to walk back to the lodge while we talk?”
They fell into step beside her. Presley sometimes reminded him of Ollie. She never stopped moving until she collapsed in exhaustion. His siblings had found their perfect matches.
“We have a really unique opportunity. I haven’t been able to get everyone in the same place long enough to talk about it without guests around. But I received another call today and realized we need to consider it.”
“Sounds ominous and tiring,” Grayson said.
Levi laughed, clapped him on the back. “You’re sounding older than your thirty-three years, buddy.”
Some days he felt it more than others. “What’s the opportunity?”
“Story Time, the streaming service, is doing a couple of new reality shows and they’re very interested in setting one of them at a lodge.”
Grayson’s brows drew together as he listened.
“They have a few ideas but wanted to find the location first. One is a challenge-type show, like Real Housewives meets Survivor. Another is running a twelve-episode show about small-town getaways and the experiences people have at them. The third would be a little more focused on you, Gray. They’d cover your takeover of the lodge and share the trials and tribulations.
Kind of a reno show, like a new-business-owner reality-type thing. ”
“Where’d that come from?” Levi asked, shoving his hands into his pockets.
They stopped in front of the lodge steps, Presley turning to Levi.
“Get Lost has had a lot of online coverage and we have several companies that we work with now on small sponsorships. The online cooking classes that you and Shane did last fall boosted our audiences on all platforms. Word of mouth. Still the best way to reach people. Including producers, apparently.” She looked at Grayson.
“It’s a lot to think about and take in, but the domino effect financially would be huge. ”
Grayson shook his head while a sour feeling invaded his stomach.
He wanted to grow the lodge, but this felt like a path he didn’t want to travel.
It was one thing to capitalize on momentum and success.
Another to allow others into his life in what felt like an intimate way.
This wasn’t just his business. It was his home.
“I don’t think so. What did you tell them? Who contacted you?”
Presley’s face registered disappointment and Grayson had to push down the guilt he felt over being the cause.
“A producer. They emailed in the spring, then earlier in the summer, then called a week later. We’ve been busy and it was so abstract, but he’s had some meetings and has a clearer plan and some mock-up scripts for each show, so he called again today.
He wants to come out and chat with you.”
Levi looked at Gray, lifting his brows. “Interesting offer. Definitely can’t beat that kind of free publicity, but I’m thinking it’ll come with a lot of hidden costs. Privacy, for one.”
Grayson nodded in agreement. “Definitely. And nothing is free. I live here. You guys are here all the time. I don’t want all of us made out to be some cartoonish version of who we really are. Some of those shows are painful to watch.”
Presley pursed her lips, then sighed. “You’re not wrong. Some of them are really bad and more about editing to sway viewers’ opinions, but it might be worth listening to what they have to say.”
Gray hadn’t opened up to his siblings or anyone about how he’d felt at the end of his marriage.
Lana never made a move without consulting her dad once they were married.
If he wasn’t hearing about her dad’s opinion, it was one of her friends’ thoughts on how Grayson should want more, do more, be more.
He didn’t want that kind of scrutiny on the lodge, himself, or the people he loved.
“I think we want the kind of clientele who are here because they love what we offer, not because they saw us on a show.”
Presley started to say something but Grayson’s phone rang. “I have to take this. Pres, you know I appreciate everything you do, but this just isn’t something I want to explore.”
Putting the phone to his ear, he walked into the lodge, telling himself there was a difference between being scared and knowing when something just wasn’t right for him.