Chapter 12 #2
I flip my attention to where she’s standing on the deck, hand covering her mouth, and eyes staring into nothingness. “Go on in and pack your things to move over to the pink house for a few nights.” I stand. “I’m going to check on her.”
He gets up and marches through the lawn to grab a towel from a bench. Wrapping it around him, he heads inside just as I approach Summer.
Her phone is on the picnic table closer to the house, and when she sees me, she lowers her hand.
I’m not sure there are words to comfort her when she looks like the rug’s been pulled out from under her.
I wrap her in my arms and kiss the top of her head.
It’s not her lips, but I savor the connection just the same. “What’s wrong?”
“She’s selling.”
“Who’s selling what?”
Taking a sobering breath, she spreads her arms to free herself and moves a few steps back.
Turning once toward the water, she stares for only the briefest of seconds before turning slightly away, lost in her thoughts.
She doesn’t seem to know what to do before she finally faces me, and says, “Mrs. Dover owns this cottage and another. She’s selling both of them. ”
“You never did give me the long and short of it. Let’s sit down and talk about it.”
“I can’t, Daniel. I know you’re only trying to help, but everything I’ve worked so hard for . . .” It’s the first time she doesn’t use her hands to assist her. Her arms hang lifelessly at her sides instead, while her eyes glass over. “Is being sold out from under me.”
I hold her hand and pull her to the picnic bench to sit with me. “What do you mean? Why would she do that to you?”
Her shoulders fold over when she says, “That asshole Bryan called her and told her the entire plumbing has to be redone.” Such a fucker. “She panicked and called one of the companies who offered her money sight unseen a few months back.”
“But you wanted it.”
“I have worked my ass off for this property for four years. I did some of the updates myself. I made my sisters help me build this freaking deck in the middle of winter.” She turns to me and says, “She promised she’d give me a chance to present my offer and seriously consider what I’m offering since it’s more than money.
” Closing her eyes, she sighs, the wind stolen out from under her sails. She drops her head in her hands.
When her shoulders shake, I move closer and hold her in my arms. Rubbing her back, I say, “I know it’s hard to see the light when you’re lost in the dark, but I promise you it’s going to be okay.”
She lifts her head and says, “It’s all I wanted. I put my entire future on the line, believing she would give me a chance. One shot, like you said.”
“You’ve taken it, though. Not every shot scores a goal. But there will be others. Those will be your winners.”
“You don’t understand, Daniel. This cottage is all I have to keep me here.
I was willing to sink what little of my inheritance I had left into this property.
It was a way to help my family pay the bills one day.
But worst of all, when this property sells, they all will.
No one will be left in this small town except for us.
And then we’ll have to go.” Rust covers her tone, making it rougher, as tears slip through the words.
“High-rise hotels will be built on top of my parents.” A sob breaks through as she falls into my arms this time, her cheek to my chest, while fisting my shirt.
Roman walks out with his bag, so I hold up a finger and signal for him to wait inside. He goes but looks back. I don’t want to worry him, but this is life. It’s okay to show emotion.
I’m trying to understand the full story through the glimpses she’s giving me. “Mrs. Dover is not letting you put in a competing offer, or it’s a no-bid situation, and she’s already sold it?”
“I could put in an offer, but it would have to be higher than what’s on the table.”
“What’s on the table?”
Wiping under her eyes, she sits up and straddles the bench to face me. “Two hundred thousand more than I could ever dream of having.”
I rest my hands on her legs and gently rub, wanting to both comfort her and selfishly keep her close. “Can you borrow from the bank?”
Annoyance conveys in her eyes as she turns her gaze somewhere other than on me.
Her tongue toys with the corner of her mouth before I’m hit with a hard stare.
“I’m not risking our home as collateral, and I’d never be approved for the amount I need to bridge the gap.
Without it . . .” A thickened throat has her clearing it unsuccessfully before she adds, “I know it’s hard for someone like you to understand money problems—”
“I grew up with nothing but hockey gear. Everything and anything was sold to keep me playing in hopes of hitting the jackpot one day.”
“And you hit it.” Her patience is worn and threading through her words. I don’t blame the urgency she feels to fix the problem. It’s her fallback from what I’ve already learned. “Problem solved.”
“I would have rather had a family.”
“Me too.”
Shit. I shouldn’t have gone there, not with her. She had the perfect life. I had an angry father who took out his failures on his only son. Yeah, not the same thing. “I’m sorry.”
A beat doesn’t pass before she’s reaching forward to hug me.
Slipping onto my lap, she needs this maybe as much as I do.
To be close to someone without an expectation of more than comfort feels foreign to me, but I feel it with her.
I hold her, knowing this might be the only time, and relish this amazing woman in my arms by kissing her shoulder.
I may not know everything I want about Summer, but I know I can trust her. She’s good inside and out. “Summer?”
From against my chest, she whispers, “What?”
I remember my father begging for his cut of my pay. Every two weeks, like clockwork, he showed up. Two years straight. He always called it a loan and would turn around to call me a sucker for falling for it again.
She’s not him. She’s what’s good with the world. What better investment is there than that? I do what everyone always told me not to, and ask, “What if I loaned you the money?”