Chapter 4
Zoe
The drive to Pine Ridge takes thirty minutes along a curving coastal highway. I love this coast, rocky beaches to my left and never-ending forest to my right. I crack the windows on my Mini Cooper, and the salty, piney scent is better than any air freshener.
Archer and Collin Reeves are going to be my spies. Collin is a contractor, and Archer is a lawyer. Together they are the perfect team to be my inside men and make sure Mr. Prince falls in line with what is best for Rainwater Bay.
The house Landon is renovating is part of their history, so they’ll have opinions about how he does it too.
All I have to do is convince them to rebuild their family’s bankrupt legacy for someone else…and fix the animosity between Rainwater Bay and the Reeves family. No big deal. No pressure. Just a normal Tuesday.
Thankfully, they were already planning to meet at the Red Wood saloon for lunch today when I called Collin yesterday morning after the impromptu town council disaster.
The smell of sawdust, beer, and buttery pretzels floods my nose as I push through the front door. J.T. is remodeling the saloon to include an event space, according to town gossip. That explains the sawdust smell.
Collin and Archer are playing pool at a billiards table in the back, a plate of curly chili cheese fries and two beers between them. Both men are tall and athletic, with dark brown hair and piercing blue eyes as stormy as the Pacific in the winter, but that’s where their similarities end.
Collin wears a worn red and black flannel shirt with faded Wranglers, and Archer wouldn’t be caught dead in anything less than a tailored suit, even to shoot pool with his brother.
Today, Archer’s suit is a stunning navy blue with grey pinstripes that especially highlight the silver streaks in his Reeves-blue eyes.
The suit reminds me of Landon…to my annoyance.
Francesca wasn’t wrong about his forearms. When I met him at the estate, he’d thrown his jacket over an old wrought iron fence and rolled the sleeves of his dress shirt past his elbows, so I received the full show.
When he walked, his pants hugged his backside with precision only a master tailor can achieve.
Too bad that beautiful package is wrapped around the heart of a jerk with no soul.
Too harsh? I’m not sure, but I’m about to find out.
I place a quarter on the table rim. “I play winner.”
“Zoe! To what do we owe this visit?” Archer tugs me into a side hug, then lines up his shot. “Two ball side pocket.” He shoots but misses.
Collin whoops and slaps him on the back. “Arch, you said you’d been practicing.”
Archer glares at him and takes a long sip of his beer.
Collin and Archer have been my friends since we were babies.
Our moms were best friends, so naturally we spent our toddling years together.
Then when our middle school merged with Pine Ridge, we would hang out at Eclipsed Moon Café for hot chocolate after school.
This tourist town is almost as much of a home to me as Rainwater Bay.
Pine Ridge would benefit from a resort like the one Lucky wants Mr. Prince to build in Rainwater Bay.
Their tourism would give bored billionaires something to do with themselves besides counting their cash.
Rainwater Bay doesn’t have anything to entertain them. We prefer it that way. How will the renovations Lucky is pushing for change the character of our town?
I’m worried we’ll find out too late.
“You’re here because of the old estate?” Collin dusts the end of his cue stick and surveys the table for his next shot.
“Archer missed the impromptu town council meeting yesterday.” There’s no delicate way to approach what I came here to ask for, but I hate being blunt. It’s rude and unkind.
These guys are my friends.
They shouldn’t feel used, like I don’t have time for them unless I need their help.
But I’m on a deadline. An invisible deadline, since I have no idea what Landon has planned or when he’ll start construction. This entire endeavor may be for nothing if he’s bringing in outside contractors and legal teams to complete the job.
But it doesn’t hurt to try, does it?
I comb my fingers through my hair. “I need your help. A billionaire named Landon Prince bought the estate.”
Archer pauses mid-shot. “And?”
“And I need you to be the team he hires to do the construction and make sure he doesn’t destroy the house.
Any of the property. We need to make sure he repairs everything according to the Historical Preservation Society’s guidelines.
The council wants him to incorporate the house into a resort to grow Rainwater Bay’s economy. ”
“What makes you think he’ll hire us?” Collin asks.
“Your name is on the front gate. You have a vested interest in the project going well. And your resumés speak for themselves. Besides, he’s a narcissistic jerk who won’t talk to me, so having you guys there will make everything go a lot smoother when I tell him I’m his babysitter for the foreseeable future.
” I tell them about the town council’s ultimatum: make sure Landon Prince does everything they want him to or kiss my eventual mayorship goodbye.
They share a heavy glance. “Not that we don’t want to help, but that doesn’t sound like a situation we want to participate in.”
“You’ll be rebuilding your legacy.”
Archer chuckles. “Grandpa ruined our legacy a long time ago.”
“You remember listening to your grandma’s stories about the Reeves family.
The house. The Siren’s Call and the mystery around how she sank?
The Reeves name used to be important around here.
Things haven’t been great lately, but if you guys help revive the estate, maybe the animosity will die.
The town won’t blame you for what your grandfather did.
They’ll remember how you helped fix everything. ”
Archer nods to Collin. “She makes a good point. It would be nice to see the house the way it was when great-grandad built it. Do you still have your mom’s research?”
“All of it,” I say.
Mom collected every blueprint, structural drawing, and piece of art related to the Reeves estate when she worked with the Webbers to renovate the house. It’s tucked away in Dad’s basement, waiting for the right person to bring the house back to life.
If nothing else, Collin and Archer’s participation will make it easier to convince Dad that the town council’s plan is a good one.
Collin rubs his hand around the back of his neck. “I’m not sure I have room in my schedule for such a big project.”
I grip his sleeve. “If you don’t do it, who will? No one around here can match your team’s quality work.”
Collin narrows his eyes. “Now you’re just sucking up.” He sinks the eight ball and curses.
“I am.” I bat my eyelashes and pour as much sappy sentimentality as I can into my expression. “You’re the best, and the estate needs your expertise. Can I count on you? Is it working?”
Collin chuckles low in his throat. “I’ll reach out to Mr. Prince and get back to you. My guess is he already has his own people lined up.” He moves around the table, grabbing the balls from the pockets to rerack them.
I snag Archer’s cue stick. “I have a better idea.”
Landon
Pink wallpaper, pink comforter, pink towels. The entire bed and breakfast is pink. When my assistant booked my room at the Cherry Blossom Bed and Breakfast, I didn’t think it would feel like living inside an actual cherry blossom, but I can’t escape the pastel hue.
I toss one of the extra pink pillows onto the pink chair next to the pink desk.
Why did the owner take the name so seriously?
Can an overabundance of color give you a migraine? Maybe it’s from staring at a computer screen for so long.
The junior vice president of our Asian holdings is droning on about fourth quarter earnings on my computer screen, but I can’t concentrate.
If I didn’t need to be onsite when construction starts, I would jet to Tokyo and take this meeting face-to-face. Video conferences are impersonal. Body language is impossible to interpret through the screen, and when you can’t react to your audience in real time, presentations lose their power.
This meeting could have ended thirty minutes ago if we were in person—instead of waiting for him to click through his slides, I would have reviewed the numbers, asked my questions, created an action plan, and we’d be on our way for sushi.
But if I’d been in Tokyo, I wouldn’t have met with the finance team in Paris, the vice president for our salvage branch in the North Sea, or finalized the acquisition proposals Dad asked for.
It’s nice to get everything done in one afternoon instead of drawing it out over a week while I fly across continents.
“Gentlemen, thank you for your time. I’ll look over the reports and get back to you if I have any questions. Same time next week.” I close the conferencing software and scrub at my dry, gritty eyes.
How long until I can hand this project over to someone else?
I drop my head back.
Never. I can never hand this project over. It’s too important. It must be executed perfectly. I’ll spend months and months on site.
I’ll need a condo…because I’ll die of pink exposure if I stay here another month.
Knock knock knock.
I stretch and answer the door. The tiny brunette comet who threatened to implode my project before it began is on the other side.
I lean my shoulder against the door frame. “Mayor Winslow, how did you find me?”
I can’t say I’m sorry to see her. Human contact in any form is better than the solitude of my room, but hers is the last smile I expected.
Why is she smiling?
Lips pulled back like a cheshire cat, crinkles at the corners of her eyes—this is her real smile.
Spiders ripple under my skin. This smile can’t be good for me.
After she called me an asshole, I never expected another smile from her.
She brushes past me into the room. “Janet and Barbara confirmed you weren’t staying at the Star Crossed Inn nor did you rent one of the houseboats in Rainwater Bay’s marina. Pine Ridge was the obvious choice given their abundance of cozy establishments.”
“What are you up to?”
“Mayoral tasks.” She waves her hand to encompass the room, plopping on the edge of the bed and bouncing like she’s testing the firmness.
Not an unwelcome vision—she’s gorgeous, and I’m not blind—but again, not an image I expected to become reality considering the venom of our last meeting.
“I bet you sleep well here.” She runs her fingers over the dusty rose-colored comforter.
“Rainwater Bay and Pine Ridge are small towns. Word travels fast. I also know your coffee order, your rental car’s license plate number, that you are lactose intolerant, and that you are left-handed.
The basics.” She tugs at a loose string on the coverlet.
“Anyway, we have business to attend to. Phase one needs to start soon, or spring storms are going to slow our progress.”
Phase one? Why is she talking without breathing between sentences? Why is she on my bed? Why is she acting like we’re friends?
“Business?”
The cheshire cat smile morphs, and her eyes sparkle like the sun. “I found you a contractor and a lawyer to expedite your project.”
“I don’t need—”
She stands and presses a business card to my lips. “You do. If you want to get anything done in the next century and not spend your entire fortune to make it happen, you will hire Collin and Archer Reeves to complete your project.”
“Reeves?”
She nods like she understands the unspoken parts of my sentence. “The grandsons. Great men. Perfect for our project.”
“Our project? I don’t think so.”
“You don’t remember me, do you?”
“It’s only been two days. Of course I remember you.”
“How old are you?”
“What? Why?”
“So I get the timeline right.”
“Thirty-four.”
“I’m twenty-six, so thirty-four minus sixteen. You were eighteen.”
I hold my hands up to stop her. “You lost me.”
“You were eighteen the last time we met. Your dad met with my dad about something, and you tagged along.”
“Salvage contracts. But I don’t remember…wait. No way. The senator?” A little girl with lopsided pigtails stood at the lectern answering questions about environmental policy from her teddy bears. She was entirely too serious. And who dreams of becoming a senator? “That was you?”
“One brief conversation, barely important enough for you to remember, but it changed my life—changed what I believed about myself. It also influenced the way I spoke to you the other day. I won’t give you that power over me anymore.
I know what’s best for Rainwater Bay. If you want to truly restore the Reeves estate the way it should be, you need me. ”
“Why?” But I don’t know which why I want the answer to.
Why her?
Why is she helping me?
Why does she assume I will hire the Reeves brothers when I’ve never met them and don’t know the caliber of their work?
Why do they want to sign on to the project?
Why does she seem happy about the renovations and rebuild when two days ago she called me an asshole and vowed I’d never get my project off the ground?
She wiggles her nose. “Because without me, the house is just a house. I know its secrets. I’ll only share them with you if you hire the Reeves—and follow my plan.”
“I’m not hiring someone just because you tell me too.”
She presses her hands to her chest. “Bless your heart. You think you have a choice? Sorry, I don’t need your opinions on this one.
” She taps the tip of my nose. “They’re meeting us at the estate tomorrow at two p.m. to discuss the scope of the project.
They are the best at what they do. I wouldn’t risk the estate with anyone else. See you tomorrow, Mr. Prince.”
“Mayor—” But she shuts the door in my scowling face.
This mayor is going to be the death of me if I don’t get her under control.