Chapter 21
Chapter Twenty-One
Jasper
A few days later, Jensen came over to give us an idea of what we could do to spruce up the space. The house had been well cared for, and it’d been upgraded when Sheridan’s parents had moved after she graduated, but it could use some sales appeal.
Jensen was still inside, and I was outside, finishing painting the west wall before the sun crept all the way over the house and made it too hot and miserable to work. Then I would do the other side.
He appeared around the corner, tucking a pencil behind his ear. “Hey, Jasper. Thanks for recommending me.”
“No problem.” I set the spray gun down. “I owe you for this.”
He waved it off. “I’d have married Poppy anyway, but the Dukes have sent so much work my way that I’ll owe you all forever.”
“It’s what we do.” I lifted my chin toward the house. “I owe her for giving me work.”
He appraised my wall. “You do a good job. I peeked at that firepit. Ever thought about striking out on your own?”
“For what?”
“Handyman. Contractor. Whatever. I get asked to do a lot more than cabinets. I could always send some queries your way.”
If I hung my own shingle, I could grow some roots in Coal Haven. Stay a while. I’d have a plan—like what Sheridan wanted. I’d be a business owner. Wasn’t that what women wanted? A partner they could lean on, one who’d support them in more ways than a few orgasms and some faucet replacements could.
I didn’t care about other women. Would that be what Sheridan wanted? A guy who kept losing his job through no fault of his own and then waited around until another career landed in his lap?
Yeah, I was a real prize.
“I’ll think about it.” But not now. Sheridan needed my help. “What’s the verdict?”
“In there?” He crossed his arms like he had to adjust to my sudden change in subject.
“I talked to Sheridan about it all. I think changing the hardware will be the best upgrade. The walnut finish isn’t completely out of style, and there’s a lot of storage.
The kitchen isn’t the draw here. Having a kitchen is the draw, and she’s got that.
So I took some pictures. I have some handles that can easily replace what’s on there, look more stylish, and will cover any fading from where the old ones were.
If she okays them, I’ll get them ready and drop them off. ”
Nice and affordable. “I can pick those up and put them on.”
He nodded. “Appreciate it. I can do it, but if you’re able to, then I can get started on a new build in Crocus Valley.” He scratched behind his neck. “I think this rental is really good.”
“It’s a good idea,” I agreed, proud of Sheridan and the way she kept pushing forward.
“It’s locally owned and part of the resort.”
“REG is locally owned.”
His lips thinned. “Are they? None of them live here. They’re from here, or they vacationed at Bishop’s Bay, but this is a playground to them. Sheridan knows the bay and the communities around it are home.”
“They want to buy up all of this.” I purposely indicated the lake cabin I would soon lose.
He shook his head. “It’s a shame. I hope Linda can resist their offer. I get it, but at the same time, damn.”
“It’s hard to hope my aunt refuses a giant influx of cash, but if she doesn’t, Sheridan loses her livelihood.” Likewise, I hated hoping Sheridan refused a boatload of money. She could take the funds and go anywhere, and she wouldn’t have to invite me. Would she want to?
“It’ll suck for all of us.” He shrugged. “Guess you could still get married and block REG.”
I ground my teeth together. I’d fucked that up. The hole in my heart that cracked wider each time I thought about missing my chance to marry Sheridan wasn’t sad for the resort. It was upset about me missing my shot.
“They’ve been sniffing around here too. I think they want to buy the cabin and the resort.”
His expression turned grim. “Figures. I’m sure they’re nice people, and they mean well, but fuck, I don’t want a party lake. One of my first dates with Poppy was on that beach. Us and Auggie.”
I almost mentioned how that was one of my first dates with Sheridan, too, but that hadn’t been an official date. My chest constricted. We didn’t do those. “When I was there last, kids came out to party.”
“Kids don’t party like adults. It’s not all-day drinking on a boat until I’m scared to let my kids ride a Jet Ski or swim too far out. The bay isn’t big enough.”
“Exactly.” Sheridan needed to succeed. Too bad I’d ruined the best and easiest route to help her do it.
But had I? I had a month. What if I could get Sheridan to marry me by then? What if…
Jensen slapped my back. “I’ll send Sheridan pictures of the hardware, and you can come out. Or I can drop them off. Whatever works.”
I nodded, and he started for his pickup. I’d missed what he said before the hardware, but it didn’t matter. One thing was on my mind.
I had met Sheridan and immediately decided that I couldn’t marry her—for her own good.
But I was left feeling like the right decision at the time was now wrong.
No, I didn’t want marriage to be a business relationship.
I wanted it to be real. I wanted more time with Sheridan.
I wanted to know that whatever happened, we’d work through it together. Saving the resort didn’t top the list.
My gaze stroked over the newly painted wall and the blue water glittering in the distance. Yet the resort might be the answer. I was more like the ex she left behind to move to Coal Haven. Could I prove I wasn’t?
I just had to convince her that I was the guy to be by her side. I’d just have to plan it right.
Sheridan
I ducked into the hardware store downtown. “Hey, Carlton.”
“How’s it going today, Sheridan?” He smiled, the lines in his dark-brown skin sinking deeper than they had when I was a kid.
His short, black, curly hair was all white now, too, and there was actually another employee who worked for him nowadays.
He used to run this whole place with his wife and kids to help once in a while.
“Good. Got started on painting and realized I needed more brushes and tape. And some new outlet covers.”
“Ain’t that how it always goes? Ask my boy, Philip. Jeffrey’s oldest.”
“Thanks.”
The boy in question was a foot taller than me, and he didn’t have to use any stools to grab a new set of brushes from the storage at the top of the shelf.
“Appreciate it,” I told him. I took my haul back to Carlton at the register.
A woman was getting rung up, dark hair pinned into a tight bun and the sunspots on her skin hidden more by a deeper tan now that we’d had more summer. The recognition didn’t register until she turned toward me, her features pinched and her eyes full of judgment.
Shit. “Constance. Hi.”
“Sherry.”
I refrained from rolling my eyes and was going to study the bubble gum and candy bar selection instead, but she sniffed, bringing my attention back.
“I hear you and the maintenance man are hot and heavy.”
Shock punched me in the gut. I clutched my paintbrushes and outlet covers. I could lie or laugh it off, but I didn’t need to hide. My personal business was mine. “I don’t see how that’s anyone’s business.”
“He works for you.”
“And you don’t. Is that where this is stemming from?”
She drew back, her jaw going slack.
Carlton cleared his throat. “That’ll be twenty-two eighty-one, Constance.”
She jerked away to shove her card into the reader. After she went through the prompts, she paused, and my dread climbed higher.
“It’s probably for the best,” she said, her tone sweeter. “He’s a knowledgeable man. Very capable. The resort never ran the same without one.”
My sudden inhale sounded like a gasp. Maybe it was one.
The audacity to insult my mother right in front of me.
Even worse, she was right. But we were in public, and I wouldn’t stoop to her level.
“Different isn’t always worse, but my parents would’ve liked Jasper.
Respect was important to them.” I gave her a knowing look.
She grunted. “He should be respectful. You’re his bread and butter.”
“I do a lot more than butter his bread.” I chortled, mortified I’d said that to her and in front of a guy who’d known me since I was a baby.
She huffed out, and Carlton pretended nothing had happened as he rang me up.
I went through my transaction pretending the interaction didn’t bother me.
The resort was Jasper’s bread and butter, but he had other options.
He just wasn’t pursuing them. Was he waiting for something better?
Or just coasting through life until I got tired of supporting him?
He gave as much as he got. That was the difference.
But the commitment was missing. From him or me?
“Thanks,” I mumbled when Carlton handed me the bags of supplies.
On the way back to the resort, I couldn’t stop evaluating my relationship with Jasper. He wasn’t using me, and I could not let that woman put doubt in my head. I knew where I stood with him, and we weren’t pretending any differently.
He worked for me, and whatever his plans were for his life were not my business. We messed around. That was it. He wasn’t interested, and no matter how good he was in bed, how supported I felt, I could not go back on the promise I’d made myself when I left my ex to move here.
I wasn’t settling for less. I wanted a partner in everything, not just in the bedroom. Jasper was helping me with Bishop’s Landing, but he wasn’t committing to this job or even to Coal Haven. Not to me.
Jasper was my fun. My release. My friend. Nothing more.