Chapter 10 #2
He held her stare for a moment. A silent message passed between the two of them. But she didn’t back down. Her lips lifted into a smug smile as she knew he couldn’t refuse.
“I think that’s a great idea,” Darius said, turning to his sister whose eyes filled with joy, and his heart nearly exploded at seeing her genuine smile.
As he gathered his emotions, he glanced down at the notepad.
“What about the garden?" He looked up between the two of them.
“Do I at least get to have a say in that seeing though the two of you have clearly got the house covered?”
"Of course, big brother. I know how much you enjoy gardening as it relaxes you so I deliberately left it for you," Isabel answered. "But we do have some ideas on it.” She gave him a cheeky grin that made his heart flip. He hadn’t seen that grin in a long, long time.
She picked up the notepad and flipped the page there on top of it was the heading Garden — Darius.
“We were thinking that we could clear the back.
Redo the deck. Plant something living along the side path, because right now it is gravel and weeds.
And maybe you can use your green thumb to plant a herb garden by the kitchen door. "
“Or even one of your famous vegetable gardens as well?” Penny gave him another smug smile.
She was so loving this. Penny knew he was having doubts and this was her way of showing him which side of the struggle she was on.
He gave a mental sigh and decided it might be nice to do some gardening for the summer.
It was something Emma loved to do with him.
Maybe she could bring her new besties over to come and help.
His heart did another sort of flip when he thought about who would bring those besties over…
He abruptly stopped his train of thought and cleared his throat.
“That sounds like a great idea,” Darius agreed, then he gave Penny his own smug look. “You know what I thought we could do to replace that old cracked fountain in the middle of the drive?”
“What?” Isabel and Penny asked in unison.
“One of those Zen type gardens,” Darius told them and saw the surprise flash in their eyes. “This house gives that feeling of peace.”
“Yes, that’s what Penny and I were discussing at the hardware store,” Isabel admitted. “It’s like it’s been waiting for another family to settle in because you can feel the warmth of the generation that lived here and loved the place.”
A lump rose up and clogged Darius’s throat at his sister’s words that echoed what was secretly in his heart and currently tormenting his soul.
The moment he’d stepped inside these doors he’d known that this project was going to be harder than any he’d done before.
Darius had acquired many smaller resorts, hotels, bed and breakfasts.
Each one had torn a little at his soul as he tore them down to replace them with bigger resorts.
He’d hardened his heart to the pain in the owners eyes as they handed over the deeds.
He’d saved their livelihoods and left them well compensated.
Now they could live their lives without the stress running those businesses caused them.
That had always been his go-to excuse to appease the gnawing guilt and shut up that nagging voice at the back of his mind.
"That sounds amazing, Darius,” Penny agreed with him and then added, “What I want is a hammock at the back by those two large oaks that stand guard over the swimming pool.”
“We can do that,” Darius nodded.
“And deck swings,” Isabel added. “And loungers, and maybe we could make a dedicated barbeque area that can be closed off when it’s not in use.”
“Oh, I like that,” Penny agreed.
Darius knew he was slowly losing the battle with his subconscious on this project. For a moment he stood there and himself, picture what they were describing.
He could see what keeping the house for the family home in Sweet Blossom Bay would look like.
Coffee on the back deck in the morning while the bay slowly awakened in the half-light.
Isabel working along the shoreline in a long cardigan, the way she liked to.
Penny at the kitchen counter with the paper doing the crosswords and then the sudoku as she always did.
Emma asleep upstairs in the corner room she’d already claimed, her school clothes laid out for the painted-shutter school.
The four of them sitting down to dinner on a Friday night with the doors open to the deck and the breeze coming off the water.
He turned his head slightly toward the side Heart House and Hotel were.
His pulse accelerated as he thought—and Linda as their closest neighbor.
The picture was so simple and so immediate that it took his breath away.
Then the picture of the carefully laid plans for the Sweet Blossom Bay resort flashed in front of him and his heart dropped as he knew the sweet image could not coexist with the plan currently on the Wayne Group books for this house and Hearts Hotel.
The development plan called for this house, the hotel grounds, the adjoining wetland reserve, and Heart House to be consolidated into a single parcel.
The plan called for the bay-facing slope to be cleared.
The plan called for a resort. Not a small one.
A coastal resort and spa, the kind his father had been quietly building Wayne Group toward before he died.
The kind that would draw a different sort of visitor entirely to Sweet Blossom Bay, that would change the town’s dynamic within five summers and make it unrecognizable within ten.
No, Darius, he reasoned with himself. The resort and spa would bring the kind of people that would ensure Sweet Blossom Bay would never just become a ghost town one day like so many other small towns had due to a lack of tourists and growth.
But the other voice from deep down inside him whispered: No, Darius, it doesn’t matter which way you like to spin it to make you sleep at night. The plan called for the destruction of the exact bay your sister is now planning to live the rest of her life beside raising her granddaughter.
Darius rubbed a hand across his jaw.
“Darius?” Isabel’s voice broke through his thoughts. “Are you okay?”
“Yes,” Darius said, nodding. “I’ve just got a lot on my mind with work and all the projects we have going on at the moment.”
“You’re on holiday,” Penny stressed the word holiday, deliberately taunting him with a saccharine sweet smile on her face. “You’re supposed to let go of all the office troubles.”
Darius let out a long breath he had not realized he had been holding as he glared at his best friend and righthand person. His look clearly said to Penny: You’re enjoying this way too much.
In response, Penny’s smile grew even more smug and victorious. Before another word was spoken Darius’s phone buzzed in his hand. He looked down at the screen and his jaw instantly tightened when he saw who the caller was—
"I have to take this," Darius said, turning to walk back out the door.
“Don’t be too long on the phone,” Isabel called after him. “You have to get ready for your date.”
“This won’t take long,” Darius stopped at the door to tell them before turning and heading towards the stairs before he hit the answer button. “ Hello, Baxter," Darius said.
"Hello, cousin." Baxter's voice came through bright and easy, making Darius’s shoulders stiffen as he walked into the home office and closed the door. Baxter always started a conversation with “cousin” when he wanted something. "I’m just checking in on the Sweet Blossom Bay situation. I hear you finally got a meeting with the Heart family in three days.”
"Who told you that?” Darius asked.
"You know how your assistant has to keep the board updated, Darius,” Baxter replied. “I heard it through them.”
“Baxter, I thought I already told you that this was more of a personal project that I will be handling with Penny,” Darius’s voice held an edge of steel and an undertone of warning.
“You were told to concentrate on the project I asked you to take over. As to date I still haven’t got the latest update reports on it but you have time to ‘check-in’ on my project?
” He raised an eyebrow. “If you can’t handle that project, cousin, I could always give it to someone else and move you to another department. ”
The threat hung in the air for a few moments of silence.
“Darius…” Baxter stumbled over his words for a moment.
“No… I can handle that project.” He cleared his throat.
“I was just wondering if you needed help there. I know you’re also having a bit of a vacation which you greatly deserve.
” His cousin started to switch tactics to try to manipulate Darius.
“I just wanted to let you know I’m here.
I’m up to date on the project if you need me to help. ”
“I don’t require your ‘help’ at the moment, Baxter,” Darius told him again. “I have to go. But see to it that I get those missing reports on your project by morning or I’ll have no option but to give the project to Tony.”
“What?” Baxter spluttered. “Wait! No, that’s my project. You’ll have the reports.”
“Good.” Darius got ready to end the call as he glanced at his wrist watch. “See that you do that. Goodbye Baxter.”
He hung up before his cousin could say more and stood letting the anger and annoyance for his cousin work its way out of his system.
He stood for a long moment at the office window, looking out across the side garden toward the strip of bay he could see between the trees.
The small, slow anger Baxter always woke in him worked its way through his chest and finally settled.
Baxter would do what Baxter would do, and Darius would clean up whatever spilled out of it, the way he had been cleaning up after his cousin for years.
But tonight was not the night to think about that.
Tonight, he was taking Linda to dinner and he was not Darius Wayne of the Wayne Group, he was just a man taking a gorgeous, intelligent, and interesting woman to dinner.
The thought of Linda settled the noise in his head and he put his phone down on the desk not wanting any more interruptions as he turned to leave the home office.
His room was at the top of the house and was the main bedroom suite with views from every side of the room out of the large windows that surrounded him.
He took a moment to glance at the sight before turning to get ready for his date.
Thirty minutes later, Darius stood in front of the long mirror buttoning his blue cotton shirt. He looked at himself again in the mirror with his dark semi-formal pants and black hand-made Italian loafers. He was ready for his date.
He gave a soft snort as he turned and glanced at the evidence on his bed of how he’d gone through what to wear for at least ten minutes before jumping in the shower and shook his head.
Darius had gone on hundreds of dates but he couldn’t ever remember feeling this nervous. And since when did he not know what to wear? He gave himself a mental shake. Get a grip man!
Before he could once again second guess his outfit, which reminded him of his sister when she’d gone on her first date with her late husband.
He had to spend hours with her giving him a fashion show as she went through her closet.
He glanced at the clothes scattered on his bed again thinking he should quickly put them back.
If his sister or Penny saw this he’d never live it down.
But then he glanced at his wristwatch again.
There was no time he had to go or he was going to be late to fetch Linda.
Darius pulled the room door closed as he stepped out and hurried downstairs. But as he climbed in his car the picture of his sister and Penny sitting planning on house renovations flashed through his mind.
“Stop it, Darius,” he admonished himself. “You are quite capable of separating business and your private life.” He started the car. “Hearts Hotel is business. It has nothing to do with my relationship with Linda.”
But as he pulled out the driveway that irritating voice at the back of his head asked: Then why haven’t you told her who you really are?