Chapter 24
“So, is that a yes?” Davis asked.
“You cannot be serious. Do you really want to do this right now?” Thandie walked back inside, half looking for Grant, and half looking for some food to fill her mouth with. Chewing a sandwich was preferable to chewing him out in front of everyone. She wanted to say all the things that she had stored up for months, but it wasn’t the time nor the place for such an eruption. “Look around. Can’t you see there are more important things that need to be done right now than this?” She gestured back and forth between them.
“Like taking a bulldozer to this place?” He laughed without humor.
“That’s incredibly insensitive, Davis,” she scolded him. “You have no idea what these people—what I went through in the last twenty-four hours. Grant told you this was a paradise, and until yesterday, it was.” She found her plate of food and walked back outside.
America met her near the door and whispered. “That man you’re talking to is the investor.”
Thandie knew exactly who he was, and she was quite aware that she held a metaphorical wrench that could put the entire deal in jeopardy. She nodded and chewed a little slower as she let the events play out. America escorted her back inside to the cucina, where Leo and Davis shook hands. Thandie stayed quiet and continued stuffing her cheeks.
“Oh good, you two have met,” Leo said and beamed with pride. “This is my amazingly talented and resourceful activities director, Thandie. She is responsible for such a successful inaugural week here.”
Thandie saw Davis raise an eyebrow in suspicion as he looked around the area. A backhoe and bulldozer were working on the finishing touches of the new drainage system around the barn and down to the old dock. Long timbers had been placed across the ditch as a temporary access road. Construction and storm debris was piled high along the main road, and a machine with a large claw scooped and dropped the debris into a red dumpster.
Everywhere she looked, people were helping people, just like the folks from her hometown would have done. Though she felt no love for Davis, love was definitely in the air in all the ways that mattered. Davis’s scowl, however, told another story. He would never get it. The only thing he would ever fully grasp was the bottom line. And a bottom line is what she would give him.
First, Thandie thanked Leo for his endorsement of her work there. Then she turned to Davis, taking his cheeks between her hands like she was going to plant one on him. “Davis, look at me. I’m only going to say this once and I want to be very clear. You listening?”
He nodded and smirked like a weasel, teeth all showing in the front over his lip. She let go of his face and stepped back.
“You came here at a really bad time, but I want you to see what’s happening here. This resort is so much more than dollars. It’s about a whole community and the way people come together in good times and in bad.” She chose that phrase specifically to remind him of what he had broken between them. His eyes flinched ever so slightly at the reference, and she knew she had gotten to him. “And I don’t care what Grant has to say. You trust me, and if it’s the bottom line you want, this place is a gold mine. An untapped one. If you want to invest in The Foundry, then you give this wonderful man a fair shake. Don’t do it for me though.”
“But I did this for you. For us, Than.”
“You can’t buy my love like this.” Thandie threw a look at Leo with her brows and a side nod. “I have something I need to take care of.”
Leo, catching onto what she was getting at, took over. “Thank you Thandie. She’s correct. This storm aside, I know we have something special here. An untouched market in the area, coupled with the growing trend of folks getting out of the city to have a one-of-a-kind experience.”
Davis stopped him. “I’m a numbers man. So, let’s see it, and I’ll try and ignore all the mess in the meantime,” Davis said and turned to Thandie. “And I still want the full report from Grant.”
Thandie nodded to Leo, and he took Davis towards the loft office. It was an unsaid understanding that they were on the same mission. Meanwhile, ignoring her obvious issues with Davis, she knew that Leo still needed and deserved the investment. The plan was simple: convince Davis to invest in the resort and work the rest out later.
Thandie turned to America. “Can you do me a favor?” she asked after the men had gone. “Whatever happens, can you keep Grant here? Don’t let him leave.”
“I’ll try,” she said with concern. “But why?”
“I’ll tell you everything later,” Thandie said as she began towards his cabin, hoping to find him there. “I promise.”
Thandie used her sprinter’s legs and ran down the still-sopping grounds at an unsafe pace. Words scrolled through her head at what she would say to him. She owed him an apology first and then an explanation about Davis.
His cabin wasn’t far. She just hoped he was there. She slowed as she came around the front steps. Catching her breath, she leaned over with her hands on her knees. She hadn’t run that quickly since high school and was now regretting not keeping up with it.
Up the steps, she hesitated on the stoop. Her hand pressed flat on the center of the door. She played out her words in her mind one last time before knocking. And knocking.
He wasn’t there.
“Of course, you’re not here,” she said, remembering that he had moved all of his things to her cabin the previous night. She wasted no time and ran back to her place, where she found a gloomy-looking man who typically sported bright eyes and an unmatched, cheerful demeanor, sitting on the front edge of the wraparound porch. She hoped this time his demeanor was laced with forgiveness.
With his head buried in his hands, and his feet planted in the mud, he said, “What do you want?”
She walked the rest of the way to him, slow and deliberate in her steps. “Hey there,” she said kindly.
His head stayed down. “I don’t have a key.” His voice sounded broken.
Thandie stopped in front of him. Her eyes shifted from the door and back to Grant. “I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t,” he said and lifted his eyes to her. “You don’t owe me anything.”
“I know I don’t,” she said and sat beside him on the front steps. “I had no idea he was coming.”
Grant sat up. “I did. But I didn’t know my boss, Davis, is also your Davis. The one who you stacked stones for, and kicked and cried over. The one who I swore if I ever found out who he was, that I would?—”
“What? Take him around the back of the barn and kick the snot out of him?”
“Sort of,” he said and cracked a grin for a split second.
“It’s not necessary. I meant what I said. I’ve let that all go.”
“You forgave him?” Grant said and scooted his bottom a foot away from hers.
“Of course I did. How could I not?” She knew that she had to forgive what Davis did to her if she were ever going to be able to move on with someone else. And she thought Grant might be that someone. “I didn’t mean for you to see that back there.”
“You think that’s what I’m mad about? That you forgave him and kissed him?” he said and stood up, pacing the front porch.
She was confused until he spoke.
“You had me going. All week long. You were just showing everyone so much attention because you knew one of us was here on behalf of the investor. I thought you and I?—”
“I was doing my job.” As soon as she said those words, she wished she hadn’t. It sounded like the weakest excuse ever. “I don’t mean it like that.”
“Well, you did your job marvelously. I was having such a good time with you that I nearly forgot what I was even here for.”
“That’s right. When were you going to tell me that you worked for the investor and that you were here to spy on me?”
He paused.
“That long, huh? Did you think I wouldn’t find out?” she said, her anger turning to hurt in her cracking voice.
He looked up and dabbed his face below his eyes. “I trusted you, Thandie.”
“And I trusted you.” She paused. Walking away and then back to him again. “Were you ever going to tell me?”
“I thought you knew who I was. At the bonfire the other night. You said you knew, and that we were done pretending.”
“Pretending. I was talking about that I knew that you liked me. I knew that there was something wonderful growing between us, and that we were both healing our wounds. Together. I thought we had an understanding.”
“And I thought you knew I was the spy, as you call it.” Grant stood in front of the door. He palmed the knob and turned it. The door opened without the key he had said he needed. He grunted and went in.
“Where are you going?” Thandie followed him in. “You can’t leave. Not yet. We’re not done here.”
“I think Davis would disagree with you. I’m guessing he’s not done with you, and you’ve forgiven him anyway. You said it yourself.” Grant walked into the bathroom and took his toiletries in the hem of his shirt. He tossed them in his bag, and a couple of items fell to the floor.
Thandie bent down to help, and their hands fell on the same little bottle. “Grant, you don’t know what you’re talking about. I did forgive him, and I did have a job to do, but that has nothing to do with us.”
“Thandie, there is no us. You did your job well and—and I did mine.” He stood and clapped, making her feel small. “Up until Mr. Mothan showed up, you had me convinced about this place. Now I don’t know what to think.”
There was nothing she could say that would change his mind. He was hurt or maybe jealous. But her job was on the line, a job that she desperately needed if she ever wanted to have a fresh start. But she was hurt, too. He had hidden who he really was because it was part of his job. And she had hidden behind her pride.
“I was doing my job. You aren’t wrong about that,” she said. “And now I need you to do yours. Davis needs your full report as soon as possible. I hope that you won’t let this misunderstanding between us sway your assessment.”
“How could it not, Thandie? Since I came here, you have been by my side. You helped me see that there was life past the scars in my life. And I trusted you.”
“I really am sorry. About everything. Davis thinks he can invest in this place and win me back. Regardless of his reasons, you’ve made it very clear that you hold your job in high esteem. So, be the professional you believe you are, but don’t punish Leo on my account.”
“I need some time.”
Thandie knew there was plenty more work to do around the property and she was technically on the clock. “Please, convince Davis that this investment is worth it.” She walked out the cabin door, unsure where to go next.