Chapter 26
Logan
He’d almost told her he was Gatsby’s Ghost.
Heck, he’d nearly kissed her. He hadn’t been able to take his eyes off her perfect pink lips, and he could have sworn she leaned in just the slightest bit like she wanted to kiss him too.
But he couldn’t kiss her, not without telling her the truth.
Could he tell her the truth? Should he? He’d been trying to play out possible scenarios in his head when she’d hugged him, but the feeling of her body practically melting into his and the smell of her coconut shampoo had clouded his head.
In the end, he’d been too scared. What if she was angry that he hadn’t told her sooner? What if that was how they left things when it was time for him to go? He didn’t think he could bear it. Those big brown eyes would haunt him no matter how far he went.
Logan had nearly made it back to his car when he saw Fuller’s name lighting up his phone. Clearing his throat, he answered and tried to sound more chipper than he was feeling.
“Hey, man.”
“Hey, who’s got the best friend a guy could ever hope for?”
Logan forced a chuckle. “I’m afraid to ask.”
“Trust me when I say it’s you. I got the skinny from a friend of mine who works in the planning board office. They’ve narrowed it down to three candidates, and you made the list.”
Logan should have been excited. He should have been pumping his fist in the air and promising Fuller a big steak dinner when he got up to Boston, but he felt it was happening too fast. He wasn’t ready to wash his hands of Heron Isle and skip town. He wasn’t ready to say goodbye to Lucy.
“Wow, that’s great. Thanks, man.” Boston. It was the entire reason he’d come to Heron Isle, to set himself up for the Boston job. He tried to psych himself up, to push thoughts of Lucy and Heron Isle aside.
“Gee, I thought you’d be a little more excited than that.”
Fuller was right. He should be thanking him. “Sorry, I am. It’s great news. Thank you. Are they going to bring all three candidates up?”
“I’m not sure. There was talk of only bringing up the final two, but I don’t have a good handle on how they’re going to whittle it down. I’ve got some feelers out.”
Timing was everything. Logan needed to sell himself to the board in Boston before one of the other candidates beat him to the punch. He couldn’t just stay on Heron Isle and soak up the rays after the city terminated his contract. Boston was always the goal. He had to stay focused. If he didn’t get it, he didn’t have a backup plan. He’d have to wait for another opening somewhere else, which could be months.
“I need a meeting with whoever is leading the committee up there, and I need it fast.”
“What’s happening down there? I thought you had another month or so to go.”
Logan raked a hand through his hair. “Nothing, it’s fine. One of the council members made the city an offer tonight they can’t refuse, so they’re going to sell the land and the marina and get out of the property business. They’ll make more than I could have found for them piecing together a bunch of little stuff. They can take it from here, so now I can focus on what’s next. And that’s Boston. I want that job, Fuller.”
“Man, it would be great to have you up here. I told you I’d go to bat for you. Let me make a few calls, okay?”
“Thanks, Fuller. I owe you one.”
His best friend promised to be back in touch soon and they hung up.
Logan was still parked in his spot downtown. Everything was closed up for the night, and his car was one of the only ones along the town square. From where he was parked, he could just make out the Little Free Library in the distance under a streetlight. He couldn’t stop one question from repeating in his brain, and it wasn’t about Boston.
What was he going to do about Lucy?
What was bound to happen with the waterfront was enough of a blow for her. She didn’t need to be hit with more. She’d had enough people disappoint her. He couldn’t be another to add to the list. It was time to get out of Heron Isle before he hurt her even more than he maybe already had.
As he pulled into the driveway of crushed shells in front of his beach cottage, his phone lit up in the cup holder. It was Fuller again.
“That was fast.”
“Hey, it’s all about who you know, right?” Fuller sounded like he had good news.
“And I take it it’s a good thing I know you?”
“It is indeed.” He could hear Fuller smiling through the phone. “It’s possible the director of the planning board has an assistant who can’t resist the old Fuller charm.”
“I bet she can’t.” Logan smiled, remembering how Fuller had talked their way onto a bus full of women celebrating a bachelorette party the last time he’d visited him. The ladies loved Fuller, and he loved the ladies.
“9:00 a.m. Friday. You’re on his calendar. Can you get here that fast?”
That was only a day away.
“I’ll be there. Fuller, you are still the man.”
“Time to get you out of Mayberry, Lancaster. I’ll meet you for drinks after work Friday and you can tell me all about your meeting. I’ll text you an address.”
And just like that, Logan knew he was back in the game. He’d never been turned down for any position where he’d had an in-person meeting. However, as he took his scotch out on the back porch to celebrate, he couldn’t help feeling that Heron Isle might have been his biggest failure.
And he hadn’t just failed Heron Isle; he had failed Lucy. And that hurt most of all.
Logan had been looking forward to getting on a flight out of Florida headed for Boston since he’d first arrived on Heron Isle, but he couldn’t escape the nagging feeling he’d been having since the previous evening. He’d tried to write it off as guilt over not finding a resolution that kept major development off the waterfront. Sure, he didn’t have to live there, but he’d felt more protective of Heron Isle than other places he’d worked. It wasn’t as easy to write it off as the cost of progress and move on.
And he couldn’t stop seeing Lucy’s face when he’d told her Councilman Turner had made the town an irresistible offer. She’d been crushed, and he knew she’d blame herself for not finding a way to save the waterfront.
He couldn’t be one more person who let her down. So he’d done the only thing he’d known how. He’d stayed up most of the night writing up business plans for the bookstore and the building. They were solid plans she could implement with the right systems and support, and he was certain between the plans and the financials they’d put together she’d be able to get the loan. He might not be able to give her a happily ever after fit for the big screen, but he could give her what she needed to make buying the building a reality and maybe that would be enough.
He typed up a note so he wouldn’t give away his identity as Gatsby’s Ghost through his handwriting and told her he was going to Boston, but that he wanted her to have everything she needed to get her loan and that he believed in her.
On his way to the airport, he stopped and slid an envelope through the mail slot at the bookstore. As he pulled away, he couldn’t help but wish he’d seen her through the window. Just one last glimpse of her before he left town. It wasn’t even daylight, though, and the streets and sidewalks of downtown Heron Isle were as empty as he felt as he drove to the end of Main Street and took the left that would lead him off the island and toward his destiny in Boston.
By the time he got to his hotel in Boston, the sun was just beginning to slip behind the buildings that filled the city’s skyline. He ordered room service and settled in to study every news article he could find about Boston’s comprehensive plan and the types of projects they’d be pursuing. Fuller had sent him a breakdown of the power players in town and who wanted what. Logan found all the commission and planning board meeting minutes from the past two years and dissected them. He wanted to know everything he could about the situation before his meeting tomorrow so he could impress the planning board director.
After turning in well past 2:00 a.m., Logan woke at dawn and went over his notes once more. By the time he got to the director’s office, he knew every discussion the city had had over its future development plans. But even with all that knowledge, he had trouble summoning his confidence as the director’s assistant showed him down the hall to the man’s office.
“You’re a friend of Cameron’s?” The pretty brunette turned back to smile at Logan.
“Yeah, we went to undergrad together at USC. Thank you for getting me on Mr. O’Connell’s schedule.”
“Of course. Any friend of Cameron’s is a friend of mine.” She reached the door and motioned for Logan to enter.
“Mr. Lancaster.” Kevin O’Connell rose from his desk and extended his hand to Logan.
“Please, call me Logan. Thanks for seeing me on such short notice, Mr. O’Connell.” He gave his hand a firm shake.
“Feel free to call me Kevin. Please, sit.” He pointed to one of the brown leather chairs in front of his desk. Kevin O’Connell looked to be about Logan’s age and had deep auburn hair and a smattering of freckles across his pale skin.
“Cameron tells me you were roommates in college. I can only imagine the kind of trouble he must have gotten in during his college days.” He leaned back in his tall leather chair.
Logan laughed. “Let’s just say things were never boring.”
“He tells me you were in charge of the redevelopment south of the arch in St. Louis and then the warehouse district in Phoenix. Impressive resume.”
He’d skipped San Diego, but surely he’d done an internet search on Logan. Or maybe he’d simply gone on Fuller’s word up to this point.
“Thank you. I appreciate the kind words. I’m just finishing up a small waterfront project down south that I took on while I was waiting for the position here to open. I’ve heard a lot about what you’re planning here, and I’d love to be part of it. I know there’s a formal process, and I certainly respect that, but I never turn down the chance to get a little face time.”
They talked about the various parties looking to be part of the deal, the budget, projected timeline, and the sort of resources someone like Logan would have at their disposal. It was exactly the job Logan should want next. It was the type of project that not only wiped out what had happened in San Diego, but also put him on track to becoming one of the most accomplished consultants in his field.
And absolutely nothing about it appealed to Logan as he sat and listened to Kevin talk about municipal bonds and zoning variances and infrastructure improvements. He didn’t even get excited at the prospect of tying the new project into the existing historic footprint in downtown Boston and the opportunities he’d have to work alongside Fuller. His mind kept drifting to Heron Isle, his brain trying to find a solution that didn’t involve the town selling the land to Councilman Turner. There was still time, they weren’t due to give preliminary approval of the sale until the council meeting on Tuesday.
Logan left his meeting with the director of the planning board feeling the job was practically his by the time he walked out of the office. Turned out Kevin did know about San Diego, but Fuller had already told him Logan’s side of the story, and Kevin had shrugged it off like it was nothing.
Fuller was right. It was all about who you knew.
As Logan walked along the wharf toward the bar to meet Fuller for happy hour, he slowed to look at the businesses along the waterway. Obviously, Boston was a different city than Heron Isle, but that didn’t mean there might not be an idea or two they could borrow.
As he neared a line of people, he saw a big sign for Boston Cruise Company. They had ferries to the Harbor Islands, Provincetown, Salem, and more. They offered whale watching tours, sunset cruises, and eco tours.
He had an idea. He wasn’t sure how the numbers would come out, but it was something.
He caught up with Fuller and listened to all the stories about his latest romantic escapades, then Logan told him about Heron Isle. From how the cruise ship idea had effectively sunk to how he couldn’t stop thinking about finding a way to keep Councilman Turner from developing the waterfront. He even told Fuller about Lucy and the Little Free Library. He hadn’t intended to share the latter part, but it was impossible to talk about Heron Isle without mentioning Lucy. It all just came tumbling out as they ordered a second round and then a third.
“I feel if I’d just had more time, I could have come up with something. I saw Boston Cruise Company on my way over here and was thinking maybe something like that would work. There are all these little barrier islands nearby they could ferry people to and from, and people love those sunset cruises. The town has restrictions on bigger boats, but those are small enough to meet the regulations and have minimal impact on the environment.”
“Seems to me if they went ahead with that they’re going to need someone to manage the marina and all these contracts going forward.” Fuller raised an eyebrow.
“You mean me?” Logan was surprised to find his heart leap at the idea. He was more excited about that prospect than he’d felt all day about the Boston job. It was too late, though. The town was ready to vote at the council meeting on Tuesday to sell the land to Dan Turner.
“I’ve never heard you talk about any place like you just talked about this tiny little island. Don’t you want to do work that excites you? Man, I love my job here. Wouldn’t trade it for anything, and don’t think I haven’t had other offers. And that woman—Lucy?—she sounds like someone worth sticking around for. I’ve never had that, but if I did, I don’t think I’d let it go so easily.”
Logan shook his head before taking another drink. “It’s too late. They’re voting on the sale Tuesday. I could try to pull something together between now and then on the ferries, but I don’t think that alone is enough to change their minds.”
“What do you know about shell middens?” Fuller donned a mischievous grin, just like back in college when he’d convinced a professor to let them miss class for two weeks to go to Major League Baseball’s spring training to “study the historic preservation efforts used to save minor league ballparks.”
“Shell middens?” Logan was stumped. “Nothing. What are they?”
“They’re how you’re going to save your waterfront.” Fuller slapped him on the back before downing the rest of his beer.