Page 23 of Devlin

"That's the plan."

"I need to get to work on this boat. It could take several days to get her ready to go in the water."

"I can help."

"Not today. I appreciate the offer, but I need to do this part on my own. I need to spend some time on the details, and you're not particularly patient when I'm scoping things out."

"Guilty," she admitted.

"It's a nice day. Why don't you go out and meet up with some of your friends?"

"I don't have any friends left around here."

"You don't? You used to have so many girlfriends to see in the summers."

"Which was a long time ago."

"Not that long."

"True. Maybe I'll walk down to the harbor and see if there is anyone at the Yacht Clubwho can take our entry fee."

"Good idea. Look for Grace Varney. She's in charge of the entries."

"Mrs. Varney is in charge? Her daughter Jessica was one of my good friends in elementary school."

"Well, Jessica is still in town. See, you do have some friends here."

"I haven't seen her in years."

"If you want to see her again, she works at the distillery givingtours."

"Another Blackthorne employee," she said with a sigh.

"In this town, you'd be hard-pressed to find too many people who don't collect a paycheck from the Blackthornes. Anyway, go on, get out of here. If you want to take my truck…"

"No. You might need it to run out and pick up supplies and you know I enjoy walking. I'll see you later."

She left the Palmers' boathouseand headed into town. The harbor was only about a mile and a half away, and it was a beautiful day. No clouds, only bright sunshine, and a crisp ocean breeze. It was too bad theDaisy Maeneeded work, because it was a great day for a sail. They could have taken her out on the water and seen what she could do. But as her father would say, that would be putting the cart before the horse. At somepoint in her life, she really did need to learn patience.

As she strolled through the streets of her childhood, warm memories ran through her. She'd been happy growing up in King Harbor. She'd loved riding bikes with her friends, hanging out at the beaches, going out on boats whenever she got a chance. She'd loved running into neighbors every time they went to the market or out to eat.She'd always felt like she was part of a big family and that there were many people who cared about her.

That had all changed when she was thirteen, when her mother had moved them both to Texas. While she'd come to love Austin, she'd missed the ocean and the King Harbor community. She'd come back in the summers, but it had never been the same. For one thing, summers in the small coastaltown were different than the rest of the year. From Memorial Day to Labor Day, the population quadrupled in size and the lavish estates dotting the shoreline were filled with their wealthy homeowners and their friends and family.

The Blackthornes had been part of the summer crowd, showing up on Memorial Day weekend for the boat races and then reappearing in June when the kids would be outof school.

Their King Harbor businesses, the Boatworks, the distillery and the Vault to name a few, ran all year round, but it was the local employees who mostly kept them going. She'd always thought the Blackthornes appreciated their managers—until now. Frowning, she pushed that annoying thought out of her head. There was nothing she could do about that situation at the moment, but herdad had a new goal, and hopefully the boat race would not only distract him from his problems but would also bring them closer together.

She'd missed him the last few years when their visits had dwindled to meeting up for a night somewhere at Christmas or New Year's and the occasional weekend, usually at some location where her father was delivering a boat. Now, she had at least a coupleof weeks to reconnect.

As she neared the harbor, she could see boats motoring in and out of their slips, and out on the water were more than a few brightly colored sails. She wondered if Devlin was out on the ocean today, or if he was dealing with a whisky hangover. She suspected he and his brothers had had a few more drinks after she'd left the Vault. It had definitely been the night forit.

She crossed the street in front of the King Harbor Yacht Club, which was housed in a two-story white stucco building, with massive floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the harbor. The Yacht Club had been founded by Devlin's grandfather—Graham the first. He'd also been the one to start the Boatworks. Devlin's father, Graham the second, and his Uncle Mark had worked at the Boatworks duringthe summers when they were in high school. But Mark had gone on to become a lawyer and Graham had become more interested in expanding Blackthorne Enterprises to encompass a number of different businesses, each adding more and more to the bottom line.

While Devlin had worked at the Boatworks during the summer, he had become its manager five years ago when the former manager, Bill Walker,had retired. According to her dad, Devlin had done a great job building the business and the brand of Blackthorne boats, but sometimes she thought her father gave him too much credit. But that was her dad; he'd always been more comfortable behind the scenes, and with Devlin in charge, her father had been able to concentrate on what he liked most—design and construction.

She couldn't imaginewhat Devlin would do without her dad's creativity and expertise, but he was going to find out. Just like he would find out how it felt to lose to her father instead of win with him.

She entered the building with an eager step, moving past the restaurant and bar, which were busy with Sunday brunch, and jogging up the stairs to the administrative offices. In the reception area, she was greetedwith the warm brown eyes of Grace Varney.

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