Page 60 of So Close

He was selling to her because he couldn’t bring himself to hurt her.

At the other end of the phone, Doug, who was no idiot and knew Trey as well as anyone on earth, took another deep breath.

“There are a hundred and fifty jobs at stake here, Xavier, including mine,” Doug said. “You’ll excuse me if I’m not exactly feeling secure about the way things are going over there.”

“You don’t need to worry.”

The thought of it—of Auburn not getting the money, of Auburn not getting Beachcrest—made him sick—but Doug was right. There were a hundred and fifty human beings at the other end of this deal.

“I’ll call you when I have news,” he said gruffly, and ended the call.

29

Trey came back to where she stood, loading her plate with side dishes, carefully framing her burger. She was ravenous. She hadn’t managed to eat breakfast this morning—trying to get Beachcrest’s breakfast served, setting up for the parade, the Bootstrapper thing—time had gotten away from her.

“Everything okay?” she asked him.

He nodded.

Auburn’s emotions were high. It was the excitement of the party, for sure. All the red, white, and blue, the cheerful, drunk partygoers, the free-flowing beer and wine, the tables laden with food, the smell of charbroiled meat.

And of course it was her family, and their heartfelt offers to help. She still felt a little weepy, in the best possible way, thinking of the lengths they would go to protect one another.

But she was old enough and had been around the block enough times to know that it was alsothis.His eyes on her face, hot and intent. The flower—still in her hair—and how she’d felt that innocent little caress in every cell of her body.

How he’d touched her the other night on the beach.

His willingness to back off when she’d told him about Patrick, but even more than that, what he’d said about it.

I meant what I said. I don’t want you to take his money, because—because I have nothing but respect for the fact that you walked away from him. And the last thing I want is for you to have to turn to him.

The fact that he was going to sell her Beachcrest.

(He’s going totryto sell you Beachcrest.)

“Uncle Trey! Uncle Trey!”

There was an explosion of small-boy activity around their knees, Trey’s nephews pulling on his hands and trying to convince him to do a wheelbarrow race on the beach with them. Hannah was in charge of the party games; Auburn could see her mingling with the guests and recruiting anyone willing to participate.

“I’ll do Tyler, if your Mom can do Jakey.”

Brynn was shaking her head. “I did something to my back. There’s no way I can bend over like that.”

“I’ll do Jake. If he’ll let me? Will you, Jake?” Auburn asked. Brynn’s youngest was six-ish, gray-eyed and earnest, with unruly hair that fell over one eye. Auburn imagined Trey must have looked a little like that, as a boy.

“Okay?” Jake agreed uncertainly.

They followed Hannah—who was the Pied Piper, kids trailing behind her in a chain—down to the beach and gathered near the start line. She’d set up two cones to be the finish. Tyler and Jake got down on their hands and knees and kicked their feet up. “Okay, Jake,” Auburn said, stealing a glance at Trey. “We’re going to win this. Your brother and Uncle Trey don’t have the kind of teamwork it takes for an operation like this. You and I? We’re golden.”

“Are you going to let her trash talk us like that, Ty?” Trey demanded. The look he gave her reminded her of their first showdown in Carl’s hospital room—only now she could see the gleam of humor behind it.

“You guys are going down,” Ty informed them, just as Hannah counted off, “3 … 2 …1 … go!”

Auburn and Jake came out of the gate slow but sure. Having quite a bit of previous experience with wheelbarrow races in the sand, she made sure she didn’t push him faster than he could move his stubby little arms on the uneven surface. Trey on the other hand, got Tyler going so fast he collapsed in a heap. By the time Ty had shaken the sand out of his hair, stopped laughing, and put his feet back in Trey’s hands, Auburn and Jake were almost to the finish line.

“Slow and steady wins the race,” Auburn called over her shoulder.

“We’re going to win!” Jake cried.

---