Page 73 of Until We Break

“We could come here more.” I tried to fight her for the next fork full of dessert.

“Good.” She smiled over the candlelight.

“If you want to eat at Café Midnight more often, does that mean you’re thinking about staying?”

She was slow to place the fork on the plate. “You want to know if I’m going to try to keep the Blue Heron?”

I shook my head. “No. Yes.” I exhaled. I’d been keeping this to myself for way too long. The doubts had been there. Did I really think someone like Margot with no ties to the island would want to stay?

“I want to know if you’re going to stay,” I admitted. “Stay here.”

“Stay?”

“Yes. Are you going back to New York when the summer is over?”

There was confusion all over her face. Had I said the wrong thing? Was I pushing too hard and too fast? A girl like Margot could go anywhere in the world. Any city. Once she started writing again she could live anywhere she wanted to live. It was only a matter of time before she found a new agent and found her way back to her career.

The sinking feeling in my stomach expanded. It was getting deeper with each passing second as if someone had cast a weight and it had reached the bottom of the ocean floor.

“I need you to know something, Margot. I’m here. This is where I’m from. Where my family lives. Generations of Coastguardsmen have been here at the same station.” I took a big breath, worried I was throwing all of this at her. “We haven’t talked about it, but I want you to stay when the summer ends.”

Her mouth opened. “I—umm.”

“I know, it’s a lot and I’m not trying to put pressure on you, but I can’t go anywhere. This isn’t just home, it’s work and I have orders. I can’t pick up and leave. I can’t go where you go.”

“I think I understand what you’re saying. And there’s something I wanted to bring up that happened today. Dean stopped by this morning with bad news.”

“What kind of bad news?” I felt the tenseness creep into my shoulders. I didn’t like that Dean was working as the attorney of the estate. I didn’t trust him. It was obvious he was still interested in Margot.

“It’s not just the back taxes that I owe on the property and all the other bills. There’s a new tax bill.” She had stopped eating the chocolate cake. “Basically, I need to come up with thousands of dollars or I’m going to lose the Blue Heron either way and still owe on it.”

“Shit, that’s terrible.”

“It’s not good. So I’ve been trying to think about how I can get things going a little faster. I’ve been jotting down ideas at night.”

I blinked. “In the notebook?”

She tilted her head. “You’ve seen that?”

I shrugged. “I didn’t want to pry. I didn’t know if it was some kind of diary thing or maybe you were coming up with new storylines. I guess I was afraid to ask.”

“The notebook is neither of those. I’ve divided it into sections. There’s one that lists what needs to be fixed that’s broken. Then there is a section on what works that can make money.” Her eyes flickered with excitement. “And my favorite one is the newthings that Uncle Walt never installed or just didn’t get around to trying.”

“Like what?” I wanted to hear every detail. She had been thinking about this. Writing it. Planning it.

“Well, the two things that are operational and consistently bring in cash are the boat ramp and the boat slips. But I don’t have any advertising and no way to bring in new business to the marina without that. I thought I would set up some social media. Seems like the easiest and cheapest way and I need to make sure those two things can be ready every day.”

“That’s true. It makes sense.”

“I have to start small but what if I can make the Blue Heron more of an overnight boater destination? Like a boaters’ AirBnB kind of thing?”

I chuckled. “I’d love to hear this plan.”

“Okay. I don’t have all the ideas, but I could show outdoor movies, it’s inexpensive and people could watch from their boats, and it might even bring in locals.”

My jaw dropped. “That’s an incredible idea.”

“I have more.” Her face lit up.

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