Page 26 of The Seascape Between Us

But he ignored me and carried on. “Waiting a full year before you even set foot in that hotel, and you know nothing about running a hotel—”

“I have done asignificantamount of research to ensure—”

“And you seem to take a strange pleasure in making Daniel, whoappearsto be a good guy, jump through hoops.”

“You don’tknowDaniel as well as you think you do. He’s as flawed as the rest of us.” I sounded like a sulky kid, even to me.

“Which is why I’m sure you guys have some long, bitter history.”

I glared at Finn, neither confirming nor denying anything he’d said.

“Look, Grey, you’re my closest friend, and I love you. I never would have survived my divorce without you, so I’m telling you this as a friend and because I owe you. Whatever the hell is going on with you and Daniel, work it out and move on, man. If you can’t treat him like an actual business partner, you’re wasting your time with this hotel. You should get out now before you invest more in this business. You’ll never be able to make this hotel successful if you can’t work with him.”

I sighed and scrubbed both hands down my face. He was right, and I knew it. “Fine, I’ll talk to him.”

“Good, but remember, don’t just talkathim. You have to listen too.”

My scowl deepened. “I know.”

“I’m going to check the site in Portland and make sure everything is good. I’ll send you an email to update you.”

I waved my hand as if swatting away his words. “Yeah, yeah. I’ll talk to you when you’re back.”

As Finn started toward his truck, I returned to the hotel. Inside, I caught sight of an owl-eyed Carter watching me as I approached him.

“Have you seen Daniel?” I asked as I drew closer.

He nodded and pointed to the door leading out to the rooms. “I… I think he’s working in the first-floor rooms.”

Of course he was. He’d been working alongside the construction crew I’d brought in for most of the past week. I used this crew on a lot of the buildings I renovated, but Finn needed the guys on another project. With the roofers starting work, I figured I could pull them off the hotel to work on the building Finn was overseeing. It would cut back on some of the chaos, at least for a few days.

I suppose I should have expected Daniel to push on, crew or no crew.

“Thanks,” I said to Carter, then strode through the door that took me out to the ground-floor rooms. Like the second floor, a narrow walkway stretched the length of the hotel but opened onto the patio overlooking the beach.

The sun was creeping higher into the cloudless blue sky, glaring down, leaving my skin slick with sweat beneath my suit, and it wasn’t even noon yet. I needed to return to air conditioning or change into something lighter. Even the cool, damp breeze off the ocean offered little relief for what was promising to be another sweltering day.

I followed the sounds of cracking wood and muttered curses to room 108. The door was open wide, along with windows to let the breeze in off the water. The room wasn’t unbearable yet, but once the sun fully hit, it would be stifling. I needed to get this done fast, and not just because I didn’t like the steady dribble of sweat trickling down my spine.

Every time I spoke to Daniel, my heart rate kicked up and my mouth turned dry. I hated it. I hated that, after everything, he could still affect me.

Through the open bathroom door, the banging and Daniel’s muttered curses and grunts turned louder. I closed the shortdistance to the opening. Daniel stood next to an ancient vanity with a crowbar wedged between it and the wall behind it, throwing all his weight against prying the old wood away with a loud crack.

“Hey.” I had to raise my voice to be heard over the noise.

Daniel stilled, his shoulders tensing, and he met my gaze in the dust-encrusted mirror still mounted on the wall in front of him. Unfortunately, his protective goggles made it impossible to read his expression clearly.

“Can I talk to you?” I asked.

He hesitated a long moment before finally saying, “Sure, why don’t I come to find you when I’m done here?”

None of the tension gripping his body eased. He stood rooted where he was, still gripping the crowbar, though no longer pushing against it as if someone had frozen him in place.

“But you won’t come find me, so why don’t we talk now? It won’t take long.”

Daniel sighed and dragged his goggles off his head, turning to face me and leaving the vanity sagging drunkenly to one side. “What is it?”

Everything about Daniel screamed exhausted resignation—the slump in his posture, his flat tone, even the way he’d just agreed to talk without arguing first. Unease tickled the base of my spine.

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