Page 51 of The Deal Maker

As much as I want the bonus from DreamTime Vacations, I don’t want to do something that makes Maggie feel worse.

“That’s up to you. We can just hang out, maybe go see a movie. Or there’s probably something we can do down at the beach.”

Maggie checks her phone and then leans over to show it to me. “It looks like the beach is the task anyway. Let’s go.”

“Are you sure?” I ask, still hesitant to push her too far. I’ve been through my fair share of betrayal and heartbreak, so I can’t imagine she’d get over it that quickly. Maybe she’s doing the old fake it til you make it thing.

“Absolutely.”

“Okay, you have to do something for me then.”

Maggie stands next to the table and pauses, waiting for me to continue.

“If you need to bail, or need to do anything other than what you’re doing, you’ll tell me, all right?”

“Of course.”

“You promise?” I ask, making sure to give her an expression that says I mean business.

Nodding, she says, “I promise.”

TWENTY-ONE

MAGGIE

I’m still 50/50 about whether or not I want to do anything today. Would I have picked Duke as the guy to help me conquer the nightmares of my past relationship? Definitely not.

First the ice cream theory and then how I’m the most gullible person on earth.

But I might as well do something before heading back and being interrogated by Hope on why I’m so crabby. She was never a fan of Zander, and I should’ve taken that as a red flag from the beginning. If only I could go back and change time…

“Okay, so it says we need to build a sand castle using only the things we find on the beach,” I say, reading from the app. We walk down the boardwalk stairs and onto the soft sand. I take off my sandals and enjoy the feel of the sand beneath my feet.

I’ve heard people say that the beach has healing properties, but I didn’t believe them until now. Something about the sun, the ocean breeze, and the scenery have already lifted my spirits.

I scan the beach, wondering how we’ll be able to make anything just using our hands. That’s not really something I want to do either. I try to keep my nails short so I don’t have to constantly trim them or worry about snags. With how short they are right now, they won’t be the best for digging.

“Where do you want to start?” Duke asks.

“Maybe over by the pier?” I say, pointing to the boardwalk that extends several hundred feet into the ocean. “Then maybe we won’t bake in this heat.”

We walk over and decide to start back enough that the waves won’t wreck our masterpiece. Or what might be a master fail.

At least there’s some shade from the blazing sun.

“What is with all of these items being about art?” I say, reflecting on our tasks so far. We had to sing and then decorate cookies. And now creating a castle.

“I don’t know. Maybe the mayor is trying to find the next Artist-in-Residence for our town.”

I laugh and shake my head. “Yeah, that definitely won’t be me.”

“Me either, but it’s kind of fun to try out. What kind of castle do you think we should build? Disney? European?”

“Didn’t Disney use one of the German castles to base the one at the park?”

Duke shrugs. “To be honest, I’m not sure. I’ve never been.”

“A traveler like you and you haven’t visited there before?” I don’t know why I’m so shocked. This guy has been talking abouttraveling and seeing the world since I met him, but he’s good at making it seem like he’d already seen a lot.

---