Page 32 of When It Rains He Pours

Chapter Six

Glory

“Open your eyes,” Liamsaid, whispering the words against my ear.

Slowly, I blinked my eyes open, forcing the bright sun back into normal shadows. “Where are we?” I asked, looking around.

We were standing in an old stone-walled room with a dirty worn wood floor, and large windows that looked out over the harbor.

I could see the sailboats as they bounced against the waves, moving against the current. Florescent orange buoys bobbed and dipped, rocking back and forth like the hand of a metronome. Just beyond the buoy line a large cluster of seagulls flapped their wings, some dropping into the heard as others flew away.

Stepping to the window, I looked down at the street below. We had to be at least ten or eleven stories up, high enough to have a view, but still low enough to see fine details beneath us.

“This is one of the reasons why I came here.” Stepping up beside me, he stared out into the horizon with a smile on his face. “Beautiful isn't it?”

“We're in the old Vienna Mill, right?”

“Yeah, you're exactly right.” Wrapping his hands behind his back, his shoulders squared with proud confidence.

“Why are you showing me this? Are you part of a construction team or something?”

“You could say that.” Smiling, Liam turned, tilting his head as his eyes fell over my face. “What do you think?”

Shrugging a shoulder, I flicked my eyes away. “I don't know. I guess it would be nice to not see this place just get abandoned. It's a beautiful building, but I still don't understand why I'm here.”

“This town has so much potential, it needs more than what it has to survive. I want to help with that. I used to come here when I was a kid with my parents. We had this little summer cottage we rented off of Fault's cove. Every summer we'd be here fishing, swimming in the ocean, sailing. . .” Pausing, I watched his gaze as it sparked with past memories. “I want to bring life back into this place, and that's what this building is going to do.”

“What's this place going to be, another hotel? Because we already have plenty of those.”

His muscles flinched, making him look uncomfortable all of sudden. I couldn't understand why, but I could feel his anxiety start build.

“No, nothing like that. I'm thinking luxury apartments—hopefully.”Shaking his head, he gave me an awkward smile.

Why did my question bother him?

“Hopefully? But you just said—”

“Right now it's just a thought. I still have to convince my partner that it's worth it. He has a different plan.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

Liam took a long step in and braided our fingers together. “Because this could help you too. If I can get him on board, then this could bring you more business. You'd have more people to sell to, more buyers to paint for. One business that can help another. That's how you build something great, it all works together. Who knows, maybe you could move your gallery closer, make it so everyone sees it when they walk by.”

His thumb stroked the nub on my wrist as his thick fingers massaged the inside of my palm. My body began to tingle as electricity shocked my veins the longer he touched me.

Pulling my hands away, I put some space between us. It wasn't that I didn't want him to touch me or be close. It was his idea of moving my gallery that made me uneasy.

“I can't move my shop, I won't do that.”

“Whoa,” he said, holding up his hands, palms facing out. “It was just an idea, that's all.” Taking a firm step in, he squinted his eyes and rubbed his jaw. “You do realize that your place is just a set of walls. It's not that building that makes you who you are.”

Taking in a deep breath, I let his words settle for a moment. He was wrong.

And I wasn't going to let my building go, I wasn't going to move out of it, I wasn't going to let anyone take it from me.

You might not have a choice.

“Can we not talk about me?”

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