“Kit?” She answers on the first ring.
“No, it’s Butch. Are you with Nash?”
“Yeah, he’s right here. What’s wrong? Is Kit okay? Claire said you went hiking at sunrise this morning. That’s so not like Kit. Did she collapse from fatigue and fall off the side of the mountain?”
“Kit’s fine,” I say, starting the car. “Are you two alone? Put me on speaker.”
“Yeah, we’re alone,” she says. “Nash, it’s Butch.”
“Hey, man. Good work getting Kit up that early this morning. I didn’t know that was even possible. Everything okay?”
“She’s fine. We ran into Sam in Big Bear. He was getting ready to sign a contract to sell Blitzen Bay to Trip Walker.”
There’s silence on their end of the phone for a few seconds.
“What?” Nash finally says. “What are you talking about?”
“You heard me. He’s already signed a letter of intent to sell it to him. He had no idea that Trip knew Elle.”
“Did he sign the contract?” Nash asks. “Elle, sit down before you fall over. Where’s Sam now?”
“He didn’t sign the final contract. We stopped him in time. Kit’s behind me, driving him home. We should be there in about fifteen minutes.”
“Okay,” Nash says. “We’ll meet you here. Elle, sit. Now. We’ll figure this out. I promise. Butch, do we know if Sam can get out of the thing he already signed?”
“I’m not sure. It sounds like he has to find a buyer that can beat Trip’s offer which is ten million.”
“Oh my God,” Elle says, gasping. “This is all my fault.”
“It’s not your fault,” Nash says. “You haven’t done anything wrong. We’ll be fine. I think Alex’s attorney is handling the deal for Sam. I’ll call Alex and have him meet us over here. We’ll get the attorney on the phone.”
“What if he can’t get out of the deal?” Elle’s voice is so quiet that I can barely hear her.
“Babe,” Nash says. “Trip Walker is not buying Blitzen Bay. It’s not happening. We’ll figure it out.”
* * *