Page 85 of Visions of You

A few minutes later, Jake signed his own name as I stared around the boardroom I’d helped create. But it wasn’t home anymore. Home was a 150-year-old legacy for my daughter. A legacy I had the means and the ability to save. Right now.

Home was the woman I loved. Even if I was too blind to see it until yesterday. Even if she didn’t feel the same way.

I hadn’t given Jake any of the specifics as to why I needed to cash out my half of the business. Though he knew something was up since I was in such a hurry.

Across from me, he closed the folder. “We’ll mail you a copy of the final, notarized contract.”

“Thanks, Jake.”

He watched me steadily. Jake and I had been friends for over a decade, and he was no dummy. “You’ve had a lot of changes over the last few months. Over the last couple of years, really. Is wanting out of our partnership all about family? Or is there something else? Someone else?”

I narrowed my eyes, keeping my face impassive. “Why would you ask that?”

He shrugged. “You were pissed off when you moved at the start of the year and not sure you wanted to go. Your family’s the same, so something else must have changed.”

“My family isn’t the same. My sister’s having a baby in a couple of weeks.”

“So that’s the difference?”

I sighed. “No. You’re right. I’m involved with someone. For the first time since Kora. And April is everything she… wasn’t.”

“Well, thank God for that!”

Though I was hardly being fair comparing April to Kora. I’d never felt this way before, and now my marriage looked like a farce. But could I convince April of that? “I never wanted to fall in love again. I even told April that. Yet somehow, I have. I’m still not sure how it happened.”

Jake grinned, the change of expression startling. “That’s what usually happens, isn’t it? You think you know exactly what’s going on, then something comes along that rips the wool from your eyes.”

Behind Jake, rain sheeted against the glass, making a steady tapping sound. “Thanks for getting this together so fast. You really pulled out the stops to make this happen, and I want you to know I appreciate it.”

“You’re welcome, man. The money should settle in your bank account within a week. I get the feeling the resort might be a little worse off than you’dexpected.”

“Yeah. Dad took out a shitty loan with a balloon payment. And we need to upgrade everything. This was the most obvious solution.”

Jake’s eyes softened. “All you had to give up was everything you’ve worked your entire adult life for.”

I sat back in my chair. “Maybe. But I’m looking at it as an investment, one that will pay off even better than this business has.”

The financial side, anyway. But what will it mean if April backs away from me? Fromus?

Jake got up and came around the table. “If anyone can do it, you can, Gabe. Let me know if you need anything.”

I stood and gave him a hug. “Thanks. I will. I’d better get going. I drove up here and would like to get started before the weather gets worse.”

I can use the trip home to figure out what to say to April.

Jake put his hands in his pants pockets. “You going to celebrate? You just became a very rich man, Gabe. I can’t imagine that loan is anywhere near as much as you just wrangled out of me.”

I smiled. “No, it isn’t. I’ve got plenty left over to play with. And to make sure Hailey is taken care of.”

He returned my smile. “Get yourself one of those ridiculously expensive bottles of whisky you like so much.”

“I might do that. I know just how to celebrate with it.”

And with that, I turned and walked out of my business for the last time.

I drove homein a steady rain, the sky gradually darkening above me. At least the crappy weather kept the tourists off the highway. I stopped and grabbed dinner on the way, but it still took me nearly four hours to drive back to Calypso Key. I parked my car in front of the dark cottage and stared down the hill. At the Barn.

Hailey was taken care of for the night. I’d never get a better opportunity to talk to April. Except I still hadn’t figured out how to phrase what I wanted to say. I didn’t want to knock on her door andblurt out that I loved her. And I’d be lying through my teeth if I said I wasn’t scared to death of what her response was going to be. After all, I was the one who had fallen in love. Not her.

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