“You just fix things. Things no one else even realizes need fixing. We all just slog along, putting up with whatever bullshit we’ve thought up for ourselves. But one look from you, and you fix it all. Take the weight off our backs without bringing it onto your own. Have any of you ever known anyone else who could do that?”
He looks around the room and I follow his gaze, watching heads shaking one by one.
“We put out the word that we were looking for a few employees and islanders to come and tell you what an impact you’ve made on their lives, and I don’t know what we were thinking. We actually thought all the people who wanted to share their appreciation would fit in one damn room.”
I feel myself start to blush a little and glance around the room once more, nodding my own appreciation to the people they clearly gathered here for this very purpose.
“Not these people. I mean, yes, these people, but also,” he takes me by the shoulders and turns me, pushing me ahead of him until we cross the conference room and stand facing the large, ocean view windows. “But I’m talking about all of these people.”
He pulls the shade to the side and a soft, surprised laugh escapes my lips as I look out over the crowd in amazement.
The pool patio below is filled with people. They fill the steps leading down to the beach and the beach itself. Employees and locals and people I can’t identify from here standing shoulder to shoulder, all looking up at the window.
Dom reaches over me once more to release the latch and swing the large window open and everyone cheers.
I laugh once more as I lift a hand to wave at the crowd, causing them to cheer louder.
I can hear shouts of “thank you” and “we love you, Sam.”
“Everyone in the whole resort wanted to come. And half the damn island.”
I turn back to him and shake my head. “Shouldn’t these people be working?”
Dom just laughs. A big, loud, genuine laugh that I have to pause and absorb for a moment. I can’t remember the last time I saw the guy this happy. This open and present.
I feel arms snaking around me from the other side and look down to see my girl, Naomi, tucking herself into my side. I lean down and kiss her on the forehead. “Did you know about all of this?”
She shakes her head.
“There will be plenty of time to greet everyone later, Sam, But you were promised paperwork, and paperwork you will get.” Ben draws our attention back to the long table in the center of the room where he and Avery are already sitting. I slip away from Naomi, giving one of her soft hands a quick squeeze. She heads over to curl onto the small sofa next to Reina, who pulls her in close.
I cross the room and take the seat to Avery’s left, just like I did that day over a decade ago, when we started this whole adventure.
Dom sits down next to me and the real estate lawyer who’s been with us all this time takes his seat across from us.
“It’s come to my attention that we need to revisit the old contracts. I’ve gone ahead and printed up a new copy for all of you.” Our lawyer taps each stack of papers to straighten them before sliding one set in front of each of us guys.
I drag my hands down my face before turning to look at Dom, then over at Ben and Avery. “You guys didn’t have to do this.”
Dom huffs beside me. “Apparently we should have done it sooner if you thought you could just walk away from this resort and it would go on functioning without you.”
“There’s a lot more to this contract than money, Sam,” Ben says. “And, if you remember, no one would even be here if you hadn’t found this abandoned resort on Zillow and somehow convinced Ave, Dom, and me to take the leap. You started a new chapter in our lives. And not a single one of us, not a singleperson in this room or outside that window, will ever forget that it was you who gave this all to us.”
I’m still shaking my head, trying not to get too emotional when Avery starts in on me.
“This place was the first home I ever had, Sam. And I’ve lived a thousand places. But you turned this little slice of paradise into a safe space for me. For all of us. A place we could work hard and be appreciated and feel supported enough to find ourselves. I know I did. I found myself, I found Fran, and I found a purpose for my life. And it didn’t just start with these papers.” He lifts his own stack and taps the ends before tossing them back on the table. “It started that first day in fourth grade when you took one look at me, hanging back from the rest of the guys. Do you remember what you said to me?”
I don’t answer, but he goes on. “You said, I really liked your owl poster. The stupid poster board project I’d done for science class. That was the first moment I realized something wasn’t right about my home life. Because no one had even looked at my poster before I turned it in. No one had ever told me I did a good job at anything. But you? You never stopped telling me. You showed up at all my games and both graduations, even when I didn’t invite you. You dragged these guys along, too. You showed me what it looked like to have a family, Sam. You were the first real family I ever had.”
“You showed us all,” Dom says from my other side.
I want to look over at him as he speaks but I’m right on the edge of too much emotion, the feelings threatening to swallow me whole. Instead, I look down at my hands as he continues.
“We all grew up in a different world than you, with different families and different values. And people think all that money is what we should be striving for. That’s all bullshit. Money ruined each and every one of our families and most of our childhoods.”
I’m crying now, there’s no stopping it. Dom’s eyes are misty as well, although he keeps wiping them with his hands to try to hide it as he goes on.
“Do you remember my Yankees jersey? The one I got signed by Donnie Baseball at that game for my tenth birthday?”