Page 46 of Crash Over Us

She folded her arms over her chest. “What have you done, Caleb?”

I sighed. “I wanted to help. Carrie wouldn’t give up. She gave Gabe a bag of cash. An untraceable bag of bills. She wouldn’t take it back.”

Margot’s eyes widened. “That was cash money?”

I nodded. “She wasn’t going to stop. She came to my room. I thought the only way was to do something good with the money. You need it. You couldn’t get out from the taxes.”

“You should have told me,” she pleaded. “Why didn’t you just tell me the truth?”

“You wouldn’t have taken it.” I shrugged. “Believe me, I wanted to tell you, but I wanted you to have it. I wanted this to work for the Blue Heron.”

“What’s going to happen now?” she asked.

I looked out over the water. “I guess it depends on what Dean does with the information. He doesn’t have to do anything. He could just let it go.”

“How likely is that?” She wanted to know.

I touched the side of her face. “I don’t care what he does as long as you and I are okay.”

She stepped into my arms. “We are okay.”

My heart thumped against my ribs. God, if I lost her, I didn’t know what I’d do. For once, she hadn’t pushed me away.

TWENTY-THREE

Margot

Within a few days, I had to call both the drink and ice machine companies and increase the delivery dates. I couldn’t keep either of them stocked fully. Something as simple as drinks and ice had given new life to the Blue Heron.

I greeted the construction crew who was working on the pier repairs. I laughed when I thought about my very first day here and falling through the boards. I had been lucky not to have broken my ankle or been pierced by a long nail. Those worries were gone. I was going to have every rotten board replaced, and there would be no more trip hazards.

The opening night for Movies on the Marina was tomorrow. The project manager of the crew promised they would be done by lunchtime today. At the pace they worked, I believed him.

John hadn’t fished since they started. I guessed the buzzing of saws and hammering disturbed him. Even though he was quiet and some days we never spoke, I missed him being here. I could look out and see him cast his rod. Somehow, that was reassuring, especially on my hardest days since I had moved to the island.

The screened door creaked. I looked over to see Caleb jogging down the porch steps. He was wearing his Coast Guard uniform. He had returned to work, but I didn’t think today was a patrol day for him.

“I thought you were off today?” I was confused.

He nodded. “Supposed to be. I just got a call. I have to go in for a meeting.” I saw the way his jaw flexed. Something was wrong.

“What is it? What kind of a meeting?”

“Probably about the hurricane,” he explained.

“There’s a hurricane?” I looked overhead. The sky was bright blue. I had to shield my eyes from the sun. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky to create a single shadow.

“It’s tracking to come this way. We haven’t been watching much of the weather channel,” he teased. He snaked an arm around my waist and kissed the side of my neck. “There are a lot of preparations, and we have to watch the channels. Keep surfers out of the waves. There’s a protocol that has to be followed with every storm.”

“Oh.”

He sensed the disappointment in my voice. “I know we were going to do work on the projector for the movie. We can still do that tonight.”

I nodded. “I know. It’s a storm. I shouldn’t be upset. You can’t control the weather.” I cracked a smile. “Or can you?”

He laughed. “Maybe one day.”

I had looked forward to having a full day with him. So much had happened in the past week. The family dinner. The blow-up with Dean over the benefactor funds. It had rocked us. Yet, I’d never felt so connected and so close to him.

---