Page 20 of Meet Me at Sunset Cove

There was a long pause before Miles spoke. “So, what’s got you losing sleep over this now?”

“This is the part you can’t tell anyone,” he said, the words scraping his throat.

“Okay…?” Miles replied hesitantly.

“Dad wants to sell the house. And the rules of the trust say I can’t inherit it unless I’m engaged when my thirty-first birthday rolls around.”

“I’m sorry…I’m lost. What’s that got to do with Daisy?”

“She’s here.”

A beat. “On Jonathon Island?”

“Yes. On Jonathon Island.” Hunter’s gaze trailed the path she’d trampled in the overgrown grass the day before. That girl always left a mark.

Miles cut into his thoughts, pulling him back to the conversation. “I still don’t see how that’s…Hang on…” his voice trailed off as he made the connection. “Hunt. Tell me you didn’t propose to this girl.”

“Actually, she proposed to me.”

The house creaked under Miles’s heavy silence.

“She’s here looking for a new reno project,” Hunter went on. “And I let the details of the trust slip. I was upset. And then she offered to marry me?—”

“Marry you! Hunter?—”

“Fake engage me.”

“Not better.”

“A fake engagement, just long enough to help me keep the house until I can figure something out.” Even saying it out loud, he knew he was tiptoeing around the moral dilemma of the offer. It was fraud. Another good reason he was talking to Miles about this and not Waylen, the cop…

Miles was quiet for a long time, obviously having reached the same conclusion. “Listen, Hunt. I know you love that house, but…”

Hunter stilled, his jaw working as he stared out at the lake. “I won’t walk away from family, Miles. Not from the good parts, and not from the broken parts either.”

“The house isn’t our family, Hunt.”

“Isn’t it?” Hunter’s voice grew rough. “Every crack, every broken window, every scorch mark…it’s all part of our story. And maybe it’s not perfect, but you don’t just give up on it because it’s got a little bad luck.” He ran a hand over his face. “You stay. You fix what’s broken. Because that’s what family does.”

“Even when it’s falling apart?” Miles asked quietly.

“Especially then.” Hunter’s chest tightened.

“Hunt…” Miles’s voice softened with understanding. “It’s not your job to hold everything together.”

Hunter stayed quiet, the rebuttal dry on his lips. Yes, it was.

His brother let out a loud breath. “You know, I’ve been doing these early-morning kayak outings, and one of my favorite things about them is how quiet it is. Out there on the lake, I can just think. And lately I’ve been using the quiet as a time to talk to God…I’m a little new to it. Not super sure what to do outside of what we learned in church as kids. But I digress…I don’t have a good answer for you. But I think if you give Him a chance to come through for you, you might be surprised.”

It wasn’t the clear answer Hunter had been hoping for.

He hadn’t prayed outside of church in…had it really been years? It wasn’t that he didn’t believe. He just didn’t have a deep relationship with the Big Guy. What was the point if He wasn’t going to stick around when you needed Him?

Miles cut into his thoughts. “Listen, Hunt. I’m leading a tour in a few hours, so I gotta prep and hit the road. But…just think about it. I’ll catch you in a couple days.”

Hunter sighed, heaving himself to his feet. “Yeah, okay. See you.”

The call ended, and he was left on the steps of the house, no closer to working out an answer.

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