Page 87 of Summer Escape
"Okay," I said, pulling out the chair and sitting across from her.
"You ended up in the beach cottage because I purposely didn't tell the management company about Saylor wanting it for the summer."
I tensed. "Wait. What?"
"You heard me. I wanted you two to be in the same space."
My brain hadn't caught up. "Why?"
"You were so in love that summer you were eighteen. You might not have acknowledged it to yourselves or dismissed it as young love, but I could see it. You had something special. But then you went to college and joined the military, and Saylor rarely visited. She never talked to me about it again. It was fate that you were both on the island at the same time."
"It's not fate if you made it so we're both renting the same place," I said dryly, still reeling from her admission.
"I thought if you were in the same space, you'd remember why you liked each other so much, and maybe you'd fall in love all over again." Blaire winked at me.
"Your plan might have worked, but she left," I croaked, the pain too much to bear.
Blaire nodded sagely. "Saylor's stubborn. She thinks she has to do things a certain way, and she has a hard time seeing things differently."
"Her life is in Jacksonville. She has a job there, friends," I said, listing all the reasons why it didn't make sense for her to want to live here.
"From what I understand, her friends knew about her ex-boyfriend's other girlfriend and didn't tell her."
My jaw tightened. "Are you serious?"
"She hasn't heard from her friends since, so I think she has fewer ties to the city than you think."
"She has her job, and I already talked to her about the possibility of going out on her own. She enjoyed working from home this summer." She seemed to dread the idea of going back to Jacksonville and working in an office again. It would be a hard transition for her.
Blaire patted my arm. "I'd give her time to see what life is like for her now in Jacksonville, see if she changes her mind about what she wants out of life. Then you can show up, and be the white knight, offering her everything she's ever wanted on a silver platter. But I wouldn't wait too long. You wouldn't want her to sign a lease on an apartment or talk to her ex?—"
I ran a hand through my hair. "I don't want to wait around for the right moment."
"Drive up on Friday. Then you have the weekend to convince her that her home is here in Sanibel." Blaire, who was usually so fun and outgoing, was serious now. "I've wanted Saylor to move here for years, and having her here this summer was great. I don't want to lose her again. Once she gets settled into her job, I rarely see her. When she reached out to me after what Flynn did to her, I was relieved. She wanted an escape. I thought I could make her see how amazing Sanibel is and convince her to stay. The fact that you were here at the same time was some kind of kismet."
"I think there was some meddling involved," I said dryly.
"Of course there was, but now it's up to you. Everything's riding on the next few days and what you decide to do. I want to see you two together and living here. Don't mess this up."
"So if she decides she wants to stay in Jacksonville?—"
"It'll be your fault."
"You know when I first came back, I thought I wanted to focus on my relationship with my daughter. That nothing else was important. So when I found Saylor in my rental, I thought she was a distraction, a complication I didn't need. But she was the one who bonded with Hayden. She was the one who made me see there's more to life than a career or even family. I want something for myself. I want Saylor."
"You're in love with my granddaughter."
I nodded. "I am."
"You need to tell her that. Make her see that you're not going anywhere. She was happy here."
"I hope I can convince her that this is her home, and I'm the man for her."
Blaire grinned. "I have faith in you."
"Is that why you offered me the house for the fall? You're hoping that the nostalgia for the cottage will help me convince her to stay?"
Blaire winked. "It can't hurt."
