Page 8 of Sunset Cove
Chapter Four
It had been half an hour. Claire was blowing him off, and Chip didn’t have all day to wait around for a meeting with her. Steve never used to keep him waiting – he was always available when someone needed him.
Chip got up from his desk, taking both packets with him. She wasn’t in the lobby or the restaurant. No sign of her out on the patio, either. He was about to get on the elevator when Linda caught his arm.
“If you’re looking for Claire, she’s in the banquet hall.”
“I was. Thanks.”
Linda tightened her grip. “I tried to eavesdrop. It was hard to hear, but those FBI agents werenothappy with her.”
“They can get in line,” Chip said firmly before walking off.
Claire was inside, as promised, staring at her phone. This was why she’d kept him waiting? So she could play Gigi in the corner?
“You forgot your papers,” he said.
She jumped a little, then looked up at him. “Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry. Thank you.”
“Are you ready to go over them, or…?”
“Actually, now’s not really a good time,” Claire said, standing up. “I need to, ah, take care of some things. I’m really sorry.”
“If it’s more important than the survival of the hotel, sure.”
She looked down, then back up at him. “It’s not more important than that, I just – can we set up a time tomorrow to talk?”
The nerve of this lady! Like he didn’t have better things to do than chase her around and plead with her to take her new business seriously.
“I guess we can do tomorrow.” He crossed his arms. “Unless you expect the FBI to haul you away.”
Claire nodded, brushing past him. “Anytime. Please let me know.”
He was about to snap something back at her when her phone rang. She answered it.
“Hello?”
Chip gritted his teeth. She was ignoring himagain!
“Slow down, sweetie. What happened?” Claire listened, her forehead crinkling. “Lucy, honey, please don’t cry. It’s not worth it to –”
He stared at her, cradling the phone to her ear with her shoulder as she clutched the pile of reports to her chest. Was she talking to her daughter?
For the first time, Chip had the strange, creeping thought that she wasn’t just the new hotel owner – she was also a regular human being.
“Okay,” Claire said softly, “No, that’s fine. Call me any time. I love you.”
As she tried to move the phone into her pocket, she dropped all of the papers onto the ballroom’s dance floor. They spun around her, floating to the floor in a ragged pile.
“Oh gosh, sorry,” she muttered, dropping to the ground.
It was as though someone had tossed a bucket of water onto the raging flame in Chip’s mind. He’d allowed himself to get entirely too worked up at this poor woman.
On the ground, Claire was frantic, dropping half of the papers again, almost falling as she tried to gather them. He knelt down to help her, but before he could think of something to say, she thanked him, apologized again, and disappeared from his sight.
