Page 73 of Cherry Picked
Simon reached out his hand for me to shake. “So sorry to do this, but I have to run. I’ll leave you in Nick’s hands for any questions you have. He’s the best person to help answer them anyway. I really hope to see more of you moving forward, and I especially would love to see more of this”—he waved his hand around the restaurant—“incorporated in our resort plans. It’s an exciting opportunity, and I hope you’ll give it serious consideration. We’d be lucky to have you on the team.”
After another genuinely friendly smile, he hurried out of the restaurant.
I could see why Hawk had started to change his mind about this guy. To ignore his own gut. It was very difficult to dislike someone who could be so charming…
But look at me, managing it anyway.
I glanced at Simon’s retreating form before turning back to Nick. “I hope everything’s okay. He left here in a hurry.”
“Oh.” Nick waved a hand dismissively. “Simon’s always getting called in to take care of one thing or another. That’s how it goes when you’re the CEO’s son-in-law.”
My heart squeezed. “Simon’s… married?”
“Shoot.” He grimaced. “He’ll kill me if he knows I was talking about his personal life. But just between us, yes, he’s engaged, but Lacey can’t plan the wedding until this vote is done and Simon gets back to Boston. I promise, though, Simon doesn’t let personal connections impact his business decisions.”
Ohhh, I highly doubted that.
Nick leaned forward and tapped my paperwork. “So… any other questions I can answer right now?”
I had about a million of them, but none of them had anything to do with the development.
Had I misunderstood Simon’s motives? Had Hawk? And Crystal? And Betty Ann and Helena?
I doubted it.
Either Simon was attempting to cheat on his fiancée with Hawk, or he was manipulating Hawk the way Crys had suggested. If his fiancée’s father was CEO of the company, the stakes were considerably higher for him than any of us thought.
As soon as Nick had said his goodbyes and made a final request for me to consider their offer, I tried calling Hawk on his cell phone, but he didn’t answer. This wasn’t wholly unexpected, since I knew Hawk planned to hike up to the peak after the Environmental Committee meeting today—another storm was forecasted to blow in overnight, not nearly as dramatic as the one from last week but bad enough that he’d suspended the campout for the evening and wanted to retrieve the protest signs he’d left at the top of the mountain—and the reception up there was terrible.
But I tried again five minutes later. Andagainfive minutes after that, pacing back and forth across the mostly empty restaurant and staring at my phone, willing Hawk to pick up. The Environmental Committee meeting had finished more than an hour ago, and rain clouds were already gathering over town, giving the sky an eerie light. Why wasn’t he back in cell phone range so he could prepare for his meeting with Simon?
“What’d your phone do to you, bossman?” Crys asked, coming up behind me a few minutes later.
I whirled to face her. “Crys, how sure are you that Simon is actually interested in Hawk?”
She rolled her eyes and grinned. “Seriously? This again? I’ll take J-E-A-L-O-U-S for $1000, Alex.”
“It’s not jealousy. Simon’s coworker just mentioned that he was engaged to a woman in Boston—”
Crys dropped her teasing look and became instantly more alert. “The fuck you say.”
“—and I need to know, is it possible Simon’s only been expressing professional interest? What are the chances that you misinterpreted what he wanted from Hawk?”
“Nonexistent,” Crys said without hesitation. “He’s making a play… or trying to look like he is. He stopped by Hawk’s campsite like four times. Once, he even brought Hawk a giant bag of gummy worms from Cleeward’s Candies, which Hawk ended up sharing with the little kids, and I heard him say, ‘I asked Marla Cleeward what kind were your favorite.’ Plus, you should see his texts. They…huh.” Her eyes met mine and narrowed. “You know, come to think of it, I think every single text mentioned the project. It’s notwhathe said; it’s how he said it. But even his flirty emojis were all, like, leaves instead of water droplets. Plausible deniability.” She sounded impressed and enraged at the same time. “Jack, what’s going on?”
I shook my head. “I’m not sure exactly, but I don’t like it.” The bells on the diner door jangled, and I heard Katey greet some new customers, but I couldn’t focus on work. Not now.
“You do know Hawk was never really interested in Simon, not even when he thought you weren’t interested in him, right?” Crys offered.
“Yeah.” Foryears, apparently, even when I’d been too blind and scared to see it. “I’m not jealous right now; I’m pissed that someone is trying to fuck things up for the man I love. And I know Hawk can take care of himself,” I added, just in case she was thinking that, “but he shouldn’t have to. Not while I’m around. At the very least, someone needs to warn him that he’s dealing with a deceptive asshat—”
“Seems to be a lot of those around here lately,” Webb grumbled sardonically from behind my shoulder.
I closed my eyes.Of courseWebb picked that time to show up. Of course he did.
ChapterSixteen
HAWK
