Page 6 of Sweet Love at Bayside
“The heart wants what it wants. I can’t explain it. Things change,” Lizza said with an infuriating smile.
Like your feelings for your daughter?The words wereright there, hanging off the tip of her tongue.
Lizza stepped toward Violet, but Violet backed out of reach.
“Oh, girls. Cosmos brought you together. He always knows exactly who needs to meet and when. Weneededthis. All of us. I love you, and more importantly”—she opened the cab door and climbed inside—“I believe in you!”
Before either of them could say a word, the cab drove away.
“What the frick?” Violet yelled.
“Do you have to drop the F-bomb?”
Violet gave her a have-you-lost-your-mind look. “That isnotthe F-bomb, and it’s about as careful as I intend to be, so get used to it.”
Desiree paced, reeling as her life spun out of control. “She’s obviously lost her mind.Cosmos?”
“If ever there was a time to sayfrickit’s now. Frick, frick, frick!”
Desiree rolled her eyes. “Did that help? Because we’re still in the same mess we were in before you said it.”
“Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m going to find a guy and a bottle of tequila, and have my way with both until this pissed-off feeling goes away.”
Desiree flung her car door open and grabbed her phone. “You’re staying? Taking over her shops to pay the mortgage? Did you have any idea this was what she was up to?”
“I haven’t seen her since the funeral, and I had no idea she was cooking up any of this. But unless you have an extra few thousand bucks hanging around, I don’t see how we can leave.” Violet put on her leather jacket. “Will you be here when I get back?”
Desiree looked down at her soaking-wet clothes, wishing she’d taken Rick up on his offer to have a drink, because now she was too angry to see straight. She needed a hot bath and dry clothes. “I guess so. But you can’t go out drinking and drive that death machine afterward.”
Violet swung her leg over the bike. “I’m going to buy a bottle of tequila, pick up a guy, and drive homebeforeI have my way with either. Okay,Mom?”
“Whatever.” Violet was never going to change.
Violet’s lips tipped up. “How about you get cleaned up and we take your car and go together? A little sisterly bonding. We’ve never gotten drunk or picked up guys together.”
“There are hundreds of things we’ve never done together, and those are the ones you want to conquer? We aresodifferent. Thanks, but I don’t want to sleep with a strangerordrink until I pass out.” Desiree pulled up her father’s contact information on her phone. He was an international banker, and if anyone knew how to get out of this mess without losing their grandmother’s house, it would be him.
“I can see you still haven’t lightened up.” Violet revved her engine. “I suppose you’ll callDaddyand ask him what to do?”
Desiree lowered her phone, a wave of guilt and annoyance washing over her. While Desiree had seen her mother for only a few days every six months, Violet’s father had taken off the day he’d found out Lizza was pregnant, and he’d never looked back. Vi had forever been spiteful that Desiree had a father to lean on, probably in much the same way Desiree felt about Vi having Lizza.
Pushing that uncomfortable thought away, she said, “He might be able to help figure out a way to get us out of this without losing Grandma’s property. Obviously Lizza can’t be counted on. Maybe we can say she’s unstable and get the loan revoked.”
“She’s already spent the money,” Violet pointed out. “Face it. We’re stuck. But if you want to go back to your wonderful life in Virginia, I’ll stay and do it on my own. I don’t want to lose the family house because she made a stupid decision.” She tugged on her helmet, revved her engine, and drove away.
Desiree groaned, clutching her phone and wishing she could throw it. But that would leave her in an even worse position. As she lugged her bags into the house, she wished she could be as bold as Violet for just one night. Maybe then she would have the guts to text that hunky Jet Skier.
Chapter Three
THE SUN BEAT down on Rick’s shoulders as he neared the end of his five-mile run with his brother, Drake, and their business partner and friend Dean Masters early Tuesday morning. This was his favorite part of the day, catching up with the guys before real life took over and they had to deal with issues at the resort and get busy with renovations to the new recreation center. And today he’d needed the run more than ever. He hadn’t heard from Desiree, and he couldn’t stop thinking about her. She’d intrigued him with her conflicting cautious nature and lustful eyes. He wanted to peel back those careful layers and reveal all the secret seductive qualities she’d tried so hard to contain last night.
The run was good, but it didn’t help. She was still front and center in his mind, and he was talking up a storm trying to distract himself.
“I’m catching that dog today if it kills me.” Rick had been after a scruffy dog that had found its way into the pool several times over the past few weeks. It had outrun him twice already, disappearing between the shrubs at the edge of the property.
“We should set up a video camera to see how he’s getting in,” Dean said. “I haven’t seen any holes since we filled those first few.”
Rick and Drake had grown up with Dean and his brothers in Hyannis, about forty minutes from Wellfleet. When Rick and Drake had made the decision to purchase the resort, it was a no-brainer to bring Dean in on the deal. With Rick’s building and investment expertise and Drake’s business and marketing knowledge, Dean’s skills as a landscape architect rounded out their team.
