Page 41 of Summer Ever After
“I guess word travels quickly in a small town.”
“It sure does.”
She didn’t seem to pick up on the disdain in my voice. “But I’m out.”
“Oh.” The sides of her lips quivered, and her face seemed to flash with anger – but it was momentary, and her smile returned. “I’d be happy to buy one or two off you. Or…” she trailed her fingertips across her sun-damaged cleavage.
The receptionist was still missing from her desk and I needed an excuse to get away from this woman. “My apologies ma’am. Unfortunately, all of the tickets are spoken for.”
“Ma’am?” she raised her eyebrows. “Oh, you don’t understand.” She rested her hand on my arm. “It’s for my daughter. She’s been sick and just finished treatment.”
Tears sprang in her eyes and she let one fall from her caked-on eyeliner to her chin before wiping it away. I wasn’t an asshole and was raised to be a gentleman. I plucked a tissue from the receptionist’s desk and handed it to Christina. She dabbed at her eyes. “It’s always been a dream of hers to go to a masquerade ball. Her hair has just grown back…”
Something didn’t feel right, but I did have two more tickets in my pocket. A drop of rain fell outside the glass doors, and I didn’t want to get completely soaked on the ride home. I could give away the last two tickets now, and be back on the island before the storm clouds rolled in. As much as my instinct was telling me not to believe this woman, I handed her the tickets. “Here you go. I hope that she enjoys herself.”
“Oh, we will.” Her face transformed from grieving back to desire. She pulled a petal off one of the daisies in the bouquet. “If you’re looking to impress a woman, Mr. Starling. You might want to reconsider these weeds.”
I wanted to yank the tickets out of her hand.
“A weed is something you don’t want in your garden,” I remembered the words that Daisy had said like it was just yesterday that she had wrapped her arms and legs around me as we ripped around on the dirt roads of Windswan. “I like daisies.”
Christina shrugged. “Suit yourself, but whoever you’re giving those to – is going to be disappointed.”
“You have a nice afternoon, ma’am,” I repeated the word, secretly enjoying the way that she flinched when I said it.
I walked away before she could take up any more of my time. Dark clouds hung on the horizon and one drop of rain splattered on the visor of my helmet. My motorcycle growled to life as I kicked it to a start.
At a thousand dollars a ticket, the discounted rate, I had just given away ten thousand dollars worth of paper. Exhilaration ripped through my body, and aside from the last lady, I was looking forward to seeing every one of those local Windswan people at the ball.
TEN
DAISY
Taraand I huddled together in the corner of the pontoon boat. Shivering, I pulled the hood of my raincoat over top of my Brankmere Hall hat. The mist was heavy on the lake, but I trusted that Trey knew where he was going.
“Do you ladies mind if I speed up a bit?” Trey asked.
“Go ahead,” I shouted. Trey usually took it easy on the trip across the lake, especially when the visibility was bad. I yanked the drawstring on the hood of my raincoat tight around my face.
The boat crested a wave and then a rush of water spread across the platform of the boat. Trey immediately eased back on the throttle. “Whoa, sorry about that. I guess we can’t push it too fast today.”
We held up our feet as the water rushed back into the Lake. “What’s the hurry today Boss?” Tara asked.
“I’m going to be crisscrossing this bay all day today,” Trey said. “There are so many things that need to be brought to the island. I’ve hired two more boats and now I’m wondering if it’s going to be enough.”
It had been three days since I promised Christina that I would find tickets to the ball for her. Every night she asked if I had been successful and I’d had to tell her no. I heard that all of the local’s tickets were sold and that none of the staff were given tickets. My only shot at getting tickets was through Jessica, whom I hadn’t seen since Karaoke night. “Are you going to the ball Trey?” I asked, wondering how cruel it would be to ask him to take Christina as his date.
Trey laughed. “No, the transportation coordinator is going to be running shuttles all night long.”
“How is everyone getting to the island?”
Trey took a deep breath. “It depends on how many zeroes they’ve got in their donation. We’ve contracted a fleet of float planes and helicopters for the high rollers. The antique boat society has come together and donated a whole bunch of wooden boats for the mid-tier guests, and the rest are going to be shuttled here on Bessie.” He patted the steering wheel.
“What about the locals?” Tara asked. “Are they swimming?”
Trey’s eyes glinted. “They’re the Bessie crew, although Mr. Starling has put the florist and his little girl on the airplane list.”
“Hank’s coming?” Tara tucked her knees under her sweater and tried to tuck the hem under her painted toenails. “That’s nice. He’s such a good man. I’m surprised he could afford it though. Everyone knows that they almost lost the flower shop when his wife got sick.”
