Page 14 of Here With You

She hesitated, then blinked rapidly. “I never thought of that. It doesn’t matter because they look better when they’re well-groomed.”

“And you don’t have a gardener for that?”

With hunched shoulders, she slumped forward. “Okay, I was mad at you for showing up when I made the list.” She smiled. “This is the second one. The first one the girls made me throw away.”

“What was on it?”

She breathed deeply and let the breath swoosh from her lungs. “De-barnacle the pier?”

“You must have been irate.”

“Yes, I was, but now I’m hungry, and my mind is on something else, which is a good thing for you because I was so angry. Angry enough that I could do bodily injury.”

“Then Tilly is smart to omit the knives.”

She picked up her fork and looked at it. “Not sharp enough to matter.” She let out a peal of laughter, then covered her mouth. “Sorry. I don’t know what came over me.”

“To clear things up once and for all. I didn’t expect things to go the way they did. It happened so fast. I caught my father doctoring the details on a sales receipt and called him on it. I didn’t see that others were in the room. That information got passed around like a bottle of Crown on prom night. There was no taking it back, but you must understand that I confronted my father because he was cheating the system. The same system your father was getting ready to invest a sizeable amount of cash in. I didn’t go to work that day thinking I’d sabotage my life. Who does that?”

“But you destroyed both of our lives.”

He reached for an olive and popped it into his mouth. “I thought your dad would be proud of me for saving him the embarrassment of going into business with my father.”

“You did save him.”

“But he used it against me. Not only did he refuse to let me marry you, but he convinced you I wasn’t worthy.” He cleared his throat. “All that time, I thought you had fallen in love with me, but that was only half the story. You were attracted to the prestige of my family.”

She laughed so hard she snorted. “Oh, please. I’m a Brown. I don’t need anyone else’s influence.”

“Once you married me, you would have lost that name, and you’d be a despicable McClintock.”

She lowered her head. “What was I to do? I was twenty, and my father laid it out in plain and simple terms. If I’d left with you, I’d never have been allowed back. He would not let me ruin everything he’d built. He stood under that willow tree and told me I’d be cut off.”

His heart sank into the pit of his empty stomach to co-mingle with the single olive he ate. He knew it was all about money. “It’s always about the money with the Browns, isn’t it?”

Her head snapped back like he’d slapped her in the face. “What are you talking about?”

“You chose money over love.”

She threaded her fingers into her hair and pulled at her roots. “I chose to survive. I chose my family. You forsook yours.”

“No, I was honorable, and they disowned me. You … you chose the easy way out. You chose air conditioning and five-star meals. High thread counts and Tempur-Pedic mattresses. I was supposed to be your family, but you didn’t pick me.” He pointed to the various points of the resort. “I hope it makes you happy because if you keep choosing the resort, that’s all you’ll get.”

“It’s enough.”

“You were many things when we were younger, like funny and sexy and rebellious, but you were never a liar.”

She growled, and poor Ollie shot from under the table to take cover by his side. “Why is everyone calling me a liar?”

He lifted a shoulder. “If it looks like a duck and walks like a duck, it’s probably a duck.” He pulled his legs from under the table and stood. “I sure miss my Emmaline. If she ever resurfaces, let me know.”

“Where are you going?” She slammed her hands on the table, causing several items to rise and roll off. Ollie was happy to help with the clean-up by gobbling the runaway cheese and tomato.

“I’ve got a lot of work to do.” He picked up his list.

“But we’re not finished talking.”

Everything about him wanted to sit back down, but what good would it do? Until Emmaline realized there was more to life than The Brown Resort, she had no place in his.

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