Hope Harbor

by Jill Sanders

  “Yet,” he added with a sneer.

  “Yet, then.” Eve smiled sweetly. “How did you pay for all your toys, Steve?”

  The entire room was silent. Eve glanced over to his parents.

  “We have money,” Roger said quickly.

  “How? Neither of you have worked for as long as I’ve known you,” Eve asked glancing between Roger and Regina.

  “Our finances are none of your—” Regina shut her mouth quickly when Eve glared at her.

  “Regina is an interior designer. She runs her own business,” Roger added.

  “And hasn’t done anything with it for more than twenty years,” Eve reminded him.

  “She’s had work,” Roger replied.

  Eve turned to her aunt; her eyebrows drawn up. “Okay, when was the last time you had a client?”

  Her aunt glanced around the room. “I decorated these rooms.”

  Dylan looked around. From the looks of the place, they’d been decorated sometime in the mid-nineties. Everything was so outdated and worn that he felt his furniture was in better condition.

  “And I’m sure Reggie paid you handsomely. Feel free to take your things with you when you move out.”

  “We’re not going anywhere,” her uncle said in a low tone.

  “No?” she asked. “Then you’re prepared to start working around here? I’m sure Brandon could use—”

  “I’m not working in the garden,” Roger spat out.

  “Then we’ll find someplace for you. The cleaning staff could use Regina. Steve can work with Brandon…” Eve was glancing between the trio.

  Just then, Eve’s father stepped in the room. “What’s all this about a rocket going off?”

  Eve threw up her hands. “I have work to get to. I’m sure Steve will be happy to fill you in on everything.” Eve glanced at Dylan, and he followed her to the door. She turned, her hand on the handle, and said to the room, “Unless you agree to start working forty hours a week around here in approved jobs, then I’ll expect the lot of you out of these rooms by the end of the week.” Without waiting for a word, she stepped out, him on her heels. When she shut the door, he pulled her into his arms and held on as she shook.

  “Children,” she said into his chest. “Nothing but a bunch of spoiled children.” She sighed and stepped back. “Thank you for being here for me.”

  He nodded, not trusting his voice. What she’d just done had to be one of the hardest things he’d ever witnessed someone doing. Standing up to others was hard, but when they were your family… he couldn’t imagine.

  Then he remembered the fight with Kendra’s parents and how he’d had to hire lawyers to do his fighting for him. Not once had he had to reprimand them himself. If he’d had to, would he have been able to? For Palmer, without a doubt, he thought.

  Thinking of Palmer, he remembered the painting that was still sitting in the front of his truck. When he’d pulled in and had seen Steve dragging the rocket out, he’d rushed inside to tell Eve, knowing she wouldn’t have allowed something so dangerous so close to the inn. Not after their previous discussion on other fire hazards around the old property.

  “Come with me,” he said, taking her hand. “I have something that might cheer you up.”

  She followed him down the stairs and when they ran into other employees or guests, he dropped her hand, knowing her need for privacy.

  When they stepped outside, her eyes darted over to her ruined car. “We’ll deal with that, after…” He opened the truck door and pulled out the painting. “Palmer thought it needed a frame, so…” He turned it around, and her eyes grew big with happiness.

  “Wow.” She took it from him and held it up. “It’s perfect.” She smiled over at him. “You made it?”

  He shrugged, feeling stupid. “I thought it fit.”

  “I love it. Would you help me hang it in my office?” she asked, eagerly walking towards the inn again, her eyes focused on the painting instead of her ruined car.

  He grabbed his tool bag and rushed to catch up with her.

  When they stepped inside, Genie called to Eve. Eve handed him the painting and rushed over to the desk. He listened as Genie filled her in on DarCee’s health.

  “DarCee’s in surgery for her leg. She’ll have a couple pins in, and they’ve stopped the bleeding on her other leg. She has second degree burns on her face, arms, and hands.” Genie sighed. “She lost a finger.” Dylan remembered that, shortly after stepping in, the doctor had had him apply pressure to the woman’s hand while she’d worked on the major bleeding.

  “Will she be okay?” Eve asked.

  “Yes.” Genie glanced towards him. “Thanks to the two of you.” She smiled and Dylan could see the sincerity of the woman. “Oh gosh, is that new?” Genie nodded to the painting he was holding.

  “Yes.” Eve turned back to scan the painting. “Dylan’s daughter, Palmer, painted it. He’s going to hang it in my office.” Eve smiled up at him.

  “That’s wonderful. Your daughter must be…” Genie broke off. “Your daughter… the little girl that was with you last night?” He nodded. “What is she? Five?” He nodded again. “She did that?” Genie rushed around the counter and looked at the painting more closely. “My gosh, she’s good. Really good.”

  “I know, it’s why I bought it,” Eve added in. Suddenly, the pair of them were standing in front of him, eyes glued to the painting. “Dylan made the frame himself.”

  “This is incredible.” Genie glanced up at him. “If I commissioned your daughter to paint my father’s sailboat, do you think you could make another frame like this for it? It’s his sixtieth birthday coming up, and I hadn’t thought of a gift for him yet.”

  “I… I’d have to ask Palmer to see if she wanted to first,” he replied, a little taken aback.

  “Of course, let me know. I’d set aside about a hundred dollars for the gift.” Genie turned to Eve. “How much did you pay for this one?”

  Eve glanced up at him. He shrugged in response. “A hundred.” Eve smiled back at Genie.

  “Perfect.” The woman clapped her hands. “Oh, I can’t wait. I’ve got a picture of his boat, Mariam, named after his mother, right here.” She rushed behind her desk and dug in her purse. “Here.” She handed Eve a picture. “His birthday is less than a month away. Do you think she can have it done by then?”

  Dylan didn’t want to tell them that Palmer had painted the boat in one Saturday evening. Instead, he nodded and shifted the painting.

  “Here.” Eve took it from him so he could take the picture from her and tuck it into the side of his tool bag. “Thanks for the update. Would you please send some flowers to the hospital for DarCee? Something with a card?”

  “Sure thing, boss.” Genie smiled at her. “By the way, we all heard you tell them not to let that thing off. If there’s some sort of lawsuit”—the color drained from Eve’s face— “we’re willing to testify if you need.”

  “Thank you,” Eve said softly, and started walking towards her office.

  “Hey.” He caught up with her. “Are you okay?” he asked as she unlocked the office door and stepped inside, setting the painting down in a chair.

  “Yes, I… hadn’t thought of being sued for that little stunt. I mean, I guess I had, but…” She shook her head and sat down behind the desk, then surprised him by resting her forehead against the desk. “Oh god, what am I going to do if we’re sued?”

  “I’m sure you have insurance. Besides, like Genie said, you didn’t give them permission to set that thing off. If anything, you could sue them for property damage.”

  “Right.” She sighed. “And what? Take his toys away? Steve has nothing. Not even his camera anymore. I took that.” She groaned. “A lot of good it will do me.”

  He walked over and touched her shoulder, then pulled her up into his arms and held onto her. He supposed she’d been holding in the emotions, but now he felt her tears soak his shirt. He closed his eyes and remembered how wonderful it was to be a shoulder to
cry on.

  Once her eyes were dry, she sat behind her desk and tried to work while he hung the painting directly across from her desk. The old plaster walls were a bitch to drill into, with dust flying everywhere, but in the end, he got the supports into the studs and hung the painting up, stepping back to admire the work.

  “Palmer’s going to be so excited she’s been commissioned to do another boat,” he said out loud.

  “Five years old and already she has a trade.” Eve chuckled. “If only my family could learn something from your daughter.”

  He smiled over at her and her smile slipped. “Have I told you how sexy you look in that pink shirt?” she said, a spark of humor in her eyes.

  He flexed his arms and wiggled his eyebrows at her. “Maybe I should order some with my logo on them. You know, like an official uniform?”

  She laughed and walked around to look at the painting. “Now I can’t wait until Wednesday evening.”

  He reached over and took her hand in his. “Me either.”

  Just then, her door burst open and her great-aunt Ramona came hobbling in. The older woman’s eyebrows shot up. “Didn’t mean to interrupt you two.”

  Eve dropped his hand and smiled at her great-aunt. “You aren’t. Dylan just hung the painting his daughter did. Doesn’t it look wonderful?” Eve asked eagerly.

  Dylan didn’t know much about the older woman, since she didn’t leave the inn much. She hadn’t been with the large group that day in the pizzeria. Eve had mentioned that Ramona was the only one in her family she was allowing to stay on at the inn, only because at one point, she’d been head of the books, before her eyesight had suffered. And Reggie had put it in his will.

  “Yes, dear, it looks wonderful,” the older woman said without glancing towards the wall. “Do you have a minute to talk about some changes I wanted to make on the dinner menu?”

  Dylan took the hint. “I’m going to head home and change, then I can be back to at least get something done today.”

  “If you’re sure?” Eve asked.

  He smiled and nodded at her desk. “If you can work, so can I.” He nodded back to the painting. “It looks good there,” he said before disappearing. The truth was, so did she. She belonged there, in the office, running the inn. He could tell that, in the past week since she’d taken over, the place was running more smoothly, even though her family was trying to sabotage her.

  It was near impossible to get a moment alone with her around the inn. He was looking forward to spending some quality time with her on Wednesday. It had been too long since he’d looked forward to being with a woman. Someone that Palmer liked and trusted. Someone that he could see spending even more time with, maybe even the rest of his life.

  14

  Then there’s that

  Eve stood over the hospital bed and looked down at the mangled woman. The flowers Genie had ordered sat by the bed, the card unread yet.

  “How are you feeling?” she asked when DarCee’s eyes moved to hers.

  “Drugged.” The woman sighed. “Alive, thanks to you.” Her speech was slurred, and her eyes kept sliding closed.

  “I won’t keep you long. I just wanted to make sure you were okay,” Eve said softly.

  “Thanks,” she said with a sigh.

  She saw another bouquet with Dylan’s handwriting on the envelope and her heart melted.

  “You have some flowers here.” Eve motioned to the table.

  “I do?” The woman’s eyes opened again. “Who from?” She glanced around the room. “Fray?”

  Eve’s heart sank. “One is from all of us at the inn.” Eve held the vase for her to see all the colors. “The other”—she pulled out the envelope— “looks like it’s from Dylan.”

  “Dylan?” She shook her head.

  “He’s the one who helped you, along with the doctor. He works at the inn.”

  “Right, the man you’re seeing?” DarCee added.

  Okay, so much for secrecy. She guessed there wasn’t any reason to try and hide their relationship any longer.

  “Yes,” she answered as she showed DarCee the flowers Dylan had sent.

  “Are there any from Fray?” she asked.

  “N… no.” She set the flowers back down.

  “Is he here?” she asked.

  “No, he may be in the lobby. I can go check.”

  “Don’t bother.” DarCee sighed. “I saw him. He didn’t stop filming.” She closed her eyes and groaned. “I’m tired.”

  “Sure, I’ll let you get some sleep. If you need anything…” She started to go.

  “Eve?”

  Eve turned and looked back at her.

  “Yes?”

  “Thank you. Fray was wrong about you. You’re not a total bitch.” She closed her eyes again. Driving back to the inn, Eve decided to head into town for dinner instead of trying to eat in the dining hall where she knew the rest of her family would be.

  Feeling like an outsider in her own home was getting old. When Reggie had been around, she’d never been lonely. And now that he was gone, she’d never felt more alone, with the exception of the handful of employees who had been there during her childhood. Having the rest of her family hate her because she was trying to save the business her great-grandfather had built, and her grandfather had spent his entire life a slave to somehow seemed poetic.

  Could they really be that blind to basic facts? The more they mooched off the inn, the less money there was for repairs and marketing. Which meant fewer guests and less money coming in.

  She didn’t need to hear it from her cousin and uncle to know that somehow the inn had paid for the camera and the rocket. First thing tomorrow, she was going to scour the receipts and see if they had been reimbursed for the expenses. If so, she was going to make sure the camera came to good use. She wanted to update the inn’s website with images and videos once it had been repaired and updated.

  She parked her grandfather’s large van, which she’d borrowed, since her car was a total disaster, at the only good burger place on the island. She was surprised to see Dylan’s truck in the lot when she stepped out of her car.

  Her first instinct was fear that he’d think she was stalking him, then she laughed that thought off. It was a small island. She was bound to bump into him a few times. Her mind wandered to what it would be like if or when their relationship had run its course.

  Living on a small island had its perks, but there were dark sides as well. The two boys she’d dated in high school had broken things off bitterly, and she’d had to see them daily and relive the pain until she’d moved on.

  Would she be able to move on as an adult as easily as she had when she’d been a teen? Thoughts of Brent surfaced. She was over him. After the pain he’d caused her, she’d worked by his side for months without problems, and he’d been a complete ass to her.

  She didn’t think Dylan had an ounce of “assedness” in him. Then again, she’d been on his good side so far. Memories of how he’d taken her cousin down swiftly surfaced, but instead of fear, she felt herself getting turned on. He’d been impressive, even dressed in the silly pink T-shirt and her grandfather’s khakis. Her mouth had watered at his moves. She’d daydreamed about being under him, what it would feel like with him hovering above her, his hard body against hers.

  “Are you coming in?” Dylan’s voice broke into her daydreams.

  She blinked a few times and realized she’d stopped by his truck, in full view of the front windows of the burger place and had drifted off in her thoughts.

  He must have seen her standing there and come out to meet her.

  She laughed and tried to play off her momentarily lapse.

  “Just stuck in thought.” She giggled.

  “We just ordered our food; you’re welcome to join us,” he offered, holding the door of the diner open for her.

  “Thanks, I just came back from visiting DarCee.” She stepped inside and saw Palmer wave to her from a booth near the front.

  “How’s she
doing?” he asked before they stepped to the booth.

  “She’s… good. Thank you for sending her flowers,” she added before walking over and hugging Palmer. “There’s my girl.”

  “Eve!” Palmer laughed. “Daddy said that your head is stuck in the clouds.”

  Eve glanced towards Dylan.

  “Hey, you stopped in the middle of the parking lot and looked like you were going to camp out there for the rest of the evening.” He chuckled and sat down across from Eve, next to his daughter.

  “I guess my head was in the clouds.” Eve laughed.

  She couldn’t have asked for better company. Not after the day she’d had. Fighting with her family took everything out of her. She couldn’t remember a dinner where she’d laughed as hard. Listening to Palmer tell her stories of her day at school put a permanent grin on Eve’s face all throughout the meal.

  When the girl was done eating, she climbed into her father’s lap and, as he and Eve talked, she fell asleep as he slowly rocked her back and forth.

  Images of climbing onto his lap and doing the same kept Eve’s body vibrating as they walked outside. She watched him gently set Palmer’s sleeping body into her car seat, taking his time securing her and then laying her blanket over her as her head rolled to the side.

  “How could you not end each day with a smile?” she asked after he shut the truck door.

  He grinned back at her as he leaned against his truck. “It is a hardship.” He motioned for her to come closer. Her body responded instantly.

  “This was a pleasant surprise,” he said, wrapping his arms around her.

  “Yes,” she agreed on a sigh. “It was. Much better than eating dinner alone and sulking.”