Arlo pulled over to the side of the road and stopped the car. “Sure is.”
“So beautiful, Arlo. Everything about this island is perfect.”
“Can you blame me for not wanting to leave?” He watched her face while she stared out at the ocean. He’d miss her when she left.
Hilary sighed and turned her gaze on him. “No. I get it, really I do. This is the most beautiful spot. I can’t thank you enough for showing me around.” She touched his cheek and then quickly moved her hand away. “Sorry. I don’t mean to get in your space.”
“It’s okay, really.” He gathered his scrambled wits and turned the car back on the road to continue their journey, all the while trying not to show how much her touch had affected him. “You were telling me about yourself.”
“Right. Well, I have a business plan mapped out, the usual five-year deal with backup, of course. I hate not being organized when it comes to things like projected incomes and ROI. Seriously, I never should’ve left that side of things to my old business partner, but it’s something I won’t do again.”
“Fair enough. Lesson learned.”
“Exactly. I’ll never again not have a part in everything I do. It’s the only way to be sure my plan will go the way I want it to.”
“Not a bad thing.” Arlo drove over a rise and down into a sheltered bay. “I oversee everything even if Bryce is the one to deal with the public. Small business owners need to be jacks of all trades.”
“I agree. Everyone needs to have something they’re passionate about, in my opinion, too.” She leaned forward and gazed at the white sand in the little cove. “You have your oysters; I have my budding procurement business. I wish I’d found that passion earlier but it is what it is. Maybe I needed to go through that loss to get where I am now.”
“Perhaps. You sound very driven.”
“I am. I guess some of that is because I lost the restaurant. I don’t want to make the same mistake twice or let anyone down. I’m proud of how much I’ve achieved this last year or so.”
“So you should be. I don’t know how I’d react if I lost the shellfish farm.”
“I was stupid to get involved with him. I mean”—she shrugged—“it wasn’t as though I knew the guy. I’d met his son through college and lost contact when I started my apprenticeship. Somehow we got in touch and it all fell together. You know what they say about when something looks too good to be true?”
“Yeah.”
“I should have listened to my gut but I was so excited about having my own restaurant, I ignored it. Luckily I’ve moved on, but it still hurts after all the time and effort I put into it.”
Arlo got out and came around to her side of the car. He opened the door and held his hand out to help her. “You know what else they say?”
Hilary smiled at him as he pulled her into his arms. “What?”
“Success is the best revenge.”
She laughed. “I like you, Arlo Hope. You say just the right thing at the right time.”
* * *
The following morning Arlo dropped her off at Matt’s before she caught the ferry. “I’m going to miss you, Hilary.”
“I’ll miss you too. Call me? Let me know how you are.”
“Sure. I’ll talk to the family and get back to you.”
“Great.” She leaned into him, desperate for a sign that he felt something between them like she did, that their earlier kiss had had meant something.
“I’d best be going then.” Arlo cupped her chin and placed his lips on hers, sending Hilary’s heart pounding. She wrapped her hand around the back of his head and held on, taking everything he’d offered.
“Wow. You can kiss.”
He’d grinned. “Back at you. I’d better go. You have a ferry to catch.”
“Call me, Arlo.”
He waved and walked away.
Chapter 14
Hilary was in the middle of sampling a platter of rare organic beef with fresh wasabi sauce when her cell phone chirped. She paused, looked at the tasty morsel on her fork and glanced toward her handbag debating about which should come first. Food usually won out.
“Ignore it.” Emily dipped her fork into the pink beef and moaned in pleasure.
“I can’t. It could be work-related.” She fished her cell from her handbag, grinned and answered. “Hi, Arlo. How are you?” She pulled a face at Emily.
Her friend made kissy noises across the table, which Hilary tried to ignore. She was ridiculously happy Arlo had finally called. The last eight days of silence had been nerve-wracking. Not that she was going to voice how much she’d been on tenterhooks waiting to hear from him, especially after that kiss goodbye. It had come with so much promise and hope. And finally he had called her.
“Good. Thanks. Listen, my family and I have talked about your offer. We’d like you to come back to the island and have a chat about things. They all want to meet you and make sure this deal is the best thing for us. I don’t like to be difficult or anything, but is that possible?” She heard the tension in his voice and melted just a little.
Hell yes! “I’d be delighted to come back. Is there anything in particular you wanted to discuss, just so I can be prepared and have any relevant data with me?”
“One thing Dad brought up was privacy. He wants to make sure the farm won’t get swamped with people looking to upset the balance of the place.” His unspoken words were loud in her ears. He wanted his own privacy, something she hadn’t given him because she was so determined to have her own way. “He looked at your website and saw that you like to host open to the public days and invite people to see where their food comes from. I don’t know if I can cope with that kind of pressure.”
“I promise that won’t happen, Arlo. I’ll never share your contact details or tell anyone where the farm is. I don’t need to do that to promote you. Having the farm visible for customers adds to the allure for buyers but it’s not the be all and end all. We’ll think of something else.”
“So you’ll come back this weekend?”
Try to keep her away. “I’d love to. And I’d love to meet the rest of your family too. How about I call you back later this week when I get the details sorted out? I’ll have to move a couple of appointments on Friday so I can catch the last ferry across to the island, but that won’t be an issue.” She’d move heaven to get Arlo to sign a contract and to spend time with him again.
Hilary wanted to reassure herself that what she felt for him wasn’t gratitude for looking after her but much more. As the days had passed without hearing from him, she’d wondered if their connection had been all in her head. The only way to keep focused had been by working.
She’d already spoken to a couple of her favorite chefs to let them know what might be coming on board. The interest had been more than she’d hoped for. Arlo’s oysters were going to be a big deal for her business, and she hadn’t even mentioned his mussels or clams yet.
“Bring your camera too.”
She gave a silent punch to the air and restrained her reply. “Fabulous. Talk soon.”
When she hung up the phone, Emily slapped her raised hand in a feisty high five. “I’m guessing you got him then?”
“The family wants to talk to me before he commits, but I offered to redo his website with lots of photos of the shellfish farm if he signed, and he told me to bring my camera.” She squealed, the sheer joy of seeing him again, along with his comments, thrilling her to the core. “This is so exciting.”
“You’ve never reacted this way before. I’m guessing he’s really nice.” Emily licked her lips, and her fork hovered over the plate ready to dive in again for another mouthful.
Hilary sighed and gave her friend a goofy grin. “Yeah. He is nice. A bit different, quiet and serious, but I like him, Emily. Totally opposite to me. He’s not like any guy I’ve met before.” Most guys wouldn’t have put up with her dogged nature. Not that she’d actually given Arlo much choice in the matter. Thank goodness for over exubera
nt dogs. It was hard to hold any grudges towards Bear, not now that the scabs had all but healed and she could move without cringing again.
“Don’t let your feelings for his food get mixed up in this, Hilary. I’d hate to see you make a mistake by getting involved with a food producer because you so desperately want to broker his goods.”
“I’m not. I already had this conversation with Arlo. I won’t mix business with pleasure. After losing the restaurant, there’s no way my heart is going to dictate my choices when it comes to business. Everything will be done by the book or not at all.”
“Good. Make sure you get him to sign before you throw your heart at him.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“And a word of warning. Book a room at the B&B and stay there until he signs the papers. Make it clear that you’re not swapping sex for that contract.”
“Yes, Mother.”
The urge to phone him as soon as she’d first returned home from the island had almost won out, but now she was thankful she’d held out and let him make the first move. And since she had said she’d call him back with details, she had every reason to speak to him again. This was the start of something good. Hilary could feel it in her gut.
* * *
“You’re sure this is what you want, Arlo?” His father stood on the edge of the new clam beds while Arlo raked the final piece of ground, expertly flicking stones to the high side of the beach.
“I’ve thought about it. If Hilary can guarantee us sales every single week that we don’t have to go chasing after, it can’t hurt. Means we don’t have to worry over looking for new customers and we can expand with confidence.” He paused and leaned on the rake. “I know we’ve never really had to work it because the reputation we have is pretty good but expanding does have some concerns. It’s going to take three years to get a return and it isn’t cheap to add these new beds so it’s all coming out of our bottom line right now. It’d be nice to know that the stress of finding new customers is taken away and we can focus on growing the shellfish instead of trying to sell it.”
“It does sound like it’s too good to be true though. Have you checked her out for yourself? Looked at what her history is like?” His father was always the sensible one who brought his children back into the realm of level thinking whenever they got an idea that might run away with them. More than once he’d reined in the excitement of a new venture and pointed out the pitfalls. Initially they would protest but, by the end of the conversation, they’d be thankful for his slow and steady approach.
Arlo leaned on his rake. “Bryce did and then he showed me. But I’d already seen it. She told me about the restaurant partnership failing so that wasn’t a surprise. Anyone can have bad luck when they’re in a business with other people and I get that. It’s never a good thing when it goes wrong.” He’d felt for her when he read the gossip reports in the Seattle Times about the undignified exit of one of Seattle’s up and coming young chefs. Being in the public eye had its downside and made him appreciate the sense of anonymity he had here on the island. If he could keep that, letting Hilary sell his product would be one less thing to worry about. He could focus on the extra workload expanding his shellfish farm gave him. “What was an eye opener was the reviews she has from top class chefs, Dad. It seems she’s way better at promoting other people than she is at running a restaurant.”
“I’ll have another look for myself when I get home then. I only glanced at it but if you’re happy, I guess I am too. Gigi and Matt liked her.”
“She’s a nice girl.”
His father looked at him thoughtfully but didn’t expand on that, for which Arlo was thankful. He wasn’t ready to share his feelings for Hilary in case it didn’t work out between them. Nothing like rejection to make him wary. Not a lot of women took the time to get to know him and see past his quirks. He wondered if he could get Hilary to see the real him without scaring her off.
His father smoothed down his bushy, silver gray moustache. “I thought we might have the meeting out here, make it a casual cookout so it doesn’t look like we’re grilling her too much. That okay with you?”
Arlo nodded and made his way up the bank to where Bear sat beside his father. “Sounds good to me. Means I don’t have to leave home.”
“That’s what I thought you’d say. Gigi will bring salads and Matt has offered to make something for the barbeque.”
“I’ll hold back a few dozen oysters too. Might even have time to throw a line in for a cod.”
“Fine. I’ll leave you to it then, son. Catch you on Saturday afternoon.”
Arlo walked back down to the beach, cast his critical eye over the site and ran the rake over his new clam bed one more time before heading up to the barn. He cleaned up and put away his tools in their designated spots and then went down the jetty to see how Bryce and Sam were going with the oysters. They pulled another bag up with the hoist just as he reached them.
Arlo cast an expert eye over the still-growing shellfish. They were so close to spawning and he wanted them all settled before the water in the inlet warmed up. Another few months and those fat boys would be ready to sell. For now, they’d be put into bags with lower numbers to encourage that final spurt of growth. “They look great, don’t they?”
Bryce pushed the bag over the tub and lowered it down before he released the oysters and spread them out on the tray.
“So far they’ve all looked perfect. It’s going to be a bumper crop.”
“Excellent.” Arlo picked up a couple, checked them for size and put them back again. “I’m having the family over on Saturday to meet Hilary. We’re going to be talking about what she’s offering. Do you two want to join us?”
“So you’re serious about it then?” Bryce pulled off his gloves and jammed them in his back pocket, a smile toying with his lips.
“Yeah, I guess it can’t do us any harm. As you say, its guaranteed sales. I’d be a fool to turn that down. As it stands now, we’ve been lucky to sell what we have, but the possibility of someone else flooding the market and taking sales from us is always there. I’d rather know that what we produce is always going to sell.”
“So long as she respects the boundaries, I’m all good with it. You don’t need me here, Arlo. Pretty sure your dad will be all over it. He has a head for business.”
“He does but I thought since you’re already involved anyway, you might like to hear what she has to say.”
“Okay, if you’re sure then. I didn’t have anything planned. Thanks.”
Arlo tipped his chin in Sam’s direction. “Sam?”
The youngest member of the team wiped his hands on his jeans and shook his head. “Nah. Got a date Friday night with the guys for poker. I don’t expect to be in any state for visiting you guys on Saturday.”
Arlo slapped him on the back and roared with laughter. “One day you’ll figure out you don’t have a face for that game, Sam. You lose more money than you win.”
“But it’s fun.” He pulled the net away from the tub and started to prep for the new bags.
Later that evening, Arlo sat outside with a bottle of beer, Bear by his side, as he enjoyed the last of the sun before it dipped over the ocean. “I like her, Bear. She’s different.” He stroked the dog’s ear and the hulking animal leaned into his leg. “She doesn’t seem to judge me or expect too much. It’s early, though, so that might change once she gets what she wants but I don’t see her like that. I hope I’m not wrong.”
His cell phone rang from inside the kitchen and he jumped up to grab it. By the time he reached it, it’d gone to voicemail. He dropped it on the counter and wandered back outside. When it rang again, he grabbed it. “Hello.”
“Arlo, it’s Hilary. I hope I’m not calling too late.”
His heart pounded. He hadn’t expected to hear from her today. It was still five days until she arrived back on the island. Not that he was counting. “No, it’s fine. I was sitting outside with a cold beer watching the sun go down. It’s so
pretty this side of the water.” Like she wanted to hear that. He was starting to mumble things she didn’t need to know. Idiot. He tried again. “It’s a picture perfect sunset.”
“Really? That’s nice. I wish I was there with my camera. All I can see from my window is apartment buildings and street lights. You win for the view, my friend.”
Her “friend?” Arlo tossed the words over in his mind trying not to overthink them. Better than calling him an acquaintance. And she had said it with a warm tone to her voice, so there was hope. She was easy to talk to and the tension eased from his shoulders. “I guess I do. One of the reasons I love it here is because it’s so pristine and clear. No city lights to dull the night stars. No noisy commuters. I’d hate to live in the city. Give me the fish farm any day.”
Her voice took on a softer tone that tickled his skin. “I’d like to see that sunset, Arlo. I don’t remember taking much notice when I was there last. Not the most important thing on my mind, you understand.”
He did. She’d been in pain and he’d held her, keeping her calm so she could sleep the first night. The next night had been easier. They’d been more relaxed around each other but that was the only thing that’d changed. They’d had purely platonic sleeping arrangements, and he was happy it’d worked out that way. It had given them time to get to know each other. Such an intimate time between them that he’d like to repeat one day soon. Without the injuries of course. “How are you feeling?”
She laughed. “Pretty good, actually. I knocked a scab off my back this morning in the shower and that had me saying a few choice words but my hands are healing nicely, thanks to you and April. They don’t hurt much at all.” She paused. “How’s Bear?”
Hold Me Now: Hope Harbor Page 9