Her eyes misted over and he thought she was going to cry and refuse him. He couldn’t let that happen. He lifted her face and pressed his lips against hers. She froze for a second and pulled away, her eyes filled with pain.
“What did I do wrong?”
“You didn’t trust me. That’s a deal breaker as far as I’m concerned.”
Lester mumbled and rolled over, grabbing her ankle. “I’m going to sue you for every penny you have, Hilary.”
She kicked her foot out of his grasp and moved away from his grabby hands, then stared down at him. “Really? Well, I have news for you, Lester. My brother finally convinced me to let him look at that contract you gave me when you stole my shares in the business. And guess what? You owe me a heap more cash.”
Lester pulled himself up to a sitting position and leaned his back against the counter. “Bullshit.”
“Seems I was a bit silly trusting anything you said. That buy-out clause was flawed and the amount you gave me should’ve been triple. You’ll be hearing from him soon, I imagine.” She moved away, out of his reach. “A day in court would be lovely the way I’m feeling right now. Time you got a taste of your own medicine.”
“You don’t have the guts to do it.” Lester wiped the blood from his chin with the back of his hand and glowered at her.
She tapped her foot. “You know, what you did just now pissed me off. You’ve ruined a perfectly good night for a lot of diners and for what? So you could show everyone what an arrogant pig you are. Yes, I have the guts, Lester, and I will take you to court. You’re threatening to try and ruin a good man because of your petty jealousy. I won’t stand for it. I’ve been silent for far too long where you’re concerned.”
“He hit me!”
Hilary glared down at her ex-partner. “You know what, if he hadn’t, I would’ve done it. I’m sick to death of your bullying ways.”
Applause filled the restaurant.
Lester accepted a hand up from Arlo and stood on wobbly legs. “Maybe we can come to some arrangement then.”
“It depends if you want to call and report an assault tonight or not.” She folded her arms, kept her gaze controlled.
“Maybe not such a good idea. Bit of a misunderstanding between men.”
Hilary gave him a cold smile. “Fine. Get your lawyer to call my brother. He’s in the book. Elliot French.”
Lester stumbled out of the restaurant and George gave her a whistle. “About time you gave that man a piece of your mind. You never told me about that contract, Hilary.”
“Sorry. Other things on my mind.” She glanced at Arlo. “Like not being believed.”
“Forgive me, Hilary. Please?”
“I don’t know if it’s the right thing to do, Arlo. You didn’t trust me and that’s a big deal in my book.”
He reached for her again. When she didn’t protest, he rested his forehead on hers. “You’re right. I didn’t and that will haunt me for years to come. I don’t know how I’m going to convince you that I love you. We can make this work if you’ll give me a chance.”
Cat calls came from the diners. “Give the guy a break.” “You look great together.” “The oysters are worth it. Forgive the guy.”
Arlo grinned. “Even your customers think you should forgive me. Can we at least talk about it?”
George stepped around the service counter and put a hand on Arlo’s shoulder. “Tell you what. You two go and have a seat. If I’m right, that table is yours, Arlo. Enjoy dinner, have a glass of wine and talk.” George pushed them out and over to the only empty table in the restaurant. “Go. I have more food to prepare.”
Arlo guided her across the restaurant and pulled out the chair for Hilary. She sank down into it. “Thank you.”
He sat opposite her, but reached over and took her hands across the table. “Can we eat and then talk about us?”
“George thinks food fixes everything.”
“I’m willing to test that theory if you are.”
Hilary smiled her thanks as the waitress put tasting plates in front of them. “Okay. Since you’ve come this far, which I know is a huge deal for you, I will. Besides, you came to my defense against that bully.”
“I heard what him, Hilary. You have no idea how sorry I am. I’m an idiot. I know that. I knew that before I heard what he said just now.” He rubbed his thumb over her knuckles. “I don’t know what came over me. I know you’d never do that to me but my stupid insecurities raised their ugly head and I couldn’t ignore it.” Arlo shrugged. “I might not be the best bet when it comes to boyfriends, but I really want to try again. I love you too much to lose you.”
“I know. But let’s eat and be nice to each other and we’ll discuss that later back at my place when half the restaurant isn’t watching us. I can’t say yes just like that. I need to give it some thought.”
Chapter 23
Arlo lay on the carpet in the tiny apartment, cushions tucked under his head, his shoes kicked off, and his jacket left over the back of the couch. Hilary lay tucked in his arms, gazing out the window at the city lights. “I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“Doubting you. I know you didn’t tell those idiots where we were. You wouldn’t do that to me.”
Hilary shuffled around onto her stomach and gazed at him. The pain was still there and he hated that he was the cause of that. “Only because you heard Lester say so?”
He shook his head. “No. I knew it before I came here. I’d have come sooner but with early harvest, I couldn’t leave the boys to do it alone. Too much work. Plus I had to build up the courage to make the crossing without freaking out and running back home. Bradley made me do two test runs over to Seattle to make sure I didn’t chicken out tonight.” He smiled. “I had a new client to appease and the last thing I wanted to do was let her down.”
A smile flickered in her eyes but only for a second. “You could’ve called me. I called you, but you never answered. Sending me a bunch of flowers didn’t really have the same effect.”
“I could’ve and I’m sorry. What I wanted to say could’ve been said over the phone, I guess. But I wanted to see you in person and tell you what a jerk I was. I wanted to look you in the eye and tell you I want to be a better man for you. Everyone gave me grief over letting you go. And I mean everyone.” He rolled his eyes and she giggled.
Now the smile stayed in place for longer. “Tell me. Make me believe you, Arlo.”
“Dad was the first to rise to your defense, believe it or not. Aggie gave me a mouthful, Aunt Gigi gave me her sad eyes look and spoke about true love, how hard it was to find in the best of times, and how much of a fool I’d be to let pride get in the way. Even Bradley came out to give me a talking to but I got to him first. Asked his advice about how to deal with my issues because I knew I had to sort them out so I could come and apologize. You never did anything wrong, Hilary. If anything, you’re the person who’s done more for me in the last few months than I could imagine. And I don’t think I would’ve managed without his help.”
“That man gives out a lot of advice, doesn’t he?”
Arlo frowned. “What do you mean?”
Hilary pulled herself up and crossed her legs. “The day I left, I ran into him at the ferry. I bought my ticket and obviously wasn’t thinking right because I stood there like an idiot. He nudged me along and brought me coffee until it was time to board. With that came the chat I needed to have.” She blushed and tucked a curl behind her ear.
Arlo laughed. “He’s good like that. I swear, he’s got this uncanny ability. Amazing how he seems to say the right thing at the right moment. Always been that way, ever since I was little.”
She chewed on her lip and gave him wary glances.
“Go on, say it. Something’s eating at you. I don’t want there to be secrets between us anymore. Not if we’re going to have a hope of making this work.”
Hilary gave him a wary glance. “When your mom died, how come he didn’t fix you then? Why wait
until now to help you sort out your issues?”
Arlo had wondered the same thing initially and only now did he fully understand it. He took her hand and ran his thumb over her knuckles. Time to give voice to his fears. “I wasn’t ready to let go. At least that’s how I see it. It was pretty traumatic when she died. Everything happened so fast. Dad was in such a mad panic. Drew was a year younger than me, and Aggie and Matt a year younger each again. She was heavily pregnant—thirty-five weeks, I think it was. Anyway, one minute it was all calm and normal and the next thing, Dad was screaming for help, there was blood everywhere and they were carrying her out to an ambulance. We never saw her alive again.”
“That must have been horrible. I don’t know how you all coped.” She brought his hand to her lips. “I’m sorry, Arlo.”
“It was such a long time ago. I crawled into myself and it made the pain easier to manage. Nobody chewed me out over it. I think they were happy to let me hide if it made things simpler and easier to deal with. They had their own anguish to cope with. Anyway, I tried a couple of times to spread my wings and it didn’t work out so well. That in turn made it easier to stay stuck on the island doing my own thing in my own little bubble.”
“Understandable.”
“But then I met you. Not the best introduction, but I’ll gladly throw Bear a bone every day for knocking you down and making it hard for you to leave.”
Her eyes bugged out in such a cute way. “No.”
“No, I wouldn’t but it worked for me at the time. Until I screwed up and you left. The first day we started harvesting, Bradley came out, as he always does to get the first taste of our oysters. My father more than likely had a hand in reminding him too.”
“No way.” Her face was incredulous. She had no idea how the Hope family worked its magic. Hopefully one day soon, she’d find out.
“I got to him first. Asked him to help me manage my anxiety so I could come and see you, so I could talk you into letting me have another chance. Here I am. It worked as you can see.”
“I’m so glad.”
“Really? I thought you’d be angry. I didn’t give you much encouragement, and with my issues, I wasn’t sure what kind of reception I’d get.”
“You sent me flowers, Arlo. I knew there was hope for us even if I was still mad.”
* * *
The pain he must have gone through. Hilary would never know the kind of anguish Arlo experienced growing up without a mother to guide him. “And all I could think of was that I’d pushed the boundaries because I wanted something you had. I don’t want you to think I was so focused on getting what I wanted for my business that I’d let you down like that. That was pretty insensitive of me to goad you to the point that you had no choice but to let me in, Arlo.”
“Not really. You couldn’t have known, and Bryce took care of that side of things anyway so I didn’t have to. But that’s going to change.”
That gave her hope for the man he could become. “Really? That’s awesome.”
“Talking about us, not just me. I want you back, Hilary.”
The words warmed her from the inside. But first she had to come clean too. “Bradley, that dear man, do you know what he said to me?”
“Knowing him, it was something prophetic.” He pulled her back down onto his chest and she rested her face against his shoulder.
“Yeah, it was. He told me if I wanted something in life, I had to fight for it, not give up so easily.” She lifted her head and looked at him again. “You see, when Lester took my restaurant, I accepted it, much to my brother’s horror. Not once did I call him out for being a bully or treating me unfairly. It also made me a tad controlling about things. Emily says I’ve become too bossy, too demanding. Guess I’m trying to make up for being such a wimp when Lester kicked me to the curb. I promise to try and tweak that back, given the chance.”
“I like your drive. You make up for what I lack.”
“Really? You don’t mind?”
Arlo shook his head. “Nope. Anything else while we’re having this discussion?”
She blushed again. “Yeah. When you sent me away, I didn’t fight very hard either. A token protest that was pretty weak.”
“But…?”
“But I wanted to get tonight out of the way, see the oysters launched, and then I was going back to the island to make you listen to me. I don’t want you to think the oysters were more important, but it was something I had to do before I focused on you. I’d promised to look after your produce when you signed with me, and you know I don’t go back on a promise, no matter what personal issues I might have. Now that I’ve launched your shellfish to the foodies of Seattle, I want to sort out us.”
He sat upright with her in his arms. “You do? Really?”
“Yep, I really do, Arlo. I want us to be together too.”
He pulled her into his chest and stroked her hair. Hilary melted against him. “Now that I don’t have to fight you to believe me, I have another suggestion.”
Arlo took a breath before answering. “Sure.”
“How about I come to the island for a couple of weeks and see if I can work this business from there? We can give it a proper trial instead of just weekends before I give up the apartment for real.”
“You’d do that for me?”
Hilary wrapped her arms around his middle and tucked her head under his chin, his beard brushing her face. Contented at last, she answered him. “I love you, Arlo. I’ll be where you are and we’ll make it work. Between us, we can fight for us.”
“You have a deal, Hilary French. I love you too.”
Epilogue
Hilary and Arlo sat on the end of the jetty watching the sun go down with Bear jammed in between them.
“One more day before we start harvesting the mussels. How do you think your clients will like them?”
Hilary smiled at him across the top of the dog’s nose. “From that sample I tasted for dinner tonight, they’re going to be very well received.” Arlo had cooked her garlic and chili mussels with glass noodles while she was busy on the phone with Ralph. They had been discussing the progress of their newest staff member and the first shipment the farm would send to the mainland. Working from the island had turned out to be far easier than she thought it would be.
“Good. I know I shouldn’t worry, but I can’t help it.”
She gave a smile. He was so unsure of himself sometimes. “Arlo, your produce is amazing. You’ll never have to worry about selling anything ever again. Your brand is well and truly set.”
He nudged Bear out of the way and shuffled closer so her could put his arm around her shoulders. “Thanks to you.”
Hilary kissed his cheek. “You say the sweetest things, but it all starts with you, right here, and how you grow your produce. I’m just the lucky girl who gets to market it.” She giggled. “Plus I get to sleep with the man himself. That’s all the thanks I need.”
Arlo cupped her face in his hands. “You’re amazing, you know that? If it wasn’t for you being so stubborn and determined, I never would’ve fallen in love. Don’t ever change, my darling girl.”
“Are you sure we’re doing the right thing, Arlo? I love living here with you but I need to make sure we’re really good before I sell my apartment. I want you to be honest and if you’re still not totally convinced this is a good move, I can come over for weekends until you’re ready.”
Arlo laughed. “What is it going to take to make you see I have everything I want when you’re here with me?” He cupped her cheeks and kissed her on the lips. “I want you with me, forever.”
“Really?”
“Yes, really. Why do you doubt that?”
Because I’m a needy idiot, I suppose. “I was too scared to think it would last. I figured once you had me here full time you might wonder if you’d done the right thing. I can be a bit intense sometimes. Especially when I set my mind on something I want.” She licked her lips. “And you’re not used to living with anyone.”
> He smiled and her heart raced. She was head over heels in love with this quiet man. How lucky she was to find him.
“So long as that something is me, be as intense as you like.”
Hilary leaned against him and sighed. The worry had dogged her for the last couple of months as she settled into island life. There were changes to be made for both of them, but so far, she had nothing to complain about.
This was where her heart was. Where she wanted to grow old with Arlo.
This was home.
The End
Hold Me Now: Hope Harbor Page 16