Henry shakes his head. “No, I have to update the kitchens, the furniture and probably remodel all three places before we bring chefs into the place. I already contacted the contractor, who can’t take on any new projects until the house is done.”
“Easton Rodin is going to be rich by the time we’re done,” Hayes complains.
“Is there anything else we need to address?” Pierce asks, definitely not amused by us.
“Beacon, I haven’t received your cut for the house,” Hayes says.
“You’re charging me more than the others, man,” he protests.
“They’re building you a studio and that bastard isn’t cheap,” Hayes answers. “You added a bunch of shit to it, too. Why do you need two extra rooms?”
He grins and says, “Fine. If that’s why then I’m willing to pay. Maybe Pierce should pay for the repairs of the barn, too.”
“I want to keep that as the family barn—just like the house. In case anyone decides to bring another animal,” Hayes explains. “If Pierce or anyone else wants a barn of their own you have to contact Easton and handle the transaction on your own. Are you all settling your affairs?”
“Look, I’m still thinking about it,” Mills answers. “My agent and I are trying to find a solution to this predicament. Pierce and his team could’ve missed something.”
“It’s not optional, fucker,” Pierce tells him. “You don’t have a choice—and they can’t find what’s not in there. Pack your fucking shit and move. With that, I’m out of here. I have real work to do.”
After they all disconnect from the videoconference, Henry says, “They’re going to leave us hanging.”
“I’ll make sure they show, and that they stay for the length of the stipulation,” Hayes promises, before closing his laptop.
This time, I stay quiet, because asking if he’s insane or delusional is out of the question. Science would agree that it’s just him and Henry. Pierce might be on board, but the rest…
We’re so screwed.
Twenty-Six
Blaire
“Why did I say yes?” I grunt, covering my face and sounding desperate.
“This isn’t me.” I look down at the dress I found among my new clothes.
I’ve never worn a little black dress. I’m a jeans, top, and hat wearing kind of gal. Sophia even bought me a pair of high heels, which I won’t wear. Those things are like cars to me. They’re beautiful, but I avoid them as much as possible.
“Do you want me to help you with your makeup?” Sophia asks as she steps into my room.
“Remind me why you moved into this suite?”
“You invited me,” she answers.
“That was before I stopped liking you. I should be wearing something more comfortable. No, I should’ve said no to this date. It was that kiss.”
“The one from yesterday in front of the medical practice?” she asks.
“How do you know about it?”
“Instagram,” she answers, showing me her phone with a picture of Hayes’s body almost swallowing my own as we kiss.
“You can’t deny that it’s a good picture,” she continues. “This town’s social media is pretty impressive. I’m tempted to hire whoever is in charge. You know, use their powers for good and not for gossip.”
I study her and realize she is serious. “You think about work a lot more than you like to accept.”
“Only when I’m starting a new project,” she acknowledges. “Sorry for talking your ear off earlier. Hayes mentioned a couple of times that you have a sweet tooth. I needed to pitch you some ideas about the products that I’m planning on adding to the factory. Henry doesn’t see beyond the hotel business.”
“It was fun. I’d agree to do anything in the name of ice cream and confectioneries. We can call the boutiques Sweet Sexy Dreams.”
“Whoa, I never said we’d be opening them. It’s just an idea,” she corrects me but then cocks her eyebrow and says, “That’s a good name. I’ll add it to my list. Just in case we end up setting something up. For now, I’m just rebranding the products. Later, we’ll see if we can create an exclusive line. I’d have to hire someone to create the product before they mass produce it in the factory.”
“We can do it,” I assure her. “Medicine is my passion, but I am also great at creating desserts. When I was a teenager, I lived in the kitchen, and I’m pretty good at making truffles.”
“Why are you looking through your clothes?” she asks.
“I need something different. This is too much for dinner at the diner,” I explain.
“You’re not going to the diner, and the dress is perfect. I have a gorgeous pair of red heels that I could lend you.”
Where is he taking me? I ask curiously, and excitement takes over me. One thing about Hayes is that he makes everything special and perfect.
For my eighteenth birthday, he drove me to San Francisco. He made reservations at a swanky restaurant, and we dined in a private room. We finished the night at his apartment. That night is definitely in the top ten best moments of my entire life.
“Can you tell me where we’re going?”
Sophia shakes her head. “Nope, I promised not to tell you. Also, I didn’t help as much as I wanted to. He wanted to do everything himself, because it’s for you.”
She climbs up on my bed and suggests, “Leave a sock outside the door if you give up the goods on the first date. There’s plenty of rooms where I can stay.”
“Ha! We’re not in college, and that’s definitely not happening tonight.” I check my reflection in the mirror, feeling self-conscious.
“You look delicious. If I liked women, I’d be asking you on a date myself. Bring that confidence back,” she orders. “Hayes will be drooling the moment you open the door. Now, let me do your makeup and then you’ll be ready.”
“Thank you,” I say, as I sit down on the bed.
“Don’t thank me. I love this.”
“Applying makeup?”
“No, watching people fall in love. Romance always gives me hope.”
“Where’s your Prince Charming?”
She gives me a sad smile. “Maybe that’s why I love it. Those who can’t do, teach. Or in my case, watch.”
Before I can ask about her love life, there’s a knock on the door.
“I’ll open the door. Put some shoes on, and you’re ready,” she says excitedly.
My stomach is tied up in knots, but when I hear Henry’s voice, I frown.
“Let’s go,” he commands.
“It’s Friday night. I’m off the clock.”
“We both have to have dinner, might as well do it together.”
“I’m sure I can go to the diner by myself,” Sophia answers.
“Why are you always this difficult? Get ready. I’m taking you to Happy Springs.”
“Goody, I’m going to Happy Spring’s diner,” she claps.
“Don’t get too excited. We’re going to be talking about work.”
“This is why you’re single,” she mumbles, walking toward her room.
A second later, there’s another knock on the door. Henry opens it, and I spot Hayes. He’s wearing a pair of jeans and a black button-down shirt. He winks at me and says, “You look gorgeous.”
“I knew the color of the shirt would complement my ass,” Henry answers.
“Your ass would look better in jeans” Sophia says. “I’m ready. Let’s go and dine in the best place that Happy Springs has to offer.”
Before she leaves, she marches to where I stand and says, “Relax and enjoy. The hardest part of a first date is getting to know each other, and you mastered that years ago. You two are past awkward conversations. If all goes wrong, I promise to have some cookies, ice cream, and a few romantic comedies ready to binge watch.”
“Thank you,” I say.
“Anytime. And good luck!”
“You need luck?” Hayes finally walks to me and takes my hands, kissing the back of both and then looking at me. �
�I’m going to kiss you, Blaire.”
His words are a husky whisper. His hand holds the back of my head, and my pulse thuds in anticipation as our gazes connect with a sizzle, right before his mouth presses against mine. His silky lips move slowly and softly against mine. The kiss begins with reverence, and I feel my cells ignite because I know what happens when he starts like this. I open for him, anticipating the fire that’s about to start. His tongue darts inside, and he groans pulling me tighter to him. One hand caresses my neck, as the other holds me by the waist.
My heart shutters as we devour each other. His hands move up and down my body, mine hold onto his neck. We become a soft melody of moans and grunts. My body is high from his touch, burning with the heat of his own body.
“God, I can never just give you a simple kiss,” he growls, nipping my earlobe. “I wish we could skip dinner and just concentrate on my dessert.”
“Let’s not skip that many steps,” I request. “We’re not there yet.”
He rests his forehead on top of mine. “Come on, Love. Let’s get out of here before I lose my mind and yank that dress off your beautiful body.”
A part of me thinks, yeah, why not, but I talk myself out of that and we leave the room. When we arrive at the lobby, I expect us to leave the hotel, but he walks to the opposite side of the building. We arrive at the west side of The Lodge, where the three restaurants connect. He pushes open the big wooden door of the old steakhouse, and I gasp when I see it illuminated with thousands of fairy lights.
There’s only one table in the middle of the dining room with a lit candle in the center and a small arrangement of red roses. There’s also a waiter on the side, waiting for us.
“How do you do it?”
“What?”
“Always make it special?”
He kisses me on the corner of my mouth. “You’re what makes everything special.”
Twenty-Seven
Hayes
“Dessert first,” she says, smiling at the crème brûlée.
“Life is too short. Why not start with the fun?”
“Yes,” she agrees. “But I don’t do it as often.”
“What?”
“Eat dessert,” she explains. “I only do it when I get back from a trip to celebrate the success of my mission.”
“Why did you stop doing it?”
“So many reasons,” she begins. “For starters, I visit villages where they serve you what they’re eating. I guess I got rid of the bad habit by visiting and learning from other cultures.”
“It’s not a bad habit.”
She leans back and smiles. “Probably not something you’d want to teach your children. Though, I understand why my parents let me do it. They weren’t sure I’d make it, so why not make a few concessions as long as I didn’t stop following the doctor’s instructions.”
“Well, for what it’s worth, I loved our traditions. That’s one of my favorites. No matter what, we always had dinner together and dessert was first—or sex.”
Her face flushes slightly. She breaks through the sugar shell and takes a spoon full of the custard along with a raspberry.
“As I said, you always know how to make things special—even traditions.” She speaks after giving me a taste of dessert. “I stopped eating them for several reasons. Another one is that it had become a thing we did, and I missed you too much.”
I was a fucking idiot. How could I have left her when we had everything?
We should start with a light conversation, but I can’t help myself and ask, “Why did you change your phone number?”
She licks her lips and clears her throat. “It was a year or two after I started traveling. It happened during my trip to Tanzania. I accidentally dropped it, and it smashed into a billion pieces. When I flew back home, I called Dad and told him to cancel the line and that I’d be responsible for my own phone.”
“Pretty grown up of you,” I state. “You could’ve just switched your number to the new account.”
“Did you try to call me?”
I nod. “I drunk dialed a couple of times.”
Maybe more than a couple and a handful of those I was sober. “I just needed to hear your voice. Getting through med school without you was difficult—it was so fucking painful. I hurt you, but I did some major damage to myself, too.”
“What scared you the most? The baby or the long-distance relationship?”
Luckily, the waiter brings the corn chowder, one of her favorite soups. It gives me plenty of time to give her an answer.
“The idea of being a dad at twenty-two freaked me out,” I confess. “It wasn’t the reason, but it certainly made me think about the future. I thought I was a lot more like my mom than my dad. Doubts about what would happen once I left started nagging me every minute of the day. Thinking you’d find someone new and fun. A guy who would like to see the world with you.”
“Instead of waiting for me to abandon you, like your father did. You ran away,” she concludes.
I nod, so much for giving this the feel of a first date. Changing the conversation would be best, but also stupid. We have to discuss the past in order to move forward, so we might as well do it now.
“It seemed like the most logical thing to do at the time,” I explain. “The best way to protect us both.”
“You really hurt me. I didn’t just care about you. You were my everything.”
It’s hard to hear those words expressed in such calm tone. I expect her to yell like she did a couple of days ago. Instead, we’re having a rational conversation. My worry dissipates and I begin to relax because this moment feels like us. We listen, rationalize, and try to compromise.
“After all this time, it makes sense that you took off without looking back. You loved your father, and he was barely present. One day, he just left, abandoning your entire family. It’s life altering to see your mom suffering the loss of the man she thought was her soulmate.”
I stare at her, because she makes sense, but her words sound too well-thought out. “Have you been psychoanalyzing my family?”
“I’ve been thinking about it all day, after my early chat with Vance,” she explains, reaching for my hand and giving it a squeeze. “Your dad was charming, like Carter. They were like flames that everyone followed. I assume that your father was as easy to love as your brother. None of you can deny that you loved him. All of you were neglected and abandoned by William—a man you adored. It hurt you, and since then, you can’t trust anyone, not even each other. You live with the constant fear of getting hurt. Because of that perpetual feeling, you sabotage your relationships.”
“You spoke with Vance?”
“That’s all you got from what I just said?” Her annoyed voice carries throughout the empty room.
“Everything you said is true. I’m just astonished that you spoke to Vance. He doesn’t speak. It’s mind blowing to hear that you have a better relationship with him than any of us has ever had,” I remind her. “It also makes me realize that I have to try harder. My relationships with all my brothers are terrible.”
She gives me a shrug that means, what can I say, people trust me.
“Is he going to stay?” I dare to ask.
“He’s not sure,” she answers. “Unlike you guys, he can’t just ask for some time off and then go back to what he does. If he quits, he’s done. How can he make such a commitment when you guys have never shown any support for him?”
“He doesn’t know that we won’t come through this time,” I protest.
“Well, he’s basing his decision on past experience. What if he gives up his life and you guys walk away? If I stay and one of you quit before the eighteen months, it won’t affect me. I’ll go back to my life, and I have plenty of money. The same goes for all of you. He’s worried about his future, not the inheritance.”
“We’re going to stay,” I assure her.
She shakes her head. “You want to make this happen, but you can’t force them to trust each other.”
I scratch my chin. “Do you trust me?”
“Why are you asking that?”
“I need to know where I stand with you, Blaire. I have five other people who I need to show they can count on me. If they at least know I’m going to stay, they might give it a try, too.”
“You quit your practice, your job, and you’re investing your fortune on this town,” she answers. “I trust that you’ll stay. Do I trust you with my heart?”
She stares at me for several beats then says, “I’m working on it. It’s not easy to erase the past. What we shared was unique and I miss it, but I can’t go back to that. I’m a different person. As much as I keep saying that I moved on, it’s clear that I still have feelings for you. We have to give this some time and be patient with each other. You lost your father, and you’re making a lot of radical changes. I can’t expect you to change nor would I want you to change for me.”
Am I being radical? I’m definitely not the man I was when we met.
“We could talk about my changes for hours, but what’s the point? Twelve years is a long time. I’m focused on showing you who I am and what I’m willing to do for love. For you. If my brothers don’t stay, if they decide that this isn’t worth it, I’ll stay and try to help the people of this town the best I can.”
“What about your future?”
“We founded this town,” I explain. “Well, my ancestors did. We can’t just abandon it. My future can happen in this town.”
The waiter takes away our soup bowls and brings the steak and lobster tails.
“This date went from casual to life-altering before the entrée,” Blaire says, attempting to lighten the mood.
I place my hands on the table and look at her. Her eyes glow with the reflection of the fairy lights. “The way I see it, I have a small window to convince you to give me a chance. Every day that passes that tiny opening closes more and more. Each time I try something, I feel like I fuck it up royally.”
“Then it seems fair that I tell you a few things,” she says, taking a sip of wine. “Once I can leave town, I’m planning on going back to work. It’s my mission in life, and I’m passionate about what I do. You want to settle down here, and that’s admirable. However, I’m leaving. I can’t just quit my kids and my job forever.”
Loved You Once Page 19