“I’ve been patient, Cassidy.More than patient.But this ends now.”
She crossed her arms.“The festival isn’t over for another two hours.”
“I’m not talking about the festival.I’m talking about this ridiculous sabbatical fantasy.”He gestured dismissively at the town behind them.“You’ve had your break.You’ve played small-town hero.Now it’s time to come back to reality.”
“This is reality.”
“This?”He laughed, sharp and cutting.“This is a dying fishing village desperately clinging to relevance.You organized a nice little fair for them.Congratulations.But don’t confuse a successful event with a sustainable future.”
She looked at him defiantly.“The Gulf Coast Tourism Board thinks differently.”
“The Tourism Board wants content for their brochures.They’ll feature you for one season and move on to the next quaint coastal town.”He stepped closer.“But I’m offering you a career.The Senior VP position.Your own division and everything that comes after it.That’s real power, Cassidy.Real influence.Not this small-time nonsense.”
“This small-time nonsense matters to people.”
“People like Bryan Lucas?”David’s smile turned cruel.“The fisherman playing at restaurant owner?You think he’s going to provide the kind of life you’re accustomed to?The kind of challenge that actually uses your talents?”
Heat flooded Cassidy’s face.“Bryan has nothing to do with this decision.”
“Doesn’t he?”David pulled out his phone and swiped through screens.“I did some research while you were busy playing event coordinator.The Sandpiper is hemorrhaging money.Lucas took out a second mortgage last year, and he’s behind on payments.His fishing operation is underwater, metaphorically and soon literally, when Oceanside Development buys up the waterfront.”
She had known Bryan was struggling, but hearing it laid out so clinically made her stomach churn.
“You’re a brilliant strategist, Cassidy.Surely you can see the math here.”David’s voice softened to something almost sympathetic.“This town is dying.Your fisherman is failing.And you’re standing here pretending that a few weeks of playing house changes years of building a career.”
“I’m not playing house.”
“Then what are you doing?”He spread his hands.“Because from where I’m standing, you’re throwing away everything you worked for.Everything you are.For what?A man you barely know and a town that will forget you exist the moment the next crisis hits?”
She wanted to argue, tell him he was wrong, and that he didn’t understand what she’d found here.But the words caught in her throat because part of her wondered if he was right.
She’d been in Starlight Shores for eight weeks.Eight weeks against all those years in Chicago.Eight weeks of borrowed community and temporary purpose.What made her think she belonged here?That she could build a real life in a place where she’d arrived as a stranger?
The lighthouse beam swept across the water, its steady rotation marking time.She watched the light arc through the gathering dusk and thought about Bryan’s grandfather’s words.The light shows you where you are, not just where you’re going.
Where was she?
Standing on a pier in a town that had welcomed her when she had nothing to offer but broken ambition and empty schedules.A town that had trusted her with their history and their future.A town that had given her friendship and community and the first real peace she’d felt in years.
A town where Bryan Lucas had looked at her like she mattered for more than her quarterly performance metrics.
“I need an answer, Cassidy.”David’s patience was fraying.“We can be back in Chicago by midnight if we leave now.You can spend the rest of the weekend preparing for Monday’s meeting.Steve will be there, of course, eager to take credit for saving the Phillips account.Unless you’re there to remind everyone exactly who built that relationship in the first place.”
The familiar competitive fire sparked in her chest.Steve Hodges, with his smug emails and calculated undermining, sitting in her seat at the conference table and taking credit for her work.She’d given the company fifteen years of her life, and they’d responded to her burnout by putting her on mandatory leave and letting her rival circle like a shark.
The Cassidy who’d arrived in Starlight Shores would have been terrified of that and jumped at the chance to reclaim her position and prove she was still sharp, still valuable.
But that Cassidy had been running on empty, measuring her worth in titles and metrics because she had nothing else to measure.
This Cassidy had spent the morning helping Sally Morris hang bunting and laughed with Dorothy and the Harbor Ladies over recipe cards.She’d watched Mona Lucas beam with pride as festival-goers lined up for The Sandpiper’s booth.She’d felt her mother’s hand squeeze hers as they surveyed the crowded grounds together.
She had fallen in love with a man who saw past her resume to the person she was becoming.
The realization settled over her like the lighthouse beam, steady and undeniable.
She turned to face him fully.“I’m not coming back.”
His expression flickered with surprise before hardening.“Excuse me?”
