“Evan, I didn’t mean…”
“Yeah.” He took a step back. “You did.”
He turned and walked out.
The pavilion held his absence the way a struck bell holds sound.
She stood alone among her tape lines...
On her knees, she pressed a curling piece of tape back to the floor, smoothing it flat with her thumb until it held. Then she did the next one. Then the one after that. Her hands wanted a task and she gave them one, the way she’d done the night David’s name came off the company door.
It didn’t work this time. The tape held fine. She was the thing that wouldn’t sit flat.
The layout remained half-fixed when she finally gave up on it. She straightened and went to find the one person at Harbor’s Hope who would tell her the truth whether she wanted it or not.
She found Jolene in the housekeeping office. “I said something terrible to Evan.”
Jolene didn’t look up from her whiteboard. “What did you say?”
“I called him afraid.”
Jolene’s marker stopped moving. She turned. “Of all the words you could have picked.”
“I know.” Margot’s voice was small. “He was right about the fireworks, and I didn’t want him to be right, because that would mean admitting I can’t control this.”
“You know what you need to do.”
“Apologize.”
“Apologize.” Jolene picked up her marker. “You’ll find him at the dock. He always goes to the dock.”
He was at the end of Dock Three, feet over the water, compass in his hand.
Margot walked the length of the dock. Her footsteps were loud on the planks, and she was aware of every step, aware that he could hear her coming and hadn’t turned, aware that the last words between them had beenYeah. You did.and the sound of his boots walking away.
She sat down beside him, leaving a foot of space between them. The harbor was golden in the late light. The boats rocked in their slips. The air smelled like salt and warm wood and the faintest trace of diesel from the charter fleet.
“I’m sorry.” No preamble. No explanation. Just the words.
He turned the compass in his fingers. She watched his hands and remembered the stairwell, the calloused palm, the steady grip. The way he’d let go the moment she was on her feet. The way she’d wished he hadn’t.
“You weren’t wrong about everything. The expo needs to keep running. Canceling creates panic.”
“But I was wrong to call you afraid. That’s not what you are.” She pulled her knees up. “You’re trying to stop something bad from happening again. I couldn’t hear it because I was too busy holding everything together.”
“That’s what you do. You hold things together. It’s what makes you good at your job.”
“It’s also what makes me impossible to work with.”
“You’re not impossible.” He looked at her for the first time since she’d sat down. “You’re difficult. There’s a difference.”
She almost laughed. Almost. The sound caught in her throat and came out as something closer to a breath.
“I overreacted too.” He sighed. “The fireworks, the pier, the crowd. It’s not just about this expo. It’s about the last time there was a crowd near the water at this resort.”
He didn’t say Lauren’s name. He didn’t have to.
“He’s not just a thief, Evan.” Margot looked at the water. “He planned this for months. He tested Cass to see what she knew, and when she got too close, he hurt her for it. And he’s still here, adjusting lights and making people laugh, and nobody knows except us.”
