“Shoot.” He grimaced. “He’ll kill me if he knows I was talking about his personal life. But just between us, yes, he’s engaged, but Lacey can’t plan the wedding until this vote is done andSimon gets back to Boston. I promise, though, Simon doesn’t let personal connections impact his business decisions.”
Ohhh, I highly doubted that.
Nick leaned forward and tapped my paperwork. “So… any other questions I can answer right now?”
I had about a million of them, but none of them had anything to do with the development.
Had I misunderstood Simon’s motives? Had Hawk? And Crystal? And Betty Ann and Helena?
I doubted it.
Either Simon was attempting to cheat on his fiancée with Hawk, or he was manipulating Hawk the way Crys had suggested. If his fiancée’s father was CEO of the company, the stakes were considerably higher for him than any of us thought.
As soon as Nick had said his goodbyes and made a final request for me to consider their offer, I tried calling Hawk on his cell phone, but he didn’t answer. This wasn’t wholly unexpected, since I knew Hawk planned to hike up to the peak after the Environmental Committee meeting today—another storm was forecasted to blow in overnight, not nearly as dramatic as the one from last week but bad enough that he’d suspended the campout for the evening and wanted to retrieve the protest signs he’d left at the top of the mountain—and the reception up there was terrible.
But I tried again five minutes later. Andagainfive minutes after that, pacing back and forth across the mostly empty restaurant and staring at my phone, willing Hawk to pick up. The Environmental Committee meeting had finished more than an hour ago, and rain clouds were already gathering over town, giving the sky an eerie light. Why wasn’t he back in cell phone range so he could prepare for his meeting with Simon?
“What’d your phone do to you, bossman?” Crys asked, coming up behind me a few minutes later.
I whirled to face her. “Crys, how sure are you that Simon is actually interested in Hawk?”
She rolled her eyes and grinned. “Seriously? This again? I’ll take J-E-A-L-O-U-S for $1000, Alex.”
“It’s not jealousy. Simon’s coworker just mentioned that he was engaged to a woman in Boston?—”
Crys dropped her teasing look and became instantly more alert. “The fuck you say.”
“—and I need to know, is it possible Simon’s only been expressing professional interest? What are the chances that you misinterpreted what he wanted from Hawk?”
“Nonexistent,” Crys said without hesitation. “He’s making a play… or trying to look like he is. He stopped by Hawk’s campsite like four times. Once, he even brought Hawk a giant bag of gummy worms from Cleeward’s Candies, which Hawk ended up sharing with the little kids, and I heard him say, ‘I asked Marla Cleeward what kind were your favorite.’ Plus, you should see his texts. They…huh.” Her eyes met mine and narrowed. “You know, come to think of it, I think every single text mentioned the project. It’s notwhathe said; it’s how he said it. But even his flirty emojis were all, like, leaves instead of water droplets. Plausible deniability.” She sounded impressed and enraged at the same time. “Jack, what’s going on?”
I shook my head. “I’m not sure exactly, but I don’t like it.” The bells on the diner door jangled, and I heard Katey greet some new customers, but I couldn’t focus on work. Not now.
“You do know Hawk was never really interested in Simon, not even when he thought you weren’t interested in him, right?” Crys offered.
“Yeah.” Foryears, apparently, even when I’d been too blind and scared to see it. “I’m not jealous right now; I’m pissed that someone is trying to fuck things up for the man I love. And I know Hawk can take care of himself,” I added, just in caseshe was thinking that, “but he shouldn’t have to. Not while I’m around. At the very least, someone needs to warn him that he’s dealing with a deceptive asshat?—”
“Seems to be a lot of those around here lately,” Webb grumbled sardonically from behind my shoulder.
I closed my eyes.Of courseWebb picked that time to show up. Of course he did.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
HAWK
“What are men to rocks and mountains?”
~ Elizabeth Bennet
My siblings hadthe worst timing.
I left the Environmental Committee meeting with my mind buzzing over all the things I needed to do before my dinner meeting with Simon.
I had to collect the protest signs I’d left at the Peak that morning since poster board and the soaking rain we were supposed to get tonight would not mix. I had to run by the library to pick up some flyer-printing supplies Mr. Yetzer had donated, which did a lot to mitigate my lingering annoyance with his gossipy ways. I had to run home to sort through the huge pile of laundry and camping supplies I’d dropped at the farmhouse that morning and find a more appropriate outfit for the Stag and Crowne. I needed to call Dora York to arrange a bigger room for our next meeting since my little Environmental Committee now exceeded the forty-person capacity of the small room we’d been allotted, even with several members inexplicably absent. And if I got all of that other stuff done, Imighthave time to stop by the diner just long enough to kiss the supportive and patient boyfriend I hadn’t seen in thirty-three hours and make plans with him for later tonight since I was missing him like crazy and our adorable text conversations werenotcutting it.
As I walked out to my car, I fantasized briefly about canceling my meeting, kidnapping Jack Wyatt, and taking him home to do all sorts of unspeakably delicious things to his big, naked body—probably on the front porch, at least for the first round, since I didn’t have the patience to make it all the way to his bed… but I couldn’t.
Support for Save Fogg Peak had grown so exponentially that if we kept our momentum going for another week or so, I was confident Little Pippin Hollow would vote a resoundingnoto the proposed development, and the Peak would be protected.
