Page 8 of Dandelion Sighs

“I’ll meet Sheridan tomorrow, make a priority list, and figure out the supplies I’ll need.” A part of my conversation with her yesterday burned a hole through my gut. “She mentioned that she’d love access to the dock. She’d make a path from there to the restaurant and catch all the water traffic that they normally miss because everyone has to wait until they’re done on the water or do it before that.”

Alder nodded, then froze. “But she can’t.”

“Nope. Because it can’t be sold yet.”

He tipped his head, studying me. “Not unless⁠—”

“Not this time.”

He waited for me to continue. It sucked to say it out loud. I could help the woman. I could make a big part of her life better when it came to the resort. But she wanted to prove herself, and having me carry her across the threshold wouldn’t solve that. Besides, we hardly knew each other. It wasn’t fair to either of us.

I drew in a deep breath. “She’s gotta have this win on her own. Her family’s like we were with Lily, making her feel like she can’t do anything right and every decision is a bad one.”

Understanding filled his eyes, but there was a question there too. “It’s okay if you don’t want to make that jump.”

“It’s not that.”

“It’s not?” he prodded gently.

“It’s not about her.” My ex-fiancée had long been out of my life.

He gave me a you sure about that? look.

Defensiveness crept up my neck. “It’s been years.”

“And you haven’t had one girlfriend since.”

Nope. Definitely no fiancée since then either, and that suited me just fine. “I’ve been working, and that’s what I’m going to go do tomorrow. Work. Besides, Sheridan’s a mess.” Acid chewed up my throat throwing her under the bus like that. But if it worked to get Alder off the topic of my ex-fiancée, I’d suffer a little heartburn.

“A mess, huh? Sure.” Apparently, his bullshit radar had been honed as the CEO of the refinery outside of town.

Since he wouldn’t drop it, I’d give him a huge dose of the truth. “She ran into me. Literally. She spilled her mama’s ashes on me.”

He blinked, but didn’t otherwise react. It was like he was waiting for me to tell him I was kidding.

“To be honest,” I continued, enjoying his growing horror, “Sheridan said it wasn’t all of her mother. The ashes were split between the siblings.”

Alder made a choking noise and then shot back his coffee like it was mixed with hard liquor instead of steamed milk. He smacked his lips. “Damn, Jasper. That’s…unusual.”

I barked out a laugh. “Sure is. She’s floundering. Going from being a real estate agent to a resort owner? Right after her mom died? No. I’m not interested. If not for my sake, then for hers.”

“Makes sense.”

Relieved the subject was dropped, I was left with a sour taste in my mouth that ruined the entire cup of coffee.

Chapter Three

Sheridan

For our morning update, I was behind the front desk with all the employees working today. Light spilled in through the sliding doors, and the main room had been tidied after the breakfast rush. I clapped my hands and forced a big smile. It was Monday. The start of a new week.

This would be a good day, followed by six more. Then we’d start over. But that wasn’t why I smacked my hands together. Constance was rolling her eyes and shooting knowing looks toward Maria, the full-time desk clerk.

It’s going to be a good day.

It’d be better without Constance. Maria was at least trying to avoid catching Constance’s snarky expression. The other two part-time staff looked as bored as usual.

“Jasper Duke is going to be working with us for a while, doing some handiwork.”