Page 21 of At First Catch

“It is.”

I lean back in my chair. “Why me?”

Diane folds her hands on the desk.

“Because this isn’t just about dock permits.”

A frown glosses across my lips.

“A marina isn’t one business, Hadley. It’s hotel bookings. It’s restaurant reservations. It’s charter captains buying fuel. It’s families wandering into Bailey’s bookstore because they spent the afternoon on the water.”

She gestures toward the framed photograph of Sweetspire before the hurricane.

“You understand how all those pieces fit together. Nolan knows how to rebuild docks. You know how to bring people back to them.”

The words land harder than expected.

I glance again toward the photograph of Sweetspire before the hurricane.

Diane follows my gaze. “People here still care about that marina. They’ve just gotten used to being disappointed by it.”

“And Nolan?”

“What about him?”

“You think he won’t disappoint them?”

Diane studies me for a moment, and I regret letting anything personal slip into my voice.

“I think Nolan Pierce bought a headache he didn’t have to buy,” she says. “That tells me something.”

“What?”

“That either he’s foolish, sentimental, or exactly the right kind of stubborn.”

I think of his face when he looked out over the docks.

“Maybe all three.”

Diane’s eyes narrow. “Interesting.”

“Stop saying ‘interesting.’”

“Stop being interesting.”

I sigh and open the attachment.

The first document is a preliminary meeting schedule. The second is a list of required permits. The third is a drafted proposal for marina-related events through the summer season.

My name is already typed beneath Liaison.

“Diane.”

“What?”

“You already added me.”

“I believed in you.”