Page 230 of At First Catch

“I found it sitting on my desk after one of our planning meetings.” His smile grows softer. “I almost set it aside.”

My heart stumbles.

“But then Walter said something.” His eyes meet mine. “He reminded me they weren’t just lending to a marina.” He lets out a quiet breath. “They were lending to Coral Bell Cove.” His fingers tighten around the folder. “So I opened it.”

I don’t interrupt.

“I spent weeks trying to convince everyone the marina would make enough money.” A faint laugh escapes him. “You spent weeks showing why it mattered.”

Emotion catches in my throat. “I didn’t know if any of that would actually help.”

“It did.” His answer comes without hesitation.

“The repair estimates told them what needed fixing, while the financials showed them how we’d pay for it.” He shakes his head gently. “But your report...” A smile tugs at one corner of his mouth. “That showed them what they’d be protecting.” His eyes shine with quiet emotion. “The lender spent almost twenty minutes asking about the businesses.”

I stare at him. “The bookstore.”

He nods.

“The café.”

Another nod.

“The resort. The charter captains. The festivals.” His voice turns tender. “They wanted to know how all of it fit together.”

A tear slips down my cheek.

“It was the first meeting when I realized...” He looks at me like the answer should’ve always been obvious. “I wasn’t asking them to believe in a marina. I was asking them to believe in a community.” His gaze never leaves mine. “And nobody understands this community better than you.”

“The marina had a better first season than we projected. Slip renewals are already ahead of schedule. Between that, the storm-mitigation grants, and a different financing structure...”

He shrugs.

“There’s a path. I kept thinking that saving the marina meant controlling every possible outcome.” His voice roughens. “But all I was really doing was letting fear make every decision for me.”

He lets out a slow breath, his eyes drifting toward the marina beyond the lighthouse windows.

“The preservation lender wasn’t writing me a blank check,” he says. “They wanted proof the marina would still belong to Coral Bell Cove ten years from now.”

A small, almost disbelieving smile touches his mouth.

“For the first time, someone wasn’t asking me how much money the marina could make. They wanted to know what I was trying to protect. Turns out they weren’t investing in a marina. They were investing in the community built around it.”

This is it. This is the thing I needed him to understand on his own. Not for me. Not for us. For himself.

Nolan swallows hard before continuing.

“You were right. I stopped living inside the life I built because I got too scared of losing it.”

Tears spill silently down my cheeks now. I know how hard this honesty cost him.

Nolan glances briefly toward the marina through the lighthouse windows, then back at me. He lets out another slow breath.

“Do you know what I kept telling myself every night?”

I shake my head.

His eyes never leave mine.