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He clinked his glass against hers and a mixed bag of emotions filtered through him. “Thanks.” He took a sip of the sparkling champagne and turned, looking out toward the water, where Claire and Lance were still taking pictures. “I didn’t realize how much I wanted it until they called to offer it to me.” He got quiet for a moment, thinking through what getting the job actually meant. There were so many questions about taking the position, and he’d charged forward under the presumption that when the time came, the answer would be clear.
Well, the time was here, and the answer was still as hazy as the day he’d first found out about the job.
“If it’s her you’re worried about, you don’t have to be,” Molly said gently. “She’s got it all under control.”
He watched his sister, splashing in the surf with her new husband. She’d been just a kid when he’d come home, but she wasn’t a kid any more. She’d grown into a beautiful, talented, responsible woman. “I know.”
“And between her and Mateo, Turtle Rehab is in great hands. They won’t have you, which will be different, but they’ll be fine.”
They’d probably be more than fine. Mateo had great ideas and strong leadership, and Claire was the heart and soul of the place, much as their mother had been. “They’ll both be great.”
“Then there’s nothing standing in your way.” Molly’s cheerful voice had a note of decisiveness in it.
He propped his arm on the rail, turning to her. She was beautiful. Not just in a pretty way that one might notice when passing a stranger on the street, although she was very much that too. But Molly was the whole package who personified beauty in every definition of the word, and her presence consistently took his breath away. “I guess not.”
Although, that wasn’t entirely true. The biggest thing standing in his way was right in front of him.
The day he’d found out about this position, she hadn’t been anywhere on his radar, and now he couldn’t consider the job without considering her. The problem he kept coming up against was he wasn’t quite sure what to consider. He didn’t know how to define whatever this was between them, but he knew he wasn’t ready to let her go. And with both of them getting ready to leave, he wasn’t sure where that left him. Or where that left them.
“I know it’s not an easy choice. It takes courage to go after what you want. But I’m proud of you for not backing down.”
Courage. That word kept tumbling through his mind for the rest of cocktail hour and into dinner. Courage wasn’t something he’d ever thought of himself lacking. He was willing to sail to the ends of the earth and dive to the bottom of the sea. He wasn’t afraid to blaze new trails or summit new mountains. But when it came to relationships, did he have the courage it took?
It wasn’t until Molly was out on the dance floor with Claire and some of the other women that the topic resurfaced.
He sat next to Mateo at the empty table, watching the action on the dance floor.
“You hear anything about the job yet?” Mateo asked.
Grant eyed his cousin. “Are you asking out of curiosity, or because you know something?”
Mateo crossed his arms over his chest and settled in his chair. “I might’ve heard the board was making a decision today.”
“And?” Grant egged him on.
Mateo shrugged. “All I know is that a decision was forthcoming.” He shot a knowing look at Grant. “And I wondered if it forth-came to you.”
Grant refocused his attention on the dance floor. He’d wanted to tell Claire before the rest of the world knew, but that didn’t seem to be in the cards. Even if he played coy with Mateo, one call to his sources was all it would take for him to find out the truth. “As a matter of fact, I got the call this morning.”
“You’re in?” There was an excitement in his voice that could only be found in a true best friend who felt Grant’s successes like his own.
“I’m in.”
Mateo slapped him on the back, becoming his normal, fully animated self. “That’s great news.”
“Yeah.” His gaze flickered to Molly.
Mateo’s eyes narrowed and he studied Grant. “You sound rather subdued for a man who got what he’s waited seven years for.” That was the problem with best friends. They celebrated your successes like they were their own, but they also knew when you were lying to them.
“I’m excited. It’s just complicated.”
Mateo looked out at the dance floor too. “Claire? We talked about this before. She’s not a kid anymore. She’s probably more equipped than either of us to run that place.”
“I know, it’s…”
“Molly?”
He watched her bobbing in the middle of the dance floor among his sister and all her friends. “I’m just trying to figure out where she fits in all this.”
