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Chapter
Sixteen
Harrison Tate should’veknown Grant wouldn’t invite him to a meal where he wasn’t wanted.Harrison simply felt so out of place inside his own life right now that he wasn’t sure he saw any situation clearly.
Both women across the table from him exuded charm and beauty, and he could see why Grant had fallen in love with Bea.She complemented him perfectly, with her short hairstyle that said she wasn’t afraid of who she was.
Lauren…he couldn’t quite get a read on her.When she didn’t know he was looking at her, he felt a different kind of vibe flowing from her, but the moment their eyes met, she covered that with a façade.He knew plenty about ripping out the old and redoing things with new.He knew about leaving in an old, tarnished, broken-down tub and shower combo, sealing it to make sure the water didn’t leak into the walls and cause mold, and simply covering it with brand-new front features.
He could spray the waterproof coating over the walls and tub, then fit something new over it.No one knew what sat beneath the shiny new exterior—except for him.
That was how he felt about Lauren.She kept putting the new fixtures over the old ones, because she didn’t want anyone to see the rust, the mildew, or the damage that truly existed.
Heck, he understood.He wasn’t going to call her on it.For one, she was a stranger.Two, she deserved her privacy.
Her long, dark hair held a wave, and when she laughed, her nearly black eyes lit up.But that light went out quickly, buried beneath whatever sadness or melancholy she held in her heart.Her eyebrows sat heavily over her eyes, but he liked them—they gave her face character.
Their eyes met, and Harrison quickly smiled, then went back to his New York strip.Any day he could eat steak and eggs on Grant’s dime was a win in his book, and he didn’t have anything waiting for him at home.
Not anymore.
He pushed that behind a façade, realizing he wasn’t the only one at this table with something he didn’t want to show on his face.In fact, he hadn’t even told Grant about Claudia leaving, and he wasn’t planning to.Once his neighbors found out—and only by some miracle had they not yet—the whole island would know.Then he’d get stopped by little old ladies in the grocery store and have to accept condolences.
Pats on the forearm, with those big puppy dog eyes.He didn’t want any of it, and he wished the grocery stores here in Hilton Head delivered like they did in Charleston, where his brother lived.
Harrison had thought of moving there, but he’d established and built his landscaping company here.He’d worked hard at it too, and he employed over a dozen people and had twice that many clients.Good clients.Paying clients.
He shot a look at Grant, who said, “You’ll come to the lighthouse with us, right, Harrison?”
He shoved another piece of steak in his mouth and shook his head.“I can’t,” he said once he’d swallowed.“I’ve got a consult out in Sea Pines.”
“Oh, is that so?”Grant’s eyes glinted with the same magic and mayhem he’d seen many times.Once, right before they’d jumped off the bridge that connected the island to the main continent.“Well, that’s where we’re going.Consults take what?Ten minutes?”
“Grant,” Harrison said with plenty of warning in his voice.
“What?”Grant asked.“Bea wants a picture from the top of the lighthouse, and I told her you helped restore it.”
Bea wore wonder in her dark blue eyes, and Harrison sighed internally.“Did you really?”she asked.“I love the history of this island.It’s amazing.”
“Yeah,” he said, his voice heavy but his heart growing wings.He’d been to the historic lighthouse—which yes, he’d helped make sure it was structurally sound when the island government had approved its restoration—many times.Too many.But it was either do his consult and go home to an empty house, or go through the museum to the top of the lighthouse with an old friend and two pretty women.
It honestly wasn’t a hard choice at all.
A while later—anhour, maybe two, Harrison wasn’t sure—he stepped out onto the deck on the Harbor Town Lighthouse.He’d arrived last, though not by choice.Bea and Lauren had wanted to see everything, and by that, they meanteverything.
They’d read every sign on the way up.Looked at every picture.Exclaimed over the things hanging from the ceiling.It had been cute for the first ten minutes, but as the few tourists already on the island went up and then back down while they’d only made it to the fourth landing, the novelty of their excitement had worn off.
Harrison honestly didn’t care, but he’d also stopped telling them more than what hung in the lighthouse.It wasn’t used anymore, and it had been converted into a shop and a museum upon the renovation.Two shops, actually, as one existed on the bottom level, where they’d bought their tickets, and here at the top, on the inside portion of the deck level.
“Wow,” Bea said, and Harrison got the feeling it wasn’t the first time.Grant hadn’t strayed more than six inches from his new girlfriend, and the way he looked at Bea made Harrison sick to his stomach.Like he’d just swallowed a liquid concentrate of cotton candy.It was so sweet and so sugary and so soft, and Harrison remembered looking at his wife like that once upon a time.
His stomach hadn’t hurt then, so a lot had changed.
He’dchanged, and so had Claudia.He did regret that their individual changes hadn’t been something which brought them closer together, but he wasn’t going to apologize for the improvements in himself.She shouldn’t have to either, and as he looked out over the water toward Daufuskie Island, Harrison felt some of his sadness lift.
Harrison loved working on that quaint island.No one owned a car, as golf carts were the only form of motorized transportation there.They did allow him to drive his construction trucks around when he was working on a build, but none of the residents had cars.The roads were too narrow, and Harrison thought about buying something on Daufuskie now that he had to stay in his house alone.
He’d have to take a ferry to Hilton Head every day, though, and he wasn’t sure about that.Daufuskie was only accessible by ferry, as were a couple of other islands to the northeast of Hilton Head.Carter’s Cove was one of his favorite places to visit, and it only sat a few miles away from his front porch on the north side of the island.
