“What’s a better word?” she asked, trying not to smile.
“Seismic. Epic. Life-altering.”
“Those work, too.”
He drew in a breath. “They’re different than nice.”
She stepped toward him and lightly brushed her mouth against his. “I’ll go with epic. It was very epic. And now I have to go see about some pork chops.”
She walked back into her room, then slipped on sandals. As she made her way downstairs, she realized she was smiling and humming and generally acting like a very happy woman. Which, it seemed, she was.
Unexpected, but very, very epic.
eighteen
HARLOW WAS HOT and tired. Her charter had run over by two hours—not all that unusual, but she hadn’t slept well the night before, so the longer day had bothered her more than usual. Plus, the heat and humidity were getting to her. She grabbed a bottle of water from the refrigerator in the break room, then made her way to her office, where she booted up her computer.
Maybe she was dehydrated, she thought, typing in her password. Or exhausted. She’d spent the past couple of days working on long charters with Enid, making sure her friend knew everything she needed to for her job.
Fortunately her BFF was a natural sailor. As Harlow had suspected, Enid was great with the clients, and the various captains liked her, so it had been an easy transition. Her dad had calmed down about Austin leaving and was now wondering aloud why he hadn’t hired Enid years ago.
Harlow watched her email load. She was off for two days, something she was usually grateful for, just not this time. Oh, she wanted to not be working, but now she and Kip were going to have their sit-down, and she wasn’t in the mood for that at all.
She knew getting to the heart of what was going on was important, but she didn’t think she could survive the “discussion” that would go with it. What if they had bigger problems to deal with? Although she couldn’t imagine something worse than him having been married before. That little shocker was part of what kept her awake.
What was she supposed to do with that information? How was she supposed to feel? Yes, Kip and Tracey had eloped, so he hadn’t had a big wedding, but still. She wasn’t going to be his first wife. For the rest of their lives together, she was his second wife. Nothing was going to be new for them.
Worse, he hadn’t told her. She’d reached the point where she understood the omission was a bigger deal than the marriage itself. Which explained her wanting to avoid the serious conversation she knew they had to have.
She worried about what else was he hiding. What if whatever it was turned out to be so bad, she had to end things? She didn’t think she could handle that. Not with both her mom and Austin gone. She would be totally on her own, with all the crap going on.
She should have gone with Austin, she thought, opening an email about a charter request. Not that her dad would have given her the time off. So that was a nonstarter. Still, it would have been nice to see Aunt Lillian and spend a few days at the house. She could have cleared her mind and hung out with her mom and talked to her about Kip and what was happening.
She saw an email from the attorney handling the purchase of the kayak business and felt a jolt of guilt. She hadn’t even thought about the kayak business in days. No wonder he was writing her—she’d practically dropped off the face of the earth.
But when she opened the email, she discovered he wasn’t chiding her. Instead he’d sent paperwork officially rescinding any interest in purchasing the company.
“What?”
Harlow stared at the email, then printed the attachment and scanned it.
“I don’t get it,” she said aloud. She walked into her father’s office.
Cord was just hanging up the phone.
She waved the paper in her hand. “We’re no longer interested in buying the company?” She couldn’t believe it. “What happened? You never said anything.”
Her father’s expression turned peevish. “Dammit, Harlow, what did you expect? That I would buy it?”
“Why are you mad? I’m asking a legitimate question. I sat in this office with you, and we talked about this for hours. I spent my senior year coming up with a business plan, forecasts and even an evaluation. I ran everything by you. You said it was a great idea.”
He sighed heavily. “Look, it is a great idea. For a college project.”
“But you’re not buying the business?” She genuinely didn’t understand.
He swore. “That business costs two hundred thousand dollars. You think I have that kind of money just sitting around here? Where? In a drawer?”
His derisive tone made her feel she’d done something wrong. “You said you wanted to do it. We had a plan. You said you were fine with it.”
“I said what you wanted to hear. Listen to yourself, Harlow. You think I’m going to spend that kind of money for some crap rental place just so you can learn to run it? You want to take over this company someday, learn it from the ground up. I’m not buying you a business to practice on. Jesus, kid, get real. I’m willing to give you a fancy title and overpay you because you’re my daughter. That’s how it works in a family business. But there are limits.”
She flushed at his assessment. The attack seemed to come from nowhere, and she couldn’t think of a defense.
“Why didn’t you say any of this before?” She tried to keep her voice steady. “Why did you make me think you were really interested?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t want to disappoint you. I didn’t think you’d move forward so fast. I thought you’d lose interest. You didn’t, so I shut it down.”
“You lied to me.”
He glared at her. “Don’t start. I didn’t lie. I let you believe it was going to happen because I didn’t want to disappoint you. I’m not the bad guy. You’re the one with unrealistic expectations.”
But he had lied. He’d let her think he supported what she was doing. He’d let her think it was real when the entire time he hadn’t been interested in buying the business at all. He’d seen her as foolish and entitled. A spoiled brat who expected her daddy to buy her a business.
Humiliation and shame rushed through her as she realized that description wasn’t far from the truth. She had expected that, just like she’d expected her mother to keep a house she couldn’t afford so Harlow could have her dream wedding.
“I wish you’d told me sooner,” she said.
“I’m telling you now. It’s done.”
“I see that.”