“She deserves her share, and maybe Bradley will one day too. Now we have exactly what we need to clean up the beach on this side.”
Dillion smiles. “You really want to do that?”
“All my best memories are wrapped up in this place.” And you, I want to say, but I don’t. “I want this to be a place my kids can come to, and theirs after that. If I can do things to help this community, I want to. Bee would want me to. I’m going to make some calls in the morning. See what’s possible.”
“After you go to the bank.”
“Right. After I go to the bank.”
The next morning I take the bond notes to the bank to see if I’m excited about nothing. It turns out that I’m excited for a very good reason. Millions of very good reasons.
I set up a meeting with a financial adviser for early the following week and stop by the town hall. I expect that I’ll have to set up a meeting, but the town councilor invites me straight into her office. I tell her what I want to do and how I’d like to get the beach back into shape so the community on this side of the lake can have a place to take their families, just like my grandmother did. With the promise of money to help fund the project, and a consistent budget to maintain it, the councilor seems to be on board.
If I can secure all the permits for things like public washrooms and new docks over the winter, we should be able to start the project as soon as the ice melts off the lake.
I don’t think it’s possible for anything to spoil my good mood. And then my phone rings.
I check the caller ID.
It’s my former boss.
CHAPTER 28
STAY FOR ME
Dillion
The office door swings open, and Van walks in. He’s wearing a pair of faded jeans, a pale-blue T-shirt that has seen better days, and a black jacket. His hair is windblown, and his cheeks are flushed. Fall has settled over Pearl Lake, turning the leaves the color of fire.
My gaze finally meets his, and my smile drops. His eyes are wide, slightly manic. “Are you alone?” He closes the door behind him, a gust of crisp autumn air making the papers on my desk ruffle.
“Yeah. Everyone’s out on a job. Why? What’s wrong? Did something happen? Please tell me the bond notes weren’t fake.”
He gives his head a quick shake. “They weren’t fake. And something happened.”
“Something bad or good?”
“The CEO of my old company called.”
“Okay.” I can’t read his expression, which makes me nervous.
“They offered me my old job back.”
I lean back in my chair, and it rolls a couple of feet away from my desk. “Oh. Wow. And how do you feel about that?”
“Good. I think I feel good about it. They offered me a promotion, a change to a new department where I’ll get to work on restoration projects. They even offered me a raise, and an apology.”
“Are you going to take it? Do you want to?” Are you leaving me? is the question I don’t ask.
He drops into the chair on the other side of the desk and runs a hand through his hair. “I don’t know. At first I was like ‘Fuck no,’ because I was fired for no valid reason, but they’ve offered me my dream job. And I know I don’t technically have to work any kind of job if I don’t want to, thanks to Grammy Bee, but retirement seems like something I should think about twenty years from now.”
I smile. “Well, that makes sense. I can see retirement before thirty being premature.”
He runs his hands down his thighs. “They offered to double my salary. And I’ll be able to keep an eye on Teagan and my dad. It seems like a smart move?” It comes out more question than statement.
I don’t want to rain on his parade, or his good news, or make this about me. If I were in his position and my former company offered me my job back at double the salary, and an opportunity to be closer to my family again, I’d probably be inclined to take it. Van is close with his sister, and since all the crap that’s gone down with his brother, Van and his dad have gotten a lot closer. While there are still limits to that relationship, I would never want to stand in the way of his rebuilding a connection that’s long been broken. “When would you start?”
He drums his fingers on the arm of the chair. “In a couple of weeks.”
“So you’ll be moving back to the city?” Just saying it out loud makes my stomach twist uncomfortably. From the moment Van moved into Bee’s cottage, I knew it was temporary, that eventually he would go back to the city, because that’s where all the great architecture jobs are. But I didn’t expect the news to hurt as much as it does. And that’s just the idea of it, not his actually moving.