Risking the Crown (The Crown 2)

I got lost in it. The movement. The stillness of the barn. What it meant that I had opened the doors to his sanctuary.

Ten minutes later, Cole entered the boathouse.

He stopped a few feet short of where I was sanding. “I can’t believe it.”

“Don’t say anything.” I gritted my teeth.

He folded his arms over his chest. “You weren’t in the house. Didn’t think you’d actually be in here.”

I nodded. “Needed something to do.”

I heard him break the seal on a beer. “Need one of these?”

I grinned. “Hell yeah I do.”

I threw the sand paper down and took one of the beers. “Thanks.”

“So, you opened the barn back up. Does that mean anything?” he asked, taking a seat on one of the empty sawhorses. His feet shuffled over wood shavings that littered the barn floor.

“No.” I chugged. “Means I needed to sand this juniper.”

“Right. Right. So it has nothing to do with a certain blonde who is leaving the island?”

My eyes shot to his. “What are you talking about?”

“I ran into Shirley when I bought the beer. She said Sierra has to head back to Texas in a couple of days. Something about work. You didn’t know?”

“Huh. No, I hadn’t heard. Good for her.”

“Man, really?”

“What the fuck do you want me to do? She doesn’t want to stay. Some people leave and come back. Some don’t.”

“And you’re giving up on her? She came back, man. She’s trying to do the right thing.”

I tipped the cold bottle to my lips. “The right thing? She was forced to come back here. Don’t cut her any slack. She’s here because she has to be.”

Cole shook his head. “I knew her in high school too. Don’t forget that.”

“And you were here when she left.”

“I was. But she was a kid. We all were. You seriously going to hold a grudge like that?”

“No. I don’t give a shit what she does.”

“You’re not going to call her?” Cole grilled me. “Because that’s what this is all about. The sanding, opening the barn, the pissy mood—it’s Sierra.”

I shook my head. “Nah, it was a mistake. I shouldn’t have taken her out to the Dock House or the Cape. I don’t know what the hell I was thinking opening up that shit back up with her.”

I kept my head down and focused on smoothing out each bump in the plank’s grain. Sanding was good. It kept me from thinking. But Cole was pushing hard to make me face things about Sierra I didn’t want to admit.

“Ok, ok. I’m just trying to help you out. Seems like you’re making a mistake from where I stand.”

“Stay out of it, Cole. It’s complicated.” I groaned.

Cole threw his hands in the air and took a step backward. “I’m out. You do what you’re going do.”

“Thanks. I think I can handle Sierra.”