“Christopher,” I say grimly.
Blue eyes turn speculative. “How did you know that?”
I don’t really want to tell him that Christopher was here last night—or that I was here, alone. “An educated guess. He’s always been the meddling type.”
“Meddling. That’s one word for it. He hinted that they would get a big contract with his high-rise condos if they refused a renovation. It was rebuild or nothing, he told them.”
“That bastard,” I say faintly, hurt anew to hear it spelled out.
“Unfortunately he hinted that to every construction company. Once I convinced them of that, I had three bids on the table and more on the way if I waited for them to get their shit together.”
“And you picked the lowest one?”
“Nope, I didn’t go with any of those bids. Instead I brought in a company from Louisiana. Cost a pretty penny to transport the equipment and house the workers temporarily, but it’s the principle of the thing. I’m sure you understand.”
“That sounds like something Christopher would do.”
A faint smile. “There’s a reason we went into business together. If I’d let one of them take the job, they’d think they could get away with that next time. We deal honestly or not at all.”
“Maybe Christopher was worried about our safety. About the safety of restoring the building now that the foundation has been compromised.” The words ring false even as I say them, but admitting that Christopher screwed me over that completely still hurts.
Sutton gives me a droll look. “He’s only worried about himself. It bothers him when the puppets don’t dance on his strings.”
There’s a fist around my throat, making it hard to breathe. “You’re probably right.”
“Speaking of safety, I couldn’t help but notice some loose carvings near the back. The wood is almost the same color, but they didn’t come from the wall.”
My cheeks heat. “Oh, I did a little work.”
He takes off his hard hat with a knowing look and places it gently on my head. “You shouldn’t be here without me. You shouldn’t be here at all until the building is stabilized.”
The yellow hard hat looked like a normal size on him, but it feels like an umbrella on my head, like I’m a little girl playing dress up. I peer up at him from beneath the brim. “This thing is heavy. How do you work with this on?”
“Only have to get hit with a falling chunk of concrete once before the hard hat looks appealing.”
“There weren’t any falling chunks of concrete last night, I promise.”
He frowns. “But if there had been, if you had been injured, there would have been no one to help.”
“That’s not quite true.” As soon as the words are out, I wish I could take them back. From the suspicion in Sutton’s blue eyes he already knows what I have to say next. “Christopher came by.”
He curses softly. “Of course he did. One of the construction companies probably gave him hell when I turned down their bid, which serves him right. Goddamn him.”
Something warm and mysterious moves inside me, responding to the anger Sutton feels for Christopher. It’s almost intimate, this fury. More like betrayal than a dissolved business partnership. It makes me wonder if they ever shared another woman. “Was it only me between you two?” I ask, hesitant. “Am I the only reason you resigned?”
A raised eyebrow. “Are you feeling guilty?”
“You’re both big boys. I’m sure you can make your own decisions. I’m just curious.”
He sighs, rubbing his hand at the back of his neck. “There was always some competition between us, b
ut I’m pretty sure you could guess that. We’re both ambitious.”
“It’s what helped you work well together,” I guessed.
“It’s what broke us apart in the end. You were part of it. Most of it, maybe. The physical side of it, but Bardot and Mayfair wouldn’t have lasted even if you never came to town.”
I have the sense of something beneath the surface, of watching a shadow move beneath a seemingly placid lake. “Why wouldn’t the company have lasted?”