“Uh-oh, again. Don’t tell me Rafe…how shall I say…fell short of expectations? That’s damn disappointing after all the fireworks in the supply closet.”
“No, no. He was…” What word accurately described the last several days? “Perfect.”
“Perfect? Nobody’s perfect. You sound really low.” Concern sharpened Laurie’s voice. “Oh, no. You’re not missing him, are you?”
Maybe. “Of course not.” She made a left onto the road to Kihei and stared down the lonely single-lane highway. “We had our fun. Great while it lasted, but now we’re done.” She infused the statements with a breeziness she was far from feeling. “I’m just stressed about the deal.”
“I hate to add to your stress, but I called to give you a heads up.”
A heads up from Montenido? That couldn’t be good. “What happened?”
“I ran into Paul at the market today. The jerk snuck up on me in the produce section and started pumping me for information. How are you? Do you want your old job back? Do you miss him? I told him you were doing great and you’d outgrown everything about your old life, including him, but I think he’s going to need to hear it from you.”
“Perfect. Cindy already called and accused me of trying to break them up.”
“That must have been special.”
“Fairly horrifying, actually. I didn’t handle it correctly.”
“Please tell me the words, ‘I’m sorry,’ didn’t pass your lips.”
She winced. “Well, she was upset—”
“Chels, we’ve talked about this.”
“I know. I know. I’m still trying to get a muzzle on my nice girl. But I also hung up on her, if that redeems me at all.”
“Wow. That’s a first. She must have been spitting fire.”
“She was. If Paul does contact me again, and she finds out, his chances of fathering another child are over.”
“His risk,” Laurie said. “I’m more concerned about you. You don’t want your old job back, do you? Or your old life?”
“No.” She blew out a breath. “I miss Montenido. I miss my family and friends. I even miss Las Ventanas. I’d jump at the chance to come home, given the right opportunity. But I’m not interested in being an assistant manager again, and I’m definitely not interested in repeating mistakes with Paul.”
“Good. I’m relieved to hear you say so. Tell the slimy, two-timing scumbag the same thing. Be brutal. No catering. And no apologizing, or he’ll think he has the upper hand, and he won’t listen to a word you say. The next time he contacts you, you need to own the conversation right off the bat.”
“He won’t call.”
“Funny thing about men, Chels. The ones you want to call rarely do, and the ones you never want to speak to again won’t leave you alone.”
Chapter Nineteen
Rafe stood on his deck with his phone tucked to his ear, and threw a pretzel to the sandpipers skittering in and out of the surf below. He’d share the snack, but not his drink. The scotch he needed to get through the call with his father.
“A beachfront hotel with no passage to the beach? This is a joke, no?”
“No.” He tossed another pretzel, and briefly outlined the problem with the easement. No need to go deep into the weeds. His father would have gotten exhaustive details from the attorneys. This conversation was a test of how well Rafe grasped the issue, and what he planned to do about it. When he finished his summary, his father waited a moment before responding. The man appreciated drama.
“Walk away. The easement holders will use this as an opportunity to extort millions. The board approved a firm purchase price. Asking them to now approve additional funds for a feature we assumed to be part of the original deal wastes everyone’s time.”
“I understand that. I’ve already notified the Templetons this problem is theirs to solve, and we would not be assuming any portion of any costs associated with the solution. They’re going to negotiate with MILC and see what they can work out.”
“Fine. Resume talks if and when they work things out. In the meantime, go to plan B. Approach the next target. There’s still time to get a deal done before the end of the quarter.”
Probably good advice. Too bad he couldn’t follow it. He knew the hazards of putting all his eggs in one basket, but the lack of trustworthy management at Las Ventanas had foreclosed his ability to spen
d another week away, scoping out another property. There was no plan B.