You, Me, and Forever (Blushing)

“Thanks for coming out on such short notice. You think you can tweak those drawings and get them back to me in the next few days so I can take them to the city?” I asked Jackson as he cut into his steak.

“Yep. I can get that back to you by end of day tomorrow,” he said after he’d finished chewing.

Benji walked over and asked if we wanted a refill on our beers.

“Sure. Two more sounds good. But let me ask you something, Benji,” I said.

“Of course.” He leaned over the edge of the bar and folded his hands together.

“I’m fairly certain you heard the woman I left with last night tell me that her name was Dominique, and if I were a betting man, I would guess that you knew that wasn’t her name because she’s a local.”

“Dominique Venezuela?” Benji said over his laughter. “The woman who was here with Dr. Pepper and Marilyn Monroney?”

Now it was Jackson’s turn to laugh. I gave Benji a slow nod. “You didn’t think you should give me a heads-up?”

“Not even for a second.” He chuckled. “You seem like a man who can handle himself just fine. I didn’t think you believed that was her name for a second. Especially the way I heard you repeat it to her several times like you knew it was bullshit. And it was nice to see Montana cutting loose for once. That girl works too hard. I was happy Violet and Blakely got her out for some fun.”

“So you do know her?”noveldrama

“Everyone knows her. She grew up here. Her dad is the best cook in town. He works at the Seaside Inn. She practically grew up there,” he said, tapping the table with his knuckles two times. “Let me grab you those beers.”

“Montana? This is a woman we’ve met?” Jackson asked as he bit off the top of his french fry. “You’ve been here for a day. That’s not like you. You’re usually all business.”

“I am all business. She’s someone I met last night at the bar. It was no big deal.” I took a long pull from my beer after Benji set it down. “She gave me a fake fucking name and said she was from out of town, but I saw her at the inn today when we were there.”

Jackson leaned back in his chair and clapped his hands together twice as a big smile spread across his face. “The player got played?”

“Please. I knew that wasn’t her name, because she fucking changed the tone of her voice every time she said it.”

“Yet you took her home?” He raised a brow. “That’s not usually your style to pick up a woman in a bar.”

“Well, I sure as fuck wasn’t escorting anyone to a black-tie event last night. I came here for dinner and ran into her. It was nothing.”

“Seems like it.” He smirked. “Is that why you asked the bartender about her?”

“I was curious if he knew that she was lying to me about her name and about living here.”

“Well, obviously he knew, but the bigger question is, Why did she lie about it? She never gave it up, even this morning when she left?”

“She left before I woke up. And no.” I held my hands up. “I didn’t sleep with her.”

But I’d wanted to.

“So why didn’t you ask her why she’d lied when you saw her today?” he pressed.

“Because I don’t give a fuck. You know how I feel about liars. I grew up with one. I tend to avoid that shit once someone shows me who they are. I should have called her out right when I met her. Why would I give a shit what her name was? She had no reason to lie to me. But I left it alone because I never planned to see the woman again.” I shrugged, glancing down at my phone to see a text from Gigi.

Jackson looked over my shoulder. “There’s someone you should plan to never see again. That woman has been trying to get her hooks in you for years.”

Gigi Wellington and I had known one another for a long time. She was someone I attended events with occasionally, and we’d spent an evening together here and there. But I hadn’t been out with her in a few months because she’d made it clear that she wanted it to be more than it was. I would never intentionally lead anyone on. I didn’t do drama or complications. I was honest about what I had to offer, and it wasn’t much if you were looking for something serious.

“Whatever. She’s just saying hi. I’ve put some distance there.”

“Good luck with that. She’s a woman on a mission when it comes to you.”

I held my hand up for Benji and pulled out my credit card, and he left to close out the tab. Jackson was taking the private jet home to the city tonight, and I had a few hours of work left to do.

“Benji, right?” Jackson asked when he handed me my credit card slip and a pen to sign.

“Yes. Benji Carlson.” He extended his hand, and Jackson shook it and told him his name.

“Well, it seems your friend Montana left something at Myles’s place, and he’d like to reach out to her. I figured it being a small town and all, you might know the best way to reach her.”

What the fuck is he doing?

Benji smirked before pulling out his phone and raising a brow at me. “You want her number, don’t you?”

“What? No. This is just Jackson being an asshole.” I shook my head.

“You’ll need it anyway. You bought the Seaside Inn. That’s where she throws ninety percent of her weddings. You’ve kind of destroyed her business without even realizing it. So, you should probably reach out and see if you can work something out for her. She’s been scrambling, trying to find new venues for the weddings that had been reserved there.”

My phone was sitting on the bar, and Jackson reached for it and handed it to Benji. “This man is all business. He’ll want to make things right.”

Benji typed what I assumed was her contact information into my phone.

“I don’t need to make anything right. I agreed to honor the wedding that was scheduled there this month. The others will just have to be moved to other venues until we’re done with construction. When I bought the place, I made sure that the contracts that had been signed had a clause stating that if the place were to be sold, the weddings that were scheduled would not be honored. The clients signed that contract. It’s not Montana’s fault that the venue sold.”

“I hear you, but look at the size of this town. It’s not like there are hundreds of other options,” Benji said.

Cry me a fucking river.

This wasn’t personal. People bought and renovated and expanded property all the time. That’s the real estate game, and I played it well.

Benji set my phone down on the bar.

“She seems like a resourceful girl. I’m sure she’ll be fine.” I pushed to my feet.

“She’s very resourceful. Built that business from the ground up with her best friend. But I sure as hell hope you hire her dad when you reopen, because the quickest way to get on Montana’s bad side is to fuck over her father.” He whistled.

“Who the hell is her dad?”

“Daniel Kingsley. He’s been running that kitchen over at the inn since Montana was born.”

I groaned. All the employees had been given plenty of notice that the place was closing down and that we’d soon begin construction. They were all welcome to reapply once the doors opened again next year. I wasn’t going to hire people just because they’d worked there before. I wanted the best, and there would be an interview process.

“I’m sure Howard and Lydia are giving great severance packages to their employees.”

“They’ve only got three employees, and Daniel’s been there the longest. He’s pretty much run the whole place for them.”

I pushed to my feet. I didn’t want all these backstories. When I purchased buildings in the city, I didn’t know anything that went on behind the scenes. I didn’t know who’d worked for them or how long they’d been there.

The place would be vacant when I took over, and we’d start construction and rebuild.

Maybe coming to a small town had been a bad idea.

“All right. Thanks for the info. I appreciate it.” I nodded as Jackson and I made our way outside.

We drove to the island’s airport, and I clapped him on the back and thanked him for coming today.

“I’ll send over the new drawings tomorrow. Call me if you need anything. And call the wedding planner. You know you want to.” He held his hand up in a wave and jogged toward our private jet.

I drove back to my rental and stepped inside. I sat down at the table and opened my laptop to see another email from Howard.

The man loved to email me. This had been going on for weeks, ever since we’d started the negotiation and through the closing.

He was reminding me that the women from the Blushing Bride were going to be stopping by this week to take some measurements, as the tent they’d rented was larger than usual and they needed to map out some of the logistics for the outdoor ceremony. Apparently, this next wedding was going to be a large one.

I’d already known that, because he’d told me multiple times. None of this was something I needed to be updated on, but I just thanked him and said it wasn’t a problem.

I read through the email from the contractor. Charlie wanted to meet with me again this week to discuss some materials that he thought would be easy to access and fit well in the design.

I tapped my fingers against the desk a few times before picking up my phone.

I chuckled when I saw what Benji had typed for her contact information: Montana the Hot Girl from the Bar.

I changed it to: Honey Badger.

I wouldn’t want to forget the way we’d met.

I chuckled. I knew I was pissing her off, and for whatever reason, I was enjoying it.

It was a low blow. But she was pissing me off. She was the one who’d lied to me. Not the other way around.

Well, that went well.

I dropped my phone on the table and scratched the back of my neck. I typed in “the Blushing Bride” and searched her business.

The woman acted like she was running a Fortune 500 company, for God’s sake. It was a wedding business. People got married all the time. She was taking things a bit too seriously.

Her website was very professional, and I quickly learned quite a bit about her and her company from the “About Us” page. Montana Kingsley and Violet Beaumont were co-owners who’d met and attended college together in Colorado, and were self-proclaimed “besties.” I focused on the section about Montana, where she shared that she was raised in Blushing, Alaska, with her father. No mention of her mother or any siblings. She said that she loved helping plan other people’s happily ever after, though she herself hadn’t found her own quite yet.

Well, using a ridiculous fake name and lying about where you live and what you do for a living isn’t going to be the best way to meet your soulmate.

She shared her favorite hobbies, which were running, painting, and reading. Her favorite books were Little Women and Pride and Prejudice. And her favorite movies were The Godfather and Rocky, because she grew up watching them with her father.

Color me intrigued.

The woman was equal parts aggravating and interesting.

And for whatever fucked-up reason, I wanted to know more.

I’d been spending a lot of time at the inn over the last week since I’d arrived, and I’d briefly been introduced to Daniel Kingsley, but seeing as it was late and dinner was long over, I decided it was time I had a conversation with the man.

“Hey, Daniel. I had the short ribs for dinner tonight, and I’d be lying if I didn’t say that they were the best I’ve ever had,” I said as I stood across from him while he wiped down the counter.

“Yeah?” He nodded. “That’s good to hear. I’m going to have a glass of wine; why don’t you join me?”

He moved to the refrigerator and poured us each a glass of wine before motioning for me to take a seat at the small table in the corner. It was quiet, which was in great contrast to the madness that usually happened in the kitchen during lunch and dinner shifts.

“Everything I’ve eaten from this kitchen over the last few days has been top notch. I’m impressed.” I took a sip of the chilled chardonnay. “And I’m not easily impressed.”

“I’m assuming you’ve eaten at plenty of fine-dining restaurants, so I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“As you should.” I set my glass down. “So, Howard tells me that you have a job lined up in Anchorage?”

“I do. They’re giving me free rein of the kitchen and the menu, so we’ll see how it goes.”

“You don’t mind commuting back and forth?”

“Nah. I’ve lived here my whole life. It’s a short boat ride over.”

I reached for my glass and took another sip. “It’s going to take some time to get this place up and running, but if you’d like to run the kitchen here, I’ve sampled enough over the last few days to know that we’d be lucky to have you.”

“I appreciate that, Myles. I’ve got to think about right now and keep the lights on at home, you know?” He chuckled. “But I’ll keep that in mind when you open the doors.”

“Well, I’ll come find you if not. You’re talented. I see why everyone in town wants to eat here,” I said.

“You sound like my daughter. Did she ask you to come in here and stroke my ego before you head home for the night?” He smirked.

I rubbed the back of my neck. “I’m fairly certain your daughter despises me.”

I’d continued finding reasons to text her over the last week, since I’d come to enjoy getting under her skin.

It was so easy to do.

He laughed. “Yeah, you didn’t have much of a chance with her after you bought the Seaside Inn. She’s a sentimental one, and this place means a lot to her. So, you were enemy number one before you even arrived.”

“Yet you don’t seem to hate me?”

He took the last sip of his chardonnay and set his glass down. “My daughter is as loyal as they come. She cares about this town, about this place, about Howard and Lydia, about the locals—about me.” He shrugged. “She’s just got a heart that’s too big for her own body. I don’t believe the sale of the inn is personal, so I’m not offended by it. It’s just business. But my girl doesn’t look at it that way.”

Just hearing this man speak about his daughter made it very clear how much he adored her.

I couldn’t imagine my father speaking about me this way.

“You two are close?”

“It’s always been me and her against the world, I guess. But she’ll be all right when all is said and done. How about you? Are you enjoying Blushing, or are you missing the city?”

“Well, I like it here more than I thought I would. Probably because I’m eating well.” I chuckled, and his head tipped back with a laugh. “But I do think this hotel is going to be good for the town. Provide a lot of new jobs and opportunities for the locals, and a place to stay for the tourists.”

“I’m sure you’re right. And most of the people in town are excited about the new place. Just give Montana some time. She’ll come around,” he said as my phone vibrated with a text from his daughter.

Speak of the devil.

Howard stepped into the kitchen and asked Daniel about a shipment that was supposed to come in today, and I pushed to my feet and thanked him for the chat. I glanced down at my phone.

Like I said. I’m enjoying getting under her skin.

I didn’t know if it was because she’d texted me first, or if it was because I knew I’d irritated her once again, but I walked out of the inn with a big smile on my face.

And tomorrow couldn’t come soon enough.