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The next morning, I see Troy off at the airport before heading back to the inn. There, I meet with the staff and disclose who I am and why I am here. Normally, I don’t have a problem breaking the news to hotel staff that changes are going to be made to the place. Maybe that’s because I was so detached before. I didn’t have any emotional inventory to account for—but now it’s a completely different story.
Some businesses wait until a deal is signed to meet with staff. But we have found that because so much chatter and gossip go around, it becomes more difficult to get the truth of who we are and what we plan to be believed if we wait.
This place matters to Meg, so now it matters to me, too. I can’t help but think how much easier this would go with Meg by my side to help convince the staff that I’m not the bad guy. My usual pitch of all the good that will come out of a conversion into the Bellamy family seems to go in and out of their ears without evoking a single smile or nod. I am facing a hostile crowd, for sure.
There’s one pair of stunning blue eyes that are cold as ice as she stares at me. Every time I try bringing up a good thing that can come out of this buyout, I can’t ignore the looks Meg exchanges with Mia, who looks just as disappointed in me as Meg does. The more I speak, the more I realize how much I’m hurting Meg…and I hate myself for it.
I soon discover that this deal is going to be even more difficult to close when I learn the owner of the inn is Meg’s grandfather. Just another detail that Troy sent me down here without mentioning.
That explains why Meg was so sure the inn would never be sold. According to Troy, her grandfather seems open to the buyout now, but I can only imagine how that will change when his granddaughters let him know what they think of the Bellamy name.
Once I’m done with my pitch and everyone is dismissed for work, I beeline for Meg, who tries to avoid me. “Five minutes,” I plead. “Just give me five minutes and I won’t bother you again.”
“What could you possibly have to say?” she demands.
“Everything I can to make things right between us,” I start. “I know what I did was awful and you didn’t deserve any of it. All I ask is that you give me the chance to make things right. I’m still the guy you kissed on the beach, Meg.”
“I didn’t think the guy on the beach would have lied as long as he did.” She crosses her arms. “But then again, I thought you were great in every way, and look how that backfired on me. I’m the one left looking like an idiot for trusting you. I’m not sure how you can fix this.”
She’s not wrong. I basically humiliated her. I know what it’s like being in a conference room and not knowing what the hell is going on, only to find out that you’re the one being made to look like a fool.
It’s easier to deal with when it’s just business, but this isn’t. I’ve never gone so far as to mess with a heart like Meg’s.
I know she shouldn’t give me a chance or the time of day, but I have to at least try. I want to walk away knowing that I did everything I possibly could to win her back and make things right by her. She deserves at least that.
“So let me try. The worst that can happen is I try my best and you’re still mad at me. Let me make things right by you.”
I can see her thinking, contemplating my words, but she still looks so pissed off that I can practically see the smoke escaping from her ears.
“I have to get back to work,” she says. “I’m sure you have business to attend to,” she intones the word like it is poison on her lips. I’m starting to feel the same way.
Okay, she’s still mad at me but I’m not giving up. A girl like Meg is as rare as red diamonds, and I can’t lose her over something like this. I know I can close the hardest deals when it comes to business, so I might as well put those skills to use outside of a conference room.
I just hope it works.
Chapter twenty-one
Meg – Sister Comfort
I’m the biggest idiot in the world.
Why did I think that I’d get lucky enough to find someone I really connect with and not have some kind of strings attached? I cannot believe that I opened my heart to a man who was playing me this whole time! How could I have been so blind?
Drew refused to tell me about his family so I took it as he wasn’t close with them. In reality, he didn’t want to spill the beans on who he really was by revealing his family name. ‘Working in New York’ meant so many different things in my head, so when he claimed he was a headhunter, it made sense.
I just went with it without so much as following up on his words. Not even a Google search! I can’t help but blame myself, knowing everything I overlooked. The small things I missed that were right in front of me this whole time.
I do know one thing for sure. He will not succeed with his big-money plans here. No sirree, Seaside Cove is my home and I want it to stay low-key and happy. What will this place look like, and how can Mia and I even keep working here, if the giant succeeds?
I stand firm in my conviction that the inn is not for sale, but there’s a nagging worry in the back of my mind that I can’t ignore. If our grandfather actually lets them buy this place, so much is going to change, and there’s no good in that.
Everything changes with a buyout, no matter how much Drew says that things will stay the same. The rooms will be different, the prices for the rooms are going to go through the roof, and I don’t even want to think about how many people are going to get laid off. Mia and I could very well be included in that.
The minute Bellamy gets its claws into the inn, it’s over. It’ll be stripped like a car for spare parts until nothing of what it used to be remains. It won’t be quaint and cozy and unique. It’ll just be another property bought and flipped to fit a cold, money-hungry billion-dollar company’s business model.
“Knock, knock,” Mia’s muffled voice sounds from the other side of my bedroom door.
