Because of Sydney (28 page)

I
took a seat near the window. Today was overcast. The ocean looked gloomy as if a storm was about to descend on the island.

He was late again. I waved off the waitress when she appeared for the third time.

“Mason, hope you didn’t wait long.” Carlos heaved himself into a chair.

“Not too long. Slightly curious about your phone call, Carlos.”

We ordered from the menus. Carlos stirred a packet of sugar into his tea. His mustache twitched on the ends. I had a pretty good idea that he was going to ask for campaign funds. Only, I had thought that request would come from his staff.

“Mason, I’ve got some bad news.”

“What’s that?”

“We can’t approve the new campsite permits.” He sat back to adjust his belt.

I smiled. “What are you talking about? It’s ten trailer hookups. I’m not building a nuclear site.”

His spoon rattled against the bottom of the glass. The sugar had formed clumps under the ice. “I had to negotiate with Janet Rodriguez.”

“What does she have to do with the sound site?”

“She has found an endangered insect at Beach Combers Cove.”

I stared at him. “An insect? You’re fucking kidding me right now, Carlos. I have a contractor ready to plow it under next week. I have ten residents moving to the new campsite in a few days. Millions are on the line. Including at least eighty-five jobs for the first phase. You really want to pit me against an insect? I had my team look over everything. We did our due diligence. There was never an insect issue.”

He shook his head. “I know you’re mad. That’s why I talked to Janet first.” He held up his hands. “I negotiated a deal.”

“You negotiated a deal. Please tell me what in the hell you came up with.” I could feel the vein on the side of my neck starting to throb. I didn’t like it when someone else negotiated for me.

“I told her you would be willing to convert the sound side property into a natural protected habitat where we could relocate the endangered insects in exchange for the resort permits.”

I clenched my fists and kept my voice low. “That doesn’t work for Lachlan Corporation.”

“It’s going to have to, Mason. If Janet goes public with the endangered insects you’ll have environmentalists showing up faster than you drive. She’ll shut the resort down. You’ll still have the sound property but what are you going to do with that? Nothing. It doesn’t do us any good.”

“There has to be something else she wants. What did you take to the table?”

He shook his head. “She wants more natural areas on the island. And you and I both know that piece of land you bought is the only one available. Set it up as a natural habitat. We get the bugs transported and you can build the resort.”

“But I have nowhere for the residents to go. Ten families need a place to live. Including that Arnie Cratchett. He’s caused a lot of problems.” I knew he was the one who got Janet involved in the first place. “He’s crazy, but people listen to crazy.”

The waitress returned with our plates. I shoved mine out of the way.

The commissioner didn’t seem to have lost his appetite like I had. He bit into his steak sandwich.

“I’ll have someone in my office send over the requirements for the habitat. You’re going to want to get that started right away. You know, as a good faith gesture to Janet.”

I slammed my hand on the table. “I didn’t buy that tract of land to create a bug zoo. It’s for the Cove residents.”

“Not any more, it’s not.”

I stood, tossing my napkin on the table.

“I will find a way around this, Carlos.”

“If you try, you’re going to end up without a resort. I’m telling you. It’s your only option.”

I leaned against the table. “It’s my only option because you didn’t include me in the negotiations.” I stood back, my knuckles white.

“What matters is I saved the jobs.” He was so wrapped up in his campaign promises he was clueless to what he had done.

I stormed out of the restaurant. I didn’t care I had left the commissioner with my bill or an uneaten plate of food. The man had just become an enemy. He would find out what that meant.

The condo had never felt smaller. The walls were closing in. I had talked to everyone on the Lachlan Corporation legal team. We were screwed. There was no way around the damn insect problem.

I made another circle around the kitchen. If I didn’t sign the contract for the bulldozer, I would lose another two weeks of time. They were on a tight schedule to rent the equipment. If I signed it, I was about to displace everyone in the Cove with nowhere for them to go.

I picked up the phone to call Mark.

“Good afternoon, sir. How’s the beach?” He answered on the first ring.

“Mark, I need you to check every real estate tax record on Padre. Find some place I can put a campground.”

“Sir, we did that last week, remember?”

“Do it again. Find something.”

“All right. I had a call from Hattman and Jones. They need your final approval on their schedule. Once you sign the contract, everything will get rolling at the site.”

I sighed. I was stalling. I had to trust that we could find a solution before the equipment rolled into town. I had the best team. I had to trust they could do it.

“All right. I’ll sign it today and have it over-nighted. But, Mark, find a piece of land I can convert. Call before the end of the day.”

“Yes, sir.”

He was hanging on the line, but I cut the call short. I pulled open the manila envelope and stared at the contract.

I knew what this meant. It wasn’t only bad for Lachlan Corporation to go back on the deal, it was going to be bad for me. But the alternative was losing millions. I could afford to do a lot of things, but that wasn’t one of them. With my new venture in the gas and oil market and three properties waiting to be sold, I couldn’t leave Beach Combers Cove undeveloped. I was in a corner.

This could go one of two ways. Knowing the kind of man I was, I knew which option I would choose. The one I always chose. Decisions like this one came to me naturally. At least they used to. They should. I wasn’t the type to get bogged down in ethics—or consequences. Not the emotional kind anyway. I analyzed the black and the red of a deal. Nothing else mattered.

I prided myself on the size of my bank account, not the number of friends I had. I could spot a liar a mile away. A swindler even farther. Call it natural instincts. Call it growing up with a liar as a father.

Some people say I’m calculated or cold. Some say I’m heartless and ruthless for what I do. I shrugged it off. Other people’s opinions never meant anything to me.

I’m the one who weighed the outcomes. I’m the one who saved the deal. Everything else is only collateral damage as far as I’m concerned. At the end of the day, there can only be one winner. And that winner, better be me.

The contract sat on the table. I reached for the pen. She wouldn’t forgive me, but she knew what she was getting into when we started this.

There was only one way this was going to go from the beginning.

M
ason had decided the drive to Dallas was going to be too long. I didn’t argue. Eight hours one-way in the car wasn’t how I wanted to spend the day with him. Although, I was on his payroll now. He decided how I worked. We boarded a plane in Brownsville for a quick flight to Dallas Thursday morning.

I watched the brown fields whiz past us as we glided through the air.

“You know this is my first trip to Dallas,” I mentioned.

Mason’s head was buried in his tablet. I bit back the nausea when I saw he was reading the
News & Record
. He still had to get his news somewhere.

“It’s going to be a quick trip,” he mumbled. “We fly back tonight.”

I scrunched my nose. He was preoccupied. That seemed to be his condition during the workday. I couldn’t complain at night though. His focus was solely on me.

“Why so short?” I asked.

He turned the tablet off and took my hand. “I need to show my face. That’s important sometimes.” He smiled. “You can meet everyone. I have to pick up a few things at my apartment.”

“Like what? More white shirts?”

He scowled. “White goes with everything.”

I giggled. “It does. But have you thought about branching out at all? I’ve only seen you in a blue shirt once.”

“You’re not going to be one of those girlfriends are you?” His eyes darted back and forth, studying my lips.

“Girlfriend. That’s what I am?”

“Syd.” He squeezed my hand. “What do you think this is? We moved past the casual and the fun about two days in don’t you think?”

I wondered if the passengers around us were listening to our conversation.
Girlfriend.
He had said it. It came out of nowhere, but now that it was here I wanted to hear the word on his lips a hundred times.

I nodded. I had bypassed casual the first time I saw him. “So my boyfriend is Mason Lachlan. I think that sounds good.”

“Too bad we’re on this plane with all these people. I would see what other sounds I could get you to make.” He slid his hand up my thigh. I gasped when his fingers ducked under my skirt.

I shook my head. “No,” I warned.

He chuckled, his hand sliding back to my knee. “God, do I want to.” He raised his eyebrows. “Private plane next time.”

He flipped the tablet back on.