Chapter Nine
That was oddly loud, as if the door was hollow. This cabin wasn’t as solid as it looked.
There was no way she hadn’t heard it, though, and there was no response. Chip stood there, guilt simmering in his chest, as he considered the fact that he may have run Claire off the island for good.
No one had seen her at the hotel for the rest of the day, and her car was still missing from the parking lot. He’d allowed his ego to take over, and he’d acted like an absolute jerk.
The door opened by a crack and Claire peeked out. “Oh, hi,” she said.
She hadn’t run off! “Hey!”
Claire stepped out of the doorway and looked behind him. “Is everything okay?”
“Yes, everything’s great, nothing wrong at the hotel.” He paused. Chip hadn’t planned out exactly what he wanted to say, and now found himself feeling awkward and unbalanced. He cleared his throat. “I just came by to tell you that I’m really sorry for the way I behaved today.”
“Oh.” She tugged on the door and it clicked closed. “You know what, I’m sorry too. I’ve been so scattered today, and I had some unexpected news and –”
“I know, I heard.”
Her eyes widened. “You did?”
“I didn’t mean to eavesdrop,” he rushed to add, “but when I walked in I heard you talking to – I think it was your daughter?”
Really smooth, Chip. Tell her you were listening in on her phone call. Just keep digging that hole deeper and deeper.
“Yes,” she said slowly. “That was – she’s okay, I don’t normally take personal calls when I’m working. Like I said, it’s just been a bit of an…unusual day.”
Chip was relieved she didn’t seem angry. “Of course! Well, I wanted to let you know that your next room is ready, and…” He took a breath. This was much harder than he’d expected.
How was it that he could go toe to toe with any executive, but this soft-spoken woman had him completely put out? “And I wanted to make it up to you. I’d like to take you to dinner.”
She smiled. “Sure, yeah. That’s nice of you. I’d like that.”
“Okay.” He took a step back. “There’s an excellent seafood place just down the road. I know the owner and can get us a table.”
Claire stared at him for a beat before answering. “You mean right now?”
She was going to think that he was hitting on her, and that wasn’t his intention. He reached into his coat and removed a file with the hotel reports in it. “I have all of the papers from this morning, so we could talk about them there? I mean, we could talk about them here, too, if you prefer?”
“No, no,” she laughed, glancing back at the door. “Seafood would be great. Let me grab my coat.”
She flashed a smile and disappeared into the cabin.
He got the distinct feeling that he’d made her uncomfortable, but he couldn’t narrow down one of the many reasons of why that might be. Chip stood there, mentally berating himself as he stared at the door.
It had been a long time since he’d felt like he didn’t know what he was doing at work. He had been secure in his role at the hotel – until, that is, Steve had absconded and Claire had come along. Suddenly he felt thrown off, like he’d lost control. Perhaps that was another reason why he’d reacted to her so poorly.
Claire emerged from the cabin a minute later and accepted his offer for a ride to the restaurant. As she opened the passenger door for herself, he realized he could’ve done that for her.
Or maybe that would’ve made her feel even more uncomfortable? Now that he wanted to make up for being rude, he didn’t know how much was too much.
“I hope you like seafood,” he said cheerfully as he got into the driver’s seat.
“Very much, yes.”
“Great,” he said, forcing a smile. He hadn’t said the word “great” as many times in the last six months as he had in the last six minutes. He needed to pull it together.
It wasn’t a long drive to the restaurant, and embarrassingly, the place was nearly empty when they got there. There was no need for Chip to brag about knowing the owner – the hostess seated them immediately at a table overlooking the water.
