He smiled. “Hey boss.”
“Do you have any idea how much money you’ve wasted?”
“I’m sure we can – ”
“No, there’s no way. You missed the hearing. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but you missed it. Where’s your ship now, Rob?”
“We had some mechanical difficulties,” he said evenly. “We can get another chance.”
“No. Not for you. You’re fired. You’ll never work in finance again. You’re a bum, do you know that? A bum!”
A bum! Rob had been called worse.
He couldn’t stop smiling. Rick was livid. It confirmed what Rob had hoped for – the deal was really dead. The hotel was safe.
The line went dead, and Rob spent the rest of the trip chatting with the captain. When they arrived, he thanked the captain for his help and walked off of the ship into Friday Harbor.
For a moment he considered going to look for Lucy, but he decided against it. She would be surrounded by family and friends, of which he was neither.
Instead, he took an hour to walk around the shops in town before catching a ferry back to Orcas Island.
He’d left his car at the ferry terminal, half afraid Rick might try to repossess it out from under him. Luckily, no one had found it yet.
Rob drove back into Eastsound and spent two hours cleaning out his office. His landlord didn’t care what he left behind, as long as the rent was paid through the end of the month. The desk and two chairs were Rob’s gift to him.
He went back to his apartment, debating if he should try to contact Lucy one last time. She’d ignored all of his calls and texts for days, but last night, she’d finally responded. He’d texted one last apology before the hearing: “I’m so sorry about everything. And I really hope you guys win tomorrow.”
Her reply had come quickly. “Yeah, sure. Don’t ever speak to me again.”
Rob pulled up her message and stared at the words. She had been pretty clear. She wanted nothing to do with him.
What was done was done. He needed to respect what she said and find a way to live with the choices he’d made.
He’d lost Lucy – deservedly so – along with his job, his father’s respect, and his future in finance.
The silver lining was that he’d finally figured out what was important to him, even if it was realized too late.
He was thankful, at least, that he’d managed to stop OSS from taking over the hotel. It left him with a shred of something – honor, or maybe dignity, he wasn’t sure – but he’d need it wherever he was going.
He would rebuild his life from the ground up, based on whatever bit of truth he’d finally uncovered. It was time to start over and leave the island in peace at last.
Chapter Twenty-nine
That evening’s celebration was at The Grand Madrona Hotel. Chip cheerfully invited everyone who had played a role in saving the hotel – their lawyer, Margie and her crew, the landscaping team, and his friend who had showed up on short notice with a dump truck and a stump grinder. He’d invited the council members, too, but they politely declined.
The result was the hotel restaurant overflowing with good food, bottomless drinks, and roaring laughter.
Lillian was having a blast. She sat at one of the smaller tables, regaled by Chip’s retelling of how he’d almost fallen into an abandoned well on one of the properties.
“That was your own fault,” his stump grinding friend countered.
“You were supposed to warn me!” Chip yelled. He tried to look angry, but he was too happy. He had a goofy, non-Chip smile on his face.
“What more warning do you need than, ‘Don’t go over there, I don’t think the well is covered’?”
Chip laughed, shaking his head. “I can’t listen to everything you say. You talk too much.”
“Yeah right!”
