He shook his head. “No. My partner, Greg, and I took her to dinner one night before we decided to partner with her. It is a very common practice in our business. However, about a year after we partnered, she was making claims that I was dating her.”
“And why did you guys buy her out?”
Josh closed his eyes, and I could see that he was uncomfortable. But I also believed that he was telling me the truth. “She became obsessed with me, and she insisted that we were in a relationship. She refused to talk to anyone but me. If she called the office and a female answered the phone, she would lash out at whoever was on the other line and accuse me of cheating on her.”
I just nodded, taking in everything he was saying.
“She started showing up at the office, claiming that we were going out for lunch. She tried following me home from work, andI ultimately had to get a restraining order against her. Once the restraining order was in place, we could no longer be business partners. We gave her the option to buy us out, and she could keep the inn. We were not going to make any money on the deal—we just asked her to pay us back what we had originally put in. Unfortunately, she had made some poor financial decisions and could not afford to buy us out. Therefore, we bought her out, and she moved away.”
I took a deep breath, but I did not say anything. My eyes filled with tears as I felt a mix of emotions rising up inside of me.
“I can show you a copy of the restraining order to prove that I’m telling you the truth. I will also give you Greg’s number, and you can call him and he will verify what I told you. I can also give you the number of three or four of my other colleagues, who can all verify what happened.”
“You don’t need to do that,” I said, finally trusting myself to speak.
“But I will,” Josh said. “Because I can see how this looks to you.”
“No, you don’t need to do that. That is something that is so easily verifiable that you would be foolish to bring it up if it wasn't true. But also, I believe you.”
“Thank you,” he said.
“Does your company want my bed-and-breakfast?”
“Of course,” Josh said.
I turned to him, shocked. “What? What do you mean of course?”
“Brenna, it’s a development company. We specialize in developing properties just like this one. With this view and this location, of course my company wants your property. However, they are not going to get it. Unless you want to give it to them. But even if you do decide to give it to them, I will have nothing to do with it. It will be only because you reach out to them.”
I looked at him for a minute but didn’t say anything.
“Please know that I would never intentionally do anything to hurt you. I would like to believe that I would never intentionally do anything to hurt anyone, but I know this is especially true with you. I look out for you. And protect you. That’s what I’ve always done, and it’s what I will always do.”
Josh leaned back in his chair and the two of us sat in silence for a moment, looking out at the ocean. Finally, he broke the silence.
“Thank you for giving me a chance to explain,” he said. “You didn’t have to.”
“Yes, I did,” I said.
“Why?” he asked.
“Because you’re my friend. Because I know you. I think that when I was hearing the story today the worst part was thinking that you would be capable of this since this is not who I know you to be. But she had so many details and was so certain. I didn’t want it to be true, not just because of what it might mean for me, but because of what it would mean for you. I hated to think that’s how you could’ve been. So I had to hear it from you.”
“Can I hug you?” he asked.
“You better,” I said.
He helped me to my feet and wrapped his arms around me. We stood there for a minute, and then he let go.
“Can you go and get my mom for me?” I asked. “I’m sure she’s probably re-read the same page twenty times, and I need to let her know that everything’s okay.”
“Of course," he said. “But if you ever change your mind about wanting to see the restraining order or getting a hold of my colleagues, let me know. The offer will always be there.”
“I don’t need it,” I said.
He smiled at me, and then ran inside. I sank back down into the chair and started to cry as a wave of relief washed over me.
Chapter 14
