Page 7 of The Last Goodbye

“Well then, welcome to Blue Sky Bay,” Tatum said as she patted me on the shoulder. “I think you’re going to be here for a while.”

Clearly this was not going to be as easy as I’d hoped. It sounded like Bass Bennett was known for being stubborn, and that was not good news for me.

Because I wasn’t leaving until he signed that contract.

“So how long have you guys lived here?” I asked.

We spent the next hour chatting. I learned that Tatum grew up here, and Gracie moved here with her fiancé, Cutler, who was also best friends with Bass and Brody. Apparently, there were two other guys in that group as well, and they would probably all be a bit chilly toward me.

Tatum was the activities director at an assisted living facility, and Gracie was an interior designer.

I filled them in on how I’d grown up in a small town in the Midwest and moved to New York to attend law school, and now I worked for the family business there.

“I lived in New York for six months not that long ago,” Gracie said. She filled me in on the design firm she’d worked for in the city and how she’d started her own business here.

“No way. J&J Interiors designed my brother and his girlfriend’s apartment,” I gasped. “I met Johnny a few times. He’s amazing.”

Her mouth hung open. “He’s one of my best friends.”

“Look at us,” Tatum said, reaching for her glass of wine. “We’re already practically besties.”

I let out a quiet laugh as I glanced between her and Gracie. It was strange, how easy this felt. No agenda, no contracts on the table, no one measuring every word I said like it might be used against me later.

Just conversation. Wine. Laughter that didn’t feel like part of a negotiation.

I couldn’t remember the last time anything had been this uncomplicated.

And maybe that was exactly why it left me a little unsettled.

Because if Tatum and Gracie were right about Bass Bennett, then “uncomplicated” wasn’t going to last very long.

I took another sip of wine, slower this time, letting it sit warm in my chest as I considered that.

Bass didn’t strike me as a man who bent easily. Everything I’d seen, everything I’d just heard in the last hour, pointed to exactly the kind of stubborn I recognized all too well.

A challenge, then.

My mouth curved slightly as I set my glass down.

If he thought I was going to back off because things got difficult, he was going to be sorely disappointed.

And for the first time since I’d arrived in Blue Sky Bay, that didn’t feel like a problem.

It felt like a plan.

Game on, Bass Bennett.

three

​. . .​

Bass

Cannon

Just ran into Gracie and Tatum. They were leaving Four Clovers with some new friend.

Cannon