Kara took another deep, steadying breath and gave her friend a shaky smile. “I know you’re right,” she replied. “But this whole diagnosis, along with taking care of the house and seeing the business here slow down, and all the bills for both, just seems too much to handle at times.”
“I know,” Mary replied, biting her lip as she studied Kara. “But you know that if you decided to sell the business, we would still all love you, right? And the town would adjust to any changes? Life in Larkin Bay would go on.”
Kara hung her head and didn’t reply.
Mary frowned. “Remember, Kara, you need to do what’s right for you and Maeve. Larkin Bay and the rest of the world will spin on even if you sell the garden center land to the developers.”
Kara nodded. “I know,” she whispered, looking back at her friend sadly. “At least I think I do.”
As Kara slowly walked back to her desk, she looked at everything she and her mother had built together and thought about how hard it would be to let it all go. Stopping for a moment, she admired the newest drawing Maeve had done before she returned to her office. Closing the door behind her, she reached for her phone to call Courtney.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Scott whistled happily as he left the pub. His baseball team had won their game tonight, and the celebration at Sullivan’s Place had been great. He really liked several of the people he was now regularly playing ball with and they, along with their significant others, were all becoming friends. He smiled.
As he got closer to his apartment, he pulled out his phone and texted Greg. Since he’d heard from his old friend after the audition in the city, they had exchanged several messages and were now even planning on getting together later in the summer. Scott was looking forward to seeing and reconnecting with him too.
I can’t wait to see Kara’s expression when I tell her she was right about the value of friendships.
As he looked down at the last text he’d received from Greg, another arrived in his inbox, and his brow puckered. The message was from Max and consisted only of a question mark.
Scott tapped his phone against his palm. His agent was wondering what he was going to do. The networks were waiting for an answer and Scott knew it was past time for him to give them one.
Sighing, he saw in his mind’s eye again the list of pros and cons he had made of continuing on the journey to becoming a baseball commentator. The columns were fairly even. He had considered flipping a coin, but instead he was going to do what Greg had suggested.
He was going to trust his gut.
He was going to stay here and enjoy the life he had been creating in Larkin Bay.
Lifting his phone, he pulled up Max’s contact information. His agent might not be happy with Scott’s response, but Scott was certain that it was the right thing for him—and for the future he wanted. And he wasn’t the least bit surprised to discover he was grinning as he placed the call.
Kara felt as if one enormous weight had been lifted off her shoulders only to be replaced by another. After she had negotiated Maeve into a weather-appropriate outfit, she made sure her daughter’s glucose levels were steady and double-checked to ensure the little girl had buckled herself correctly into her booster seat. Finally, climbing into the truck, Kara started in the direction of the garden center. As she drove through the back residential streets of Larkin Bay, she considered where she could build a new nursery. She wasn’t surprised to discover that instead of feeling excited about the possibilities, the idea of rebuilding somewhere else in town just left her feeling exhausted and sad.
Waiting at a red light, Kara glanced in her rearview mirror to check on Maeve. Some of the tension left her shoulders when she saw the healthy flush in her daughter’s cheeks.
I’m doing the right thing.
She nodded. The garden center was not a person, and now that Kara had decided to part with it, she was determined not to mourn its loss.
After working all morning, Kara stopped long enough for a quick lunch with Mary, then dropped Maeve off with her grandmother before driving over to Courtney and Scott’s law office. She was surprised when she walked into their boardroom to see Jamie sitting in one of the dark leather chairs at the table.
“Hello, Jamie,” Kara said. She bit her bottom lip and looked over at Courtney, who had followed her into the room. “I wasn’t expecting to see you here.”
“He was just leaving,” Courtney replied, her mouth drawn tight. “He came by to drop off some paperwork that I requested from the developers. I suppose, at this point, no one is surprised to know that Jamie is working for them.”
“No,” said Kara, shaking her head and frowning.
She moved to one side of the doorway, waiting for Jamie to rise from his seat and leave, but to her surprise, he didn’t seem to be in any great hurry to be on his way. Courtney raised both eyebrows and frowned but motioned for her to sit down.
Kara took a chair as far away from where Jamie was sitting as possible. When she was settled, Courtney placed a file folder on the table in front of her. Kara looked down at the closed folder but didn’t touch it. She assumed it held the contract, but instead of opening it, she looked across the table.
“Why are you here, Jamie?” she asked him, her voice quiet and steady. “Are you here to gloat over getting what you want? How much are they paying you to break my heart again and tear apart our town?”
Jamie looked over at her and had the decency to look slightly uncomfortable. “Not that, neither of those, no,” he protested. “I’ll leave if you want. I just promised a few people that I would make sure you signed the offer and got it returned to them as quickly as possible.” He glared over at her. “You make it sound terrible when all I’m really doing is making sure you benefit from doing what someone else eventually will if you don’t.”
Kara stared at Jamie. “Well, you’re getting your way. And because it is the best thing for Maeve’s future, I will forgive you. But I want your promise before I sign this that you won’t start a custody fight with me when this is done.” Kara bit her bottom lip, trying to stop her hands from trembling as she continued. “Maeve doesn’t know you at all, Jamie, and she’s gone through a lot lately.”
Jamie looked up at her, but his expression was unreadable.
Kara took a deep breath. “You’re already taking the garden center away from your daughter—it’s been a second home to her. I won’t have you changing anything else on her now too. You can see her as much as you like, but primary custody stays with me.”
Jamie lifted both his hands in mock surrender. “Fine,” he said.
Courtney had been quietly watching this exchange from her seat. She quickly pulled a blank piece of paper off her legal pad. On the page, she wrote that Jamie had agreed to leave primary guardianship of Maeve with Kara and quickly slid the document in front of both of them. It might not be a legally binding document, but Jamie wouldn’t know that.
“Sign this in agreement,” said Courtney. “When you’re done, I’ll witness it.”
Jamie looked amused as he pulled an expensive pen from the inside pocket of his jacket and wrote his name with a flourish. “Done,” he exclaimed. “Now, if you can just sign the land sale document, I’ll be on my way. Important people are waiting for me.”
Reluctantly, Kara flipped open the folder in front of her. As she read the contract, the words suddenly blurred as tears filled her eyes.
Should I do this? Can I do this?
Kara turned to Courtney and had just cleared her throat to ask for a pen when the door behind Jamie opened and Scott entered the boardroom.
“Sorry to interrupt,” he said. “But I have a few people out here who are insisting on talking to Kara immediately.”
Jamie turned toward the door and got to his feet; his annoyance caused his features to flush. “What’s going on?” he demanded.
“Just sit down and be quiet, Jamie,” said Evelyn, sounding weary as she walked into the room. “This has nothing to do with you, son, but I’m glad you’re here to hear it, nonetheless.”
Kara couldn’t help but smile at Jamie’s mother’s reprimand. A moment later, she frowned in confusion as a small group of Larkin Bay residents, led by Mayor April, squeezed into the boardroom.
Scott moved back and nodded at her, motioning that the mayor wished to speak.
April cleared her throat. “Kara, we’re here on behalf of the entire town of Larkin Bay, who, like you, don’t want you to have to sell the garden center. Not only would we miss it, but if you were forced to sell, we also don’t think most of us would like the kind of changes the sale would bring to this town.”
She stopped for a minute to glare at Jamie, who was looking around the room with wide eyes. “Now, let’s just wait a minute,” he sputtered.
“Be quiet, Jamie,” his mother said, holding up a warning hand from where she was standing beside the mayor. “You’ve done quite enough already.”
Jamie looked at his mother with an open mouth, then snapped it shut and quietly sat back in his seat.
“Thank you, Evelyn,” the mayor said and gave Jamie a withering look before turning back to Kara. “On behalf of the residents of Larkin Bay, I should first tell you that the entire town would like you to keep the garden center open and continuing to operate at its current location. To help make that possible, I’m here to offer the garden center a contract with the town of Larkin Bay to create and look after the planters and gardens in our parks and downtown area for the next five years. I know you’ve been doing it out of the goodness of your heart for several years now, but it was decided at the last town council meeting that we now have the funds to pay you and your employees for your work. It’s long overdue, and we’re hoping this will help your bottom line enough so you don’t have to sell to the developers.”
Kara eyes widened at the news. “That’s wonderful,” she replied. “I never considered it a burden at all to beautify Larkin Bay. It’s something my mother started doing, and I just carried on. But receiving some pay for it would be fantastic and would absolutely go a long way in helping make the garden center more profitable.”
