Chapter 9

My phone buzzed in my pants pocket. Then it instantly buzzed again, which told me it wasn't the usual sticky strings of my regular real estate dealings, therefore through Caro.

"I just need to take this. I'll be back soon."

Maddie and Owen disappeared through the automatic doors. Surely they'd be fine for a few minutes.

I'd already gotten proprietary with her, and now the word I'd never imagined would ever be in my vocabulary seemed far too close for comfort.

Mine.

Not that she was on-board with that yet.

She glanced over her shoulder, my son's hand firmly in hers.

Owen was already flourishing with her in his life, and it had been mere hours.

Okay, a week since our first outing, but it didn't count when I was too stubborn to get my head out of my ass about actually hiring her. Probably because I didn't really want her beholden to me monetarily. I didn't want gratitude to be part of the equation with us in any way.

I already wanted more.

Squaring my shoulders, I looked at my phone before I started crossing the lot. Xavier's name was on the readout. "What?"

"Hello, Xavier. How's it going, Xavier?" His tone was sarcastic.

I sighed. "It's been a day. I'm assuming this isn't a social call if you used our SOS signal." Being three busy men with multiple businesses between us on top of our combined FHK Property Group meant there were a lot of voicemails and emails going back and forth at almost all times.

The most intense and active member of our business was Xavier Hastings. He and Gavin Forrester were homegrown Crescent Covites, and in the past, I'd relied on them to do a majority of the in-person details.

That would be changing now that I lived in the Cove, as well, but I was still getting caught up after my cross-country move. Not to mention my new full-time father status. They'd been giving me leeway for the last few weeks.

I had a feeling that would be ending.

"Maitland just tried to buy the bank note on the Cove Commons."

"What the fuck?" I paused next to my parked car, the first plops of rain adding to the already humid air.

"Yeah." Xavier sighed. "He's really pissed that we outbid him. You'd think after all these years he'd get his head out of his ass about it, but here we are. I checked in with my contact at the bank. The lovely Adrienne let it slip that Maitland bought two of the properties across from us."

"What the hell? I thought that was a done deal for us to buy them?" I slid inside my car and turned it on, switching to Bluetooth through my speakers so I could check my email.

Had I fallen that behind?

"I've been trying to handle it with your new…situation."

My fingers tightened on my phone. "Owen is not a situation, X."

"Yeah, well, I don't know what else to call it." I could hear his fingers on his keyboard. Xavier's setup at FHK's office reminded me of a teenager with unlimited money, complete with an annoying clacking keyboard.

He also didn't know the first thing about dealing with responsibilities outside of work. Much like I'd been a few months ago, which was why I wasn't going to rip into him.

"He's my son." It was getting easier to say, even if it was still so new for me.

"I know, J. And I know you need some time to get comfortable in that big ol' mansion on the lake. I think that house was actually the impetus for Maitland to go after us again. He wanted that house—badly."

I knew that all too well. And I'd taken quite a bit of joy in outbidding him for the house. I knew Maitland would just flip it for a profit by slapping on a few upgrades. He didn't care about what a home could mean for people. His concern was just adding to the tax bracket increase on the lake.

It was the biggest difference between what we were trying to do for the town and what Maitland had been doing for far longer than I'd been aware of Crescent Cove.

The moment I'd seen the Windsor mansion, I'd known it was for me. From the boat launch—which I had not made use of yet, mainly because I needed a damn boat first—to the privacy of the trees, to the massive yard for Owen, to the gorgeous house itself that I hadn't even fully made my own yet… All of it was perfect.

The house was also far enough from the town to give me privacy, but it would make a statement about my serious intent when I got the guts to ingratiate myself into the community.

"How the hell did he think he was going to get the bank note?"

"He tried to swoop in with another bank to buy out loans. Gavin and I convinced Crescent Cove Bank that we would take our business elsewhere if they even thought about going out from under us. I had to pull my family name in on it, and you know how much I hate that shit."

"Jesus."

The Hastings name was as old as the Hamiltons in this town. Arthur Maitland was equally as powerful, but instead of putting funds back into the town like we were, Maitland only cared about owning more of the real estate. And his plans included turning the Cove into some sort of resort town that would crowd out the people who wanted nothing more than a safe, family-centric town to raise their families in.

"I know. But the old strip mall across from the Commons got swept up in his little coup. Bastard."

"We don't need the other buildings."

"No, but he'll probably put in some bullshit national store in there instead of the boutique stores we were planning on."

Which would invariably cut into our profit margins.

We'd put a hell of a lot of time and effort into the Cove Commons. What should have been an easy build had run into unimaginable problems since it was so close to the water. That and getting zoning permits for the commercial and residential spaces we had planned.

Gavin was convinced Maitland was behind those additional problems, as well.

Which we needed to take with a grain of salt since Gavin had his own issues with Maitland that had occurred far before the birth of our partnership.

In an ideal world, we should have been writing up contracts for rentals already. Every month the Commons stayed empty was another month that ate into our profits. And the clients we'd already been in contact with to come on board were falling by the wayside because we were taking so long to get this damn thing moving.

We needed to hustle on buying up other properties to make sure we could keep our passion project going.

"Is he locked in? Like no way we can outbid him?"

"I love when you play dirty, Jude. What did you have in mind?"

"I don't know all the players in this town yet, but I do have a friend in Seattle who might want in on some real estate investments."

"I don't know…" Xavier hedged.

"Max isn't interested in getting in our way. He just likes a diversified portfolio."

Max Chapel was a tech genius in Seattle. We'd first met in prep school long ago, and he was one of my few close friends. Max had more money than he would ever be able to spend in five lifetimes.

"I'll talk to Gavin. See what he thinks."

"Good. Get back to me. I've got to run. My new…" I couldn't quite say the word nanny. It felt like too small of a word for what Maddie was already becoming to me and Owen.

"Did you finally hire a nanny to help out?"

I tightened my fingers on the steering wheel. "In a manner of speaking."

"Well, that's delightfully vague, J. Besides, when are you going to invite us out to that castle of yours?"

"It's not a fucking castle."

"Whatever you say."

"Castles have turrets. You have me confused with the Barrow house. Not my style." I wasn't into the gothic flavor of that property, let alone the headache of all the renovations it had needed.

I'd wanted something basically move-in ready, and that was what I had gotten.

X laughed. "I heard some artist bought that. I'm tempted to go over there and shake his hand. I'm pretty sure Maitland popped a blood vessel when another house on the lake got snapped up."

"I'm shocked he didn't buy it and bulldoze it," I muttered.

"Originally belonged to a founding Cove resident. I'm pretty sure even Maitland couldn't fight the town on demolishing a house from the 1800s."

"Precisely why I didn't want it. My house was ready to go, which was what I had in mind." Even if I wasn't done furnishing the house yet. Especially the kitchen. But I was determined to find a way to make the mansion a home.

Like you have any clue how?

At least I was certain what I didn't want—a magazine-style showpiece like I'd grown up in was out of the question. What I wanted was a comfortable house full of laughter and maybe even love instead of arguments, hushed whispers, and awkward silences.

Another call came through the dash display. My phone was damn busy today.

"Hey, I have another call coming through. See what Gavin says and we'll revisit this."

"Will do."

I punched the display to take the call. "Hello, Dare."

"Hey, Jude. We looked over Maddie's car and you were right to get her tires replaced. Two of them had damage on the inner walls. Wouldn't have known it until we got under the car. While we were looking around, we saw some additional issues, as well."

My mind wandered to Maitland yet again as Dare mentioned something about brake pads and shoes, but I tried to focus. "Whatever the car needs, just handle it. I need her in a safe car."

"To take care of your boy?"

"Right." Not that it was any of Dare Kramer's business, but that was only one reason.

Though I barely knew her, the mere idea of Maddie getting hurt from something so easily fixable as faulty brakes or tires had my chest tightening.

I cleared my throat. "Thanks for checking in with me."

Dare waited a beat, and I sincerely hoped he caught a clue that I didn't want to discuss her. "No problem. We had an unexpected influx of customers due to everyone wanting to take summer trips yet not planning ahead, so the shop was swarmed today. Maddie's car might take a bit longer than I originally planned. Any other issues, I'll give you a heads up first."

"I appreciate that."

"I'll be in touch when it's done." Then the call disconnected.

I shut my eyes and thunked my head against my headrest as thunder cracked overhead. I'd been on the phone far longer than I'd intended.

So much for shopping with Maddie and Owen.