Holiday Reunion (Hollyberry Harbor #1)

Chapter 12

TWELVE

James wandered down Lake Harbor, his emotions bouncing from fury to heartache. He’d wanted to shake some sense into her, but he knew that wasn’t going to do any good. Sarah had made up her mind about him. She wasn’t going to see reason.

It didn’t matter that everything she’d said was absolutely untrue. What mattered to her was finding a villain to blame and that was what he had to be.

Each step he took was more painful than the last. They’d only had a couple weeks to get closer but the loss he felt was just as painful as if they’d been dating for years. If he had to stay in town another day longer, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to manage. Bumping into Sarah would be torture.

Everywhere he looked, down the street, he could see Sarah’s influence. In truth, he’d done very little to pull this show together. Sarah was the mastermind. She probably cared more than the majority of the town. Every argument she’d made about keeping the tradition alive for this holiday season, she’d been on the right side of things.

Couples walked hand in hand from vendor to vendor. Happy children raced ahead of their parents to get to the shed that Sarah had decorated to look like the North Pole. There was no end to the fun activities Sarah had planned and every night had been just like this one—packed to the brim.

His eyes were locked on a couple who were deep in the throes of a conversation beneath a streetlamp. The young woman leaned against the steel post while the gentleman moved in close. Theirs was a new love, born of the holiday season or maybe it was simply organic.

James couldn’t take his eyes off the couple. It wasn’t hard to see himself there—or rather the feelings he had for Sarah. He hadn’t been lying when he’d told her that he loved her, though it wasn’t lost on him that she didn’t acknowledge his confession.

They looked happy—full of life and excited for the future.

Tearing his eyes away from them, he shoved down the pain that continued to grow. Had he made a mistake in walking away? Could he have done something to convince her to hear him out? Sarah was smart. Maybe he could have given her proof that he was being honest.

Something told him that nothing could have changed the way things had gone. He had been doomed to lose her.

“James?”

He looked up to see a familiar woman coming toward him with a smile on her face.

“It is James, right?”

James snapped his finger, putting the puzzle pieces together. “You work with Sarah.”

“Brie,” she offered with a nod. “What are you doing here? I thought you and Sarah were supposed to be on a date tonight.”

He attempted to keep his expression neutral, but he must have failed because her eyes widened slightly. “Oh no. I’m so sorry.”

“You don’t even know what happened.”

She grimaced. “By that look you just gave me, I can pretty much guarantee something happened.” Brie tilted her head and shuffled her feet. There was that burning question in her gaze—the one that clearly said she wanted to ask him for details. Or maybe she just wanted to let him vent to her.

James tossed a glance in the direction from where she’d come. “You done for the evening?”

She nodded. “We sold out. I guess we didn’t plan well enough. Sarah’s gonna hate that. It’s money on the table, you know.”

He nodded, the awkwardness of their interaction making it near impossible not to fidget. This was a woman with whom Sarah shared most of her days. She would know more about the way Sarah thought than anyone else.

As much as he wanted to ask her for help, he knew he couldn’t. Sarah would hate him if he did that. She’d been very clear about leaving her alone. He just needed to accept that he’d lost her.

James cleared his throat and offered Brie a small smile. “Congratulations on your success this evening. I better get going.” He spun on his heel, but her voice stopped him.

“James?”

He glanced back at her.

“Whatever happened… I’m sure it will work out.”

James didn’t know what she meant by that. Work out, meaning that he would find love again? Or work out meaning that Sarah would come around?

Either way, it probably didn’t matter. James need to move past this just like he had any other failed relationship.

James rubbed his temples with his fingers. Meeting after meeting after meeting. He’d thought they had everything all but finalized. Every time his team called him up to come to the conference room, he had to bite back another groan.

It had become clear to James that he’d lost all sense of motivation for this project. His heart simply wasn’t in it anymore. With every update, all he could think about was Sarah and how she was doing.

Any time he saw a box of doughnuts, he thought of her. Whenever someone asked for his coffee order, he couldn’t get the conversation he’d had with Sarah out of his head. There was no escaping it.

Memories of Sarah were here to stay.

He watched the members of his board enter the room, one by one, so blissfully unaware of the turmoil he was experiencing. They all had their own lives, their own families, their own special some ones.

They smiled at each other, cracking jokes. It was ridiculous. Now was not the time. They were supposed to get through these meetings so they could move on to their next project. Thankfully, he’d refrained from running the next one. He needed a break from all the planning.

Sarah’s words burned in his brain. Her claims that all he cared about was the money had twisted and knotted up inside him, making him feel worse about all of this.

He could have argued against her. He probably should have. Money wasn’t the reason he’d come home to Hollyberry Harbor.

It wasn’t. Why would it be? There were no guarantees that his changes would actually make his company the money that it was projected to make.

Then again, he was fooling himself if he didn’t think it wasn’t a factor.

Every single one of these men who sat around the table had a job to do. And that job was to make money for his company. They were hired for that purpose.

Risks weren’t to be taken without high rewards. That was why the Lake Harbor project had been run through enough simulations and data tests.

Sarah had to be right about one thing. The men and women he worked with on this project weren’t doing it out of love for Hollyberry Harbor. They planned on making money, and a lot of it.

James shifted in his seat, hating how the realization only made him feel worse. No longer did it matter that James had wanted to fix something he had fond memories of as a child. No one cared that he was trying to breathe life into a town that may or may not have needed his help. Everyone wanted stability and that was what he offered.

Sarah had wanted something different.

“Mr. Stetson.” The head of the board members settled into the seat to James’s right. “I have to say, I’m impressed by what you’ve done with Lake Harbor so far.”

James stared at him with confusion. “We’ve barely made any changes.”

“I’m referring to all the work you put into that Christmas festival.”

“You visited?” James’s confusion continued to grow.

“Of course I visited. I had to see what we were dealing with. Tell me, do you think we’ll be able to convince the mayor to host the festival at the harbor every year? It appears to be a wonderful draw to that area.”

“I’m—not sure,” James murmured.

“You look into it, will you? I know you have a rapport with that town. I think it would be a great way to stay relevant. People love Christmas.”

“Yeah,” he mumbled. “They do.” His thoughts went reeling. He glanced around the room at the signs and posters filled with plans and statistics. Everything he saw offered the guests something more modern—activities and shopping they could get anywhere. But what didn’t it offer? Something unique.

He frowned at an illustration of the strip of stores where Sarah’s bakery was located. She’d struggled so much to get that bakery on its feet. It wasn’t until that last night that they’d finally saw an uptick in their revenue.

The vision he’d had for Lake Harbor wasn’t quite fitting with what everyone had come out to see over the last week and a half. Maybe James had been wrong.

“Stetson?”

He glanced over to the board member.

“Is everything alright?”

James shook his head. “I don’t believe it is.”

The room went completely silent. All eyes were on him, waiting for him to explain himself, holding their breath as one.

Slowly, James got to his feet, a realization finally hitting him hard in the chest. “This is wrong.”

“I’m sorry?”

Several voices started speaking at once, murmurs and mumbles with one another around the conference table.

James moved away from his seat and closer to the posters that were propped on the easels. He pointed to the first one, the one with Sarah’s bakery. “It’s all wrong.”

“Sir, we haven’t had time to draw up something different for the bakery. But rest assured we will be making changes now that we’ve acquired it.”

“No, you misunderstand.” James faced the group of men—the same group he’d pitched the original idea to. He knew the risks of proposing a change, and yet there was nothing else he could do. He needed to make a couple more changes.