“No doubt, especially if you’re friends with Gemma.”
That did make things awkward, considering she had to deliver bad news.
“I should tell you the dock actually belongs to me. The property line is just there, on the far side of the dock.”
“That’s impossible.” He frowned. “The real estate agent assured me we had dock access. I’ve rented a boat for the summer for my work.”
Oh, her mother would have loved telling off him and whatever unscrupulous real estate agent had lied to him about the dock access.
“I’m afraid it’s not only possible but reality. The dock is our property. You were misled. But I’m sure we can work something out, if it’s that important to you.” She didn’t want to be a jerk about it, especially not to Gemma’s family. She wasn’t using the dock. In fact, it hadn’t been used since Sam’s father died, though her mother continued to make sure it was maintained properly as if it were some kind of shrine to Lyle Fremont’s memory.
Her new neighbor looked at the dock, then back at her, his blue eyes as troubled as the lake on a stormy afternoon. “It is. It’s vital. I must have water access during our stay.”
If that’s the case, maybe you should have nailed down ownership of the dock before you rented the property. Again, she could hear her mother’s crankiness coming through her thoughts and swallowed down the words.
“Can I dry off first?” she asked, a little annoyed at his urgency. It was only a dock, for heaven’s sake. There was a marina only a five-minute drive from here where he could moor any boat he had rented during his stay.
“How much?”
She blinked. “Excuse me?”
“How much would it take for me to secure permission to use the dock for the summer? I don’t want to have to go to Serenity Harbor or down to the marina every time I need to go out on the water, if I can avoid it.”
A gust of wind blew across the lake and Sam shivered as it knuckled beneath her wet clothes with icy fingers. She had a sudden crazy impulse to snap back that no amount would be enough. She had jumped into the icy waters of Lake Haven to rescue his child and was still shivering from it, hadn’t she? And now he was insulting her by implying she was crass and greedy enough to let him do anything he wanted if he paid her enough money.
She could imagine her mother’s reaction too easily. After a lifetime, it was hard to shut her out. Linda would have never allowed him to use the dock. Or if she did, she might have tried to bilk entirely too much money for it.
Over the past few months as she tried to adjust to life without her mom, Samantha had become fairly good at imagining what Linda might have done in any given situation...and then doing exactly the opposite.
She swallowed her annoyance at her neighbor. Maybe he was jet-lagged or something. Or maybe it was a cultural thing, that he didn’t understand how rude his implication was that he could buy his way past any hurdle.
“Go ahead and use the dock.” She forced a smile. “It’s fine. I don’t have a boat and don’t expect to get one any time soon, so it will only be unused all summer.” As it’s been unused for every summer since she was seven years old.
Eyebrows furrowed, he studied her as if trying to figure out her game. She wanted to tell him that sometimes a generous act was simply that. Generous, with no strings attached or hidden motivations.
“Thank you,” he said. “That’s very gracious of you.”
“Your sister is my friend, Mr. Summerhill. It’s the least I can do for Gemma.”
Something in her brisk tone must have alerted him to her annoyance. He opened his mouth as if to apologize but before he could, a woman in her late sixties hurried out of the house next door. She was tall and thin to the point of gauntness, with large glasses and short-cropped hair, but her face still somehow emanated a kindness that made her plain features warm and attractive.
“Oh, good gracious. There you are. We were all supposed to be having a kip from the long flight. I close my eyes for five minutes and the two of you escape. And it looks like someone had a dunking, as well. Oh, Thomas. What have you done now?”