Until Then (Cape Harbor #2) - Heidi McLaughlin Page 0,10

confession. Not that it mattered. Bowie had a second chance with Brooklyn, and he wasn’t going to pass it up.

Graham wondered when his own moment of happiness would come. Sure, he could pursue any of the women in town, but none of them intrigued him as much as Renee Wallace. From the day he met her, many years ago, she’d always understood him. Unfortunately, time and distance forced them apart. For a moment, when Rennie returned, he thought they could reconnect. They did, but only as friends. She was happy, in a committed relationship, living in the city and doing what she loved, and he was a bartender with nothing on the horizon. He had nothing to offer her and was certain she knew this.

Still, when Rennie sent a text to their “CH Bitches” group chat, his hope spiked. She was on her way to the inn, coming for Thanksgiving. Graham looked at his phone and typed, Is Theo joining you? His finger hovered over the arrow that would send the question. Should he send it? He thought on it until the door to the Whale Spout opened, and a family walked in. He quickly erased his words, pocketed his phone, and sighed. The holidays meant more time at his parents’, a place he’d rather not be. His mother would fuss over Grady, and his father would pretend his sons had perfect lives. The Chamberlains had mastered the art of brushing problems under the rug, and because it was the holidays, Graham was expected to play his part as the dutiful son and brother.

Graham tended to his customers, picking up on bits and pieces of their conversations. They were traveling north and took a wrong turn, ending up in Cape Harbor. They asked him if he knew of a place to stay. He told them about the Driftwood Inn and volunteered to send a message to the owners to let them know a family would be up after dinner. He retrieved his phone and looked at the group chat again. Someday, he would tell Rennie how he felt. But until then, he’d keep his feelings hidden.

THREE

With Thanksgiving being the next day, the last place Renee wanted to be was in a partners’ meeting, listening to some kiss-ass financial guy tell the staff of lawyers how to do their jobs. The bottom line: there wasn’t a single attorney who went into a case trying to lose, yet the man standing at the front of the conference room, with his pin-striped double-breasted suit neatly pressed and his jacket buttoned, had the gall to inform her and her colleagues how much the firm would earn if they were to come away with victories. She was being harsh but with good reason; she was ready for a minivacation, and she counted down the minutes until the office officially closed for the holiday. Not to mention, she handled divorce, not civil or criminal cases. Her fee was set by the firm and paid for by clients. As much as she wanted to leave at noon, she would wait until the lunch rush in the city died down before driving north to Cape Harbor. Now that Brooklyn and her daughter, Brystol, were so close by, Rennie wanted to spend as much time with them as she could.

Finally, the money guy closed his binder, and Renee did the same, only for the CEO, Lex Davey, to stand, button his suit jacket, and walk to the front of the room. He presented a rundown of cases he would like to see closed by the end of the year, and she had three of them. She thought about each one, mentally questioning if it were possible, and concluded that two could settle out of court, but the third was contentious. She represented an author who separated from her husband over a year ago, and he refused to sign the divorce decree until he was guaranteed a portion of his wife’s royalties, citing he was part of the creative process and had provided content for every book written while dating and throughout the marriage. He was even laying claim to novels written during the separation. Renee tried to get the couple to come to a peaceful resolution, but the husband refused and had since hired his own attorney. Still, she had hoped the four of them could come to an agreement, and when talks broke down, she knew court seemed increasingly likely. A hearing date had yet to be set,