Deep River Promise (Alaska Homecoming #2) - Jackie Ashenden Page 0,57
and strong. Yes, the sex had been fantastic, and perhaps if there hadn’t been all those added complications he might have considered sticking around for a little more of it. But there were those complications and nothing had changed.
You’re still thinking she’s like all the rest and she isn’t.
No, she wasn’t. Five years since she’d been with someone, a long time for a woman as passionate as she was. Why was that? Was it fear of small-town gossip? Or had she just not met anyone she liked enough? And why the hell had she chosen him? Had he simply been convenient? Or was it something more?
Not that he wanted it to be anything more, definitely not.
“Hey,” Silas said, interrupting Damon’s whirling thoughts as he pulled out a chair opposite and sat down. “How’s the financial stuff progressing?”
Damon gave him a long-suffering look. “Did I say you could sit there?”
“No.” Silas put his elbows on the table and gave Damon a grin. “So? What’s happening? Has Debbie gone into detail about Carl’s beer coaster collection yet?”
Damon took another sip of his beer, not hurrying. “I’m going over options.” Best to keep things noncommittal and not give away the fact that he’d been struggling to keep the Deep River tourism ideas at the forefront of his mind.
“Options,” Silas echoed. “That’s helpful. You want to talk about those options?”
“Not right now, no. Need some more time to think about it.”
Silas’s gaze narrowed. “Isn’t time something you don’t have?”
Well, this conversation could end up in some uncomfortable places if he wasn’t careful.
Damon leaned back in his chair, hooking one elbow over the back of it and meeting his friend’s gaze levelly. “I want to be sure that whatever advice I give is the right kind. I don’t want any of these options to fail.”
“Okay, then.” Silas nodded his head in agreement. “But we need to make a decision about which ideas are viable and which aren’t. People are getting antsy to get this sorted out so we need to do it soon.”
That was all true.
He resisted the urge to rub a hand over his face. Hell, he really needed to get his head back in the game. He couldn’t think about anything clearly when it was still full of Astrid.
“Yeah, I hear you,” he said.
Silas was silent a moment, then asked, “You still planning on leaving?”
“Tomorrow, yes.”
“Okay, well, I guess you’d better hurry up on it, then.”
Irritated, Damon shot him an annoyed glance. “Thank you, I’m aware.”
“The sooner we get this done, the better,” Silas went on, apparently not picking up on the please go away and leave me alone vibes that Damon was projecting. “We need to get the ball rolling, keep everyone engaged and thinking about the future of the town and all the good things that will come to them, instead of thinking about the oil and what they could do with the money.”
It was a fair enough concern. Phone calls from oil execs had been made to various townspeople, with money dangling from sticks like particularly juicy carrots. And he knew what people were like with money. It was a great motivator and not necessarily for the good, which was a concern.
He didn’t like the idea of machinery everywhere, tearing up the landscape and ruining all that lovely scenery, destroying the peace and the magic of this place. Connor would be furious and upset, and that would in turn upset Astrid, and that would sure as hell bother Damon.
He wasn’t sure when their feelings had started to be a concern for him. Their feelings in particular, as opposed to anyone else’s…
“What does Astrid think?” Silas asked, apparently picking the thought right out of his head, the sneaky bastard.
“Still talking to her.” Damon tried very hard not to let even the smallest part of that mind-blowing experience he’d had with her in the library this morning show.
“Okay, good. I’d like us to get a short list of viable projects together, organize a town meeting so everyone can get the info, then we put the issue to a town vote. People need to see something’s happening.”
“Fine, I can do that.” And he’d pull his recalcitrant thoughts away from the beautiful mayor and back to the problem at hand while he was at it too. Then another thought hit him. “Hey, you hear anything from Zeke?”
Silas let out a breath. “Not a damn thing. None of my leads have gone anywhere either. It’s like he’s disappeared off the face of the earth.”