cup sitting on the edge of the desk. “I made you a coffee. Why don’t you have a seat and tell me what I’ve done.”
“I don’t want your coffee,” she snapped, even as she grabbed the cup. She was so angry she didn’t realize she was doing it. She took a sip and paced in front of him. “And you know exactly what you’ve done.”
She didn’t sit, but stood with her back ramrod straight, clutching the cup as she continued glaring.
“I honestly have no clue,” he said. He drank from his own cup and waited.
She let out a long, exaggerated huff and rolled her eyes. “We had a deal, Hudson. You were going to give me time before doing anything to this land. If this is nothing but a waste of my time, be a man and admit that.”
“I’m keeping our deal,” he told her. “And I don’t go back on my word.”
His words were spoken so calmly and honestly she was confused. He was throwing her off. She shook her head and forced her voice to calm. She tried to put herself back into her investigative box and use the voice that had intimidated more than one person who was trying to get her to compromise her values over the years.
“How do you explain all of the downed trees?” she asked, throwing her arm out and pointing, though they obviously couldn’t look through the wall of the trailer to see her evidence.
“You’re upset over the downed trees?”
“Of course I am. We had a deal,” she said, her voice rising again. She sucked in a breath and forced herself to calm down. She knew better than to yell, knew better than to let her anger get the best of her. That’s how an airtight argument got destroyed. Once you started shouting, people stopped listening.
“Daisy, the trees have to go no matter what we do with this land,” Hudson said. “And I’m not a man who can sit around playing a game or watching movies all day. I have to move, have to be doing something. So I’ve been working on clearing the trees this week to keep myself busy and to keep moving forward, no matter which direction we decide to go.”
He went quiet as his words sank into her frazzled brain. She processed them and felt like a fool. That’s why anger was stupid. That’s why it was never a wise decision to overreact or fly off the handle before an explanation could be given.
Her shoulders slumped as she took a step back and sank into the only other chair in the office. She didn’t like to apologize. She’d only had to do it a few times her entire life. She rarely said something she needed to take back. But right then she felt pretty foolish.
“I’m waiting,” he said. She looked up, and found him fully relaxed, leaning back in his chair, sipping on his coffee and smiling. She felt that urge to slap him again, and she had to push it back down.
“You’re pretty smug,” she mumbled.
“It’s easy to be smug when you’re right,” he said. He was going to make her apologize even if he wasn’t offended. He just wanted to see her crawl. She could hate him for that, but if she were being honest she’d expect the same if he’d approached her the way she’d approached him.
“Fine,” she said with a long sigh and a crooked smile. “I’m sorry. I should’ve asked instead of making assumptions. I know better than that.” Before he could say anything, she couldn’t help but add a bit more. “Of course, all of this could’ve been prevented had you informed me of what you were doing, so maybe you should take some accountability too.”
He smiled even bigger. “You want me to accept responsibility for you flying off the handle?” he asked, a chuckle coming out at the end.
“One little text isn’t too much to ask,” she mumbled. She couldn’t give in all of the way. That might give him far too much of the upper hand. But she could admit when she was being foolish — and she’d been an idiot that morning. This man caused her to lose all semblance of sanity when she was in his presence.
“I’ll make sure and ask your permission the next time I work,” he told her. She had a feeling she was going to regret making that comment. She could see him being quite annoying with every little thing he did.
“No need to