Last Resort(22)

She took a bite of her po’ boy and watched him absentmindedly take a bite of his burger. “You know,” he said, setting down the burger, “if I wanted to buy out business land for cheap, first thing I’d do is find a way to make sure the land wasn’t worth much.” He picked up a fry and dipped it in catchup.

“Great minds think alike,” she said, under her breath.

“What?” He set down his burger and looked at her.

She shook her head and took another bite of her sandwich.

“You think that’s what my father is doing?” he asked, looking a little hurt.

She shrugged her shoulders. “You tell me. You’re the one walking into my place with an offer that’s three times lower than what this place is worth.”

She saw the shock on his face and recognized the second realization hit him. He looked hurt, genuinely hurt, and for the first time, she thought that maybe she’d misjudged him.





Chapter Six




Luke took another sip of his beer, but it tasted sour now. He should have known that his father would stoop to a low like this. After all, his great-grandfather had won the hotel in a card game over eighty years ago.

His family was full of bottom-of-the-barrel scum. He had an uncle who just couldn’t keep his hands to himself and was on his seventh wife, one that was under half his own age.

When he looked across the table at Cassey, his blood began to boil. How could his family have done something so terrible to someone so sweet? He reached for her hand and felt it shake in his own. “Cassey, I know coming from me it’s probably not much, but I’m sorry.”

Her eyebrows shot up. “You’re sorry? Why are you sorry?”

He looked down at their joined hands and shrugged his shoulders. “For my father. For my family. For what they’ve done to you, to your business.” He shook his head in disgust.

“Luke…” She waited until he looked up into those gray eyes of hers before continuing. “You had nothing to do with this. I can see that clearly. You have nothing to apologize for.”

He dropped her hand, feeling disgusted with himself. There was more he had to tell her, but looking around, he knew this wasn’t the time or the place.

Picking up his burger, he took another bite and starting talking about the food and how wonderful it was. He could see that she knew he was trying to change the conversation and after a few minutes, she gave up on trying to convince him of his lack of guilt.

“So…” He leaned a little closer to her, picking up her hand again in his. Her hands were small and soft, and he wanted to hold on to them as long as he could. “Tell me a little more about yourself. What do you like to do in your off time?”

She looked at him funny and then smiled. “I thought you would already know most everything about me.” She nodded towards the bar. “I know Wendy can be quite the talker, and,” she sighed, “I figured you would have a thick file on me from your father.”

He shrugged. “You can’t learn everything about someone from a file and word of mouth.”

She smiled at that. He was getting used to those quick little turns of her lips. He had the feeling she didn’t do it very often, so he enjoyed each little twitch.

“Well, I’m twenty-five this spring. I have three brothers and a sister. I was raised by the most caring people on the planet who occasionally acted like they still lived in the sixties.” She smiled a full smile at this, and her eyes sparkled in the dim light of the dining room. “Their daughters were more like my sisters who helped raise us all. Even when my brothers drove us all nuts, they showed us nothing but love and patience.” She blinked a few times and her smile dropped. “I worked myself through a few years of night school, got my degree, and opened this place.” She reached for her drink.

“What about your sister?” He watched her eyes go misty and saw her whole body tense.

“She left us shortly after her seventeenth birthday.” She looked down at her hands. “We haven’t heard from her since.”

“It must have been wonderful having such a large family.” He knew she was grateful for the change of the subject.

She nodded. “Tell me about your brother.”

Now it was his turn for his eyes to turn a little sad. “Calvin was my complete opposite.” He sighed and leaned back. The only way to gain her trust was to give her a little in return. “He was everything my father wanted in a son. My mother, too. He was helping my father run the hotel by the age of eighteen. After a few years of college, he shocked us all by joining the Navy.” He smiled a little, remembering how his brother had stood up to his father to fight for his country. “He served two years before the accident. He worked in the engine room. The accident killed four people.”