Spring Break Secret by Rayner Holly

Author:Rayner, Holly
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-09-21T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 21

Louisa

Louisa was in a terrible mood for the rest of the afternoon. She was angry with herself for dropping the bomb on Tom like that, and she didn’t want him to think that she would try and use her child as a bargaining chip in some kind of negotiation about the real estate development. Of course she wanted to protect the earth for Rei’s future, but she didn’t want Tom to feel manipulated or blindsided.

At the same time, she was angry with Tom as well. He hadn’t even looked at the research she’d brought, clearly not caring at all about the impact his project would have on the environment. She hoped that she might be able to meet with someone reasonable, someone open to being swayed by the data, someone at least willing to listen. Apparently Tom had changed over the past ten years, or maybe she had never truly known him at all.

That night, after putting Rei to bed, Louisa was sitting on the porch of the beach bungalow she and Rei shared with her parents, thinking. The citronella candle on the end table glowed a flickering orange, and Louisa breathed in the sweet-sour smell that overpowered the ocean air. She was trying to come up with a way to tell Ellen that her last-ditch effort to change the CEO’s mind about the use of Comentex had failed when her phone buzzed in her pocket.

Taking it out, Louisa saw that it was an unknown number from out of state. Curious, and wanting a distraction from her dark thoughts, she answered.

“Hello? Is this Louisa Murray?”

Louisa gasped, hearing Tom’s voice on the other end. She hadn’t expected to hear from him again.

“Yes,” she said, standing and pacing on the porch. “How did you get my number?”

“My secretary had it,” Tom said. “For some reason, the person who called from the county records office about a nonexistent issue with our paperwork left your personal number.”

Louisa felt her cheeks burn at the reminder of her dishonesty. “I’m sorry about that,” she said. “But I really needed to talk to you.”

“Was it that you really needed to talk to the Palmco CEO about your little crusade, or you needed to talk to me about…everything else?”

“A little of both,” Louisa confessed. “At first I just thought I would reach some random guy in an expensive suit and try to convince him to halt the progress on this project, but when I found out it was you, everything became that much more important.”

There was a pause as Tom thought over what Louisa had just said. “Makes sense,” he finally conceded.

Louisa felt a rush of relief flow through her. At least Tom understood why she had done what she had done.

“Anyway,” Tom continued, “I called you because we didn’t really get a chance to talk more about everything you told me. You said that you don’t expect me to be involved if I don’t want to, but I do want to. I want to meet my daughter.

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