Page 37 of Meet Me at Sunset Cove (Jonathon Island #5)

“Bingo,” Carlisle said, one eyebrow cocked in self-satisfaction.

Hunter couldn’t believe it. His chest loosed, letting him take his first real breath in days. The video was a fake.

Hunter slumped back to his seat. What had he done?

Waylen cleared his throat, and Hunter glanced up at him. “I don’t know if this is a good time, but…I picked this up outside the house. I was waiting for the right time to give it to you. It’s from Daisy.”

He slid a dirty envelope across the table, and Hunter picked it up, his fingers numb, and opened it.

He studied the contents for a moment, his heart racing. And then turned back to his brother. “Go grab Evan and Jude. We gotta go.”

“Yessir!” Waylen said, grinning as he scrambled out of his seat.

Hunter turned back to his mother. “I love ya, Mom. Congrats to both of you…I hope it’s okay, but?—”

“Go,” His mom said, beaming up at him.

“Thank you.” He strode across the dance floor headed for the door, his phone already pressed to his ear. “Hey, Dad, we’re coming home. I really need your help. I know it’s asking a lot. But do you think you could meet me at the house tomorrow morning?”

“If you need me, I’ll be there.”

“Thank you, Dad. I’ll send you a list of supplies once I get on the road.”

This time, he wasn’t letting Daisy Decker out of his life without a fight.

* * *

“Thank you all so much for meeting with us,” Robin said as she and Daisy entered the executive boardroom at HGTV’s Knoxville headquarters.

They had spent the better portion of their six-hour flight preparing for this meeting, rehearsing and drilling any possible questions or concerns. Daisy had done this a hundred times. Just get in, tell them what they want to hear, and get out.

She pressed a poised smile onto her lips and slipped into one of the chairs opposite the Double Decker showrunner, who sat alongside the show’s creative and management team, and then finally a few HGTV execs.

Logan sat on Daisy’s side of the table, a few seats down, clad in a pressed suit and designer shoes—a stark contrast to what viewers saw on the show.

Outside the impressive boardroom, green hills surrounded the building, creating a sense of intimate seclusion, like they were about to have a meeting in the middle of a sunlit field. It made looking at the gray walls and white boardroom table hard on the eyes.

A woman from the creative team, early fifties with sleek black hair, leaned forward, placing her hand on Daisy’s wrist. “It’s nice to have you back, Daisy,” she whispered.

Daisy smiled. “Thank you.”

They settled back as the showrunner for Double Decker , a man in his early forties with graying temples and a pressed suit, stood, taking position at the end of the table. “Why don’t we get started?”

“First off,” he continued, “we want you to know how much we loved your Jonathon Island show, Daisy. The small-town feel really resonated with our viewers.”

“Likewise,” the woman across from Daisy said, turning slightly toward Logan and his agent beside him. “We’ve seen great success on the Thanksgiving pilot episode of your short-run holiday special. But everyone said it was missing one thing. The one thing that Daisy’s show had and yours didn’t.”

Daisy held her breath. Don’t say it?—

“Chemistry.”

Shoot .

“Which is why we’re proposing a new show: Double Decker: Small-Town Edition .”

The screen at the end of the table lit up as shades lowered across all the windows. An image appeared, displaying Daisy and Logan, a shot pulled from one of their earlier seasons. But instead of one of their California beach houses, they stood in front of a beautiful, old Victorian home.

Daisy’s brows rose slightly.

“The concept,” the first executive explained, “is that you’ll travel to small towns across the US, doing quick renovation projects. It’ll be similar to what Logan did on Jonathon Island, but with both of you working together, like what you and your contractor?—”

“Hunter,” she provided.

“Right.” The showrunner glanced at her. “Like what you and Hunter did. We’ll showcase not only the progress, but also the relationship you two build as the show unfolds.”

Logan shifted in his seat, glancing at Daisy.

“We want to capture that same charm and authenticity,” another exec added. “We’re thinking of downplaying the production aspect, making it feel more like your YouTube channel, Daisy. Really showcasing the natural chemistry between you and Logan.”

“As for the video circulating social media right now”—the lead executive’s tone grew more serious—“we want to put all the…unpleasantness behind us. This show could be a fresh start for everyone. But for that to happen, we’ll need to make viewers believe in you two as a couple.

They need to see Logan as the right choice for Daisy, instead of seeing Daisy as the woman who broke some guy’s heart.

We need to know that you two can make this work.

That you can be successful together on screen and off… ”

Broke some guy’s heart.

That’s all he was to them. Just some guy.

And they wanted her to just replace him, as simple as that.

“…we’ve been looking at potential locations,” one of the execs was saying, but Daisy’s mind was far away. “There’s this adorable little town called Deep Haven that we think would be perfect for?—”

“I’m sorry,” she interrupted, her voice cutting through the executive’s spiel. The room fell silent, all eyes turning to her in surprise.

She took a deep breath, glancing at Robin, who gave her a reassuring nod. “You know what the problem was with Double Decker ?” she asked, turning her attention back to the table. “It was all curb appeal. It was surface level. Fake.”

She looked up at the photoshopped image of her and Logan.

“We’d roll up to the house, fresh from our trailers, pretend to do some modicum of work, dust off our gloves, then roll to the next house, reapply the dust, and do it all again.

We never looked at those houses as homes, never asked what we could do to leave an impact. ”

Daisy looked down, clicking her nails against the table. “I don’t want to do curb appeal anymore. I don’t want to be fake anymore. I’m tired of putting on a persona so that people won’t be disappointed by the real me. And I’m tired, so tired, of working so hard for even an ounce of success.”

God’s grace is sufficient.

Daisy stood. “I appreciate you for meeting with us today. I’m sorry to have wasted your time.”

She didn’t wait for a counterargument. She just walked out.

A moment later, Robin burst through the glass doors, hurrying after her.

“That was…” Daisy braced herself for a lecture.

“Incredible! Daisy, you’re my hero. I can’t believe you did that…

We’re going to have to talk about maybe discussing these kinds of decisions with…

oh, I don’t know…your agent, next time. But wow! ”

Daisy heard footsteps behind them, then Logan’s voice. “Daisy, wait up!”

She kept walking, but he caught up to her just as she and Robin reached the elevator. He stepped in front of her, blocking their path.

“Come on, Daisy,” he said, his voice fraught with frustration, his brows scrunched tight. “This isn’t you. You’re a winner. A go-getter. You said it yourself, we want the same thing. We both want to win.”

Daisy froze. What did he just say?

“When?” she asked, turning slowly toward him.

“What?” Logan frowned.

“When did I say that?” Daisy snapped, daring him to answer.

Logan’s face fell, confirming her suspicion. She knew it.

Logan and I, we worked because we wanted the same thing. We were both out to win. To be the best… That’s what she’d said that night he’d come to her outside her apartment.

“You recorded me.” Her voice came out barely above a whisper, but it echoed through the sterile hall.

Logan’s eyes darted away, and he shifted, licking his lips. “What?”

The boardroom door opened quietly behind them as a few of the network execs stepped out into the hall.

“That night, outside my apartment, you recorded my conversation.”

“I don’t?—”

“You recorded me. And then you hired someone—because, let’s face it, we both know you can’t do anything yourself—to manipulate footage from my show to make me look bad. To get me canceled. To drive a wedge between me and the man I love…and for what?” Daisy took a bold step forward, chin raised.

“For you,” he snapped. “Everything I did, I did for you.”

“Yeah?” Heat rose in her chest, her voice rising. “How about when you stole the design that got us our show in the first place? Did you do that for me, Logan?”

He ground his teeth together. “I did that for us.”

“There is no us, Logan. How could there be? You’re already in a committed relationship with yourself.

” She glanced over his shoulder toward the crowd of people now gathered behind them.

“Logan Double is a thief and a liar, and he’ll do whatever he can to get ahead.

If you’re smart, you’ll think twice about doing business with him. ”

She stepped into the elevator, Robin at her side. She wasn’t going to lose what she and Hunter had together. Not again. “Change of plans?—”

“Way ahead of you. First flight from Knoxville to Port Joseph, Michigan leaves tomorrow morning.”