Page 48 of #Resort Love (Lakeview Harbor #1)

ONE MONTH LATER…

“I’m not sure this is a good idea. There’s so much going on…maybe we should wait a little bit.”

Walker gave her a patient smile. “It’s going to be fine. Trust me.”

“I don’t know,” she murmured. “I would think you’d want to be here for these meetings. Do you really think it’s fair to dump it all on Axel, Slater, and Connor?”

“Nobody’s getting dumped on,” he assured her. “These are just preliminaries and no decisions are going to be made. Besides, this is a group effort. We’ve been handling stuff while Milo’s not here, but we video chat with him and keep him up to date. The guys will do that for us, too.”

She still didn’t look fully convinced, but there was no way he was going to be swayed.

The two of them were heading to Galveston for ten days.

He was going for a final interview with the corporate bosses, and he wanted a chance to show Harlow where he worked.

The entire process had taken longer than he thought it would, but it was fine.

It gave him time to focus on the work he was doing at the Lakeview Harbor Resort.

And they had been working tirelessly for months and finally seeing enormous progress.

More than half of the cabins were repaired and ready for paint and decorating.

The lodge had been completely gutted, and all the plumbing and electric had been replaced.

All the storage buildings, the boathouse, and the activity center were repaired and in the process of having their exteriors painted.

There had been a lot of new roofs installed—more than they had originally expected—but when he walked around now, it looked amazing.

Plus, after clearing away so much of the overgrowth, things were finally looking like the resort he remembered from his childhood.

Starting this week, the guys would meet with interior designers and decorators.

Walker had put in his ideas and they had all discussed what they were looking for.

These meetings—like he told Harlow—were really just to give the designers a chance to walk around and get a feel for the spaces they would work on.

It would have been great if he and Harlow could be here for it, but he couldn’t miss the opportunity to fly out for this interview.

“We can tell them to video chat with us while they do the walk-throughs,” he suggested to her. “I don’t think anyone would have a problem with that. But it would probably go over better if you were the one to bring it up. The guys tend to say yes to you without arguing.”

“No, no, no. I’m sure everything’s going to be fine.” But she sighed.

“Are you sure? Because that sigh said otherwise.”

She gave him a small smile. “It’s just a lot, you know?”

There was a slight tremble in her voice, and he knew she was talking about more than just the decorators coming.

Leaving Harbortown—even for only ten days—was a big thing for her.

She’d never traveled this far away from home before.

This town was her security—even with all the terrible memories, it was still home.

Spending time in Galveston was a brand-new experience, and right now, it was still in the running for a place to call home.

But so were Orlando and San Diego, if he got the job. Yeah, the only place they had ruled out was Miami.

He had been so certain that he never wanted to move to Harbortown and deal with the resort full-time, but the more time he spent there, the more open he was to the idea.

So much was happening and he loved seeing it all come together, so they had to make a conscious decision to just take it day by day.

Once this interview was over, they would sit down and talk it all through again.

And he loved talking with Harlow about everything.

He loved her thoughts and ideas, and she had a knack for forcing him out of his comfort zone and making him see things in ways he never would have.

It was a little like this resort. She had pushed him and made him see how his ideas—while not terrible—weren’t needed here. Looking around, everything was coming together exactly the way it was supposed to.

Who knows, maybe one day he’d open a resort of his own with all the thoughts and ideas he had for this place.

Maybe.

That was a thought for another time.

“We should probably get going,” Harlow said, interrupting his thoughts. “The car will be here to pick us up any minute.”

Nodding, he glanced around the cabin to make sure they had everything. She grabbed her suitcase and he grabbed his and followed her out the door. They waved to the contractors and caught a glimpse of Slater as he hauled some lumber down toward the dock for repairs.

At the parking lot, Harlow made a quick call to her office while Walker just took a moment to take it all in—everything around him.

Everything was the same, but better.

Every. Damn. Thing. And it filled him with pride.

Four months ago, the Lakeview Harbor Resort looked like a place that time had forgotten. But now, as he looked around for probably the tenth time today, it felt like he had stepped back in time.

And it made him smile.