The Inn on Harmony Island (Sweet Tea and a Southern Gentleman #1)(3)

As soon as I got back to New York, I’d forget. But for now, I didn’t have the strength.





1





SHELBY





Six Months Later





The knock on my door startled me. I pulled my gaze away from my computer monitor and blinked a few times. My eyes were sore from staring at bouquet options, and it took a moment for them to readjust.

I cleared my throat as I pushed away from my desk and called out, “Come in.”

The door burst open, and standing in the entryway was Sara, the new intern my boss had hired. Her hair was disheveled and her cheeks pink. She was huffing like she’d just run a marathon and was trying to catch her breath.

I quirked an eyebrow. “Everything okay?” I asked.

She doubled over, clutching her ribs and took a few big, deep breaths.

Concern filled my chest as I stood and moved to cross the room. Before I reached her, she lifted her finger to stop me. “It’s…okay…” she said between breaths. “Phone call…line one.”

I glanced back to the phone on my desk where the “line 1” light was blinking, before bringing my attention back to her. Whoever was on the other line could wait. “But are you okay?” I asked, dipping down so I could catch her gaze.

Sara whipped up, surprising me enough to step back. Her whole face was bright red now from the blood that must have rushed to her head. She smiled and shrugged. “I got Patricia’s coffee order wrong, and I had to race back to the coffee shop before she noticed.” Sara’s breathing had steadied, and her normally cheerful demeanor was back.

I nodded, contemplating for a moment if I should tell her that she was trying too hard to make our boss like her. But I pinched my lips shut. I’d just been promoted to assistant project manager, and there was no way I wanted to go back to a reception job. Not when I’d gotten this far.

The wedding industry was cutthroat, and if I wanted to own my own wedding planning business someday, I needed to keep climbing. Sara was sweet, but I knew if roles were reversed, she’d do the same with me.

“Well, keep hydrated,” I said as I rested my hand on my lower back and pressed, stretching out the tension that had taken up residence there. We were in the middle of planning a wedding for some billionaire, and there’d been way too many late nights.

Sara nodded. “I will.” Then she wiggled her finger in the direction of the phone. “Make sure you get that.”

“Yes, ma’am.” My southern drawl slipped out. My cheeks hinted pink as I pinched my lips together. I’d gone to great lengths to keep my background hidden. My past was dead. The last thing I needed was for anyone to know where I’d come from.

I was determined to reinvent myself here, and lugging my past around with me like a ball and chain wasn’t going to help. To everyone here, I was Shelby Sorenson, the wedding planner to watch.

“Let me know if you need anything,” she said.

I nodded as I rounded my desk and picked up the receiver. Not sure who it was, I waited until Sara left, shutting the door behind her, before I brought it to my ear.

“Hello?” a deep, soothing voice asked.

I paused and blinked. That sounded like Miles. Which was strange. I hadn’t spoken to him or seen him since Gran’s funeral. Why was he calling me now?

“Miles?”

Silence. “Shelby?”

I grabbed my chair’s armrest and pulled it over so I could sit down. My back was straight as I sat there, waiting to hear why he’d purposely disobeyed my request to be left alone. “Yeah, you called me.”

“Right. Sorry.”

I sighed as I collapsed against the back of my chair. “What do you want?”

He cleared his throat. “Listen, I know you didn’t want me to contact you.”

“Yes,” I said, probably a bit too quickly.

He paused. “But there’s no way around this.”

I hated how hesitant he sounded. I’d grown up with the kid. He was beating around the bush, and there was only one reason for that. He wanted to ask me to do something he knew I had no interest in doing.

“What do you need from me?” I bent the corner of my desktop calendar and then flattened it, pressing my nail along the crease.

“Tom said there’s no way I can do this without you.”

“Do what?” I furrowed my brow. “And who’s Tom?”

Miles cleared his throat. “Tom’s the lawyer that is helping me with Gran’s will.”

I swallowed, stress rising in my throat and forming a ball. “Will?”

“Yeah.” He sighed. “You need to come back to Harmony Island.”

I shook my head. “I’m not coming back. I told you at the funeral. I’m done.”

“I know you said that, but…” His voice trailed off.

I glanced down at the receiver. Had we been cut off? “Miles?” I asked, praying that he was still on the line. The last thing I needed was to have to call him and go through this once more.

“Yeah, sorry.”

“But what?” I was desperate for this conversation to end.

“If you don’t come back, the state will seize the property.”