Maggie

She hung up on me. I couldn't believe she actually hung up on me. And she didn't even deny that she lied to me. She was actually trying to give me some freaking excuse and was treating me like I was the bad guy. I didn't want to jump to conclusions about Maggie, but I couldn't believe the way she was acting. What the hell?

I replayed the conversation we'd just had over and over in my head, and what she said about the land didn't make any sense at all. I didn't know where she'd gotten her information, but it felt like we were talking about two completely different deals.

"Hey, Frank, it's me again."

"What's up? Did that reporter get ahold of you?"

"Yeah, she did. It was a quick interview. That's not what I'm calling about, though. I just talked to someone … someone who knows one of the lawyers who's working on the land deal …"

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, and they told me something that sounded really weird."

"Well, this is supposed to be a completely private deal. If there are people talking then they probably don't even know what they're talking about."

"That's why I'm asking you, Frank. You've been to the meetings and I've stayed away because it's not really my thing. But what I heard … it just can't be right."

"What's that?"

"That the permit applications that have been submitted are for condos. Is that true?"

"Well, I'll have to check on that. You know how they are down at those county offices. Maybe they got the permits mixed up."

"Can you send me everything that's gone through so far—all the paperwork?"

"Oh, come on, you don't need to worry yourself with all that. I've got your back, Shane."

"I know. You've always taken care of the business end for me, but I'd really like to take a look at everything. I want to be able to actually answer questions about this whole deal if someone asks me."

"Well, I'm gonna have to get everything together. That'll take a few days. Then I can have it all messengered over to you."

"Messengered? No, I'll just come over there. I've got a scanning app on my phone, it'll take no time at all."

"Well, now's not a real good time for me, Shane. I've got some other stuff going on."

"Okay, well let me know when you're going to be free."

Frank didn't say anything for a moment and I almost asked if he was still there, but when he started talking again he sounded strange. Almost irritated.

"What's this all about? Don't you trust me anymore, man? All I've ever done is look out for your best interest."

"Yeah, I know. It's just that, I had a conversation with someone a little while ago and it's gotten me really upset. I want to believe that everything is what you say it is, but I really just need to see for myself. You understand, don't you?"

"Look, Shane …"

"What?"

"This whole deal, it's about more than finding a nice place for you and your family to live. You're at a point in your life where you need to be thinking about making investments for your future. You're not gonna be an A-lister forever."

"I know that."

"I'm trying to look out for you for the long term here, Shane. That's what this whole deal is about."

"Yeah, I get that. I agree. I need to start thinking about all that stuff. And I appreciate everything you're doing for me. But why are you telling me this after I asked to see the paperwork? That's all I'm asking right now."

"I just want you to know that, while it might not seem like it initially, everything I've done with this deal is to ensure that you have plenty of money coming in twenty or thirty years down the road."

"Why do I have a feeling that you're about to tell me something I'm not going to like?"

"All right, I did put in for a multi-dwelling unit permit."

"What for?"

"Look, this land … it's worth a freaking hell of a lot of money, Shane. More than I even dreamed before we made the initial offer. You're going to be spending a lot of money for a place to put a couple of houses with tons of room left over."

"It's my money, Frank. I can do whatever the hell I want with it."

"And I'm not arguing with you about that. I'm just saying that, if you sold off a small part of it, you could make a whole lot of money. I mean a lot."

"That's not what I wanted Frank. Not at all."

"I know, buddy, that's why I didn't say anything to you about it. I wanted to check it out first, and see how feasible it would be."

"What do you mean check it out first? There's nothing to check out. No part of that property is for sale."

"Just wait a minute. Listen to me, this is an opportunity for you to make all of your money back—"

"I want to see all the documents that have been submitted to the lawyers, Frank. I'm coming over right now."

"Shane, come on! What do you want all that land for anyway?"

"What do I want it for? I want the land so that assholes that want to build a freaking condo or resort on it can't get their goddamned hands on it! That's what I want it for! I want to see everything that I've signed off on, Frank. Now!"

"Look, it's already done, man."

"What?"

"I took an offer."

"What offer."

"An offer from some group in Europe. They only want a small plot, just enough for one building and some access rights."

"And you did this? Behind my back?"

"I told you, Shane. I'm looking out for you. This is for your future!"

"The only person you're looking out for is yourself, Frank. I didn't ask for this. If you really had my best interest in mind, you would have talked to me about it first."

"You would have said no, we both know that."

"Yeah, but that's still my decision, not yours. And what are you getting out of all this? Huh? How much are you making off this deal?"

"Not anywhere near what you are! Seriously, this is a multi-million dollar deal!"

"You're fired, Frank."

"What? You gotta be kidding me! What the hell are you gonna do without me, Shane? Do you know how much I take care of for you? Do you know how many people want to get their grubby mitts all over you and your money? I'm the one that takes care of it all! Me! And this is the thanks I get?"

"Don't give me that shit. You knew you could talk to me about anything. The fact that you didn't doesn't sit very well with me at all. I really thought I could trust you. You were the only one left."

"You can trust me. I'm the same person who's taken care of you all these years. You're like a brother to me."

"If this is the way you'd treat your brother, I don't need one. I'm serious, Frank. You're gone. Get all of my paperwork together for the deal and send it over to my house now. I'm freezing all my accounts so don't even try to make any withdrawals."

"Aw, man, you know I wouldn't do that!"

"Do I? I can't even think right now. Just send me what I asked for and we can iron out the rest next week."

"Look, Shane, I set up this deal! You need me to finish it! I was the one that found the goddamned land in the first place. What the hell?"

"You shouldn't have tried to mess with me, Frank. You know how I feel about this sort of thing. Did you really think I'd just gloss over the fact that you lied?"

"First of all, I didn't lie. And second of all, yes! As a matter of fact I did! I was pretty fucking sure that when you saw how much money I made you, you'd be kissing my goddamed feet!"

"Goodbye, Frank."

I hung up the phone and immediately called my accountant. Frank gave the orders on what to do with the money, but my accountant actually did the work, so all I had to do was tell him what to do and Frank was taken off everything.

When I got off the phone with the accountant I was shaking. I sat there in my perfect house in the perfect spot I'd been dreaming about for years, and I was falling apart. I couldn't believe I'd let this happen again. I couldn't believe that there was no one left—not a single person in the world other than my parents—that I could trust. I didn't understand how people did it. How they found honest people to work for them that weren't trying to take them for every dime.

But it wasn't just having someone to trust to take care of my business for me. It was having someone I could trust and fall in love with. I didn't know how that was ever going to happen. How I was ever going to be able to find a woman that wasn't after me for surface bullshit. I wanted someone who wanted the real Shane Holloway—not the actor. I had been dying to be the person that was locked up inside me, the one that I hadn't shown to anyone for years.

I really thought I could be that person with Maggie. When I looked into her eyes this morning I really thought I'd finally found someone I could believe in. I felt like the walls inside me were melting with every kiss and every smile. I'd fooled myself into thinking that fate had brought me back to this island and to that restaurant where we ran into each other. But really this had all been some sick joke that the universe was playing on me.

All I wanted to do was crawl into bed and hide for a week, but I had to straighten out this land deal. There was no way I was going to let anyone get their hands on a shred of that land, especially if they were going to build a tourist destination. I could see it now. A building that was a minimum of ten stories—probably more like twenty or thirty—sticking up out of that gorgeous forest, which would probably be privatized, so that the public couldn't even use those beaches anymore. A freaking nightmare.

Since it was Sunday, and there wasn't much I could do until the following day, I did wind up crawling into bed. I got under the covers and stared out the massive windows at the amazing view of the ocean, wishing more than anything that my life was simple again. Like it had been before I became the Shane Holloway.

I thought about calling Maggie. She was the only person I could even fathom talking to, but I couldn't stomach making the call. Everything seemed so pointless now.

* * *

I don't know how many times I picked up the phone to call her over the next few weeks. It made me incredibly sad that she hadn't responded to the messages I'd left, but I could understand why. If she really thought I'd lied to her about the land … well, I knew exactly how important it was to her. But I wasn't going to give up. As soon as everything was finalized I was going to track her down and show her exactly how honest my intentions had been from the start.

I watched the cove every chance I could. Sometimes I would sit out there for hours, staring out at the trees and the ocean—every once in a while looking through the telescope to see if she was there. I wasn't even sure if I'd try to go down there and talk to her. But she never came back.

I knew this wasn't the end, though. I could feel it. I knew that there was a reason we'd run into each other twice, and so soon after I'd returned to the island. I had to believe there was a future for Maggie and me, because if there wasn't, the universe had played a pretty sick joke on both of us.