Reluctant Partners

Chapter Sixteen

Friday came way too soon.

Allie and Cooper had a morning charter, and ironically it was probably their smoothest and best ever. The three male passengers spent most of their time upping each other, seeing who could bring in the most snapper. Their wives, however, were far more interested in Allie’s cooking, going so far as to invade the galley to find out how she was making those delicious wraps.

As she worked, Allie was keenly aware of the fact this was her and Cooper’s final cruise together-and possibly her last outing on the Dragonfly.

She took the bridge on the way home and left their passengers to Cooper’s capable care. “Well, Johnny, I gave it my best shot,” she said, knowing the drone of the engines and the wind would drown out her voice. “The truth is, I’m not sure I could’ve made it on my own. If Cooper wins, he’ll do you proud.”

As the boat neared port, Allie mentally recorded every detail of the experience-how the wind felt against her skin, the smell of the salt air, the way the sun sparkled on the water.

It all felt different since Cooper had come into her life. She would find a way back on the water, that she knew. But it would never be the same.

After they’d seen their passengers off, Allie barely had time to return to the bed-and-breakfast-she hadn’t yet moved back onto the boat, since she might have to move right back off-and grab a shower. She dressed in the white outfit for court, since it was the only thing she owned remotely appropriate, but she wore a high-necked black shirt underneath so as not to flash her cleavage.

She met Arlen Caldwell in front of the courthouse. He’d caught a cold, and he sneezed into a giant handkerchief every couple of minutes.

“So what do you think?” Allie asked the elderly attorney. “Are we going to win?”

“As I’ve said from the beginning, the law’s on your side,” he answered. “It all depends on what kind of tricks that shyster from New York tries to pull. But Judge Isaacs is no dummy. He won’t be taken in by smoke and mirrors.”

Allie smiled at Arlen’s description of Cooper as a shyster. She’d have said the same thing a few weeks ago.

Cooper’s BMW pulled into the parking lot, and that was her cue to hustle Arlen inside. She hadn’t seen him since they’d parted ways after the morning charter; they’d managed to avoid each other at the Sunsetter. If she saw him now she might lose it.

Once they were in the courtroom, she planned to simply not look his way.

The courtroom wasn’t like she pictured it. For one thing, it was tiny. The judge sat behind a normal-looking desk, not one of those giant, imposing things she’d seen on TV. A small table was set up for each party in the dispute. A half-dozen folding chairs accommodated anyone else interested in the proceedings.

Allie and Arlen took their places behind their table; Cooper, Reece and Max filed in right behind them and sat at theirs. They all wore sober suits, even Max, though unlike his cousins he appeared ill at ease in his, tugging often at the collar. Apparently Reece had postponed his trip back to New York.

Sara showed up, too, looking like a colorful butterfly in her paisley-print skirt. She gave Allie a little finger wave and found a chair.

Cooper looked Allie’s way, and she quickly averted her gaze. Darn it, she said she wasn’t going to look at him. Her throat was already tight, and if she was required to testify she feared her voice would come out sounding like Minnie Mouse.

“Are both parties ready to start?” Judge Isaacs asked.

“Yes, Your Honor,” Cooper said. Lord, even speaking those three simple words, his voice rang with sincerity.

“We’re ready, Your Honor,” Arlen said. His voice was scratchy, and he sneezed again into his handkerchief.

“I’ve read both wills cover to cover,” the judge said, “and I’ve read the depositions provided by both parties. Mr. Remington-Mr. Cooper Remington, that is-you’re representing yourself and your cousins, is that correct?”

“Yes, Your Honor.”

“Did you have anything to add at this time?”

“No, Your Honor. I believe the documents speak for themselves.”

Allie nearly fainted. A lawyer who didn’t want to stand up and pontificate when he had the chance?

“Mr. Arlen Caldwell, have you anything to add?”

Arlen stood. He opened his mouth, seemed to think better of it, and closed it again. “No, Your Honor, I concur with Mr. Remington. The documentation speaks for itself.”

“Then I’m prepared to render my decision.”

Now Allie really did feel lightheaded. So soon? She’d expected some kind of recess, during which the judge would ponder the facts before announcing the verdict. But since neither party added new information today, he must have already known how he was going to rule.

That didn’t mean she was ready for it.

Arlen, sensing her distress, patted her hand reassuringly.

“The handwritten will,” the judge began, “appears to be legal in every respect. Since the date on this will supersedes that of the other will, it takes priority. Therefore, I am awarding full ownership of the boat known as the Dragonfly, and everything on it, to Ms. Allison Bateman.”

Allie closed her eyes. Just like that, it was over, and she’d won. She’d expected to feel triumphant at this moment, but she felt a curious emptiness inside.

“However,” the judge said, and Allie’s eyes flew open, “the handwritten will makes no mention of the business known as Remington Charters, Incorporated. The earlier will, however, specifically spells out Johnny Remington’s wishes in regard to that business, which is a separate legal entity from the boat.”

What? Allie glanced over at Arlen. He looked suddenly worried.

“Therefore,” the judge continued, “I hereby award ownership of the corporation known as Remington Charters to Cooper Remington, Reece Remington and Maxwell Remington, to be shared equally among them. Allie Bateman, you will cease and desist using the Remington Charters name or logo, and you will turn over ownership of any corporate bank accounts and all records pertaining to the business, and the fruits of any contracts you entered into under the Remington Charters name, to Mr. Cooper Remington, representative for all three Remington parties.”

The judge droned on and on about how if she didn’t follow his orders in a timely fashion, a representative of the court would step in then. But her ears were buzzing so loudly she couldn’t hear.

Her first thought was to suspect Cooper of somehow engineering this disaster. But when she glanced over at him, she could see he was just as stunned as she was. The Remington cousins were all staring at each other, slack-jawed.

The judge ended the hearing, but Allie just sat there, because she didn’t think her rubbery legs would hold her up.

“I guess I should have seen this coming,” Arlen said in a low voice. “But I’d always thought of the boat and the fishing business as one and the same.”

“You aren’t the only one. Even Cooper didn’t anticipate this decision.”

“We can appeal,” Arlen suggested.

But Allie couldn’t stand the thought of dragging this out any further.

She couldn’t start a fishing charter business from scratch, not without a huge influx of capital. On the other hand, Cooper would have a hard time running a fishing business with no boat. He would have to buy a new one.

She knew what she had to do. But she wasn’t ready to do it.

“Send me a bill for the remainder of what I owe you,” she said to Arlen. “It may take me a little while to pull my finances together, but you’ll get paid.”

“Now, now, I told you not to worry about that. But I do have one more matter to take care of.” He reached into his jacket and extracted a sealed envelope with her name on it. “Cooper came to my office yesterday. He asked that I give you this once the hearing was over, no matter which way it went.”

She was almost afraid to touch the envelope. “What is it?”

He shrugged. “I have no idea. But I’m curious as hell,” he said with a twinkle in his eye. “The boy seemed agitated when he gave it to me.”

She glanced over at the opposing counsel’s table, but Cooper and his cousins were already gone.

Allie slipped away from the courthouse through a back door, fearing she would run into Cooper otherwise. She only went to her car when she was sure the Remingtons were gone.

But she didn’t return to the B and B. She drove to the beach. She wanted to read the letter somewhere where no one could see her, because she suspected it was going to make her cry.

Anyway, she did her best thinking near the ocean, where the sound of the waves crashing on shore soothed her and the smell of salt air cleansed her mind.

Port Clara’s public beach was small. Soon the tourists would cover the sand with their towels and umbrellas, but today it was cloudy, windy and deserted. Not the best sunbathing weather, but it suited her mood.

Allie took off her shoes and walked barefoot in the warm sand, then sat at the base of a sand dune, letting the natural surroundings calm the roiling inside of her.

She pulled her knees into her chest and propped the letter across them, staring at her name. She was terrified to open it.

She’d have to sell the Dragonfly to Cooper. Or maybe, if he didn’t have the capital to buy it outright, she would lease it to him. The one thing she wouldn’t do was hold on to it out of spite. If she did, she might kill off Johnny’s legacy for good.

She wasn’t sure how long she’d been sitting there, minutes or hours, when a shadow moved over her.

“Do you know how long I’ve been looking for you? I was afraid you’d gone and drowned yourself.”

Cooper.

“I appreciate your concern,” she said, meaning it, because he really did sound distressed. “Is that the effect you thought your letter would have?”

“I hope not,” he said with some alarm. “Have you even read it?”

“I haven’t. But I really need to do that alone.”

“Yeah, well, it’s a public beach and I have every right to sit and watch the ocean.” He sat down beside her, and she was surprised to see he was wearing a disreputable pair of cutoff jeans and an Old Salt’s Bar & Grill T-shirt. He looked a lot more beach bum than corporate lawyer.

“I suppose you want me to pay you back for all the money you put into the Dragonfly.”

He sighed. “No, Allie, for the third and final time-I hope-you don’t owe me anything. If you would just read the damn letter, you would know what I’m thinking.”

“The decision surprised you?” she asked, stalling.

“Yeah. I feel like an idiot for not anticipating it. I’m supposed to be the hotshot lawyer around here.”

“Are your cousins upset?”

“Truthfully? They both think the judge should have given it all to you. Johnny’s intentions were clear, even if there was a slight oversight in his will.”

“And what do you think?”

“I think the boat’s no good to you without the business.”

“And the business is no good to you without the boat,” she countered. “Which is why I’m offering to sell you the Dragonfly. It’s the only solution that makes sense.”

He appeared truly surprised. “You’d do that?”

She nodded, resigned but sincere. “Johnny wouldn’t want it all broken up.”

Cooper frowned. “I hate to burst your bubble, but I don’t have the money to buy a boat. I’ve put almost all my liquid assets into Remington Charters already.”

Now she was the one who was surprised. She’d been thinking of Cooper as having an endless supply of cash. “I could lease it to you until you’re ready to buy.”

“Actually, I have another idea. But I don’t want to get my head bitten off again.”

She put her face in her hands, deeply regretting the drama-queen hissy-fit she’d thrown in Houston. “I’m really sorry about that,” she mumbled between her fingers. Then she looked up at him. “I understand now you weren’t trying to cheat me or manipulate me. You really were trying to find a solution that would benefit everyone.”

He shrugged. “I’m not that honorable. The truth is, when I proposed the partnership, I was looking for some way we could be together. I didn’t want to lose you. But I ended up saying the one thing that would alienate you for good.”

Allie was touched at the vulnerability in his voice. How could she have gotten it so wrong? “I wasn’t alienated for good,” she assured him. “Sara made me come to my senses. But I figured by then I’d burned my bridges.” She paused, hoping he would deny she’d done any such thing.

But he didn’t.

“Cooper, who’s Heather?”

He looked surprised at the mention of the name. “How did you hear about her?”

“I overheard Derek say something about her when I went in to get him a beer. I wasn’t listening on purpose, but I couldn’t help hearing.”

Cooper took a deep breath. “I was once engaged to Heather. She ripped me off for close to a quarter million dollars before disappearing into the night.”

Allie gasped. “That’s horrid! Did you put her in jail?”

“No. She got away clean. I imagine she’s happily fleecing some other sucker by now.”

Allie knew how it felt to be fleeced and betrayed by someone who was supposed to love you. But Cooper was the last person she would call a sucker.

“Would you read the letter?” he said impatiently.

“You were going to tell me your idea for solving all our problems.”

“It’s in the letter. But it’s so obvious, I don’t know why you haven’t thought of it.”

“You…you still want to set up a partnership?” she asked, afraid to hope. She’d figured that possibility was off the table.

“A very special kind of partnership.” He took her hand and placed something in her palm, wrapping her fingers around it. It was cold and hard, and it had sharp edges. “Since you won’t read the letter, I’ll tell you what’s in it. It says, Allie Bateman, I love you with all my heart. I think I fell in love with you that first day I saw you, when you threatened to get your gun and shoot me. Would you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”

Allie couldn’t breathe. Honestly, she thought she was going to pass out. Her ears were buzzing and her head felt like it was about to float away from her body.

But then she remembered to inhale, and her vision cleared. She opened her hand and looked at the object Cooper had given her. It was a diamond ring. An enormous square diamond ring.

“I’ll give you Remington Charters as a wedding present,” he added. “Reece and Max agree.”

“Oh, Cooper.”

“Is that ‘Oh, Cooper, yes’? Or ‘Oh, Cooper, get lost’?”

“Oh, Cooper.” She couldn’t seem to say anything else. She’d never seen this coming. “I mean, yes. I love you, too. Yes.” She threw her arms around him with so much enthusiasm it knocked him over into the sand. He laughed, and then he was kissing her and she felt like her entire world had just flip-flopped and she’d landed in the place where all her dreams were coming true-even the ones she’d never admitted she had.

“DAD, I SEE THE BIG DIPPER!” a seven-year-old boy shouted. He stood near the railing with his glow-in-the-dark star chart, trying to identify constellations while Cooper helped his older sister to view the planet Mars.

With all the celebrating, Cooper and Allie had nearly forgotten they had their first stargazer cruise scheduled for that night. But they’d scrambled to get the new telescope mounted and prepare cookies and brownies-and the promised champagne.

Their first stargazer passengers were a family of four from Houston. Allie remembered talking to them at the trade show. They’d been looking for a new and different getaway weekend.

The kids were clearly enchanted with the night sky. The weather had cooperated, providing them with a crystal-clear, cloudless sky. The parents lounged on side-by-side deck chairs, holding hands and sipping their bubbly from plastic flutes.

Navigating the calm waters at night was no problem, and unlike with the fishing cruises, Allie could find a nice spot and throw out the anchor, allowing her to join in the fun.

“Cooper, is that Cassiopeia’s chair?” she asked, pointing to five bright stars that formed an M-shape on the southern horizon. She knew it was, but since he was their resident expert, she let him play the part.

“Yeah, it sure is,” he answered.

“Where? I want to see!” The boy rushed to Allie’s side and peered up where she pointed.

“Me, too,” said the girl. Brother and sister got into a good-natured argument about whether it actually looked like a chair or not, and who was Cassiopeia, anyway?

Cooper and Allie drew back into the shadows, and he kissed her softly. The ring winked at her, even in the dim light. She knew it wasn’t that smart to wear it while she was working, but she couldn’t bear to take it off, not today.

Reece and Max had seemed genuinely pleased when they heard news of the engagement, both swearing they’d seen it coming. Allie insisted they retain a percentage of ownership in the fishing business, but they’d seemed unconcerned about that.

Sara had been over the moon, and she and Miss Greer had fixed a special dinner that night.

“Where should we get married?” Allie asked Cooper, leaning against him in the moonlight.

“Hmm. You’re the captain of a boat. Maybe you could marry us right here.”

She laughed. “I don’t think I could officiate at my own wedding. Besides, I’m not the captain. We’re co-captains. The sign says so.”

She’d been surprised and thrilled when she’d arrived at dock a few hours ago to see that Cooper had hired someone to repaint the sign over the Dragonfly’s slip. The sign had listed both “Captain Allie Bateman” and “Captain Cooper Remington,” side by side, with both of their phone numbers.

“You were pretty sure this was going to work out,” she commented.

He shrugged. “Not really. But I was hopeful.”

“In that case, I pronounce us husband and wife,” she said.

“Does that mean tonight’s our wedding night?”

“As far as I’m concerned, every night’s our wedding night. For the rest of our lives.”