Rescue Me(37)

He was closer to the mark than he realized. What was he supposed to say to that?

Just then Meredith came rushing into the office, her eyes flashing with an odd mix of anger and concern. Speak of the devil.

"We need to talk," she said to Brandon in a tone full of impatience.

"I was just leaving," Cole said, drawing her attention to him as if she'd just noticed he was in the room. What had her so riled up?

"Oh, I'm sorry," she stammered, her eyes locking with his. "I can let you finish up first."

Cole stood, willing his eyes to look away from her. He wanted to know what was wrong, wanted to wrap his arms around her and make her forget whatever had her so upset. And if he didn't get out of there soon Brandon would see it all over his face.

"No, it's fine. I'll catch you later," he said, not sure who his words were directed toward. He passed her at the door, brushing against her shoulder as he walked by and giving her a secret smile once his back was to Brandon.

"Later," Brandon called.

Meredith shut the door behind her and he left the building, heading straight for his boat. He had another hour before his next lesson and he needed to think. Needed to get away from the distraction Meredith caused him so he could clear his head. Because even though he'd just decided that leaving for California was in his best interest, seeing her had him in knots all over again. She was doing a number on him and he hadn't the faintest clue what to do about it.





CHAPTER TEN



Brandon stared at her in surprise. "Do you want to have a seat first?" he asked.

Meredith realized she was leaning over him, her hands planted on his desk. She stepped back but didn't sit. She was too fired up.

"When were you going to tell me?"

He looked at her cautiously, a veil dropping over his eyes. "Tell you what?"

"That you're close to bankruptcy? That you almost lost the resort? That you still could?"

He sighed and stood up, coming around to the side of the desk where she stood with her hands on her hips. "Who told you?"

"It doesn't matter who told me. The fact is that you didn't tell me. Why?"

"I didn't want to worry you. You have enough on your plate with your career taking off. I was just trying to keep you from having one more concern."

"When are you going to stop treating me like a child?" The look on his face made it clear that he was taken aback by her words, and part of her, the old Meredith, couldn't believe she was saying them. She'd felt it for so long, but never verbalized it.

"I'm not treating you like a child," he said, placing his hands on her arms and attempting to lead her over to the chairs.

"Yes you are," she exclaimed, shaking his hands off. "Just like this. You're placating me. I'm not a little girl who's going to break if you tell her the truth." She never had been, but Brandon had always treated her so.

"Fine," he sighed, sitting down in one of the chairs and running his hands through his hair. After a moment, she forced herself to sit down beside him and waited for him to say something.

"I'm sorry I kept it from you. But really, would it have made any difference if you'd known? It wouldn't have changed anything. I'm okay, and the resort will be too. Eventually. We just have to be careful for the next little bit to not overextend ourselves financially."

"You're not okay, Bran. You're working yourself to death. You need help. You can't continue at this pace. I see it now. You've barely had time for anything but work since I've arrived."

"I know, and I'm sorry about that. I truly am."

"That's not what this is about. I'm just making a point that you're going to run yourself into the ground."

He shrugged his shoulders helplessly. "I don't really have a choice. I can't hire anyone else and if I don't take care of things, everything I've worked for all these years will be gone."

Meredith's heart went out to her brother. He really was a good guy. As much as he drove her crazy by his overbearing Brother Bear act, she knew it was only because he had her best interests in mind. But maybe she could do something for him.

"Let me help."

"No." He shook his head vehemently. "There's nothing you need to do. I've got it under control."

"Maybe, but there is something I can do. And I'm going to if you won't stand in my way."

"All I want is for you to have a nice time before you go back to New York. You don't need to spend your vacation worrying about me or my business."

"I don't need to, but I want to."

Before he could object, she pulled out the plans she and Katrina had come up with and went over them in detail. Her financial experience came in handy because without much effort, she was able to clearly show him how the program would be an investment that would bring in much-needed revenue. She laid it out in terms that would make sense to his business-minded brain.

Dance fitness and reality dance shows were immensely popular and they could capitalize on that to bring in more guests. Market the classes as an add-on feature that would add to the revenue.

She was ecstatic to see he was actually listening to her.

"I can't oversee this," he finally said. "I don't have the knowledge to implement something like this, and we can't hire anyone else right now."