Colt grinned. It was the kind of smile that said he’d been up to something. The smile he flashed at me when he showed up at my window.
“He found out,” Colt said.
I tilted my head. “Found out what?”
“That he’s not just fighting the locals anymore.”
I waited for him to tell me more.
“I’ve been doing some work behind the scenes,” he said. “Making some calls, having some conversations with the right people.”
“What kind of people?”
“City officials, mostly.” He leaned forward on the board, forearms resting across the nose of it. “Planning department. The historical committee. A couple of members of the coastal commission.” He paused. “Turns out when you go to those people with documentation and a clear argument, they tend to listen. Especially when someone has already tried to slip things past them.”
I stared at him. “You think Judd paid someone off?”
“I think the original permit applications moved through certain channels faster than they probably should have. I can’t prove anything and I’m not going to make accusations I can’t back up. But I think some things got quietly waved through that should have been flagged. And now that I’ve shined a light on the whole situation, those same officials are looking a lot more carefully.”
“The Front Street building,” I said.
“Those blueprints Judd filed are for a full modern office renovation. Gut the interior, modify the south-facing facade, expand the loading access.” He shook his head slowly. “Every single one of those changes requires committee approval under the original covenant language. Unanimous approval. Which, as your father helpfully pointed out, is functionally impossible.”
I felt the smile break across my face before I could contain it. “He can’t build his headquarters.”
“He cannot build his headquarters,” Colt confirmed. “Not on Front Street. Not in that building. Not without tearing up covenants that have been airtight for thirty years.” He looked out at the horizon for a moment. “And now that the planning department is taking a second look at everything he filed, construction isn’t going to begin on anything. Not until every piece of documentation has been reviewed. Which could take quite a long time.”
“How long?”
He looked back at me with that slow smile still in place. “Long enough to be very inconvenient for a man trying to meet investor timelines.”
I leaned over my board toward him. The gap between us was maybe three feet of open water. I reached out and grabbed his board and pulled it toward mine until they were side by side. He didn’t resist, letting the boards knock together gently.
I kissed him. The boards rocked under us. We’d probably fall off our boards but I didn’t care.
When I pulled back, he was grinning. “What was that for?”
“For being sneaky and brilliant,” I said. “And for not making a big production out of it.”
“I’m a man of quiet action.”
I laughed. “Yeah, you are.”
I let go of his board and lay back down on mine, paddling a few strokes to reposition for the next set. He did the same beside me. We were quiet for a minute, just watching the water.
“So when he was yelling about finding a workaround,” I said.
“He just found out the workaround doesn’t exist.” Colt sat up again, watching the horizon with the satisfied expression of a man who had played a long game and was watching it play out. “His lawyers probably just told him about the committee review. Which means they also told him the timeline just blew wide open.”
“He called all of us hillbillies. Said we didn’t understand basic economics.” I shook my head. “He was very worked up. There was a small crowd by the end. Someone filmed it. Then he called us all losers and drove away.”
Colt shook his head slowly, still smiling. “He’s rattled. A rattled Judd Mathers is a dangerous Judd Mathers, but it also means he’s running out of options and he knows it.” He looked at me. “Are you okay? He didn’t say anything threatening?”
“He was unpleasant,” I said. “I’ve dealt with worse on a crowded beach in August.” I paddled to line myself up as a wave built behind us.
We both turned and paddled. I caught it clean, feeling the board lift and carry me forward in a way that never got old no matter how many thousands of times I’d done it. I rode it to the shallows and kicked off into the knee-deep water, turning back to watch him. He caught the tail end of the same wave and made it most of the way before the board slipped sideways and dumped him into the foam.
“You’re rusty,” I teased.