selling tickets to my living quarters, so—”
“I don’t mean about the lighthouse, or the keeper’s cottage. You’ve recently taken a bigger role in managing the trust. Are we in worse shape there than you’ve let on? If that’s so, ye need to come clean with me.”
“No, it’s okay. But it doesn’t earn what it used to. Growth is slow, sometimes negligible. We’re damn lucky it didn’t go the other direction. I’m hopeful we can be more aggressive in finding ways to grow it without taking too many risks, but that will take time. What’s in there now— we’d wipe it out just to renovate the tower. And then what? It won’t stay renovated. Over time, the winds, the sea, the weather, will hammer it all over again. True of the cottage as well. If we can get a healthy part of the house up to par, that would be the wiser investment. I guess I kept thinking if I maintained the place by doing as much of it myself as I could, then eventually we could start a modest campaign on the cottage and tower. But I have to admit . . . I’m losing that battle. I should have admitted defeat sooner and I should have been more aggressive with trust management. It’s not my forte, but—” He broke off, pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’m sorry.”
Fergus reached over, gripped Logan’s forearm, squeezed, then held tight. “Yer doin’ the best with what ye have. I dinnae blame ye, laddie. You’ve been dealt a tough hand, and not just once. I know ye just wanted to find peace, simplicity, and let things work at their own pace. I understand that, as ye well know. I could have pushed harder, but I guess I wanted to believe it would all resolve itself, too.”
“It’s the McCrae legacy,” Logan said quietly. “Left to me to oversee. I should have done better with that.”
“Yet another burden for you to take on,” Fergus said. “As I see it, you’ve never shirked a one of them. As ye said, yer but one man.” He leaned farther over the desk and cupped Logan’s cheek with his other hand. “Even a lad as stubborn as yourself knows when it’s time to ask for some help.”
Whatever argument Logan thought he’d been prepared to mount, Fergus had wiped out with that one quietly stated declaration. It wasn’t as if they hadn’t had the discussion before in some form or other. But that was before any actual steps had been taken, and other people had been involved. Alex MacFarland, specifically. He understood now why Fergus had done it.
“I might not have, but you did,” Logan said, feeling the weight of every single one of his forebears as if they were sitting directly on his shoulders. It was ironic that he could single-handedly carry the entire town of Blueberry Cove on those same shoulders, and do a pretty damn good job of it, yet fail the single branch of his own ancestral tree so utterly. “It’s a monumental task and will continue to be one. I’m not even sure, frankly, where to begin. And that’s talking about the main house.”
“That is why I stepped in to help ye out a wee bit. It’s what family is supposed to do. And I’ve been just as lax, so the fault lies equally with me.”
Logan sighed and held Fergus’s gaze squarely. “What is one single woman going to do?”
“Have you bothered to even look at her credentials? Do a search on her background in this business?” Fergus didn’t wait for the reply as they both knew the answer to that. “She’s done this her whole life, and her father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and more before her. They know a thing or two or three about what it takes, and that includes raising the funds to see it done.”
“She might have mentioned that,” Logan allowed.
Fergus’s brows climbed halfway up his ruddy forehead. “Did she now? And you what? Dismissed the golden goose out of hand?”
“That’s just it. There is no golden goose, no golden eggs. I didn’t follow up with Alex because I’ve done that legwork in the past, although it’s
“I don’t mean about the lighthouse, or the keeper’s cottage. You’ve recently taken a bigger role in managing the trust. Are we in worse shape there than you’ve let on? If that’s so, ye need to come clean with me.”
“No, it’s okay. But it doesn’t earn what it used to. Growth is slow, sometimes negligible. We’re damn lucky it didn’t go the other direction. I’m hopeful we can be more aggressive in finding ways to grow it without taking too many risks, but that will take time. What’s in there now— we’d wipe it out just to renovate the tower. And then what? It won’t stay renovated. Over time, the winds, the sea, the weather, will hammer it all over again. True of the cottage as well. If we can get a healthy part of the house up to par, that would be the wiser investment. I guess I kept thinking if I maintained the place by doing as much of it myself as I could, then eventually we could start a modest campaign on the cottage and tower. But I have to admit . . . I’m losing that battle. I should have admitted defeat sooner and I should have been more aggressive with trust management. It’s not my forte, but—” He broke off, pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’m sorry.”
Fergus reached over, gripped Logan’s forearm, squeezed, then held tight. “Yer doin’ the best with what ye have. I dinnae blame ye, laddie. You’ve been dealt a tough hand, and not just once. I know ye just wanted to find peace, simplicity, and let things work at their own pace. I understand that, as ye well know. I could have pushed harder, but I guess I wanted to believe it would all resolve itself, too.”
“It’s the McCrae legacy,” Logan said quietly. “Left to me to oversee. I should have done better with that.”
“Yet another burden for you to take on,” Fergus said. “As I see it, you’ve never shirked a one of them. As ye said, yer but one man.” He leaned farther over the desk and cupped Logan’s cheek with his other hand. “Even a lad as stubborn as yourself knows when it’s time to ask for some help.”
Whatever argument Logan thought he’d been prepared to mount, Fergus had wiped out with that one quietly stated declaration. It wasn’t as if they hadn’t had the discussion before in some form or other. But that was before any actual steps had been taken, and other people had been involved. Alex MacFarland, specifically. He understood now why Fergus had done it.
“I might not have, but you did,” Logan said, feeling the weight of every single one of his forebears as if they were sitting directly on his shoulders. It was ironic that he could single-handedly carry the entire town of Blueberry Cove on those same shoulders, and do a pretty damn good job of it, yet fail the single branch of his own ancestral tree so utterly. “It’s a monumental task and will continue to be one. I’m not even sure, frankly, where to begin. And that’s talking about the main house.”
“That is why I stepped in to help ye out a wee bit. It’s what family is supposed to do. And I’ve been just as lax, so the fault lies equally with me.”
Logan sighed and held Fergus’s gaze squarely. “What is one single woman going to do?”
“Have you bothered to even look at her credentials? Do a search on her background in this business?” Fergus didn’t wait for the reply as they both knew the answer to that. “She’s done this her whole life, and her father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and more before her. They know a thing or two or three about what it takes, and that includes raising the funds to see it done.”
“She might have mentioned that,” Logan allowed.
Fergus’s brows climbed halfway up his ruddy forehead. “Did she now? And you what? Dismissed the golden goose out of hand?”
“That’s just it. There is no golden goose, no golden eggs. I didn’t follow up with Alex because I’ve done that legwork in the past, although it’s
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