by Bird, Peggy
Sam shrugged it off. “No problem. I don’t need anything special. I’m just going to crash with Matt for the weekend.”
Jade stiffened and smiled weakly. “Well, I certainly hope you have a pleasant stay. Let me know if there is anything I or my staff can do for you, Miss Parker.” She took a deep breath and looked at Matt. “Bye.” His heart was in his throat as he reached his hand out to her. She turned back to the main house and walked away.
• • •
Samantha was grinning as she stepped into Matt’s cabin. “This place is cuter than I thought it would be.”
Matt dropped her bag on the floor and threw himself down on the couch. “That sucked.” He pressed his palms into his eyes and rubbed.
“I thought she’d be taller.”
Matt shook his head, which was still in his hands.
Sam put a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t worry, I’ll figure something out. We’ll win you back your lady. You just need to have a little patience.”
“I don’t want to do it this way anymore. It’s too hard. I just want to crawl across broken glass on my knees and grovel. It’ll be less painful.”
Sam rolled her eyes. Then she suddenly turned away from Matt. “Ooooh, hey, I have a present for you.” Sam crossed to the door where Matt left her bag.
“Cyanide tablet?”
Sam rolled her eyes. “Drama queen.” She rifled through her bag and pulled out a large envelope. “I checked in with Allison before I left. She said some extra letters were sent in from London. She was going to forward them, but I told her I’d deliver them in person.” Sam handed the envelope to Matt. He waved it off. Sam dropped the envelope on the coffee table in front of Matt and sat on the couch beside him. She draped her arm around his shoulders and bumped against him playfully.
“She’s great, Matt. Short, but great,” Sam said softly.
Matt smiled sadly. “How can you tell? You barely met her.”
“I negotiate for a living. All I do is read people. She was pissed, but she cares deeply. She’s passionate and feisty. I’m surprised I don’t have blisters after the look she gave me. And she loves you.” Matt’s head jerked up. He looked at Sam. She patted him on the knee. “Come on, buddy. It’ll all work out. Trust me.”
• • •
Jade stalked into the kitchen for a cup of coffee. She took her anger out on the cabinets and drawers, banging them as she got out the necessary items. It hadn’t taken long for Matt to call in his socialite-of-the-month. Slam. Of course, she was as mad at herself as anyone else. Bang. If she had gone to Matt and apologized for overreacting, he might not have invited Miss Hottie-Mc-Sports-Car. Whap. But honestly, it had only been a week and if Matthew Riley Mc-Any-Warm-Body-Will-Do was that fickle, it was better to know now and shut the whole thing down. Bam. “Asshole.” Jade muttered under her breath as she flounced out of the kitchen and into her office.
The office was cluttered, and it took her twenty minutes of tidying, filing invoices, and entering notes into her calendar before the desk was clear enough to work. She cleaned with a vengeance until the surface was clear, then she stared at her desktop and tried not to think about Samantha Parker. In Matt’s cabin. With Matt. It was interesting that she had called him Matt and not Riley. They must be close. Her jaw was beginning to hurt from grinding her teeth. If she kept this up she wouldn’t have teeth left, just nubs and some white dust. The thought made her smile, sort of. The phone rang and jolted her out of her reverie. Jade just stared at it for a moment. Now what?
“Lakehaven Resort. Jade speaking.” Her greeting was terse.
“Uh, Jade? It’s Dad.”
Jade sighed. That answered that question. “Hi, Dad.”
“You okay?”
Jade forced a chipper tone. “Yeah, fine! What’s up?”
Jade’s father paused for a moment but seemed to accept her answer and then went on. “Well, I don’t know if it’ll be useful to your writer friend, but I’m cleaning out my filing cabinets at work and I came across some additional Cartwright papers that I had completely forgotten about. Would you like me to drop them in the mail?”
Jade’s laugh was dry. “Sure, that’d be great.”
“Are you sure you’re okay, Pumpkin?”
“Absolutely.” She started doodling on the blotting pad on the desk.
“Okay then. Uhm. I’m sure you don’t need the reminder, but your mother wanted me to mention the retirement dinner next week. She said, in case you needed to shop.”
“Right, Dad, I’m on top of it.” Not. She had completely forgotten.
“It’s cocktails at seven and dinner at eight.”
“I know.” Her doodle started to take the shape of a sports car. There was a freakishly tall woman crushed under the front tires. With x’s for eyes. Jade wrote, 7:00 P.M.—retirement, next to the drawing. Then she added a road with two high heel shoes strewn across it.
“Your mom RSVP’d for two, just in case.”
“Ok, thanks.” Jade wrote “two” next to the time. Crap. Maybe Ben could take her. She hoped he didn’t need to wear a tux. “It’s black tie optional, right?” Jade started to draw a broad shouldered figure in a tuxedo next to the car. She drew an anvil over his head.
“Yes. Your mother is making me wear a tuxedo though. She says I’ll look dashing. Like James Bond.”
Jade paused for a moment and thought about clunking her head against the desk. At this rate, she would soon have a large bruise on her forehead. She decided against it. “She’s right, Dad. You should go with the tux.”
Jade heard her Dad chuckle on the other end of the line. “As if I have a choice? This is your mother we’re talking about.” Jade’s mother was a soft-spoken bohemian poet with a stubborn streak a mile long.
Jade smiled as she thought about how that conversation had probably gone. She had never seen two people who were so in love but could disagree so often. “Yeah, but this time she’s right. Wear the tux.” Dr. Sawyer was a lean, small-boned man who looked lanky in his usual wardrobe of baggy khakis and sports coats but managed to look dashing in a well-fitted tux.
“So … How’s the jewelry coming?”
Jade sighed again. “Good. It’s … almost ready.” Jade felt like she had been putting the final touches on the line for months now, getting it ready. It was never quite perfect.
“Oh, good. I can’t wait to see it.” There was a brief pause on the line, and she could hear the sound of shuffling papers. “Well, take care of yourself.”
“I will.”
“I love you.”
“Love you too, Dad. See you next week.”
They hung up and Jade laid her head down on her arms and cried.
Chapter 16
Hudson River Valley Outpost 54
March 13, 1616
Dear Mother,
We have made it back to our valley and to what I am coming to think of as home, my true home. This is genuinely a beautiful land. A silvery lake nestles among the mountains and hills with hundreds of thousands of trees shading and sheltering us. I am aware that some of our European friends would call this land barely civilized, yet there is nowhere else I feel as comfortable. We have none of your conveniences, but still I am at ease and free. This is Alsoomse’s land and her home as well, and perhaps that is also why I have taken it as my own.
Alsoomse and I are well matched, though I am unaccustomed to her strong will. You would laugh at how many arguments she wins. Before meeting her, I would have said it was not possible for a woman to be so certain minded and stubborn. I had no idea that it would be so easy and yet so difficult to be in love. I am happy.
She makes me take notice of small things like sunlight on the floor of the forest, morning mists that swirl around our ankles, and the exquisite design of an owl’s nest. She is so aware and takes such pleasure in the form and intricacies of nature.
We had a difficult winter with little food, unfriendly terrain, and bitter cold. She stood it all without complaint. When we w
ere ready to quit or too tired to go on, she would tease and cajole Pierre and me into continuing on our way. She was highly competitive and would stir the same spirit in us. We found it in ourselves to explore farther, more treacherous routes than ever before. Pierre and I would then end the day enlivened and proud, feeling more like men than when we set out that morning. She brings out the best in those around her.
When she and Pierre speak in French, heads close together, she can see my envy and lightens it with a caress and a tender word. She does not fault me my immaturities. She is brave and bold but innocent, too. I would worry and fret over her, but she just laughs. I have never had a more tumultuous time or a more exhilarating time in my entire life.
She has agreed to marry me, and I hope to gain your blessing. We will marry in the fall with the leaves blazing around us in a multitude of colors, for this is Alsoomse’s favorite time. For myself, I do not care how or when it happens. I just await our joining with great impatience.
With your permission, Mother, I hope to give her the ring with the brown diamond and emerald leaves. Its woven metals and natural hewn beauty seem made just for her. She does not seem to be particularly enamoured of baubles and trinkets, but she does love nature. I hope she will find some pleasure in its artful design.
I do miss you dearly, but know that I am truly as happy as a man can be in life.
Your loving son,
Adam
• • •
Matt finished reading the letter and smiled. At least he wasn’t the only guy to have a rough time of it. If things had worked out for Adam and Alsoomse, maybe there was hope for him.
• • •
After dinner, Jade went out in search of Ben. Most of the guests were already back at their cabins, although a few stayed behind to play cards in the game room. Thankfully, Jade had managed to miss dinner and avoid seeing Matt and Miss Sports-Car. She had grabbed her own dinner from the kitchen and then gone directly back to the office to finish up paperwork and some simple tasks on the computer.
It was difficult to focus, and she ended up doodling some new designs on scraps of paper. The drawings all resembled the woven branches of trees and bushes in the area, similar to the ones she and Jeff had cleared out of the paths around Lakehaven. Jade was sure that the renderings would make beautiful jewelry, but she was starting to think that some of the designs would also make wonderful stationary and note cards. Jade distracted herself with daydreams of a whole “woven branches” line of accessories.
By the time she had finished drawing and stuffed the sketches into a folder, it was after eight and, she figured, safe enough to leave the office.
Jade found Ben manning the front desk, or at least sitting at the front desk and surfing the Internet on his computer. He saw Jade approaching and quickly tapped a few keys.
Jade smiled. “I know what you’re doing.”
Ben looked confused. “What?”
Jade shrugged. “You always close down your internet window right before I get here. Don’t bother, I know what you’re doing.”
“I’m not doing anything.”
“Uh-huh.”
Ben crossed his arms in front of his chest. “I’m not.”
Jade made it to the front desk and leaned against it. The desk was a beautiful expanse of rough-hewn wood cut from a single log. It was rustic and natural; the light stain highlighted the whorls, knots, and wood grain. Its glossy surface glowed in the soft light of the foyer. Jade ran her hands lovingly over the wood. “You do know that anyone can check the history of the websites you’ve visited?”
Ben’s face flushed pink, and he glanced down at the computer screen. He straightened the pad and pen on the desk next to the computer. “I don’t have anything to hide.”
Jade laughed. “Okay. Whatever you say. How was the evening?”
Ben smiled. “Do you want the good news or the bad?”
Jade frowned. “There’s bad news?” She could feel the knot forming in her stomach.
Ben shrugged. “It’s all relative. Nobody died or anything.”
“Well, that’s something then.” Jade let out a slow breath. Ben seemed relaxed about the whole thing, so Jade tried to stay calm while she waited for him to continue.
“Yeah. Everyone loved dinner. I think the catering is going to work for Sundays or anytime Meg can’t be here.”
“I thought we were doing bad news.” She was getting a bit impatient. She really needed to know how bad it was.
“Oh, right. Well, uh, the Kent sisters created a bit of a … disturbance.” Ben pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose.
Gee, that was nothing new. Jade raised an eyebrow and waited for the rest of it.
Ben nodded. “They were trying to decide who was hotter: MacGyver or Michael Knight. You know from that show in the ’80s?”
“That’s completely subjective. How can they decide who’s right?”
“That’s where the disturbance part comes in. They decided to poll the other guests. Mr. Boyle refused to answer, which upset Beatrice. Adele asked Mrs. Anderson, who voted for MacGyver, but Mr. Anderson disagreed. Then, Mrs. Anderson said it was just because Mr. Anderson liked the black car and not because he liked Michael Knight, and Mr. Anderson said he was pretty sure he knew who he liked, thank you very much. Miss Parker didn’t like either of them, but said she always loved the physicist from Quantum Leap. ”
“Dr. Sam Beckett.”
Ben gave Jade a funny look. “It’s sad that you know that. Well, that started a whole new argument between the sisters. The new couple in cabin two left dinner early. I think they expected a quieter evening.”
Jade sighed. “Okay, I’ll talk to the Kents. You send an apology note and a bottle of wine to cabin two.”
Ben nodded. “Already done.”
Jade paused before she asked the next question. “Who did Mr… . Connor vote for?” By now most of Lakehaven’s staff had been informed that Matt was Riley McLaughlin, but everyone had decided to maintain his cover and allow him his privacy.
“Matt? He couldn’t. After Sam, that is Miss Parker, put a vote in for the Quantum Leap guy and the Kent sisters started yelling, he was laughing too hard to speak. Miss Parker threw her napkin at him, which just made him laugh harder. Then she started to laugh. That got the Davis family from cabin five laughing so hard that Nick Davis, he’s the ten-year-old, shot milk out of his nose. That’s actually when the Martins got up to leave.”
As usual, Lakehaven was a well-oiled machine. Jade looked longingly at the surface of the front desk. This was a head-thunking occasion if ever there was one. Unfortunately, she had given that up. To avoid bruising.
“Well, at least they liked the food,” Jade finally said. Ben nodded. Jade picked up the pen and Lakehaven pad in front of her and started to doodle woven branches. “Ben, I actually need to ask you a favor.”
Ben pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “You can’t borrow my Radiohead CD. It’s signed and I don’t sleep well when it’s not in its special place.”
Jade blinked at him. “No, it’s not that. I need a date.”
Ben laughed. “Don’t we all! I personally am working my way up to asking out Samantha. That woman is so … well, you know.”
Jade rolled her eyes at Ben. “You don’t think Matt might object to that?”
Ben shrugged. “I don’t see why. She’s his manager and some kind of an old family friend, but they aren’t hooked up or anything.”
“How do you know that?” Jade asked. And why had no one bothered to tell her? Though now that she thought about it Matt had mentioned a manager, someone named Sam.
“She called before she drove up. Man, she has a great phone voice. She was going to get her own cabin, but we were booked. She asked if it would work just to stay in the cabin with Matt, if there was enough room for two people who weren’t, you know, hooked up.”
Jade smiled. “So she’s not here to … ”
Ben shook his head. “Nope. She said s
he had some project that she and Matt needed to work on, and she couldn’t lure him back to the city so … ” He thought for a moment. “You know, you are very interested in their personal relationship or lack thereof. Why don’t you just ask Matt out on this date?”
Jade wondered what their project was even as she answered Ben. “Look, it’s complicated. What I really want is an escort. To my dad’s retirement dinner. This is his special night and I’d like it to be free of drama. You already know all of these professors and you can talk to them. You only have to wear a suit, the food will be good, and it’ll take about four hours. I will cover two of your shifts if you do this for me. Please?”
Ben smiled and pushed his glasses up his nose. “Any two shifts of my choosing?”
Jade nodded. “With twenty-four hour notice.”
Ben’s smile turned mischievous. “So, for example, if Samantha agreed to go out with me, you’d cover my shift?”
Jade laughed. “You think you have a chance with her?”
Ben pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “Are you kidding? She likes the physicist from Quantum Leap. I am so her type!”
Jade smiled at his optimism. “We have a deal then?”
Ben nodded. “You, m’lady, have an escort.”
• • •
Matt glanced at Sam. She looked completely different from the woman who had arrived the day before. Her hair was sticking out in a scary way, and she was dressed in sweat pants and a t-shirt. The tee was printed with a picture of Shakespeare and said, “Prose before hos.” She sat on the couch with her laptop open to an Excel worksheet. Her cell was next to her on top of a stack of pillows and blankets that Matt had used the night before. She wore a pair of Ralph Lauren eyeglasses and mumbled under her breath. If Matt didn’t know her, he would’ve thought her imbalanced. He knew her well enough to know that she was just Sam.
He loved Sam, loved having her company. Dinner the night before had been fun. Sam was boisterous and sharp and funny. The problem was, she wasn’t Jade. Jade was grounded and peaceful; she exuded comfort and whispers of home. Jade had something indefinable too, whether it was her scent, or an expression or the way she walked. There was just something about her that twisted him up inside.
