“I’m sorry?” Josie turned then and saw Cole walking confidently into the conference room, as if he belonged there. “Cole!” Josie rose halfway out of her seat, intent on launching herself into his arms, but caught herself just in time. He looked so different. He’d cut his hair into a shorter, more conservative style and he wore gray dress pants, a crisply starched white shirt open at the neck, a navy blazer, and dark, casual dress shoes. He seemed somehow . . . different as well. More refined. His bearing more confident.
“Dr. Allen,” Cole nodded in her direction. “Ladies and gentlemen of the Board. I see you received the plans for the new wing. On behalf of CMC Designs and the Craig family, let me say how pleased I am to be working with the library on this project.”
“What?” someone interjected.
“On behalf of the Craigs?” another said in a sarcastic whisper followed by a chuckle.
Mrs. McKay gained her composure first. “Do you mean to say that you’re throwing your hat into the ring first for the contractor’s position, Mr. Craig? Well, I’m not sure how you heard about it so soon,” she shot Josie a look, then continued. “May I just say that this project is a bit . . . sophisticated for your simple skills? Of course, I’m sure there will be a need for skilled laborers such as yourself,” she finished smugly.
“Actually, Mrs. McKay,” Cole removed a business card from a pocket inside his jacket and offered it to the woman, “I took the liberty of speaking with Blake Ferguson. He’s a fine contractor who lives here in Angel Ridge. I feel his firm is well-suited for this project. He assures me he can begin the grading of the south lawn as soon as next week. Or, if you prefer, we could break ground as part of the town’s Memorial Day celebration.”
A stunned silence settled over the room. Mrs. McKay looked at the card in her hand and then leaned forward to ask, “What is the meaning of this, Mr. Craig?” She held the business card toward him. “Do you actually expect us to believe that you are an architect employed by the firm of CMC Designs? How utterly absurd! CMC Designs, though a relatively new firm, is renowned throughout the southeast as one of the most innovative in the industry.”
“Thank you, Mrs. McKay. That’s high praise coming from you.”
“You’re an architect?” Josie blurted out. “But—”
“Yes, do tell, Mr. Craig. How does a high school dropout become an architect?” Mrs. McKay practically snorted.
“Harriet,” Mr. McKay held up a hand to his wife, “let the man speak.”
A look of outrage passed across Mrs. McKay’s face, but she settled back into her seat.
“No. That’s a fair question, and one I’m happy to answer. After my father’s illness forced me to leave school, I earned my GED. Since I was able to work at my own pace, I got my diploma earlier than I could have if I’d stayed in school.
“Then, I took some of the money my family made from selling off a parcel of the Craig property for the shopping Center at the edge of town and enrolled at the University of Tennessee. I was accepted to the school of architecture in my second year, and by doubling up on courses, was able to complete my studies in four years.
“With the help of a computer, I began my own firm. I bid jobs via the Internet, came to be on a first name basis with the overnight deliveryman, and got my start.
“My vision for CMC is to create architectural designs for towns such as Angel Ridge that complement and blend in so that the historical integrity of the community is not compromised.”
“What does the CMC stand for?” someone asked.
“Colen MacAllister Craig,” Josie quietly supplied. She had totally bought his act. She’d fallen for Cole Craig, the simple handyman who was always willing to help out. Cole Craig, of the back side of the ridge Craigs, who’d always been looked down on by those who lived up on the ridge. Cole Craig for whom she’d risked her job. Cole Craig who had stolen her heart. Cole Craig who had duped them all.
There was poetic justice in it really. Sitting here watching a Craig put all these snooty people in their places. Herself included. But the question begged to be asked, “Why? Why have you done this?”
Cole looked into her eyes, his feelings for her exposed for all to see. “I’m interested in seeing the new automated cataloging system and website you’ve developed in use, but in order for the system to be completely operational, the library will need a fully equipped computer wing.”
“This is quite a grand gesture, Mr. Craig,” Mrs. McKay said. “One I am sure you are aware the board will be unable to refuse. For we, too, are anxious to see our Dr. Allen’s innovative system running at full speed. Although I feel certain your motivation in this is somewhat obvious, the library and community will nevertheless benefit from your generosity.”
Cole nodded to Mrs. McKay. It was the closest he would come to getting an invitation into the inner circle.
“The board will adjourn for now, but will reconvene this evening for our scheduled meeting at seven, if that would be convenient for you, Mr. Craig? I’m sure we’d all like to go over these plans in more detail.”
“Of course,” Cole replied.
As the meeting adjourned, Josie stood and retreated to her office. How dare he? How dare he manipulate and humiliate her this way!
“I do not wish to be disturbed, for any reason, Teresa,” Josie said just before she slammed her office door with a satisfying crack. She removed her blazer and flung it across the room.
“You’re upset?” Cole asked, disbelief lacing his words.
Josie spun and faced the man she’d been frantically searching for all week. She hadn’t heard him enter her office. “Who do you think you are?”
Cole closed the door more quietly than she had. He took a step toward her. She held her ground, ready for this confrontation.
“I thought you’d be pleased.”
“Did you? Tell me, Cole, after all these years of deception, why wait until now, this moment, to reveal yourself?”
“You want the truth?”
“Yes, that would be a refreshing change.”
“Sunday night, when you were in your office with Mrs. McKay, I was standing outside your window. I overheard what she said to you about your associating with someone like me. I didn’t know what else to do, Josie. I didn’t want to lose you, but at the same time, I didn’t want you to lose what you’d worked your whole life for.”
“So you thought you’d ride in on your white horse and save the day?”
He took another step forward, his hands held out in front of him. “What kind of man would I be if I had the means to help the woman I love, and I didn’t use it?” he asked gently.
Her heart constricted at his declaration of love, but warred with her resolve to be free of this sort of manipulation. First Mrs. McKay and now Cole. Though she longed for his love, she refused to allow him to do to her what this town had done to her all her life. Obligate her.
“If you’d stuck around and eavesdropped a bit longer the other night, you’d have heard me resign my position here. Then you would have had the pleasure of hearing me tell Mrs. McKay that if I went, the cataloging program would go with me. By the time I walked out of here, I had an extended contract as director, a seat on the board, and a canceled debt for the graduate education the McKays financed. And now, here you are, trying to buy my job security and buy yourself a place on the social register as a bonus.”
“I don’t care anything about that, or at least I didn’t before my being a simple handyman was someone who wasn’t good enough for you to date.”
“That didn’t stop me.”
“You can’t deny that you were embarrassed to be seen with me.”
“It wasn’t that. Certain things had to be dealt with.”
“And I’ve dealt with them.”
Josie advanced until she stood nose to nose with Cole. “No, I had already dealt with them. Something you would have known, if you’d bothered to talk to me about it. I kept telling you I could handle Mrs. McKay, but I guess you jus
t didn’t have any faith in me.”
“Josie—”
“Let me tell you something, Colen MacAllister Craig, I can achieve job security all on my own. The McKay Foundation is lucky to have me and don’t think the board doesn’t realize it.” She shook her head. “After all the years you had to put up with those snobs slinging their money around and looking down their noses at you . . . You’re no better than they are.”
She snatched up her purse and headed for the door.
“Josie, wait.”
He grabbed her arm to halt her progress.
There was no way she could overpower him, so Josie just stared at his hand and quietly said, “Let go of me, Cole.”
“Josie, please. Can’t we talk about this?”
She looked up into his brilliant blue eyes and somehow found the courage to speak the words that would put an end to their relationship. “I have nothing more to say to you.”
Cole’s hand fell away. Despite the fact that she could feel her heart shattering within her chest, Josie walked out of her office, her head held high, without looking back.
Chapter Thirteen
The next week passed with agonizing slowness even though Cole kept busy with preparations for the new library wing’s groundbreaking that would be part of the town’s Memorial Day celebrations. There were a million things to finalize. Plans to fine-tune, consultations and meetings with Blake Ferguson, suppliers delivering materials.
The meetings with Josie had been the worst. They’d had to discuss the placement of the computers and how many would be needed, system requirements and infrastructure. All the while, he’d only wanted to be alone with her. To take her in his arms and kiss her until nothing else mattered but the feelings they had for each other.
Did she even miss him? Had she ever really cared about him or had she just been slumming with a Craig from the wrong side of the ridge? Maybe she’d already gone back to the rich professor types she was used to.
Without thinking, he pounded the table with both fists, rattling the silverware and sloshing hot coffee over the rim of his cup.
“Easy there, Hercules.” Dixie wiped up the amber liquid just before it spread over the edge of the table and hit the floor.
“Sorry, Dix,” Cole mumbled.
“Shove over,” she said as she slid into the booth next to him.
He did as she said. “I’m not the greatest company,” he warned.
“Yeah. I got that. It’s clear to anyone with eyes that you’re not sleepin’, you’re not eatin’—or if you have been, you’ve not been doin’ it in here. You’ve thrown yourself into that project over at the library, but you been walkin’ around town like some kinda big bear with a thorn in its paw. Well, I’ve got good news. I’m just the woman to yank it out.”
“I wish it could be that simple.”
“It looks pretty simple from where I sit.”
He shook his head. “You have no idea.”
“I know more than you think. In fact I know too much, and I can’t believe the half of it.”
He slumped down in the booth. “Come on, Dix. You know how diner gossip can blow things out of proportion.”
“Then set me straight. Tell me that it’s not true. Tell me that the Cole Craig I have known since I was a little girl did not masquerade about town as a handyman when all along he was some big shot architect who just happens to be filthy rich.”
Cole winced. Leave it to Dixie to boil the facts down and throw the filth that floated to the top in his face. “Is it as bad as you make it sound?”
“If spendin’ the past ten or so years livin’ a lie is bad, then answer your own question.”
“If you call lettin’ people believe and see want they want livin’ a lie, then I guess I’m guilty of that.”
“Oh, no you don’t.” She pointed a finger at him. “Don’t you put this off on the ‘snobs living on the ridge.’ You were happy enough to become one of them when it suited you.”
“I did that for Josie. If it had been up to me, I would have left things like they were.”
“Oh, yeah. That would have been much simpler. Keep to yourself and never let anyone close enough to know the real Cole Craig. Which is it today? Are you here as Cole, the good ole boy handyman, or as Colen MacAllister Craig, CEO of CMC Designs?”
“They’re the same person. I’m no different today than I was a week ago, a month, a year.”
“And if you believe that lie, you’re worse off than I thought. Falling in love changes things. In fact, it changes everything. And once it happens, there’s no goin’ back. So the question is, now that you’re out of the closet and your business has been exposed to everybody in town, what are you going to do?”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“Well, you can’t go back to the way things were. Folks around here will treat you different now. They already are.”
She was right about that. Not one person had asked him to do anything this week. He’d even gone by the church and tried to fix the busted lock on the sanctuary door, but Pastor Strong had refused his help. Said he planned on fixing it himself. Even Miss Estelee’d had a boy from the high school cut her grass.
Cole shrugged. “Maybe it’s time for me to move on. The business has grown beyond what I can handle on my own. I need to hire a staff. I’ve got several jobs going in Georgia, and I’ve bid some more. Maybe I’ll move down there and open up offices in Atlanta.”
Dixie set back in the booth and pinned him with a look. “Oh, now there’s a plan. Run away from this mess you’ve created instead of stayin’ here and dealing with it like an adult.”
“Why do I get the feeling that the subject just shifted to Josie?”
“As far as I’m concerned, that’s the only subject that needs discussing. Folks up here can think what they want of you. People, like me and Blake, who care about you, will forgive you and the rest can—well, the rest just don’t matter. Now, Josie, I would think that she matters.”
“She doesn’t want to see me.”
“Well of course she doesn’t.”
Cole looked at Dixie surprised. “Have you talked to her? Did she say somethin’ to you?”
“She doesn’t need to say a word for anybody who’s lookin’ to see that she’s heartbroken, same as you.”
Hearing what he already knew put into words made him feel even more miserable. “Everything I did was for her.”
“No. Everything you did was for you. Men . . .” Dixie sighed. “I don’t guess we can blame you for being male. When will you ever learn?”
“Speak English, Dixie. I’m lost.”
“Is it not the twenty-first century? Do we, the capable, competent women of today, have anything about us that indicates we need a man to rescue us? No!” she said answering her own question. “Take Josie. She may be small, but that is just about the most capable woman I have ever seen. She’s brilliant, always has been. You know that. She has a Ph.D., for heaven sake, in library science. They don’t just hand those papers out to anybody who asks for one. She worked hard for what she has and earned it because she knows her stuff.
“Sure, Mrs. McKay thought Josie would come back here and be her little puppet on a string, but I had no doubt that when the time was right, Josie Lee Allen would put that woman in her place. The problem was that you didn’t have that same confidence in her. It was her business. Her battle. And you tried to take that away from her.”
Cole’s chin dropped to his chest. “I didn’t mean to.”
She squeezed his hand. “I know that. My guess is that Josie knows it, too.” She paused while he digested that bit of information before continuing. “She was angry, and rightfully so. She’s a sensible woman. Now that she’s had time to cool her jets, I’m sure she sees things differently. You should talk to her, not run off to Atlanta.”
“I don’t know.”
Dixie stood and smoothed her apron. “It’s a risk. But if you love her, I’d think it’s a risk worth takin’. Now clea
r out this booth. I got payin’ customers waitin’ to be seated.”
As she walked away, Cole reached into his pocket and pulled out some bills to leave on the table. When he passed Dixie, she was taking an order. He stopped and leaned down to kiss her cheek. “Thanks,” he said.
Dixie seemed speechless. That had to be a first.
When Cole walked out of the diner, he wondered if what Dixie had said could be true. He looked down the street toward the library. Should he do what she had suggested and just go talk to Josie?
No. He should do this right. He wouldn’t just walk into her office with his hat in his hand. He’d really show her how he felt. It was like Dixie had said. It was a risk, but he loved her. The alternative of not having her in his life didn’t bear consideration.
Tomorrow was the town Memorial Day Celebration. If he was going to woo the town librarian back into his life, he’d better get to work.
*
Josie’s heart just wasn’t in it. She had seen Cole nearly every day around town for the past week, but he’d kept his distance. That was what she had wanted, after all. She took perverse comfort in the fact that he looked as miserable as she felt.
Now the preparations were at an end. She sat on the front steps of her home, trying to summon the will to take herself into town for the day’s events. She didn’t know how she could possibly give the appearance of being in a festive mood when she felt so alone and unhappy.
“The course of true love never did run smooth,” Miss Estelee commented. Josie’s neighbor sat in her customary spot on her front porch, rocking, enjoying the spectacular view of the lake. “I think the Apostle Paul said that.”
Josie stood and slowly made her way over to stand in Miss Estelee’s front yard. “No, I believe that was Shakespeare, ma’am.”
“No, no. That was the Apostle Paul speaking to the Corinthians.”
Josie smiled. No use in arguing. “Were you ever in love, Miss Estelee?” She assumed that the woman knew about what had happened between Cole and her. Everyone seemed to.
Only You Page 17
