by Jane Porter
“I don’t understand what that has to do with anything.”
“You wanted full custody, or to share custody. But when you didn’t get that, your attorney should have turned around and insisted on visitation rights. It would have been fairly easy to prove that there was a pre-existing relationship between you and Daisy, something the courts refer to as “engendered a bond”, meaning that the bond between the two of you should be protected and that regular visitation is in the best interest of the child.”
She hadn’t known that was an option. It hadn’t crossed her mind that she could do that. She wasn’t sure why. And yes, she could blame Cormac but what was the point? The blame game wasn’t working well for either of them.
“I don’t know,” she said frankly. “It would have been an option, probably a good one.”
“It would have given you some legal rights.”
She struggled to smile even though her heart felt unbearably heavy. “I could have used some.”
“It’s not too late, Whitney. If you were living in the same state, living close by, we could look at the visitation issue, see if we couldn’t address it properly—”
“But I have to be living in Marietta?”
“She can’t be hauled across state lines. She’s too young, too vulnerable. She needs people who are there for her, committed to her.”
“You know if I went to Montana I’d be going for the necessary sixty days and leaving. I have no intention of remaining in Marietta. Denver is home now.”
“What’s in Denver?”
She opened her mouth to say friends, but then closed her mouth abruptly realizing she didn’t actually have a lot of friends in Denver. She worked with great people. She respected her team and was friendly with her assistant, Andi, but she didn’t really do much of anything but work. “It’s where I belong.”
“You’re in Denver for your work. Your work is your passion. It means everything to you.”
Her lips compressed. He didn’t know her. He didn’t know the first thing about her or he wouldn’t have said such a stupid and inaccurate statement. She liked her work, and yes, was passionate about her work. But unlike him, she had a life outside the office. She had friends and a social life…hobbies…
No she didn’t.
She had work. But honestly, there wasn’t anyone else.
“What is your biggest fear?” Cormac asked, breaking the silence. “What’s holding you back?”
Whitney stared at the framed photo of April and Daisy on her desk. It was of Daisy’s first birthday. Whitney had snapped it just seconds before Daisy had put both her hands into the birthday cake.
“I want to see Daisy,” she said quietly.
“But?”
Whitney exhaled slowly, buffeted by wildly conflicting emotions. “Seeing Daisy means I see you.” She forced herself to meet his gaze. “And our relationship is the difficult one. It’s not Daisy’s and mine. Daisy and I are fine. It’s you and me…that’s the mess. That’s the minefield. It’s the part I want to avoid. The part I don’t trust.”
His eyes narrowed. He fell silent. For a moment her office was painfully quiet. Then he shifted his weight in the chair, extending his long legs, crossing his legs at the ankles. “Is there no way to make this work for Daisy’s sake? No way to try to be…friends?”
Friends.
Cormac Sheenan as her friend.
She’d never been friends with him. She’d been everything but his friend. Could they be friends? But didn’t friendship require…trust?
She eyed his dark suit and white button-down. He never wore a tie, his shirt open at the collar showing off a hint of his sun-bronzed skin and the upper plane of his muscular chest. He was built. He was still the hottest thing she’d ever seen. And smart.
Sexy.
Nothing in her viewed him as platonic. After their breakup she’d thought she’d rather not be in his world than relegated to the distant friend zone, and it probably was better to have no contact when trying to get over a broken heart; but that was years ago. Surely she could handle the past and memories now? He certainly was making good points about Daisy.
Daisy needed them to get along.
Daisy needed them to be cordial and amicable so she could have both of them in her life.
“We could work on being more civil,” she said. “Maybe with time we could be…friendish.”
The corner of his mouth lifted ever so slightly. “I’ve never heard of that word before. Friendish.”
“It’s new.” She struggled to keep her smile…friendly. “Kind of like us.”
*
Whitney flew to Bozeman on Monday, and picked up a rental car at the airport for the forty minute drive to Marietta.
She arrived in Marietta late afternoon, and after dropping her luggage off at the Graff Hotel where she’d been booked for the next two month, she took a walk down Main Street. It took very little time to walk from the Graff to Main Street. Marietta was charming, and small, with the historic downtown maybe six blocks long by six blocks wide, and that is if you counted the mixed residential and commercial district between Main Street and Bramble Lane.
She grabbed a coffee at the Java Café and then continued on another block to the Crookshank Building, the future headquarters for Sheenan Inc.
The late afternoon sunlight gilded the one-hundred-and-sixteen-year-old building’s brick façade with warm gold light, and she’d understood immediately why Cormac bought this building. The aesthetics appealed to her. It was big, solid, and Montana rugged with warm weathered bricks and long plate glass windows, a testament to its original life as Marietta’s first women’s department store.
She knew it’d been through dozens of owners since then, serving an equal number of purposes over the past century, but her heart felt as if she’d stepped through the front door yesterday afternoon. Inside it was dark and cluttered and chaotic and maybe it was the time of day, or maybe it was just the amount of noise, but as she peeked around the ground level, nodding hello to the carpenters and electricians, she’d felt overwhelmed and disappointed. The disappointment had kept her from proceeding to the second and third floors, not wanting to navigate the stairs, ladders, drop cloths and electric saws in the fading light.
It was an old building, and vacant on and off for the past ten years. Nothing had been updated in terms of electrical or plumbing. The downstairs interior had been vandalized last year after the Halloween superstore closed and graffiti still covered the interior brick walls.
She knew everything could be fixed. Buildings could be renovated. Electrical and plumbing could be updated. It wasn’t that she lacked imagination to see how the building could be transformed; it was the issue of time. They were short on time and she hated to break the news to Cormac, but his goal to have the publishing group in Marietta by December was unrealistic. Even January looked doubtful. The piles of lumber and spools of electrical wire and cable in every corner of the building’s ground floor just added to her concerns. With Thanksgiving next week, the crew would be taking four days off, which meant very little real progress would be made. But she wouldn’t say anything to Cormac and Jeff until she met with the designer and contractor tomorrow morning.
Whitney hadn’t planned on speaking to Cormac until Tuesday late morning or early afternoon, following her meeting with Heath McGregor, the general contractor, but Cormac called her at six, while she was still setting up her new “office” in one of the smaller hotel meeting rooms on the second floor. She was grateful that Cormac had made arrangements for her to use one of the hotel’s conference rooms, but she wasn’t ready to update him on the Crookshank Building.
“It’s chaos there,” she said frankly, pulling one of the rolling chairs towards her and plopping down. “I’m meeting with Heath and his designer, Josie Montgomery, tomorrow at nine but I don’t see how you could move anyone in there right now.”
“Not even in two weeks?”
“I didn’t make it to the third floor so may
be it won’t be so bad up there, but you have to remember that Thanksgiving is next week. The crew will be off Thursday, Friday and the weekend. I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of them were out of there early Wednesday.”
“You need another week.”
“Cormac, we probably need at least another month.” He didn’t say anything and she rubbed at her temple. “And I know we don’t have a month. I know we have fifteen people arriving in early December, needing a place to go. Those are my people, too. My team. Don’t stress. I’ll figure this out.”
“I’m not stressing. You’re stressing.”
She bit back a laugh. He was right. She always stressed about deadlines. He never did, knowing she had every project well in hand. “I hate you.”
“No, you don’t. We’re friendish. Remember?”
She laughed again, this time out loud. Cormac wasn’t all bad. He definitely had moments of charm.
Filled with nervous energy, Whitney was up at sunrise, and out walking Main Street before it was even eight. It was a blustery Tuesday morning in Marietta, Montana, with the bracing westerly wind sending crisp leaves swirling and dancing down the street.
It’d taken her just minutes to walk from the Graff Hotel on Front Street to the Main Street Diner on Main Street, where she stopped in for one of their impressive breakfast platters. Breakfast killed another thirty minutes and then she was bundling back up to walk along the courthouse with Copper Mountain rising majestically behind the turn-of-the-century dome.
She crossed back over Court Street to head east on Main Street, passing toy stores, gift stores, banks and a florist shop before coming to Copper Mountain Chocolates where she lingered in front of the store’s gorgeous window display of cellophane-wrapped chocolate turkeys and massive chocolate cornucopias with gleaming red and copper foil-wrapped chocolates for color.
The display made Whitney’s mouth water and she made a mental note to return to the chocolate shop later but first she needed one more cup of coffee before the meeting with Heath and Josie.
Fueled with a double shot latte from the Java Café, she returned to the Crookshank Building to wait for the designer and contractor to arrive. The building was already a hub of activity at eight fifty a.m. and she was glad to see everyone on the job, working hard. Maybe they could get the publishing group into the building next month. Maybe it wouldn’t take a miracle but just a lot of bodies putting in some long hours.
Heath and Josie arrived together right at nine. Heath had gone to school with the Sheenan brothers here in Marietta and had the same rugged Montana good looks and relaxed manner. “It’s a big project isn’t it,” he said, extending his hand and giving her a smile that immediately put her at ease.
She shook his hand. “It’s a big building,” she agreed, before shaking Josie’s hand. Josie was definitely on the young side, maybe mid-twenties, but if Heath had confidence in her, Whitney would, too.
“It’s going to be great,” Heath said. “Let me show you around. We’ll start at the third floor and work our way down.”
Whitney was relieved to see that the third floor was actually in really good shape. There were few interior walls on the third floor, and the huge wood beams in the ceiling were in good condition. The tall windows flooded the space with light, and the brick walls needed little work done to them.
“Our biggest task here, is updating the building system to accommodate new technologies and equipment. We’ve got some of the best electrical and wireless technicians on site. We’re going to give you all the power you could want, along with the best routers on the market to give you all the speed, security and media streaming in you could desire.”
Whitney nodded, pleased. “That’s good. Now realistically, when could we move furniture in and warm bodies?”
“The plumbing for the bathroom and kitchen on this floor should be done next week or the first of December, and then we have to tile and finish out, so, conservatively, I think you could have people working here by December eighth, ninth, tenth.”
“If we’re not being conservative? If we’re going balls to the walls?”
He laughed. “Now you sound like Cormac. If we’re going all out, and we stay on schedule with no plan changes, the beginning of the week.”
“Then let’s stay on schedule. We’re going to have my team moving in the second week of December.”
They headed down a floor and discussed the plans, and all sounded good. But it was on the first floor that Whitney had some concerns. She studied the blueprint and then looked up, her gaze sweeping the room.
“Is it too late to make changes down here?” she asked.
“Changes can be costly, but if you want changes, now is the time,” Heath answered. “What are you thinking?”
Whitney walked the length of the room, and then back. “I love this big open space,” she said, standing in the middle of the huge lobby. “I’d hate to see all those walls go up that are in the plans. Instead I think we should play up this open space with a large seating area in the middle, flanked by an oversized conference table on the left to capture the natural light and then line the wall at the back with floor to ceiling shelves.”
Josie cleared her throat. “Mr. Sheenan asked for work space. He didn’t want a typical lobby that was just a waiting room for visitors.”
Whitney nodded. “I agree, and with the right conversation areas this would all be work space. The Sheenan culture is very open. It’s all about innovation and collaboration and Cormac encourages lots of meetings and discussions. I think having different areas where team members can work and talk as well as work independently would appeal to Sheenan staff and guests. Everyone likes having space to spread out and get things done.”
The designer had been scribbling notes while Whitney talked. “When you say floor to ceiling shelves, we’re going contemporary. Yes? Mr. Sheenan indicated he did not want Crookshank Building turned into a period piece.”
“Correct. Cormac has modern sensibilities, so I’d like to show off the building’s bones, highlighting the brick with Cormac’s Western art collection which will get us the wow factor he’s looking for.”
“It’s going to be luxurious,” Josie said.
Whitney nodded. “Understated luxury.”
“We’re taking the same approach with his house,” Heath added.
Josie scribbled another note to herself. “I’m glad Mr. Sheenan sent you here to work with me,” she said, smiling at Whitney. “It helps that you know him so well.”
Whitney forced a smile, hating that her eyes stung, hating that her heart hurt. “I’ve worked for him for eight years.”
“No wonder he spoke so highly of you. What a great partnership you two have!”
Whitney was about to answer something flippant when she realized that despite everything, she and Cormac did work well together. And despite all the personal stress and distress, she admired Cormac’s work ethics and vision. He was definitely ambitious and hard driving but he never cut corners with his staff. He respected everyone on his payroll and always made sure his employees had the best of everything.
“He’s definitely our leader,” Whitney said lightly, snapping her down-filled coat closed and preparing to head back out into the chilly November morning.
Chapter Six
‡
There were no nonstop flights from Los Angeles to Bozeman this time of year, and so once Daisy was safely buckled into the window seat next to him, Cormac settled back, preparing for a five hour trip with a connection in Salt Lake City.
Fortunately, Daisy was a good traveler, and didn’t fuss much on flights, but it had been a long morning already, with hellish traffic from Orange County to Los Angeles International Airport, and then a security snafu that meant everyone in the terminal had to head outside and go back through the screening process again.
But they were on the flight now, and he held Daisy’s hand firmly in his as the plane raced down the runway and then lifted off.
He lov
ed the moment they were airborne. He’d always enjoyed flying and had briefly considered taking flying lessons after college, but used his savings—along with a loan from his brother, Troy—to buy his first radio station outside Missoula, Montana, and he’d never looked back, pouring his time and energy into growing his business.
His business had continued to occupy most of his time and attention until Daisy entered the picture. Now Daisy was front and center of his world.
He was tired, though. It had been a stressful couple of weeks trying to get the company shifting to Montana, and then on top of the chaos at work, Daisy had been having nightmares. He knew why, too. It was the shooting at her school, which had left the PE teacher and a sixth-grade boy wounded.
The sixth-grade boy was now back home, recovering. The PE teacher—a fifty-three year old female and a former Marine—had rushed the shooter and was still in critical condition.
Daisy had talked about the shooting a lot the first few days after the incident, and then seemed to have moved on. But the nightmares indicated otherwise.
And this, he thought, is why he was taking Daisy back to Marietta. He wanted her surrounded by family and friends. He wanted her to feel safe again, and she’d feel safe in Marietta. She’d discover just what it meant to be a Sheenan.
Living in Marietta would complicate travel, though. He was definitely off the beaten path now. Hopefully he wouldn’t have as much business travel as he used to. He was ready to slow down and be home more. He was ready to give Daisy a real home.
Part of a real home meant giving Daisy what she still didn’t have…a strong female role model, someone that loved her who wasn’t a nanny.
Someone like Whitney.
He understood her reluctance moving back to Montana. Montana was full of memories of April. Growing up, Whitney and April had been inseparable, even attending college together before making their way to Denver for work.
He was sure Whitney had concerns about living in his hometown as well. Marietta was a small place and everyone knew the Sheenans. Back when they were dating, she’d spent quite a few weekends in Marietta with him and had gotten to know his family, too. His brothers had liked her. His dad had liked her. Everyone in town who’d met her liked her.
