Sand Castle Bay

by Sherryl Woods

  “An interesting plan,” she said. “But you do know that some of the older dogs at the shelter are already trained. I think we should try to find one of those. How about it, B.J.? Older dogs definitely need good homes and a family who will love them. And it’ll be less work for us.”

  Boone gave her an amused look. “Not anxious to stick around for so long?”

  Though his tone was light, she thought she heard a critical note in his voice. “Boone, you know I can’t. A month is a long time, especially with the ski lodge opening coming up next week. There will be a lot of fine-tuning after the doors open. I’ll try for a couple of weeks, maybe from Christmas through the first week in January. How’s that?”

  Another thought occurred to her. “Or, if you wait on getting the dog till after Christmas, you and B.J. could come to Aspen. We could spend a week there, then come back here. That would give us more time together.” She met Boone’s gaze. “What do you think?”

  “I think it’s a terrible time for me to be away from the restaurant,” he responded without giving the idea even a moment’s consideration. “We’re booked solid for holiday parties.”

  “And you don’t have a catering manager who’s in charge of those?” she asked, sensing not for the first time that all of the flexibility, all of the concessions in this relationship were going to have to be on her side.

  “I do, but ultimately the responsibility for things running smoothly is mine,” Boone replied tightly.

  Emily was about to push harder for compromise, but she spotted the bewildered expression on B.J.’s face and sensed their disagreement, mild as it was, was upsetting him.

  “We’ll figure it out later,” she said briskly, giving a slight nod in B.J.’s direction.

  Boone agreed at once.

  “Okay, buddy, what else did you and Emily see when you were shopping? Is there anything else on your list for Santa?”

  When B.J. didn’t immediately answer, Emily said, “What about the train we saw in that store window? Maybe we should take your dad to look at that. He used to talk about having a train under the tree when he was a little boy.”

  B.J. stared at his dad. “You did? Awesome.”

  Boone nodded, his expression turning nostalgic. “I wonder what happened to that train? It’s probably a collector’s item by now. I think it belonged to my dad when he was a kid.”

  “Isn’t it funny how people who’ve never even ridden on a train in real life feel as if the holiday isn’t complete without a train and village under the Christmas tree?” Emily said. “It conjures up all sorts of images of an old-fashioned Christmas. I’m thinking of suggesting Derek put one up under the tree at the ski lodge. I think it will make the cozy, welcoming atmosphere he wants to create there absolutely perfect.”

  “Well, all this talk about trains has convinced me,” Boone said. “Let’s go take a look at the one you two saw. Anybody want dessert before we go?”

  Since they’d barely touched their food, both Emily and B.J. shook their heads.

  “Then let’s do it,” Boone said. He paid the bill and led the way back to the street. “Come on, B.J., show me the way.”

  B.J. ran ahead on the crowded streets, then stopped in front of a store window with a fabulous Christmas village on display. People were jammed in close to watch the train as it wove through the village. Lights sparkled over the snowy landscape the shop owner had created. B.J. had his nose pressed to the glass as Emily and Boone hung back.

  “That does bring back memories,” Boone said, giving her hand a squeeze. “I hadn’t thought about that train for years. Thanks for reminding me.”

  “You used to talk about it every Christmas,” she recalled. “When I saw this one, I thought it might make the perfect gift for B.J. He’s obviously as enchanted with this one as you were with the one you used to have.”

  Boone turned her to face him. He tucked a wayward curl behind her ear as he looked into her eyes. “I know what upset you earlier,” he said quietly. “You don’t think there’s going to be any real give-and-take in this relationship, at least not on my part.”

  “Sounded that way to me,” she conceded, surprised that he’d caught on so readily.

  “Not so. I may not be able to change all of my commitments, especially at the last minute, but I’ll do my fair share. By next year, I’ll make sure that the catering manager can handle things completely on her own. This year she’s new and untested. I just need to be here. Can you try to understand that?”

  Emily sighed. “Of course, I can. And I’ll put it on that list of mine for the day when I need you to understand that I have no choice but to honor a commitment I’ve made.”

  “Fair enough,” he said. “As long as we remember the big picture, you and me together, we can figure this out, Em. We have to.”

  She nodded, holding his gaze. “I want that more than anything, Boone. I really do.”

  * * *

  When Emily showed up at Sophia’s a few days after her Thanksgiving break for what she’d assumed would be a consultation on yet another of her client’s redecorating projects, she was surprised to find Marilyn Jennings there, as well.

  The shelter’s board chairman smiled as she kissed Emily’s cheek. “Sophia didn’t mention I’d be here, did she?”

  “No, but it’s always lovely to see you,” Emily said. “If I’d realized you were going to be here, I’d have brought along the latest information on the safe house. We came in under budget. A lot of the subcontractors wrote off all or a portion of their bills. Once they actually met some of the women and kids and understood how important this was, they all wanted to do their part.”

  “That’s marvelous,” Marilyn said, just as Sophia joined them and added, “I expected nothing less of you, Emily.”

  “That isn’t why we’re here, though,” Marilyn said, giving Sophia a chiding look. “Didn’t you give her so much as a clue?”

  “Not necessary,” Sophia said, winking at Emily. “She always comes when I call.”

  Emily laughed at her arrogance, but she couldn’t deny it. “What can I say? She’s one of my best clients.”

  “And one of your most demanding, no doubt,” Marilyn suggested.

  “No comment,” Emily responded tactfully.

  Sophia gave her an approving look. “See how smart and tactful she is? I told you she’d be the perfect person for this.”

  Emily gave them a puzzled look. “Perfect person for what?”

  Marilyn glanced at Sophia, who shook her head. “I’ll defer to you on this.”

  “Okay, then,” Marilyn said briskly. “Emily, we’d like to hire you full-time.”

  Emily regarded her with confusion. “To do what?”

  “Patience,” Sophia chided.

  Emily dutifully fell silent. Clearly these two had some sort of dog-and-pony show for her and planned to draw out the suspense as long as possible. They were too rich and powerful for her not to go along with their timetable.

  “We’ve recently received several very sizable donations, thanks to Sophia’s persistence,” Marilyn explained.

  “And your connections,” Sophia added, then turned to Emily and added, “Her husband’s studio spearheaded an industry campaign to raise ten million dollars. Some of that will go toward day-to-day operations, but at least half of it will be for capital improvements.”

  Marilyn nodded. “Meaning we’ll be able to buy more properties, renovate them and make the spaces available to families in need of temporary protection and housing. The work you’ve done on this current project has persuaded all of us that you’re the person we want to oversee this.”

  Stunned and speechless, Emily sat back, trying to absorb the magnitude of the opportunity.

  “You’ll be paid, of course, and I’m sure if you have the time, we’d have no object
ions to you taking on individual clients, but we’d need to be your first priority,” Marilyn continued, filling in the silence left by Emily’s shocked reaction.

  “We’d want your help in choosing properties,” Sophia added. “You’d have to budget for the renovations, trying to get the best possible prices, of course. The more donations you could arrange, the better, but you will have funds at your disposal.”

  “When?” Emily finally managed to ask, still not entirely able to form coherent sentences.

  “We’re all agreed that we’d like to get started right after the first of the year,” Marilyn said.

  “That should give you time to finish Derek’s ski lodge,” Sophia added. “And anything else that’s on your plate.”

  An image of Boone and B.J. came to mind. They were most definitely on her plate. How on earth would she be able to juggle those relationships with what these two women were proposing? Clearly this new opportunity wasn’t something she could handle from thousands of miles away. It had been difficult enough to get this one safe house completed with her time divided between two coasts. She’d felt pressured no matter where she happened to be.

  And yet she desperately wanted to say yes. She’d found the kind of professional fulfillment working on the safe house that had been missing from her other work. She wanted to contribute more, and this was her chance. She’d just had no idea how soon she might need to call in all those chits she’d told Boone he owed her for being the more accommodating partner up to now.

  Could she make Boone see how important this work was to her? she wondered. Intellectually, he would probably grasp it immediately. When it came time to translate it into reality, into longer separations, how could she even ask that of him, no matter what she might think he owed her?

  “I have to think about this,” she said.

  “What’s to think about?” Sophia asked, regarding her with a touch of impatience. “How many times have you told me how much it’s meant to you to work on this project? We’re offering you a chance to do the same thing on a much larger scale. You can make a difference in hundreds of lives, Emily.”

  Sophia frowned at her continued silence. “This isn’t about those obligations of yours in North Carolina, is it?”

  “They’re more than obligations,” Emily replied, trying to keep her own annoyance out of her voice. “I finally have a chance to work things out with the man I’ve loved since we were teenagers. His life is there.”

  “Is it more important than yours?” Sophia asked tartly.

  Marilyn held up a hand. “Spoken exactly like a woman who’s ditched more than one husband because he didn’t suit your mood of the moment,” she said mildly, then gave Emily a sympathetic look. “You take your time. This is clearly a big commitment. You need to weigh it with the other priorities in your life and see how you can make it work. We want you for this job, Emily. I promise you we’ll do whatever we can to make it manageable for you.”

  Emily gave her a grateful look. “I appreciate that. I really do. And I do understand the enormity of this opportunity. If there were no other considerations, I’d say yes in a heartbeat.”

  Marilyn smiled. “So, it’ll take a few heartbeats before you have your answer. Talk it over with this man of yours. We can wait.”

  “For a week,” Sophia said determinedly. “Not forever.”

  “Then you’ll have my answer in a week,” Emily assured them.

  That would give her time to think this through and to talk it over with Boone, though the phone was not the best way to do it. This conversation ought to be taking place face-to-face. Maybe she could squeeze in an overnight visit to North Carolina before she was due in Aspen to finish up the last-minute details at the ski lodge.

  She and Boone had been meandering along, feeling their way as they explored the various paths that they could take to make this new relationship work. Maybe this was the push they needed to take that final leap into the future, she thought optimistically.

  Or maybe, despite all his promises, it would be the thing that tore them apart forever.

  * * *

  Boone was on his cell phone pacing the dock outside of his restaurant when he saw Emily crossing the parking lot. Startled, he wrapped up his call and started her way.

  “Hey, you,” he said, pulling her into his arms and holding her tightly. “Was I supposed to be expecting you?”

  She laughed. “You mean my schedule hasn’t been programmed into your calendar?”

  “Actually it has been, but I could swear you’re not due back until after that ski lodge opens.”

  “Disappointed I’m here early?” she teased. “Don’t tell me you’re juggling me with another girl. Have I spoiled your plans?”

  “Not a chance,” he said, then studied her closely. Despite the teasing note in her voice, her eyes seemed to be filled with worry. “Is something wrong? Cora Jane’s okay, isn’t she? I haven’t seen her for a couple of days, but I spoke to her yesterday. She didn’t mention any problems. Nor did she say a word about you coming home.”

  “Grandmother’s fine and she didn’t know about this trip, either. I just had an unexpected break, so I decided to take advantage of it. I have to fly to Aspen tomorrow, though.”

  “I thought you were down to the wire on the ski lodge,” he said, surprised that she’d been able to get away with that deadline so close. “What’s so important that you needed to fly in for one night?”

  “Maybe I just missed you,” she said, a defensive note in her voice that warned him something serious was on the agenda.

  “Everything’s on schedule for the lodge opening? Derek’s not freaking out?”

  She laughed. “Of course he’s freaking out. It’s what he does. But it’s all good. I made sure of that before I came here.”

  He still sensed something was wrong. “You’re happy with how it’s turned out?”

  She smiled. “It’s going to be fabulous. I have pictures on my laptop. I’ll give you the ten-cent tour later, complete with before and after shots. You won’t believe the transformation.”

  “I can’t wait.”

  “You seemed pretty distracted when I got here. Is there a crisis of some kind that needs your attention?”

  Since she didn’t seem inclined to reveal the reason for this unexpected visit, he accepted the change of subject. “I was on the phone with Pete. He’s been determined to fix that snag we ran into on the Charleston property. He’s handling it, but I probably should give him a call back. I’m not sure why he’s got his mind set on opening there, but if I don’t stay on top of this, he’s liable to make concessions I won’t be able to live with.”

  “Then I’ll head on over to Grandmother’s and get settled.”

  “Dinner tonight? I’ll throw some chicken on the grill, maybe see if Ethan wants to stop by.”

  Emily frowned. “Do you really want Ethan around when we have so little time? Surely you aren’t still trying to keep B.J. from figuring out how serious things are between us. I thought that cat was out of the bag when he saw us kissing?”

  “I was just thinking it would be nice to get together with Ethan,” Boone said defensively.

  “Not this time, okay? We need to talk about something.”

  Boone sucked in a breath. So, there was something on her mind, something that had brought her clear across the country. “Fine. I’ll invite him over another time,” he said. “But maybe you should tell me what’s going on.”

  “Tonight will be soon enough. I’ll be over around six-thirty, if that’s good.”

  Boone had a feeling he ought to keep her here now, settle this once and for all, but Pete’s call was still weighing on his mind. He also knew they weren’t likely to settle a single thing until they had more time together to explore their options and discuss how they each saw the future working ou
t. Just as he had when he’d impulsively suggested they get married, he wondered if they weren’t going to spend so much time thinking things through that they never actually moved forward.

  He also had a gut-deep feeling that Emily’s unexpected appearance here today was about a whole lot more than taking advantage of a break in her schedule. She was unmistakably tense, and if he knew her at all, that couldn’t mean anything good.

  * * *

  Cora Jane regarded her granddaughter with surprise. “Well, look who the cat dragged in. Thought you weren’t coming till closer to Christmas.”

  Emily shook her head. “You and Boone!” she muttered. “Obviously not big on surprises. I’ll have to remember that.”

  “Boone didn’t know you were coming, either?”

  “I had an unexpected break,” Emily told her irritably. “I decided to take advantage of it.”

  “Given the tension I’m hearing in your voice, a break is just what you need,” Cora Jane said. “You might want to start with a nap.”

  Emily blinked at her, then winced. “Sorry. I am on edge.”

  “Any particular reason?”

  Emily’s hesitation was telling.

  “You have bad news and you’re trying to figure out how to break it to Boone,” Cora Jane guessed.

  “Are you a mind reader or something?” Emily grumbled.

  “No, just someone who’s known you your whole life. You’ve always shied away from confrontation. Why don’t we have a cup of tea, and you can tell me about this news you don’t want to share with Boone.”

  “Do you have time?”

  “As long as I can put my feet up, I have all the time in the world. Now that both of your sisters have gone home, this house is way too quiet most of the time. It’ll be good to have a little conversation at the end of the day.”

  “I’m surprised Jerry’s not over here every night, now that you don’t have a houseful of women underfoot.”

  “Oh, we see each other plenty,” Cora Jane said, color in her cheeks. “Now, let me change my clothes, and I’ll make that tea. I think it’s warm enough to sit on the porch, don’t you? It’s rare for it to be this nice in early December. We should take advantage of it.”