by Nella Tyler
Now, I could ramble on. But let me say this. I’ve never been a man to feel regret, but I do have a few. My biggest regret is that I won’t get to see you, a great man and my beloved son, do all the great things he’s meant to do. Yet at the same time, I shouldn’t complain. I’ve had you for twenty-five years.
You’ve been the best son any father could ask for. There are so many things I want to say to you, tell you, but let me state the obvious: I am proud of you Kris.
You always rise to the occasion.
I love you, my son, my Kristoff.
Dad.
Pressing my hands to my face, I found it wet and wiped at it hastily. It was like having him back for a moment. I could hear his voice – practically smell him.
As I had read it, the worry and anxiety about Bold Pictures lessened. Where before there had been a frantic swirl of thoughts regarding the company, calm now settled over me. Placing the letter aside, I found a small envelope and opened it. Six numbers.
The urge to go back to the office instantly crashed down on me, but a yawn nearly split my jaw open. No, I couldn’t go tonight. It was all the way across town, and I was exhausted.
Picking up the letter, I slid it and the smaller envelope into the manila one, then tucked it into my jacket pocket. Relocking the box, I stood up and walked out.
Mr. Jogwell was hovering a few feet from the door. He looked at me in surprise. “You still have ten minutes, you know.”
I let out a weak laugh. “That’s okay, Mr. Jogwell. I got everything I needed. I’ll give you more advance warning next time, I promise.”
He nodded. “I appreciate that, but one always must make exceptions sometimes. And for an exceptional man and his son, it’s no trouble.” I stared at him, and he smiled. “Have a good night.”
As he vanished into the room to pick up the box, I called out, “Night.”
A line from my father’s letter crossed my mind.
The average Joe is not so average.
And lost in thought, I left the bank.
Chapter 18
Cammie
I was the second person to get to B.R., after Babs, on Wednesday morning. Smiling to myself, I hovered in the doorway of my new, personal office for a moment, taking it all in.
I knew Babs was the one who’d gotten me it, as much as she’d denied it. She must have dropped a hint to Mr. Westfall about it. And even though he was clearly going to retire within the next few months, usually off to golf or grooming his nephew for his takeover, he’d found me a space. It was small, and the window overlooked an alley, but for me, it felt like a corner office.
More and more, I was reporting to Horace Westfall, Eli’s nephew, instead of Roger. Horace wasn’t a bad guy. He was just a bit boring, and I had a strong suspicion he didn’t have much of a spine. He seemed too eager to please guys like Roger and Carter instead of doing what was right for the company. It made me a little uneasy for the business’s future, but I tried not to think about it too much.
Sitting down, I glanced at my to-do list, even though it was just pretense.
I already knew what the first and most important thing was.
Call Kris back.
He’d left me a voicemail sometime early yesterday. I wasn’t sure how I’d missed his call – but I’d seen it and heard it only an hour later. For the rest of the day I kept putting off calling him, and now I was kicking myself. It didn’t look good not to call a client back that same day.
However, I reasoned with myself, if I called him back first thing, that would remedy it.
Snatching up my cell, I scrolled to his contact and hovered my thumb over it. Then I pushed it and lifted it to my ear, taking deep breath after deep breath.
He answered after the second ring.
“Camilla Book, as I live and breathe. Good morning.” Kris’s voice seemed to roll across my skin like warm rain. I gripped the edge of the desk as he continued, “I couldn’t ask for a better one.”
“You really have to take even a simple ‘hello’ to another level, don’t you?” I laughed, but I was focused, holding onto the desk and determined to head him off. “Listen, before you respond to that – I have a time sensitive question – so no five-minute soliloquies, if you please, sir.”
“As the lady wishes,” Kris said, amusement in his voice. “Ask away.”
“One of the houses – the one out in Vestavia Hills – is available for a tour in an hour. So we’d have to go now, if you can.” I heard uncertainty creep into my voice. “I’m sorry for the short notice.”
“Don’t worry about it. Short notice makes it more fun. Oh, shoot…” He trailed off. “No, never mind. I had something to do, but forget it, it can wait.”
“Happy to hear that. I’ll send you the address and meet you there?” I winced, wishing my voice hadn’t swung up at the end. I’d resolved to be firmer with Kris, as well as my future clients.
“Of course. I can’t wait to see you.” Kris’s voice was playful now. “See what I mean about short notice? You’re a delightful Wednesday morning surprise.”
“Goodbye, Kris,” I said, laughing and picked up my purse to head out.
I had expected Kris to show up to the house before me, but when I got there, it was deserted. Clutching the keys, I leaned back against my car and stared up at the house. It was a gorgeous, multi-million dollar home with huge arched windows with a kind of modern, clean-cut architecture. All around me were immaculate grounds and huge old trees.
I knew that two prominent doctors and their family had lived here, but now that their children were grown, they were downsizing and moving to the coast. And as much as I liked this house, I wasn’t sure it was the house for Kris. It was a little too fancy.
A crunch of tires on gravel had me rocketing upright and smoothing down my gray pencil skirt. Suddenly I felt like I must have looked like a librarian or a prim substitute teacher. Then I shook my head. It didn’t matter. It didn’t matter!
As to where Kris and I were concerned, I didn’t know. I’d spent the last three days either ignoring it or wrestling with it. And all I’d been able to do was vacillate between the sense that I’d made a terrible, destructive mistake and that it wasn’t a big deal. He was a sexy, gorgeous guy and we were just having fun. As Anna often pointed out, I was young and needed to have more fun.
But as he swung down out of his car, my knees went weak, and butterflies swarmed in my stomach. He was wearing a short-sleeved blue shirt that matched his eyes, and he was looking at me with that smile that seemed to suggest we were both in on a secret joke.
“Hi,” I said breathlessly as he came over. God, I wanted to just throw myself into his arms. Especially now that I knew how strong and hard they were. But I held myself back.
“Hey! Wow, so this is it. Didn’t realize it was so swanky.” Kris shaded his eyes and gazed around. I pretended to look around too, pointing things out, while watching him out of the corner of my eye.
However, what I’d never admitted to Anna was that I wasn’t the kind of girl who could just have fun.
Whether it was because of my childhood or just the way I was built, I’d never been able to serial date or bounce from guy to guy like Anna. My heart was buried, but the moment someone got close, it seemed to break free and hold on with all its might.
I had a terror of losing people.
And I was starting to feel that way about Kris. To him, Saturday night was probably just all fun and games. Nothing to worry about. But for me, I was now worried I was going to lose a friend or start having feelings for him. Never mind the fact that he was my client.
Oh God, what a disaster.
“Cammie?” Kris was looking at me now, and the smile was gone from his face. “Are you okay? You look a little pale.”
“Fine!” I said brightly, smiling at him. “Probably just the sunshine – haven’t gotten outside much lately,” I joked.
At that moment, I decided to keep things light and easy between us. Friendly and extra polite
so as to use that distance ensuring I didn’t get hurt. But also not tip him off or make him feel uncomfortable. We had a lot of house to cover, and I was now dreading something awkward would come up. Especially since I was now feeling a little shaky in his presence.
“Are you – ah okay,” he said as I marched towards the house. “Never mind, then.”
Walking through the house was not as awkward as I feared. Whether through sheer force of will or because Kris and I got along so well, I found myself laughing and joking with him. He really was ridiculously easy to talk to. So it was simple to pick up right where we left off – almost as though we hadn’t had sex in his kitchen.
Well, except that there were a few moments where Kris stood close by, and the scent of his cologne would hit me. Or he’d give me a look, the corner of his mouth quirking up.
And I’d remember the pressure of his mouth on mine or the way he’d pulled on my hair and the feeling of our two bodies pressed together.
Then my heart would slam against my ribcage as wicked heat rose in my belly.
Once done with the tour, we wandered out on the patio. It was cozy, with a neat wrought-iron fence along one side, which we leaned against and looked out at the view. The yard sloped down and then swung out widely to the right.
But directly ahead it was all hills and woods, with rising hills in the distance. For being so close to Birmingham, it almost felt like we were in the middle of nowhere.
“This view almost has me pulling out a check, I gotta admit,” Kris said, tugging a hand through his hair and looking down at me. “But I’m sorry, Cammie, you’re stuck with me for a while longer. It’s not quite what I’m looking for. Too…”
“Stuffy?” I supplied. “I knew it.”
His eyebrows rose. “You’re good. So we can check out those other houses when you’re free?”
“Absolutely,” I said, turning to leave, but Kris stopped me. “Yes, Kris?”
He let out a sigh, squeezing my arm and then dropping his hand. “I think I need to apologize for Saturday, Cammie. I didn’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable or take things that far. I let my attraction to you run away with common sense.” A small smile appeared on his face. “Believe me, I don’t regret it per se, but, well, I’m sorry. I know this all must sound pretty lame, but if you’ll let me, I want to make it up to you. Somehow.”
“Kris,” I said softly, then stopped. I wasn’t sure what to say to this man who was looking at me with wide eyes, his face completely open and eager. “I think I owe you an apology, too.”
“What?” He let out a startled laugh. “Did I miss something here?”
A shaky breath exuded from my lungs. I had the sense that this was the moment where I could walk away, end things and keep my head up. Or I could dive in, throw caution to the winds.
I couldn’t decide which, but I had to come clean. Slowly, I said, “I shouldn’t have run out on you like that. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be apologizing.”
A hopeful look lit up Kris’s face, and it made my heart leap. Then his smile became mischievous. “Does this mean this isn’t a one-way attraction?”
Tilting my head, I smiled up at him. “Did you really think that was the case?”
“It was a first,” Kris said, brushing my hair back from my face and then lifting my chin. “But you’re something else, Book. You keep me on my toes.” Dropping his hand, he gave me a thoughtful look. “Let me take you out to dinner again. That will be the first part of making it up to you.”
“First part… No, Kris, you don’t have to make anything up to me.” I said, suddenly nervous.
“Are you just trying to get out of dinner with me?” Kris asked.
“No, well... I just don’t know if it’s a good idea. A business dinner is one thing, but…”
“Friday was a business dinner?” Kris asked, sounding delighted. “Now I have to know what a real date would be like.”
A real date.
He wants to date me. Dammit, Anna was right.
“Um, Kris, I don’t know.” I started twisting my hair. “No, I’m sorry. I can’t.”
“So this is a one-way attraction,” Kris sighed.
“No!” I protested, then I flushed. “Dammit, Kris.”
He gave me a triumphant grin. “Then dinner is a good idea.” He shoved his hands in his pockets and the grin faded. “Cammie, I like spending time with you. And you don’t seem to find me that odious. This is a good idea. I mean, it’s usually a good idea for two people who like each other to go out to dinner together. Especially if one of them is an unbelievably beautiful woman with curly brown hair, who plays with it when she gets flustered.”
I stopped twisting my hair as a smile spread across my face. Tingles and butterflies were whirling inside and outside of me from head to toe. “You drive a hard bargain, Boldin.”
“Is that a yes?” Kris asked. “I’m running out of material here.”
“You’re impossible.” I laughed. At that moment, I decided to dive in for once. “And yes. I think you’re right. Let’s go to dinner.”
“Yes!” Kris slung an arm around my shoulders as we left the house. “You won’t regret it.”
“Famous last words,” I said airily.
Once we were saying good-bye at our cars, I touched his arm, wondering how things had gone with his father’s estate and the safe. “Hey, Kris, did you have any luck finding the code?”
Grinning, he said, “Funny you should ask. That’s the next stop for me today, beautiful.”
Chapter 19
Kris
Cammie waved her hand out the window as she drove away and I walked back to my car, throwing a final look at the house. While I had no desire to buy it, I couldn’t deny I was looking at it with a certain amount of fondness now.
She’d said yes.
Relief and excitement were coursing through me. She’d been so sweet and thoughtful all throughout the tour, but I’d sensed the distance coming between us. It had me panicking a little. Again I wondered if I’d screwed things up. Was she that horrified about what had happened?
For it wasn’t until we were walking through the house that it hit me. That I put myself in her shoes and also wanted to punch myself in the face.
No wonder why she was holding me at arm’s length – she was worried about her job. I was acting like a grade-A asshole not taking that into consideration. In fact, a tiny voice in my head was saying that I should maybe wait to take her out.
But I couldn’t. I couldn’t wait. Being with Cammie made the world feel right. Everything seemed brighter and happier. I didn’t worry about work or screwing up. It was like I could properly breathe again when she was around.
Jumping into my car, I tore out of there as my thoughts turned to the safe. For once, I was actually excited to get to the office.
“Max!” I hissed, knocking softly on his door. He was on the phone and waved me away. “Code! Fifteen minutes?” I whispered.
Jaw dropping, he nodded and gave me a thumbs up.
For the next fifteen minutes, I paced around my father’s office, waiting for Max. I almost wanted to open it without Max, but he was just as much a part of this as I was.
“Sorry!” Max burst into the office and then all but slammed the door shut. “I had a vendor on the phone who wouldn’t shut up about lenses.”
“You ready?” I held up the code and then squatted down to open it.
“Wish I’d thought of the safe deposit box earlier,” he said, walking over.
“As much as you want to – even I’m not unreasonable enough to expect you to think of everything, Max. You’ve got a lot on your plate. Oh.” I pulled out a note from my back pocket.
“Ha! Maya will be so happy.”
I smiled, then gazed at the safe. Now that it was the moment of truth, I almost felt reluctant to proceed. What if it wasn’t what we needed? Sitting down, I stared at it.
“Hey.” Max sat down next to me with a groan. “Damn, I’m getting old.” Then he loo
ked at me and then at the safe. “You don’t have to open this today if you don’t want to. But I think you should.”
“No, I want to,” I said. I twirled the knob to each of the numbers and then hit the open button. I realized both of us were holding our breaths.
Looking inside, for a second, I thought it was empty. Then I saw a fat notebook shoved in the back corner, along with a picture. Pulling out the notebook, I saw that it was one of those leather-bound ones with an elastic holding it closed vertically.
“Huh,” Max said. “I was expecting a bit more.”
He sounded a bit disappointed, but I was intrigued by the notebook and the photo. It was a candid of me and my dad, sitting uphill of the photographer, both of us looking out into the distance. My arm was raised, and I was pointing at something, grinning, and my dad was as well.
“I think this was in Switzerland. Yeah, the Bernese Alps and the Jungfrau Mountain. Man, I loved all those Swiss names,” I said, more to myself than Max.
Max suddenly got to his feet. “I think this is for you alone. Let me know if you find anything.”
Once he left, I opened the notebook and began flipping through it. As was my father’s style, it was a combination of a journal, planner, and scrapbook. But toward the back, it became neater, with lists of ideas for documentaries, as well as goals and business plans for Bold Pictures.
Sitting there, a sudden wave of exhaustion hit me like a train and the words on the page blurred. Rubbing my jaw, I realized I’d once again forgotten to shave.
Lying back on, I closed my eyes and placed the notebook on my chest. I could have fallen asleep right then and there. But my mind was whirling, thinking back to my father’s letter and his insistence on not getting bogged down by details. To enjoy the journey.
That made me think of Cammie. And I had a feeling if I asked her, she’d agree with my dad. Tell me to get some rest and take my time with things.
