They touched down on an empty baseball diamond twenty minutes later after a return to neutral topics. The basket bumped against the ground, jarring Cami’s knees, though she’d bent them slightly to cushion the blow as Vince had directed. Joel, Jeremy, and the teens rushed to help them secure the basket and begin pulling the balloon down. Cami climbed out of the basket, laughing as she approached Sage. The kiss hadn’t been the only thrilling part of the ride, and she hoped she got another chance to go up. “That was awesome. I hope you weren’t too bored.”
“Joel entertained me. You’re glowing—it must have been a nice ride.” Sage’s eyes sparkled at Cami. “What did I say about meeting your match?”
“I don’t know about that, but the side trip should be fun.” Cami straightened her ruffled hair. They almost overshot their destination when the breeze had grown stronger than expected. “It was wonderful. I definitely want to try it again someday.”
“Good. Hey, you were probably too busy to pay attention to your cell phone up there, but Lana reached me a while ago and said we’d want to check out a news story. She sent you a link.” She pulled out her phone, flashed it. “Mine doesn’t have the Internet. Maybe you’ll have better luck.”
Cami pulled out her Droid and checked the screen, finding a message from Lana. Strange she hadn’t heard it, but she’d been a bit distracted for most of the trip. The cell signal had probably been stronger in the balloon than it was now as she barely had one bar. She pocketed the phone again.
“I’ll have to wait until we get back into town. The signal there’s better.” She eyed Sage, realizing the strain between them had lessened and hoped they could get back to being, well, not friends, but angry with each other, either. “Why don’t you have a smart phone? You’ve got scads of things to keep track of, and it’s only going to get worse. We’ll talk to Lana, have her get you one. We can set it up to sync with your terminal at the hotel.”
Sage shook her head. “No way. Those things confuse me.”
“You’ll catch on soon, and then you’ll wonder what you ever did without it.” Seeing the balloon back on the ground, she tugged Sage’s arm and they hurried to help pack it.
~*~
The parade was about to start when they all jogged up to the spot in the crowd Vince’s family had staked out. Cami greeted everyone, and kept her ears open for names, to try to pick up the ones she’d confused or forgotten since the previous evening. The event opened with the military bringing the flags, followed by the golf course’s float.
Cami leaned over to Sage. “We need to think about doing a float for next year. Maybe something highlighting your spa? Think about it; we’ll talk to Lana.” They would be employing a lot of locals and wanted to find a way to let residents feel the resort was part of the community.
“Speaking of, did you check out the link she sent you?”
“Oh, right.” Cami dug out her phone again and clicked the link, she called out praise for the high school band as they marched past in perfect rhythm. Gage made a comment which made his two friends laugh out loud. Cami smiled at them ribbing each other, then glanced back at the screen.
Her smile died as the news article popped up on the Chicago area gossip magazine.
DiCarlo heiresses squander time and money at summer retreat
Hotel magnate George DiCarlo has been in the ground only six weeks and already his daughters are sitting back enjoying their freedom. Many people have questioned their ability to put together the quality of hotel that has long given DiCarlo his good name. Concerns seem to be justified, as the daughters don’t appear to be working hard to get things ready for opening day in less than two months.
While vacationing in the Rocky Mountain town of Juniper Ridge this week, eldest daughter, Camellia DiCarlo, and second eldest, Sage Parker mixed with locals, enjoyed fair food, and got it going on with a few of the down-home country boys.
A picture of Cami and Vince standing beside her Z4 the previous evening, close enough they could have been kissing popped up next. The caption read, “Lawn mower extraordinaire seems to have caught Camellia’s fancy—and her lips—during a heated embrace in public before they took things to a more private venue.”
Directly below it was a shot of Sage sitting between Gage and Jeremy, laughing with them, her eyes lit up. “Sage seems unable to choose one of the handsome hunks—ski bum or photography buff.”
The article went on to question whether any of the sisters was taking their responsibilities seriously and what it portended for the business’s chance of success.
Cami was speechless, unable to decide whether she was more shocked, horrified, furious, or amused by the mix of ridiculous supposition and outright lies.
“What is it? You look ready to punch someone.” Sage reached for the phone.
Cami scrolled the article back to the top and handed the phone over, trying to keep her reaction under control. Sage wouldn’t be used to the horrible things the media came up with. “Don’t take it too seriously. Gossip rags are always searching for an angle.” The idea of the article winding up all over the country at grocery store stands made Cami’s stomach tighten in a knot, however. She’d have to call Lana as soon as she could pull away for a minute.
There was a noise almost like a whimper, and Cami saw Sage with her hand over her mouth. Her face had lost all color. “It says where we are,” she whispered. “I knew something was going to happen, I just didn’t know what.”
“And no publicity is bad publicity,” Cami said, though as they weren’t rock stars, it wasn’t true. She wasn’t buying into Sage’s prescience. She eased the phone from Sage’s white-knuckled grip. She wasn’t as sanguine as the comment made her sound—not nearly—but Cami was at least used to living in a fish bowl, and Sage was not. “Everyone pretty well knew where we are anyway. Most of the terms of the will were spelled out pretty clear, and we’ve been touting this new hotel everywhere.” Still, she found herself checking for cameras pointed their direction, and eyeing Jeremy with suspicion as he picked out a shot of the cheerleaders dancing by.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” Vince asked as he leaned in to Cami from the other side.
She pasted on a smile and hoped she could ease the concern in his eyes. This was not the time. “Nothing much, minor hotel stuff. Nothing that can’t wait until after the parade, at least. Tell me about the horseback riding club. Do you know of anyone in the area who takes paying customers out for trail rides?”
He didn’t appear convinced that there was nothing to worry about, but he allowed the change of subject. Cami squeezed Sage’s elbow comfortingly when the worry continued to crease the woman’s brow, then buried her own concerns until she had time to think it over later.
When the parade ended and they had made the rounds of the park again, Joel dropped the girls off at home to pick up Sage’s car and the cake Mrs. Grady had made for them the previous day and followed them to Vince’s parents’ home. Cami rode with Sage while Vince swung by his place to grab the two elephant hybrids he said were dogs. Cami took the opportunity to call Lana and chat.
“It’s about time you called. It’s been hours since I sent you the link. I called four times in the past hour,” Lana said in lieu of hello.
“Sorry, I couldn’t hear it over the parade. Vince has been introducing me to lots of the local business owners. It’s been very productive.”
“Yeah, yeah, can we get back to the issue at hand?”
“Stop freaking out. Yes, I’m going to do my best to track down where the pictures and article came from, but it’s bound to create more speculation and interest in the hotel. I wouldn’t worry about it. I popped onto Twitter and left a note about enjoying the local color during the holiday. No one’s going to think twice about it.” If they were lucky, she thought.
“Yeah, you weren’t here for the Whitneys’ annual party, though, were you?” “When was that?”
“Yesterday.” Lana huffed.” I can’t believe you’re there taking it easy and I’m dealing with the Whitneys and Carters. Seriously, this gets worse every year. Anyway, I overheard a rather well-projected whisper about Dad wanting to keep us all under the same roof so he could have someone babysit us. There was the expected comment about Blake being moved to the location as babysitter, and how Alex is supposed to be all but moving in as well—I had to ask Alex for confirmation. He denied it, though.”
The role of listening ear wasn’t new to Cami, so she said what Lana needed to hear. “You know Dad had total trust in you—he wouldn’t risk the business if he didn’t. You’re going to do a smashing job. We all are, and soon everyone else will know it. Settle down.”
“I don’t like it, Cami. Something feels off.”
“So noted. Now, go enjoy your holiday, put this aside. When you get back here next week we’ll review the damage, and anything else you’ve been able to glean on the gossip mart. Then we can handle any problems. But there won’t be anything major, so take it easy.”
“It certainly looks like you’re taking it easy.” Lana paused. “Sorry I’m such a worrywart. What’s up with you and Vince? Were you actually kissing him, or was that a photography trick?”
“No kisses.” She waited a beat. “Last night, anyway.” She couldn’t help but feel smug. Kissing was definitely one of his talents, and she had the feeling she hadn’t seen anything yet. She had every intention of learning more about his skill in that area before this was over.
“All right, that’s it! We’re so having a long chat when I get back. Ugg, here comes Clarissa Clearwater. Gotta go.”
“Bye.” Cami chuckled as she hit the end button. “Better you than me, sis.” Clarissa Clearwater would be sure to share every tidbit of gossip with Lana, but she would expect the same back in return. It would be a miserable tight wire for Lana to maneuver. Yet another reason Cami was grateful to be in Colorado for the next year.
“You aren’t worried, are you?” Sage asked.
Cami shrugged as they pulled in beside Gage’s truck. Sage and Lana were worried for all of them, though it didn’t stop her from seething over the article. If she could smooth the crease in Sage’s brow, acting as if she weren’t disturbed would be worth it. “No point in getting upset before we see where things are going. We were bound to get a few nasty jabs. This will all sort itself out in a while.” She would make sure of it.