“Welcome to Starbucks. What can I get you?”
Norah looked at the barista who’d served her coffee almost every day of her last two years at Helios and waited a few moments for recognition to click. She tried a smile, “I guess it’s been a while, hasn’t it, Amos?”
Other than a faint twitch of his pierced eyebrow, his expression didn’t change. He didn’t remember her. Didn’t even make an effort to fake it.
She thought of Cassie and the Daily Grind and felt a wave of brutal homesickness for Wishful wash over her. That made her think of Cam and wonder how long he was going to stay mad at her for bolting.
Amos cleared his throat.
“Sorry. I’ll have a venti Veranda blend.” Still rattled from the meeting with her attorney, she added a cheese danish. She took both to a table for two and sat, back to the door. Probably she wouldn’t run into anyone from Helios while she was here, except for the one person she was expecting, but she didn’t exactly want to advertise her presence.
Her professional life was rapidly descending into the fifth level of hell. Marcus was filing the suit today, but he’d cautioned that she shouldn’t get her hopes up. Evidence was going to be hard to come by, as Norah had absolutely had access to all the project materials, and proving she hadn’t done what Philip accused her of was going to be very difficult. She needed to work out a plan for damage control, but she wasn’t sure how much could actually be done after two whole weeks of no response. Several of her professional contacts outside the firm wouldn’t even return her calls. And that left her with very grave concerns about her future employability.
In need of a distraction, and wondering exactly what it was she’d turned down flat, she pulled out her laptop and began a search on Peyton Consolidated. Ten minutes into the search, she’d forgotten her pastry. Half an hour more, the last inch of her coffee had gone cold.
Gerald Peyton had built himself a juggernaut of a company. Its estimated value was over a billion dollars and growing. Company stock was a steady performer, even in the sluggish and unpredictable market. PC was the name behind a very solid and respected segment of the hospitality industry. But it was the past five years she was most interested in. He’d told her they’d made a name for themselves in urban renewal. She didn’t find much directly through the company itself, but she found plenty of press around the country, all of it positive. Peyton was the real deal, and his company was, by all appearances, a force for good. That had the kernel of an idea starting to tremble in her brain.
“Sorry I’m late.”
Norah looked up from her computer screen to see Cecily sliding into the chair on the opposite side of the table. She mustered up a smile. “Hey. Thanks for coming.”
Unwinding a chunky heather gray scarf, Cecily shook back her dark hair. “It took me a little longer than expected to slip away. Pierce is overloaded since you left. The guy they brought in to replace you is an idiot, and between the two of them, I’m not sure they can find their own asses without a map and a flashlight. So they’ve been relying on me a lot.”
“They haven’t been taking advantage of you, have they? Not making your life more difficult because I’m gone?”
“Apart from more work, no.”
Well, that was one tiny relief. “What about Christoff?” Her irascible PA would likely as not pop off and get himself in trouble on her behalf.
“Pretty sure he’s plotting someone’s doom. I know for sure there’s a voodoo doll in his desk, but he’s hanging on. Mouthing off to anybody who has the nerve to bad-mouth you.”
Norah grimaced. “Have there been many?”
“Among those who actually worked with you? No. The lower echelons full of the jealous…some. A lot of them don’t want to believe you got where you did by sheer hard work and brilliance.”
“There was always a segment that assumed I slept my way to the top. A rumor not improved by the fact that I actually dated Pierce. But whatever. I’m not concerned about that. What’s the office climate like?”
“Tense. I don’t think they realized how much you did until you weren’t there to do it. So they’ve been scrambling to reassign accounts. Several of yours walked when they found out you were no longer there.”
That was gratifying. She hoped Helios ultimately lost all the clients she’d helped reel in.
“Well, it isn’t going to get any less tense. My attorney is filing a suit for defamation of character today. I’m not sure how quickly Philip will get served, so brace yourself.”
“What can I do to help?”
“You’ve already done plenty just letting me know all this was going on and getting us copies of the emails that went out. I don’t want you risking your job on my account.”
Cecily scowled. “They’re assholes and they’re wrong. I know you didn’t do what they’re claiming.”
“I appreciate the faith.”
“What on earth have you been doing the last few months?”
“I’ve been in Mississippi. I don’t think you ever got to meet Miranda, but you certainly heard me talk about her.”
“No I never met her, but I remember her hunky brother.”
That wrangled a grin from Norah’s lips. “Mitch would be delighted to hear it.”
“So you’ve been visiting all this time?”
“Yes and no. I only planned to be there for a week. But I ended up getting involved in local affairs. Miranda’s cousin Cam is on the City Council in Wishful, and I helped him start a local coalition against the big box store that wants to build in town. So I’ve actually been working my ass off with that.”
Cecily studied her with a quirk to her lips. “And having something of a local affair while you’re at it?”
Norah’s cheeks heated. “Am I wearing a sign?”
“You have The Look.”
“What look is that?”
“The sort of stupefied, punch drunk, oh my God I met The One and I’m happy look.”
“You got all that despite the fact that I’m flipping out over this lawsuit?”
“Yep.” Cecily grinned. “Looks good on you. So is it this Cam guy? Miranda’s cousin?”
“Yeah.” Despite the rocky spot they’d hit, Norah’s conviction in that remained unshaken.
“And is Cam as hunky as Mitch?”
“He is.”
“Do they have any other cousins who are single? Lord knows I haven’t been having any luck in this city.”
“As a matter of fact, there’s one more unattached cousin who’s only a couple years older than you. He owns a bookstore and has horn-rimmed reading glasses.”
Cecily sighed. “Young, financially solvent. And I do have a soft spot for horn-rims. Maybe I should get myself down to Mississippi.”
“I promise you an introduction if you come.”
“I’ll hold you to it.” She nodded to the laptop. “So this anti-big box store campaign. Is that what you’re working on?”
“Not exactly. Things on that front haven’t turned out all that well.” She filled Cecily in on the coalition and the latest blow to the cause. “But all that work ended up having an unexpected consequence.”
“What kind of consequence?”
“A job offer.” Needing to confide in someone, she settled in and told Cecily about Peyton Consolidated.
“Peyton Consolidated? Seriously? That has to be it.”
“That has to be what?”
“Philip’s had the new guy and half the firm working on a campaign to woo the CEO. He’s made at least three tries that I know of, and the guy keeps saying no. If Philip knows the guy is turning him down in hopes of hiring you, I bet that’s why he’s going to the mat to ruin you.”
“Whether I take the job or not, Gerald isn’t going to hire Helios. He told me so outright. But if this is all about loss of business for the firm, then Philip isn’t going to just back off. He’s not going to stop until my reputation is completely destroyed.”
~*~
The black sedan cut in front of Cam close enough it should’ve shaved the front bumper off his truck. Cam slammed on his brakes, laid on the horn, and swore. And, of course, he missed getting through the light. Hush howled her disapproval from the back seat. She’d been a trooper through the all-night drive. Of course, she’d been able to sleep. He’d been fueling himself with truck stop coffee and sugar, and an all too brief three-hour nap at a rest stop somewhere in southern Illinois because the highway was starting to blur and he didn’t figure Norah would appreciate him knocking on her door at three in the morning. By now, both he and his dog wanted out of the truck.
He’d expected to show up at Norah’s apartment with coffee and breakfast and get to the bottom of things. But she’d already been gone by seven-thirty, and he’d been forced to turn on the friend finder app to track her phone. By the time he made it into the business district almost two hours later, she was on the move again, this time to the north side of the city.
Why in God’s name anybody would ever want to live in a place like this, he couldn’t fathom. You couldn’t get from one side to the other in anything resembling a reasonable span of time, as evidenced by the fact that he’d been chasing Norah all over the damned city and just missing her. There was no rush hour. It was just rush rush rush, all the time, bumper to bumper cars, shoulder to shoulder people. Between the excessive caffeine and sugar, the lack of sleep, and all the freaking people, Cam felt like he was about to crawl out of his skin.
He could’ve just called Norah and asked her to stay put, but he wanted to see her face when he showed up in her city. Plus, he didn’t want to interrupt whatever she had going on in case one or more of these stops were meetings with her attorney. She’d worked so incredibly hard for her reputation. Having it maligned like this…she had to be losing her mind. So yeah, on the drive he’d come to terms with the fact that she hadn’t been acting rationally when she left. Mostly.
By now he was exhausted. He just wanted to find her and hold her until everything was okay again. Followed by a nice, solid eighteen hours of sleep. Too late, he wondered if her apartment building allowed dogs.
Miracle of miracles, Norah’s dot was still stationary by the time Cam made it back across town to the business district. She hadn’t moved by the time he found parking. Not knowing quite where he was headed, he left Hush in the truck and left it running. Anybody considering a carjacking would be deterred by the hundred pounds of wolf-like teeth and claws.
“I’ll make this quick as I can, girl. Then I swear, we’ll find you a dog park so you can get some exercise.”
Hush replied in her sing-song talk, as if wishing him luck. He ruffled her ears and set out at a brisk walk, his shoulders hunched. His flannel-lined Carhartt coat wasn’t enough to protect against the ice-edged wind coming off Lake Michigan. He wished desperately for gloves. If this was what Norah was used to, no wonder she’d mocked what they called cold back home.
The dot turned out to be Starbucks. Cam was so chilled by the time he reached it, he was actually glad to see even chain coffee. The place was packed when he stepped inside. A double line snaked back from the counter, past the door where he stood, so he edged aside to get out of the way and began to scan the room for Norah. Voices chattered around him, clipped and rapid, almost like typewriter speech. What the hell was their hurry?
His own urgency seemed to hit slow-mo and melt away as he finally caught sight of Norah just past the station with the cream and sugar. Her back was to him, but he knew that fall of hair, that slope of shoulder. The sight of her neat stack of notepads and a row of colored pens had him smiling despite the bone-deep weariness. She sat with another woman, slightly younger. The intern?
Cam made his way over, hampered by the line of people waiting to doctor their coffee. Too tired to be pushy, he just waited, edging closer as he could, until he could hear her talking. God it was good to hear her voice.
“I’m nothing but impressed with what Peyton Consolidated has accomplished. It’s an incredible opportunity.”
“I’ll say. Particularly in light of the lawsuit. People have long memories for scandal. That’d be less likely to touch you out in Denver. So to have the chance at a position like that with a billion dollar corporation… Are you going to take it?”
“It’s essentially my dream job on a platter. I’d be a fool not to.”
Cam felt her words like a physical blow. Every drop of pleasure at seeing her after his long trip, evaporated. The blood in his ears began to roar, drowning out whatever Norah’s companion replied.
It’s my dream job on a platter. I’d be a fool not to take it.
Everything thing they’d been through. Everything she’d told him. Everything she’d promised. And in the end, she was choosing the job over him. Like her mother. Like Melody. Like his father.
She tried to warn you, he thought. Everybody tried to warn you that this wouldn’t work. But you just couldn’t leave it alone. Because you’re some kind of goddamned masochist.
Sick and a little dizzy, he turned and walked back into the cold, heading back to his truck and his dog and the life that was, it seemed, too small for everyone who’d ever mattered to him.
There was nothing to say after all.
~*~
The lights of Denver glittered against a sky fading from fire to night above the line of mountains beyond the city. Norah saw none of it as she stood at her hotel room window and listened as her call to Cam rang through to voicemail. Again.
He’d been dodging her calls for three days. She’d gotten one terse email.
Been working a lot, catching up on all the stuff I let slide while we were working the GrandGoods campaign. Plus it’s warming up, so the season’s starting. Everybody’s thinking about perking up their yards now that we’re mostly past the threat of frost. Keeping busy and holding down the fort.
No endearments. No questions about how the lawsuit was going. Not even a When are you coming home? Which was probably just as well, since she had no idea how to answer.
Norah didn’t know what to do with the distance that yawned between them, so much more than the physical miles. Hurt and confused, she desperately wanted to talk to him, to have his support through the nightmare of this case. Was he still angry about how she’d left? She couldn’t undo that and she’d apologized, so what did he want from her? Because that was a conversation best left for in person, she didn’t try to broach the subject. Instead she just said, “It’s me. I really miss you. Please call me.”
Dropping the phone into her clutch, she did her best to clear her mind and settle her nerves for this dinner with Gerald Peyton. What she’d come out here to do absolutely adhered to her family’s mantra of “Go big or go home.” It was a risk, a big one. She might be blowing up her last bridge to traditional gainful employment in her field of choice. But Wishful was counting on her, so she had to try.
He was waiting in the lobby when she came down. His shirt, open at the collar, and the sport coat and khakis, hit somewhere between the casual first impression and boardroom dominator who’d offered her the running of his marketing department. He was a man at ease with himself and his surroundings.
“Miss Burke. It’s good to see you again.”
Norah shook his offered hand. “And you.”
Gerald gestured after you. “Shall we?”
She followed him out to a late model Land Rover. They chatted about inconsequential things, and Norah tried to pay some attention to the city as they wove through its streets. He pointed out features of interest, shared little bits of local history. She found herself relaxing by the time they made it to the restaurant.
Gerald waited until they’d ordered entrees and received their drinks before leaning forward, both elbows on the table, and steepling his fingers. “I have to confess, I was very surprised to get your call. But very pleased to have you here. Have you changed your mind about my offer?”
A fleeting thought of Cam and whatever lay so very wrong between them passed like a shadow through her mind, but she shook her head. “I’m afraid not. I actually have other business to discuss with you.”
He smiled, a kind of secretive chess player’s smile, and picked up his wine. “I make it a policy never to discuss business until dessert.”
Inclining her head in acquiescence, Norah settled in to play the game of calculated Get To Know You.
“So, if I remember from our last conversation, you have a daughter?”
“Mmm. Tess. She’s twenty-four and an absolute ball-buster. You remind me of her a bit.”
“I’m sure my parents would be perfectly horrified to hear me described that way. They worked so hard to make sure I was polite and politically correct. I, on the other hand, take that as a compliment.”
Gerald’s lips curved as he sipped his Cabernet. “Joe always did worry too much about that crap.”
That set Norah back in her chair. “You know my father?” Did she owe this miraculous job opportunity to her dad pulling strings?
“Knew. We were at Ole Miss together. But he was a senior when I was a freshman, so we weren’t exactly buddy-buddy. I remember him more from some of the campus organizations we were both in. I doubt he remembers me.”
“So you did undergrad at Ole Miss.”
“A couple years. I transferred out to University of Washington and finished there.”
“That’s a big jump.”
“I needed a change.”
“Because of her? The girl you loved from Wishful?” The words were out before she could think better of it. She held up a hand in apology. “I’m sorry, that’s none of my business. Forget I asked.”
Gerald shot her an assessing look. “It’s a fair question since I mentioned her to you in the first place. Yes, I transferred because of her.”
“What happened? If you don’t mind my asking.”
He swirled the wine in his glass. “I haven’t talked about this in years.”
Norah noted he said talked, not thought.
“I’m from Memphis originally. Went down to Ole Miss, and sophomore year I met a girl, as you do. Except the girl was already married to her high school sweetheart.”
“That must’ve been hard.”
“I chalked it up to bad luck or crap timing that we should be great friends and that’s all. But I was happy to have that instead of nothing, so I kept spending time with her. Nothing happened. We were just friends. At least I assumed that’s all that was on her side.”
“But it wasn’t.”
“It wasn’t. Her husband had joined a fraternity, gotten really into that scene, which wasn’t any more compatible with marriage back then than it is now. She was growing up and he was…acting like a typical unmarried freshman pledge. One night, he got hideously drunk at a party and wouldn’t give her the keys. So she called me to come get her.
“It was really late, and we didn’t think it would look right if I dropped her off back at their apartment. So we just…drove around for hours, talking. We’d always been able to talk to each other, but this was different. More personal. Hopes, dreams, confessions kind of stuff. She admitted she was unhappy in her marriage. And she…said she wished she’d waited for me.”
Norah noted the ripple under the calm surface. “That’s a lot to put on a friend.”
The arrival of their food interrupted the story, and she found herself wishing the waiter away so Gerald would continue.
Once they were alone again, she leaned forward. “So what happened?”
“I don’t think she meant to say it. We were in that kind of dazed, drunk place you get when you’ve been up all night. But she said it, and she was just looking at me with these big hazel eyes, and I just—well, I’m not a saint. I kissed her. And she kissed me back.”
Gerald fell into the thick silence of memory. His Adam’s apple bobbed, his hands tightening on his fork. Eventually, he shook himself. “Anyway, long story short, she decided to leave him. Divorce wasn’t quite as common back then, but it wasn’t unheard of. And she was going to do it. For me. We waited until summer so she’d be able to file the paperwork and get out, have a few months for the dust to settle. I wanted to meet her at the fountain, but she didn’t know how long it might take, and since Wishful’s a small town, she didn’t want anybody to put two and two together. So we were supposed to meet at the Hoka. It was kind of our place.”
“What on earth is the Hoka?”
“It was a movie theater in Oxford. Artsy, indie stuff. Used to be an old cotton warehouse. It’s gone now, but it was downtown, kind of in The Gin’s parking lot. Neither of us were really into indie movies, so it gave us somewhere to go to talk. Their cafe used to have the best cheesecake.” He smiled a little at the memory.
“So you waited.”
“I did. I waited for hours, past closing time, but she didn’t come. I got worried that her husband had stopped her. He’d never been violent before, but… I drove to Wishful. Went by her house. And I saw them in the front window. She looked nervous, so serious. I thought, for sure, she was telling him then, that she’d just been delayed somehow. And I was ready to run in and get her out, be her get away driver. But he didn’t look angry. He looked…shocked. And then happy. And then he was kissing her, holding her, and they were laughing.” Gerald’s voice trailed off. His mouth tightened as his attention focused on his steak. “She made her choice, and it wasn’t me. I couldn’t stay at Ole Miss after that.”
Norah’s heart hurt for him. To love someone so out of reach and think you had a shot, only to have it taken away. “I don’t blame you. Do you know what happened to her?”
He shook his head. “I moved on. Met my wife, built a life.”
“Got divorced?”
Gerald glanced at her in surprise.
“No wedding ring.”
He flexed his left hand and looked at it for a moment, before turning his attention back to her. “About ten years now.”
“She stuck with you, that first love.”
“First loves are like that.” Shoving away his half-eaten steak, he said, “How about you tell me what else that busy brain of yours has come up with since we last talked?”
Realizing the subject of the personal was closed, she complied. “I have an investment opportunity for you. Something that will, I think, fit with your desire to build something that lasts, leave your mark in ways that are more personal than how you initially grew your company.”
“I’m listening.”
They talked business for more than an hour, with Norah giving him a more far more detailed description of her plan to promote rural tourism in Wishful than the sketch she’d given him in their last conversation, breaking things down into logical phases. He asked good questions, made some suggestions that had her revising some of those phases in accordance with potential areas of investment by Peyton Consolidated. Unlike the hurried presentation she’d given the City Council, this was shaping up to be a legitimate enterprise.
“So you’ve piggy backed on the concepts we used for the urban renewal we’ve done and adapted it for a rural market. That’s a smart tactic for sliding the concept by me.”
“You wouldn’t have offered me a job if I wasn’t smart.”
He flashed a smile that had her, for a moment, seeing the young man he used to be. “True enough. You’ve snagged my interest, Norah. I love the idea. In fact, I’ve got some contacts in another little town a couple hours away. Balenmore. We have a ski lodge near there, and it happens they’ve done a lot on the rural tourism front. I think they’d be good people to talk to. Can you stay a few more days? Make the trip up?”
“Of course.” Rather than the victory boogie she wanted to make, Norah took a big bite of her chocolate mousse.
“I’ll make the arrangements.”
She finished her dessert while he typed out a message on his phone, presumably to his assistant. When the man decided to move on something, he didn’t waste time.
“I should be able to let you know the details by morning in time for you to check out here.”
“Perfect. Will you tell me something?”
“What do you want to know?”
“Does this woman you loved have something to do with why you’re considering my plan?”
“I’m considering your plan because I think it’s a good investment. And because you’re damned good at persuasion, which is why I want you to run my marketing department. I haven’t given up hope of wooing you.” The smile he shot her was calculated to be disarming.
She didn’t miss his sidestep. “I’m good, but you didn’t get to be CEO of a billion dollar corporation by being easily led. There are other investments, other places you could do this that would bring you more profit.”
“Your point?”
“You wanted to make things better for her back then. I think you still want to make things better for her, in case she’s still there.”
He said nothing for a long moment. “You have a romantic’s heart, Miss Burke. I hope life lets you keep it.”