Trusting Her Heart, page 17
Emily groaned silently. “This is Drew Stacey. He’s the manager of the camp at the lake this summer. My grandmother, Evelyn Hazard.”
“Drew.” She offered him her hand. “Ted has told me a lot about you and your camp.”
“Nice to meet you, Mrs. Hazard. Can I get your luggage for you?”
“Thank you. Ted’s tired. He wouldn’t let me do any of the driving.”
“Not that tired, Mom. I’ll give you a hand, Drew.”
The three women went inside and sat around the kitchen table.
“I’m so glad to be back at the lake,” Grandma Hazard said. “It really was your grandfather’s idea to sell our house here and live in Florida year-round. Until Ted and Mary came down to help me after my stroke, I’d forgotten how much I’d missed the lake and the mountains.”
“It is beautiful here, especially in the summer,” Emily agreed.
The door swung open and the guys came in loaded down with luggage. “Where do you want Mom’s stuff?” Ted asked.
“Put it in Emily’s room.”
They headed down the hall.
“Would you like some iced tea, Grandma? Mom?” Emily got the pitcher of tea from the refrigerator and poured them each a tall glass.
Drew and Emily’s father returned a minute later. “If dinner isn’t right away, I’d like to go down to the lake with Drew and see what he’s done.”
“Autumn won’t be here until six, so you have a half hour.”
“Got it. We’ll be back.”
“I can’t believe Autumn is old enough to have her own apartment,” Grandma said as they left. “Of course, I was married, for all of a month, when I was her age.”
The older woman sipped her tea. “Emily, I can take Autumn’s room upstairs. I don’t want to put you out.”
“No, Grandma. You should have the downstairs bedroom. You’re not putting me out. I’ll be going back to New York in a couple weeks.”
“What about your friend, Drew?”
Emily wasn’t sure where her grandmother was headed with her question. Her mother’s placid expression didn’t give her any clue. “He’ll be closing the camp and going back to New York, too.”
“I was sure Ted said Drew was staying in Paradox.”
Emily’s heart stopped.
“I do get things confused sometimes,” Grandma mused. “I don’t always hear as well as I did.”
Emily’s mother pressed her lips together in a thin line.
Emily brushed off the sinking feeling that they knew something she didn’t. Grandma must be confused, and Mom was concerned about her. Drew’s job at the camp was temporary. His real life was in New York, like hers. As much as he liked the Adirondacks, he couldn’t seriously be considering staying here.
Could he?
CHAPTER 17
The sparrows chirped a lively song in the trees above her as Emily walked a message for Drew down to him at the lodge the next day. The phone call for Drew from the New York investment bank human resources director had been a welcome interruption. Maybe the exercise would brighten her spirits. Her work hadn’t been going well, and she was in a funk. Emily picked up her pace and rubbed the paper with the return phone number between her thumb and finger. The message could mean a job offer for Drew.
Drew heard the light knock on the half-open door of his office and looked up. Emily peeked around the door smiling. He could never get enough of simply gazing at her.
“Hi. Can I interrupt?”
“Come on in. I’m getting a head start on my final report.” Hearing himself say the word final dampened his spirits. He hated to think about how few days he had left here.
“That bad?”
“Better now. I was just thinking about camp closing down.”
“I have something else that may cheer you up.” With a flourish, she handed him a sheet of the telephone pad paper.
Drew read the name and number she’d written down. He’d been expecting this call. The Zoom interview he’d had with the bank had gone very well. He waited for the surge of anticipation, the high feeling he used to get when he’d run all of his analyses and was about to see the results that would tell him if his stock pick was a “recommend” for addition to one or more of his former employer’s many mutual funds. The rush didn’t come.
“The person who called said he’d tried your cell phone first and got dead space.”
“Yeah, I gave him the house phone number in case he couldn’t reach me here. I’m in and out of the office all day.”
“I know your type,” she teased. “Why be inside if you can be outdoors. I grew up with a whole family of people like you.”
He stood, rested his hands on her waist and gazed down at her. “Admit it. You’re coming over to our side. You walked down here instead of driving.”
“I admit nothing.”
But Emily was much more comfortable here at the lake than she was when he’d first met her. Or did it seem so because that’s what he wanted? Of course, that wasn’t important if they both were going to be back in the city in a short time. His gaze drifted to the window and the peaks towering in the distance.
“I should get back to work.”
“Me, too.”
He watched her walk away along the tree-shaded path until he couldn’t see her anymore.
Back at his desk, Drew fingered the paper. He picked up the phone, started to dial, then put it down. Maybe he could arrange to work mostly from Paradox. The job the interviewer had talked about was mostly back office work that could be done from anywhere. He could go into New York as needed. Kind of like the arrangement Emily had with the ad agency this summer. If only the possibility of the coalition hiring him to manage the camp full-time wasn’t coaxing him to stay. He hadn’t mentioned his conversation with Scott to Emily. While she’d stayed a couple of weeks longer to visit with her parents and grandmother, she still seemed bent on getting back to New York City.
His wanting work that would keep him in the mountains, and her wanting to get back to the city, put them both in the same situation his former fiancée had put him. Having to choose between their careers and their relationship. Not a place he wanted to go. He picked up the phone and made his call.
When the call ended, Drew tried to drum up some enthusiasm for the job offer and to accept God’s direction, as he’d vowed minutes before. The investment bank had offered him an analyst job in New York, starting as soon as he wanted. Emily would be happy. He’d have the means to come up north any time he wanted, assuming he wouldn’t be working seventy hours a week. But if the job demanded that much of his time, he wouldn’t be able to see her any more than if he had a less demanding job here and she was working in New York.
At least the bank had given him a couple of days to decide whether to take the job. The VP who had made him the offer said that the human resources department would email him the details in writing for him to look over before making his decision. He could still hope that the coalition’s pie-in-the-sky plan of running a camp year-round would come through.
Drew closed his report file since he couldn’t concentrate on it anyway, and walked up to the house to find Emily attacking the flower beds with a garden claw. “I see you finished your work early, too.”
“You might say that.” She tore at the roots of a particularly stubborn weed. “Donna emailed me not to worry about making my deadline on the Caramel Crazies account. Amy had some free time and she whipped up a presentation.” The claw came down into the soil with a wham.
Drew made a mental note never to make Emily mad when she had anything sharp or pointed in her hand.
“Why do I put up with it?” she asked.
“The usual reasons. It’s your job. It pays for a place to live. You like to eat.”
She stood up and wiped her forearm across her forehead. Two spots of dirt adorned her knees. “But I used to enjoy my work. It was fun most of the time.” She brushed off the dirt. “I’m sure things will be different once I’m back in New York and in the thick of things.”
“If they’re not, you could try freelancing.”
“I’ve thought of that. I should do some checking around once we get back to New York.”
A small hope glimmered that he could convince her to stay here if he did. With the right contacts, she could freelance almost anywhere, even in Paradox.
She took his hand. “Come on, let’s sit on the porch out of this sweltering sun. I’m melting. You can tell me about your job offer. You did get an offer, right?”
“Yes, I did.” He wished he could be as enthused about it as she was.
They sat in matching Adirondack chairs. “Tell me all about it.” Emily leaned on her elbow on the chair arm closest to him.
“The job is with an investment bank. Financial analysis, like I did before for the mutual funds company.”
“When do you start?”
“I can start any time. HR is emailing me the employment contract and more details on the benefits and that stuff.”
She jumped up, grabbed his hands and tugged him to his feet. “That’s great!” She hugged him.
Much as he hated to leave her embrace, he had to tell her. “I haven’t accepted the job.”
Her arm-hold loosened.
“As I said, the job is a lot like my last one, which means 60- 70-hour work weeks and cutthroat pressure to produce. Quite a contrast with working at the camp this summer.”
She laid her head on his chest. “We’ve had a good summer. But you can’t vacation up here all the time.”
Resentment filled him. His job managing the camp wasn’t a vacation. It certainly was as important a job as anything he’d done or could do in the financial sector. Flashes of the kids who’d come to camp over the summer entered his thoughts. What he’d helped give the kids was much more important. Had he read Emily wrong? Was she just like Gwen? Would she let his choice of work stonewall their chance at a relationship?
“Maybe I could.”
She pulled back and looked up at him.
“Scott called me the other day. The coalition is working to raise enough money to run a camp and conference center in the Adirondacks year-round. If it does, Scott says I’m the first choice for conference center director.”
All joy left her face. He resisted the urge to kiss her mindless and erase what he’d told her about the camp job. Nothing was certain. The other job was a firm offer, even if he didn’t want to take it.
“But you’d be here and I’d be in New York.”
“I’d be back and forth to New York. And you said you were thinking about going out on your own freelancing.”
“In New York.”
“We could see each other weekends, which is as much or more than you’d get if I take the investment bank position.” He stopped himself. He sounded like he was begging. He wouldn’t beg.
“Let’s not argue about something that hasn’t even happened,” she said.
And you hope never does. His heart sank.
She slipped away and sat in the chair as stiffly upright as a person could in an Adirondack chair. She looked around as if searching for what to say next. “It sure feels funny without Autumn around.”
Evidently Emily was done discussing their situation. He’d let it drop for the moment, but it wasn’t over. He had to know whether Emily only cared for him if he was a well-off financial professional. He couldn’t reconcile that side of Emily with the woman he’d spent the summer with at Paradox Lake. But, then, he hadn’t seen the real side of Tara, either. Could be he was just blind when it came to judging beautiful women.
“Why don’t we take a swim in the lake to cool down, and I’ll take you out for dinner?”
“Sorry. I can’t.”
He searched her face to see if she was saying no to get back at him for not locking in the analyst job. No, that was Gwen’s way, not Emily’s.
“Mrs. Donnelly called and asked me if I could cover for her at the Bargain Basement this evening. Her grandson was released from the hospital early and he’s arriving home today. She wanted to go to the airport with the rest of the family.”
“I thought you didn’t do volunteer work at church.” His intended tease came out flat, almost harsh.
“The Hazards always volunteer at church. I couldn’t refuse.” Her retort dripped with sarcasm.
Maybe they should finish the talk about his work and get it out of their systems.
“I mean that. The how could I refuse part.” Emily’s voice sounded tired. “I’m sure I wasn’t the first person she called. What if it was Neal coming home? I’d want to be at the airport. Besides, living here in Paradox as an adult this summer, I can see how people get enjoyment and satisfaction out of volunteering.”
Drew went still. That was a big admission for Emily. A crack of hope opened up in his heart that she might be more outwardly averse to life in Paradox than she felt inside.
“Up here in nowhere-land, I mean. Where there’s not much else to do.”
“You know, it’s okay to enjoy the fellowship of working with others. It’s even okay to admit to liking parts of small-town living. I’m going to go take that swim now.”
Drew pushed out of his chair and took the porch steps two at a time. Emily watched him cross the yard to the road with a heavy heart. He couldn’t be serious about staying at the lake. Not if he was serious about their relationship. He had to know she couldn’t stay here. She didn’t fit in. She never had. Granted she had felt comfortable here this summer. But that was because she knew the situation was temporary and didn’t care what the locals thought about her.
Except, a small voice in the back of her head said, people welcomed you, treated you fine.
She shook off the voice. She had her work. If she didn’t get back down to the office, Donna could give her position to someone else, to Amy. Emily couldn’t stand for that. She’d worked too hard to get where she was.
But does it make you happy?
She stood abruptly and let her gaze rest on the majestic beauty of the high peaks against the cloudless blue of the late summer sky. Paradox Lake was enchanting as a vacation spot. But her real life was in New York. The life she’d dreamed of for years and left Paradox to successfully pursue. Drew had to be caught up in the summer mystique, reminiscing about his childhood camp days. Once he got into the routine of his financial work, he’d be fine. They’d be fine. She gave the scenery one last look before going into the house and closing the screen door, ignoring the nagging feeling that she was being dishonest with herself.
CHAPTER 18
“Good morning,” her dad greeted her when she walked into the kitchen the next day.
“Morning.” Emily poured herself a cup of coffee and joined her father at the kitchen table.
“I wanted to catch you before you see Drew.”
Before I see Drew? What was her father talking about?
“What’s up?” she asked.
“It’s about the campground. I know you say you don’t want to have anything to do with it.”
Emily tried to swallow the lump that had formed in her throat. She had been vocal, very vocal, about that since she’d been younger than Autumn. She’d never given much thought about how big a part Lakeside played in her dad’s life. It was his career, like her work in New York was hers.
“Your mom and I negotiated a long-term lease with the coalition that rented it this summer, contingent on their getting the financing they need.”
“They want to run their camp year-round,” she filled in.
“So Drew did talk with you.”
“He mentioned the possibility of a year-round camp.” The lump re-formed in her throat. And of him staying to manage it.
“Drew’s brother, Scott, called me just before you came down. An anonymous donor came through with all the money the coalition needed.”
“Oh, Dad. Are you sure about this, giving up Lakeside?”
“Your mother and I had been thinking about what we’d do when we retired.”
“But you’re not old enough to retire.” Then, it struck her. Money. Mom and Dad had been down in Florida for months taking care of Grandma. “Is it a financial thing? Maybe Neal and I could help.”
He laughed. “No, not at all. It’s nice of you to offer. We’ll get a good income from the rental. And I’m not giving up Lakeside. The coalition has offered me a job overseeing all the maintenance. That should keep me busy enough.”
Her father’s joy at being back at Paradox Lake shone brightly on his face. She wished she could spend more time here with him and Mom. But Donna was pushing her to return to the office. Emily had thought she and Drew would be going back to New York next week. She swallowed her apprehension.
“Want some breakfast?” her father asked. “I can stir up some more scrambled eggs.”
“No. Thanks. I’m going to walk down to the lodge.”
“Ah, so that’s how it is. It’s going to be good having Drew around permanently.”
“Right.” For him. She would be down in the city. Hadn’t he listened to what she’d said yesterday? But her dad couldn’t know for sure that Drew had taken the camp job. Dad had said Scott called to say the coalition had gotten its funding. Drew did have that other job offer.
Her footsteps slowed as the lodge came into sight. Drew’s truck was parked in front. She breathed in the clean mountain air and marched up the steps. Through the screen door, she saw him in the office working at the computer. Her gaze traced his profile, and her heartbeat tripled in a combination of fear and longing. He looked out the open office door when she creaked the screen door open and smiled. Her nerve and resolve battled to see which could melt faster.
Please, she pleaded silently, not knowing exactly what she was pleading for. In answer, her feet took on a life of their own and moved her, step by step, to the office doorway.
“Hi. I hear congratulations are in order.”
“Your dad told you.” His tone was perfectly modulated.
She nodded. “Can I sit down or should I come back later when you’re less busy?” She gestured at the computer, willing him to tell her to stay. She didn’t know if she could make the trip back down here a second time.
