Trusting Her Heart, page 7
“I’ll give you a call after I get back. Any day better for you?”
“No, any day is fine.” Did that sound as desperate to Becca as it sounded to her?
Brendon yowled in the background. “I’ve got to go. I really am sorry. Talk with you later.”
Emily returned to the computer and tapped the stylus against the drawing pad. Strangely, she was more disappointed about Becca canceling their lunch than she was looking forward to her strategy session with Donna tomorrow morning, which confused her. She and Donna were a good team. She wanted to be Donna someday.
“You know that works better if you turn the computer on.”
She spun the chair around.
Drew stood in the doorway grinning. “I’m headed down to Glens Falls for some plumbing stuff. I’ve got a break in one of the water pipes at the lodge. So count me out for dinner.”
“You have a broken pipe and you’re still smiling?”
“What can I say? I like the view.”
She reached down and pressed the computer’s on button to hide how his compliment unsettled her.
“Do you need anything?”
“No, not that I can think of.” She righted herself. “But I do need a favor. Are you going to be around this weekend?”
“Tonight. I’m going to my mom’s tomorrow afternoon. Sunday is her birthday. Why?”
“My boss just called. I’ve got to go down to the city for a client meeting and I was hoping not to have to rush right back tomorrow evening. I don’t want to leave Autumn alone overnight.”
“We can go down together.”
Four hours alone in the truck with Drew. Her pulse quickened. Not a good idea. But Autumn would be with them.
“Mom won’t mind the extra company.”
“I don’t want to put your mother out. Autumn and I will stay at a hotel.”
“Believe me. You wouldn’t be putting her out. She was always after Scott and me to bring our friends home.”
A ripple of pleasure rolled through her at his referring to her as a friend. “If you’re sure.”
“I’m sure.”
“It might be fun. Autumn hasn’t been to New York before. If my meeting doesn’t last too long, I can show her around the city and meet you at your mother’s later. Give you some time with her before we arrive.”
“Oh, I don’t know. Sometimes there’s safety in numbers.”
The late bus brought Autumn home from softball practice, and, as usual, she went right to work on dinner. Emily told her about the weekend in New York.
“But I have plans for tomorrow night.”
What plans could Autumn have that were better than a trip to New York?
“Jack and I and Jule and Ezra have tickets to see Carrie Underwood at the Glens Falls Civic Center.”
A concert with friends would definitely have more allure for a 17-year-old than a weekend trip to New York with an aunt, especially since she’d be spending a good part of the time working.
“I don’t like leaving you alone.”
“I won’t be alone. I’ll be with my friends.” Autumn turned from the salad greens she was tearing into a bowl and stood feet apart, hands on hips. “You don’t trust me.”
“It’s not—” Emily stopped herself. But it was. No sense lying about it. “I’m uncomfortable with my being so far away. The house is pretty secluded.”
“So, I’ll have Jule stay over.”
And Jack and Ezra?
Autumn’s eye narrowed. “I know what you’re thinking. So how’s it fine that you and Drew go off to New York alone and it’s not fine if I stay here with Jule?”
Her and Drew? “It’s not like that. We’re not… I don’t…” She could kick herself for letting Autumn turn things around so that she felt she was the teenager and Autumn was the adult.
“I don’t, either.” Autumn stomped off toward her room.
Emily gave her a few minutes. Then she went upstairs and knocked on her door. “Can I come in?”
“Do I have a choice?” Autumn pulled the door open.
Deep breath. “I don’t have to stay over in New York. I can take the truck, drive back after my meeting and be here when you get home from the concert.”
“Whoopee! But don’t put yourself out for me. I’ll stay over at Jule’s. Mrs. Hill can babysit me for you.” She flounced away from Emily. “You know Dad and the Hills think Jule and I are old enough to get our own apartment in Ticonderoga for college in a couple months. You don’t think I’m old enough to stay alone for one day.”
“That’s in a couple months. This is now. Your father asked me to come and stay here with you. If he’d wanted me to supervise you from New York, he would have said that. It would have been a lot easier for me to stay in my apartment, and not try to do my job from 250 miles away.”
Autumn stooped down and picked up a crumpled paper from the floor and tossed it across the room at the wastebasket. It went in with a soft rustle. “Sorry.”
“Accepted. I’ll go call Mrs. Hill to make sure it’s no problem and then, I’ll finish fixing dinner.”
“Do you have to?”
“I’m hungry, and even my cooking is better than none.”
“No, I mean call Mrs. Hill.”
“Yes, I do.”
“You’re as bad as Grandma.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
Autumn sighed and plopped onto the bed. “But you’re only 26.”
Emily pushed back a strand of hair that had strayed from her braid. She felt 96. “I’ll give you a shout if the salad gets the best of me.”
“You are going to wait and let Drew grill the burgers, right?” She placed her feet on the floor as if she were going to stand.
“Can’t. He’s gone to Glens Falls.” Emily turned to leave.
“Aunt Jinx?”
She stopped and turned back to catch Autumn brushing the corner of one eye with her finger.
“I really am sorry.”
“I know. But I really have to be the bad guy until your dad comes home. Then, maybe I can get you down to New York for a girls’ weekend. Deal?”
“Deal. And I’ll be down in a minute to handle the grill.”
Emily shut the door behind her and leaned against the wall for a moment. How did parents do this day in and day out, year after year? She should send Mom a big bouquet of the yellow roses she loved, just because.
Drew paused at the door. Emily sat at the kitchen table, her back to him, sipping coffee. The early morning sun caught the lighter streaks in her honey-brown hair. She had it all wound up in the back giving him a view of the graceful curve of her neck above the soft collar of her blue shirt.
“Got any more of that?”
She turned in the chair and smiled, stopping him midstep. “Maybe. What’s in it for me?”
“There is my offer of a ride down to the city.”
“Sounds fair to me.”
He walked around her to the coffeemaker and poured a cup. “You and Autumn manage the grill okay last night without me?”
She nodded, looking at him over the rim of her coffee cup. Or, at least he thought she was. She could have been checking the time on the clock behind him. No, she was looking at him.
“I won’t make any claims to managing. Autumn knew all about firing it up and grilling the burgers. Did you get the water break at the lodge fixed?”
“Should be. But I left the water shut off. I’ll check it Monday.” He’d be more confident of his work if thoughts of him and her alone in his truck for four hours hadn’t been rushing through his mind the whole time he’d been repairing the pipes.
Drew sat across from Emily and added a scoop of sugar to his coffee, then pushed back from the table. He’d forgotten to get a teaspoon to stir it. She handed him hers. He wasn’t even going to acknowledge the charge that small gesture set off. All she did was hand him a spoon. A spoon she’d already used to stir her coffee. Coffee that had cream in it. He never used cream.
“Ah, thanks.” He glanced toward the living room. “Autumn had better get a move on it. I want to get a breakfast sandwich at the corner store on our way.”
“Autumn isn’t coming. She and Jack and Jule and some other friend have tickets to a concert tonight in Glens Falls.”
“You’re leaving her here by herself for the weekend? Not a good idea.”
She put her coffee mug down. “I know. I talked with Mrs. Hill last night. She said it would be no problem for Autumn to stay there with Jule.”
“That’s my girl.” It just slipped out. He searched her eyes for a reaction. They widened slightly, but she didn’t acknowledge his unintended endearment. He loosened the death grip he had on his coffee mug.
“Autumn didn’t think it was so great an idea, but she got over it.” Emily rose and went to the sink to wash out her cup.
He gulped down the rest of his coffee and did the same.
“Time to get going. Where’s your bag?”
“By the door.”
He grabbed both her overnight case and laptop and loaded them in the back seat of his truck along with his sports bag.
They climbed in his truck and started down the driveway.
“Stop.” She grabbed his leg as the truck approached the road.
His pulse quickened. That dull thump had been a rock in the drive. He couldn’t have hit a squirrel or something. He hadn’t seen anything. Still didn’t see anything in their path.
“I think I forgot my thumb drive with the presentation.” She opened the door and jumped out before he brought the vehicle to a full stop. Didn’t she know she could kill herself doing that?
Watching her race up the driveway in her flimsy little dress sandals didn’t do anything to calm his racing heart. She was an accident waiting to happen. And much as he might like to be, he wasn’t the white knight she needed to rescue her. Not until he got his life sorted out, at least. He turned the truck off and breathed in and out evenly, choosing not to watch her race back to the truck.
“Got it.”
He turned the ignition.
“Wait.”
“What?”
“I don’t know if I have my cell phone.” She dug through her purse and held it up triumphantly when she found it.
He’d like to think that he had a part in throwing off her equilibrium, and this wasn’t simply the Jinx side of Emily.
“Got everything?”
She touched the screen of her phone and read down a list. “Yes. I should have double-checked before we left the house.”
He swung the pickup into the convenience store at the crossroads in town and she tilted her head in question. A faint scent of flowers tickled his nostrils.
“Do you need gas?” She reached for her purse. “I can write off the trip. Business.”
Her offer irritated him. He didn’t want to be just business. “The tank’s full. I’m going to get a breakfast sandwich.”
“Right, you said that.”
“Want one?” he asked.
She wrinkled her nose emphasizing the sprinkle of freckles that peeked through her carefully applied makeup. His irritation faded.
“Or a coffee?”
“No, thanks. I’ve had enough coffee, and I had a granola bar with my first cup.”
“Be right back.”
Mike, the owner, greeted him as he entered the store. “Hey there. The usual?”
“Yep and make the coffee a large.”
“Tough day ahead?”
“Possibly.” He glanced out the window at Emily who appeared to be writing something on her lap. “Very possibly.” He settled up and took the paper-wrapped sandwich and coffee cup.
Emily opened her door when she saw him. “Want me to drive while you eat that?”
He didn’t let anyone drive his truck. Especially anyone nicknamed Jinx.
“I’ve been driving pickups since I was 16.”
Not his pickup. “No problem. I always eat my breakfast on my way to work at the lodge. Finish up whatever you were working on.” He motioned at a sketchbook on the seat next to her.
“If you’re sure.”
“I’m sure.” He slid behind the steering wheel, put his coffee in the cup holder and peeled the wrapper off his sandwich.
“That does smell good.”
He stopped prebite. “Last chance if you want one.”
She placed her hand on her flat stomach. “No, I’ll enjoy yours vicariously. I have to leave room for my early lunch with my boss.”
Drew finished his bite, savoring the spicy tang of the convenience store’s own sausage and local cheddar cheese. He washed it down with coffee and started the truck. “Mind if I turn the radio on?”
“Go ahead.” She bent over the pad and went back to work on whatever she’d started when he was in the store.
He finished his sandwich and tapped his finger against the steering wheel in time to the music on the radio until they reached the Northway south to Albany and New York. “What are you working on?”
She looked up from the pad, her gray eyes bright. “I had the best idea for jazzing up my presentation when you were in the store. I’ve sketched it out.” She held the pad out to him.
The car on their right honked as the truck veered slightly in that direction. He turned his attention back to the road. “Tell me about it.”
She lowered the pad. “I could run through the presentation. Without the visuals.” She glanced out her window at the car beside them. “If you don’t mind.”
“Not at all.” This might be interesting, seeing Emily at work.
“You’re going to have to visualize the art boards to go with my talk.” She described the boards with the new spin she’d come up with before she launched into the presentation complete with the appropriate gestures toward the imaginary art board.
“So, what did you think?” she asked after her close.
“I’m sold.” The idea was clever, and her makeshift presentation had been flawless, from what he could tell. Then again, he might have simply been enjoying her enthusiasm.
“Thanks. You don’t think it’s too out there?”
“No, and I’ll bet it’s even better with the visuals.”
She punched him playfully in the arm.
“Seriously, I’d like to see your artwork.”
She reached over the seat back for her laptop.
“But not right now. I’m driving.”
She laughed. “Don’t worry. I won’t distract you.”
A little late for that. He’d been distracted since she arrived in Paradox.
She flipped the computer open and booted it. “I’m going to tweak my files to reflect the changes I sketched out. Hope you don’t mind. I probably won’t be much company for the rest of the trip.”
“It’s work. I understand.” He stretched his leg, repositioned himself in his seat and ignored that simply having her seated beside him was company enough.
CHAPTER 7
Emily pulled open the plate glass door and a familiar rush of adrenaline shot through her. The elevator couldn’t get her up to the fourth floor fast enough.
She walked through the empty reception area with its six-foot tall windows and accents of bright oranges and reds and poked her head in Donna’s office. “Wait until you see what I came up with on the drive down. Bob is going to love it.”
“He already does.”
“I know he liked the prelims.” She placed her laptop on her boss’s desk and turned it on.
“He liked the presentation.”
What was she talking about? He hadn’t seen the presentation. That’s why she was here.
Donna swung toward her in her chair and crossed her legs. “Change of plans. With the unseasonably warm weather forecasted for today, Bob wanted to get in a round of golf this afternoon. He rescheduled for this morning.”
“What? Why didn’t you call me?” Emily grasped the edge of the desk. “Remember, on the phone, I suggested you could have someone else make the presentation.”
“I didn’t want to disappoint you. You’ve been gone a week. I knew you must be dying to get out of Podunk, and I didn’t want to take away your reason.”
So her whole confrontation with Autumn had been unnecessary. Emily slumped in the chair beside Donna’s desk. “So you met with Bob.”
“I did. And Amy.”
Amy. The recent Rhode Island School of Design grad who’d set herself up as Emily’s biggest rival. Her fingers curved inward toward her palms. Amy was the last person she’d had in mind for making her presentation.
“I had her do the presentation from your notes.”
Her nails dug into her palms.
“Nice job, by the way.”
“Thanks. Bob had pretty much approved it all over the phone.”
Donna leaned back in her chair. “About that. Bob is put off by having to work with you long-distance by phone.”
“We’ve always worked over the phone.” How was talking to him on the phone from Paradox any different than talking to him on the phone from the office?
Her boss shrugged. “All I can tell you is what he said. He and Amy hit it off, so I’ve put her on the campaign.”
Emily swallowed the bile that rose in her throat. “I’ve worked with Bob for the past three years.”
“You know clients can be fickle, and they’re always right.” Donna flashed a smile that Emily knew from experience was totally false. “Hey, don’t look so worried. I have something better for you.”
“I was a little worried. About the workflow. You didn’t have me conference in on the production meeting yesterday.” Emily and Donna and the agency’s two executive partners always went over the new jobs on Friday afternoon so Emily could schedule the workflow for the next week.
“You had to get ready to come down today. I didn’t want to add that.”
“So you had Amy sit in.”
“Never. She was too busy putting the final touches on the art boards you sent.”
Emily stretched and flexed her fingers. All of the final touches had been added to the art boards before she sent them. “I see.”
“You can’t be mad. You said yourself that you had tweaked your files on the drive down.”
