“Everything’s perfect. You’ve done a spectacular job, which is why the ISA is insisting you get over to the ceremony early for a photo op. We’re waiting for you by the ribbon.”
She looked over at the bunny slope, where the crowd was growing ever larger.
“On my way.” Without bothering to put on skis, she set out toward the ceremony. It wasn’t far, and she was wearing heavy snow boots, so she could put skis on later when it was time to take the lift up to the course.
As she approached, the crowd of spectators parted, and Sandra realized for the first time that a large number of them were locals. Sure enough, the city council members were there, and the entire crowd began to…clap. For her.
Her throat closed.
She’d kept her focus solely on the shop and the event since the day she’d broken Langston’s heart, afraid to face him or anyone else in town, retreating into her shell again like she’d done for so long. She’d assumed everyone would turn against her again.
As she walked through the large crowd, someone patted her on the back. “Good job, Sandra!”
She stopped, looked the man with graying temples in the eye, and said, “Thank you.” Apparently, Langston hadn’t told anyone. Then again, that wasn’t his style. He’d kept secrets for her for so long, he wouldn’t broadcast their personal business now because he was hurt. He wasn’t that kind of guy.
The owner of Shear Elegance, Red River’s most fashionable beauty salon, stepped into her path. “I just wanted to say thank you,” Brianna said. “My shop is so dang busy with tourists, I’m working around the clock. The extra revenue that’s pouring in will finally allow me to remodel the salon.”
Oh, jeez. Sandra had made the thirty-minute drive to Taos once a month to avoid the salons in Red River because everyone knew they were the best place to catch up on gossip. Gossip was something she refused to participate in because she knew how hurtful it could be.
“My husband’s business is booming, too, because of the extra tourists this event has attracted. Thank you.” Brianna held out her hand.
“Um.” Sandra looked at Brianna’s gloved hand, as though she wasn’t sure it was real. “You’re…” Sandra’s voice cracked. “You’re welcome.” Sandra finally managed to get the words out as she shook Brianna’s hand.
Sandra had let a few bitter people overshadow all the good folks in this town. Why hadn’t she seen it sooner? Before so many years were lost? Before the best person she’d ever met got hurt?
She glanced at the ski patrol grouped around Langston. They stood on the fringe of the crowd. With his sunglasses on, she couldn’t make out his expression, but the line of his jaw was hard, and his lips were thinned.
When she stepped into the clearing, Mr. Carlisle waved her over. He stood with a smaller group of people behind the large red ribbon that stretched between two posts. A huge banner listing the event sponsors served as the backdrop. Sandra had worked with the sign company to design it herself because she’d wanted it to be perfect for the cameras that were covering the event. Once the two-day event was over, the trophies would be awarded in front of that banner, and the sponsors needed to be happy with the televised exposure.
Carlisle engulfed her hand with both of his and shook it as though she was someone important.
Pfsst.
When he introduced her to the other reps from the ISA as the rock star who saved this year’s competition, she couldn’t take it anymore. She wanted all the accolades to stop. For years she’d yearned for approval, but her cheeks were starting to burn.
“Let me introduce some of the others who’ve been instrumental in pulling this event together.” Her gaze bounced around the crowd, but for the life of her she blanked. Couldn’t spot the event staff besides Langston. “Um, well…”
Chairperson Clydelle used her cane to push through the group of ski patrollers and eased up beside Langston.
“I owe the city council my gratitude—”
“Nonsense!” shouted Clydelle.
Really? The woman claimed to be hard of hearing.
She tugged at Langston’s sleeve. “Help me walk over there, young man. I’m not steady enough on my feet anymore to walk in this snow.”
Without releasing the tension in his jaw, he held out an arm and escorted Clydelle over.
“There now,” she said. “I won’t have to shout, and I can certainly hear better.”
Right.
Langston tried to withdraw his arm, at which point, the old woman latched on tighter.
He must’ve known that he was bested because he gave up and stayed at her side, with her arm linked through his.
Sandra would’ve laughed if her pulse wasn’t pounding in her ears.
“What were you saying, Mr. Carlisle? I’d like to hear it before we take pictures,” Clydelle all but cooed with innocence.
Which told Sandra she was anything but.
Just what did this sly old woman have up her sleeve?
Carlisle beamed and cleared his throat. “Sandra, Clydelle and I have been talking about your skill set. About how hard you’ve worked for years, even buying a failing business and turning it around.” He hitched his chin at Clydelle. “She’s a huge fan of yours, by the way.”
Okaaay. News to Sandra. Until a few minutes ago in the lodge.
“You’ve done such an exceptional job with this event.” He chuckled and shook his head. “Honestly, we weren’t sure you’d be able to manage it, but it was worth a try rather than canceling the whole event.”
Gee. She felt so special.
“I mean, I can’t stress enough how impossible this project really was,” Carlisle plowed on. “No matter who we hired, the odds of failure were better than good. Yet you pulled it off beautifully. You were obviously born to do this kind of work.”
The rest of the ISA members nodded.
Well, hell. She really did feel a little special now. But where is Carlisle going with this?
He rubbed his hands together. “I know Red River is your home. It’s a beautiful place, and we know it would take a lot to get you to leave.”
She nearly choked.
“But we’d like to offer you a job at our headquarters in Denver, and we’ll make it worth your while if you’ll at least hear us out after the event is over and consider our offer. I promise you, it’s generous.”
Sandra’s lips parted, but the words wouldn’t come.
The ISA was offering her a job. Financial security. A ticket out of Red River.
Everything she’d ever wanted. Except for...
Her gaze latched onto Langston.
His face didn’t register any emotion.
A month ago, she would’ve jumped at an offer to leave Red River.
Now she was hoping Langston would offer her a reason to stay.
She waited a beat. Then another, her heart pounding so hard against her chest that she was sure others could hear it.
Besides a muscle ticking at his jaw, Langston didn’t move.
Her heart split in half.
But she couldn’t show it. Not today. So she forced a smile and turned to Mr. Carlisle to give him her answer. “I’ll—”
Clydelle swooned. “Oh, dear. I’m not feeling well.” She leaned against Langston. Then her eyes rolled back, and she floated toward the ground.
Chapter Ten
“Get a stretcher!” Langston yelled at his ski patrol team as he lowered Clydelle to the ground.
Two of them darted away, heading for the shed next to the lifts, where the basket stretchers were stored.
“Everyone, back away so the medical team has room.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a walkie-talkie. “Base camp, we need Doc Holloway at the bunny slope ASAP, and bring an ambulance around to the lodge.” He tossed the device into the snow and went to work on his patient.
He loosened the scarf around her neck, then put two fingers against her neck.
Thank fuck, her pulse was strong and regular.
“Ms.
Clydelle,” he said gently, kneeling at her side.
Her eyes fluttered open. She blinked like she was trying to bring him into focus. Her wrinkled lips parted. “Sandra. I need Sandra.”
All right, but not what he expected from an old woman who’d just collapsed. He had no idea Clydelle and Sandra had gotten so close. Then again, he obviously didn’t know a lot of things about his ex-lover.
“Help is on the way,” he said. “You need to save your strength. Don’t talk unless you have to.”
She closed her eyes as though she might never open them again. “I have to. I need Sandra.”
Langston found Sandra in the crowd and hooked a finger at her.
She didn’t walk, she ran.
“She’s asking for you.” Langston found Clydelle’s pulse under the layers of winter clothes and gloves and checked it again. Still strong.
“Before I die, I want you two to talk things out.” Her voice was a raspy whisper. “At least forgive each other if you can’t patch things up.”
Right now? She had to be kidding.
He gave her a smile to reassure her. “Clydelle, you’re not going to die on my watch, but your health is more important right now than anything else.” A siren buzzed for a split second, then shut off. That was Langston’s cue that the ambulance was pulling up in front of the lodge.
“Coming through!” Ski patrol arrived with a basket stretcher dragging behind them.
Doc Holloway pushed through the crowd with a first aid backpack and joined Langston and Sandra at Clydelle’s side. “Hey, Ms. Clydelle. Have you been taking your medicine?”
She nodded, batting eyelashes at Doc. “Of course.”
“Good.” He placed a hand on her shoulder. “Let’s get you to the hospital.”
“Not until I talk some sense into these two stubborn kids.” Clydelle’s voice got a little stronger. “And that’s final.”
Langston couldn’t help but pull his brows together. The woman had just collapsed, and her biggest concern was to talk to him and Sandra?
“I won’t be able to rest in peace unless I know I’ve done all I can to convince you both of what you should’ve known all along, so be a good boy, Doctor Holloway, and give me a few minutes with these two.”
Doc looked skeptical, but he also must’ve known there was no use arguing because he glanced at his watch. “You’ve got two minutes.” He stood. “And I’m only backing off a few steps.”
“That’s all I need.” She gave Doc a few more bats of her lashes. Once Doc stepped away, she said low enough so only the three of them could hear, “You belong together. Why else would you have stayed together so many years?”
Sandra let a gasp slip through her lips. “You knew?”
“I know everything that goes on in this town, dear.” Clydelle licked her lips as though her mouth was filled with cotton.
“Ms. Clydelle.” Langston fought for patience. “We need to go to the hospital. We can talk later.”
She shook her head as though she was weak, but her boney fingers fisting his sleeve to pull him closer had him narrowing his eyes. When she did the same to Sandra, he knew he’d been had.
“There’s nothing wrong with you, is there?” he whispered.
“No.” The old woman glanced toward the crowd. “But they don’t know that. How awful would it look for the safety officer to walk away from an old woman who just fainted?”
“Oh, good grief.” Sandra blew out a breath that said she was just as exasperated as him. “You pick now to intervene in my life?”
“Interfere would be my word of choice,” said Langston.
Clydelle gave him a censuring look, then turned her attention to Sandra. “I’ve been intervening in your life for years. You just didn’t know it.”
When several creases appeared across the strip of Sandra’s forehead that was exposed between her glasses and beanie cap, Clydelle went on to say, “Who do you think convinced the banker to give you the loan to buy the shop? You had no collateral other than a store that was already failing. Not exactly a sound investment from a loan officer’s point of view.” She let her head loll to the side, obviously still putting on a show for the bystanders.
“One minute,” said Doc Holloway, his tone growing more urgent.
“You’ll wait your turn, young man,” said Clydelle.
Funny how she could shush a man over six feet tall with just a few words, because Doc crossed his arms and quieted.
“Convincing your landlord to hold off on putting your office space on the market until you came to your senses was a problem, but when I offered to send her on a paid vacation, that did the trick.” She looked thoughtful. “But when Mr. Carlisle approached me for a reference because he was putting your name forward for a job at the ISA, that was a hard one.” She pulled Langston closer. “I gave her a glowing recommendation because I thought for sure you’d ask her to stay.”
Langston brushed a gloved hand over his jaw. “I never wanted her to go, that’s the problem. She was going to go anyway.”
“Don’t tell me, hon.” She pointed to Sandra. “Tell her.”
He let his stare settle on Sandra. Really settle on her. She was beautiful. Always had been the most beautiful woman he’d ever known. After the landlord let it slip that Sandra had been planning to leave town without telling him, he’d walked away. Finally, that had been the last straw. He’d waited long enough and vowed to never waste another minute on her. Told himself he could find someone else to settle down with and start a family, like all of his friends had done.
But telling himself that and actually believing it were two very different things. He still loved her. Still wanted her. Still needed her.
He blew out a breath. “Sans, I—”
“Langston, don’t.” She held up a hand, and a tear slipped from under her shades. “Let me talk. You’ve done enough for me. You’ve waited patiently. Kept our relationship quiet and kept my…secrets about my father all to make me happy. You aren’t the one who needs to explain or apologize for anything. I owe you an apology. I owe Red River an explanation because I’ve spent years hiding like the same scared little teenager I was in high school. I misled people. I didn’t give anyone in this town a chance, but I especially didn’t give you the life you deserved.”
Langston waited. Weighed her words.
She rubbed a nervous hand up and down the leg of her snow pants.
“What were you going to tell Mr. Carlisle?” he finally asked. “Because I really need to know, Sans.”
Another crease appeared across her forehead. “Um, what?”
“About the job. Were you going to take it and leave town after all?” His insides cinched tight and he realized he was afraid of the answer. Afraid it wouldn’t be what he wanted to hear, but he’d played the game her way for too long and it was time to lay it all out on the table.
“It sounds like a great opportunity.” The speed of her hand rubbing against her thigh increased.
The invisible rope tightening around Langston’s heart tightened.
“But I wasn’t going to take it.”
He let his eyes slide shut and let out the breath he hadn’t realized he was holding.
She shook her head, as though she couldn’t believe her own words and chuckled. “I’ve been looking for a way out of this town since I was a teenager. When I finally got it, I couldn’t leave. Not if there was the slightest chance that you might forgive me after you had time to cool off.”
Doc Holloway stepped closer. “Time’s up.” He waved over the stretcher.
“Wait,” Sandra said. “Before you go, why all this?” She waved a hand over Ms. Clydelle laying on the ground. “Why all the drama?”
Clydelle lifted a shoulder. “I like drama. At my age, it makes life more interesting. I also couldn’t risk you taking the job when butthead here didn’t speak up.” She gave Langston another disapproving look.
Still, he couldn’t fault her for looking out for him and Sandra. Her heart was
in the right place.
And then it hit him.
Sandra’s heart had been in the right place, too. Everything she’d done, she’d done for his benefit, because she was thinking of him.
Clydelle winked. “And I get an examination from Doc Holloway and an ambulance ride with some handsome paramedics.” She waved Doc over. As they lifted her onto the stretcher, she said, “They don’t call it the wise years for nothing. It’s one of the only perks of living to be a ripe old age.” She scrunched her wrinkly nose. “Well, that and vodka. It goes nicely with lemonade on a hot summer day. And Bailey’s Irish cream for my coffee during the winter.”
Ski patrol strapped her into the basket stretcher.
“What’s a girl to do, now that the fire department has banned me from watching them wash the fire engine in the summer?” She shrugged. “I guess they didn’t appreciate me offering to put a twenty in their utility belts if they’d take off their shirt.”
The ski patroller pushed off and tugged her toward the lodge.
Thank God.
Sandra was still staring at the retreating stretcher with her jaw hanging open when Langston grasped her sleeve and pulled her into his arms.
“You are one stubborn ass woman, you know that?” He wrapped her in his arms, pulling her close. He wasn’t going to ever to let her go again.
“I do know that.” Another tear slipped down her cheek, rosy from the cold morning air.
He wiped it away.
“You have no reason to give me another chance.” She sniffed.
He placed a gloved finger over her lips to shush her. “It’s me that doesn’t deserve a second chance. You thought you were protecting me, but I should’ve stood up for what I knew was right a long time ago and told everyone the truth. I wanted it to be your decision. I thought I was doing the right thing, but I wasn’t.”
He took her face in his hands and kissed her gently. Lovingly.
“Just so you know, you were never my dirty little secret, Langston.” Her voice was a hushed whisper. “You’ve always been my soulmate. The only man I’ve ever loved. Which is the reason I was going to tell Mr. Carlisle that I don’t need time to think about the job. I’m staying in red River. I don’t want my life here to be over.”
It's In His Forever (A Red River Valley Novel Book 5) Page 8