by Robin Kaye
The KidSports contract would be for five years, which meant he’d be dealing not only with KidSports, but with Bianca for the duration. And if it went well, it could be renewed. They’d like to use the kids from the camp for part of the catalogue, but that was only if the parents or guardians agreed.
His biggest concern was how Toni would handle it, and how he’d handle working with Bianca. Not that he’d have a problem, but if Bianca did, it could make the next five years of his life a living hell. Shit. He sat on the bed, thumbing through the book, looking for answers, and just coming up with more questions. He tossed the book aside and picked up the memo, making notes in the margin. There was liability associated with using child models if the camp kids weren’t the models and paying the camp kids if they were. He wracked his brain trying to come up with a way to make it all work.
He saw the time and cursed again. He was late for the damn meeting. He tossed the book and the memo into his duffel bag, kicked it under the bed, grabbed his gear, and ran for the lodge.
***
Toni felt much better after having spoken to James. Everything he said was true. Her relationship with Hunter was a nonissue. She had done a great job—in spite of her fear. The shoot had gone smoothly. Toni had a detailed plan for the rest of the shoots and knew she could handle whatever Bianca threw her way.
She grabbed her schedule and walked to Bianca’s cabin, thinking she’d take a few minutes before the meeting to bring Bianca up to speed on the few changes she’d made to the day’s shoot.
Toni turned the corner and recognized Hunter’s back through the screened door. All those warm, mushy feelings enveloped her, and she realized that maybe Hunter was right. If she gave it a little time, she might just get used to this whole love thing.
The warm, mushy feelings turned into cold, wet concrete in her stomach the moment Bianca threw herself at Hunter. Toni watched in disbelief as Bianca wrapped her tentacles around Hunter’s neck. He did nothing to avoid it. Toni expected Bianca to make a play for Hunter. What shocked her was the way he caught Bianca and kissed her for Toni and all the world to see.
Toni had heard people say that their lovers had cut their hearts out; she thought they were speaking metaphorically. When Hunter kissed Bianca, Toni felt physical pain. It was as if someone had stabbed her. She stumbled around the side of the cabin, leaned against the wall to keep from falling, and waited for the pain to abate—it didn’t. Before he left she’d heard Hunter ask Bianca not to say anything until after they’d met again.
She wasn’t sure how long she stood there trying to come to grips with what she saw and heard. No matter how many times she went over it in her head, nothing made sense. Why would Hunter tell her he loved her if he wanted Bianca? Why had he bothered with her at all?
There had to be a reasonable explanation for what had happened. Maybe Bianca kissed Hunter, and he didn’t know how to get out of it. Maybe Toni had misinterpreted the whole thing—she didn’t think so, but it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility. Heck, Bianca wanted Hunter. After last night that was obvious, but Hunter claimed it was one-sided. At the very least, he deserved the chance to explain. He’d asked her to give him the benefit of the doubt, and she would. She took a deep breath, trying to calm down and not overreact. It still didn’t make sense, but maybe if she just trusted in him, he’d tell her what was going on.
Numbly, Toni crossed what she liked to think of as the courtyard and went into the lodge. The screen door slammed shut behind her on its spring. She carried her clipboard to the meeting room and sat in the same chair she’d always used before she pulled out the day’s schedule, taking out a copy for James.
“There you are.”
Toni looked up and saw Bianca walking toward her. She stood, and that familiar feeling of fading away filled her. She looked down at her shorts, wool socks, and hiking boots, reached for the D-ring on her collar, and remembered that she hadn’t worn it. Bianca, in her khaki shorts and see-through top, seemed to glow.
“I’ve been looking all over for you.” She set her purse down and sat in James’s chair. “Since I’m back now and ready to take over, you need to get back to the office. I’m sure you’ll be happy to get back to the city. I know how hard this shoot has been for you, but James said you’ve done an incredible job.”
Toni tried to erase the vision that repeated on the mental screen in her mind of Bianca kissing Hunter. She took a deep breath. She had to be professional. “Thanks, but it really was a team effort.”
Bianca waved her response away. “I appreciate you pinch-hitting for me, Toni. I have scheduled meetings for you next week and have a new project I need you to work on.” She handed Toni a file. “You can get a flight out of Hailey to Salt Lake with connections to Kennedy. Just put it on the corporate account. Your work here is done.”
“But I still have a few shoots to do. I’ve planned them all—” She pulled out her folder with the information about the remaining shoots. She’d been looking forward to them.
Bianca smiled. “Good. Then I’ll just need your notes.”
“My notes?”
Bianca nudged her and took the file, paging through it. “Your notes have made you invaluable. I don’t know what I’d do without them. You’ve always got a plan.”
Toni nodded. “Yeah, that’s me, the one with the plan.” She just wished she knew what to do now. She couldn’t believe it herself, but she wasn’t ready to leave. She nodded as she mentally cursed that stupid poster she’d had hanging on her bedroom door growing up, the one with the seagull that said: “If you love something, set it free; if it comes back it’s yours, if it doesn’t, it never was.” Her mother had bought it for her after husband number three pulled a disappearing act. It seemed she and her mother had one thing in common; no one was ever theirs—not the job, and maybe not Hunter. She put the rest of her things together and got up. “Okay. I need to say good-bye to a few people. If I don’t get out today, I’ll catch the first flight in the morning.”
Bianca pulled her long blond hair into a ponytail and threw it over her shoulder. “That’s fine. If I don’t see you before you leave, have a nice trip. And Toni, you really did a great job out here. I’m impressed.”
“Thank you.” Toni looked at Bianca who practically shimmered, casting Toni and everything around her in a big shadow. Toni hadn’t been out of that shadow long, but she missed the light that Bianca seemed to steal from anyone in her presence. It wasn’t as if Toni thought Bianca stole it on purpose—men maybe, but not the light. Some people just naturally attract it. Bianca was one of those people, and Toni wasn’t.
***
Hunter slipped into the back of the meeting room and leaned against the wall next to Trapper and Fisher. “Where’s Toni?”
Fisher shrugged. “She didn’t look so good when we saw her walking up to the lodge while we were checking equipment. We just got here too. Where have you been?”
“I got held up. Maybe I should go check on her.”
Bianca chose that moment to look his way. “Oh fabulous, Hunter. Why don’t you come up and take everyone through your plans for the day.”
Hunter stuffed his hands in his pockets and rocked back on his heels. “Toni has the plans. She’s the one keeping everyone and everything on schedule.”
“Yes, but she’s not here. James, I’m sure you can fill us in.”
James went to the front of the room and looked over the notes lying on the table and then summarized the day’s schedule for the group.
The tortured look on James’s face only added to the bad feeling Hunter had. As soon as an opportunity presented itself, he slipped out of the meeting.
“Hunter, we’re about to leave. Where are you going?”
Son of a bitch. Bianca had followed. “I forgot something in my cabin. I’ll meet you at the river. James and everyone know how to get there. Ju
st give me a few minutes.”
Bianca walked toward him and grasped his wrist. “Hunter, Toni is packing. She has a lot of work to catch up on in the city. She’s fine. You know she’s not a fan of the river, and since I’m here, there’s really no reason she should spend the day on the edge of a panic attack, is there?”
He stepped out of her grasp. “Packing? Toni wouldn’t just leave without saying anything. I’ll be there in a minute.” He left, feeling Bianca’s eyes on him the whole way out the door.
Something was very wrong, and he knew it. Toni had come a long way in conquering her fear, and she was a trooper. She wouldn’t let them go down the river without her. This was her shoot, and she’d never let Bianca take over without a fight. He hightailed it to the cabin. Relief crashed over him when he opened the door and found Toni packing. He rushed up to her and pulled her into a hug. “What happened?”
Toni pulled away and continued to empty the contents of her underwear drawer into the suitcase open on the bed. “Bianca has work for me back at the office. I have to leave sooner than expected. What happened to you?”
What could he say? Bianca kissed me, she offered me the deal of a lifetime, and I’m scared to death of losing you? All in the two minutes he had before Bianca herself came calling? He didn’t think so.
Toni stared into Hunter’s beautiful green eyes and braced herself for the truth—the whole noncandy-coated, ugly truth he’d promised.
“Nothing.”
“Nothing?” She might not be sure what had happened between him and Bianca, but she knew something had. “Nothing happened?”
“No. I just went to the meeting and was concerned when you weren’t there. Fisher and Trapper thought you weren’t feeling well, so I wanted to check on you.”
“Nothing happened?” He didn’t try to candy coat it. He just lied. Something happened—something he wouldn’t talk to her about.
“Listen babe, you don’t have to leave now, do you? Just stay here, and we’ll talk when I come back. We’ll decide what to do then, okay? I’ll be back by two o’clock or so.”
“I know the schedule. I wrote it.” The terrible pain she’d been holding off slammed into her and then was gone. It was replaced by a somehow familiar numbness. Hunter held her tight in his arms, and still she felt nothing. Maybe she had learned the cure for magnetic attraction after all.
“I’ll see you when I get back. Don’t worry. We’ll work everything out. I love you.”
Toni nodded and collapsed on the bed when she heard the screen slam shut behind him. He loved her. Sure he did. How many times would she give him the benefit of the doubt? Would she wait years, like her mother had, making excuses for her second husband’s incessant cheating? No. But Toni would hear Hunter out—if for nothing else than for her own piece of mind. She’d promised. And unlike some, she didn’t renege on her promises.
When she could take a normal breath, Toni continued to pack and absentmindedly tossed the book her mother had sent her into her backpack.
She’d told Bianca she might not leave until the morning, so she could stay and hear Hunter out. Then maybe it was time to go home, take a good look at her life, and figure out how to make it less anemic.
Toni kicked off her boots and slipped on her Vans. There was little chance of leaving her boots in Hunter’s closet, so she’d do the next best thing. She grabbed his duffel bag from under the bed to deposit her boots, unzipped it, and found the book her mother had given her with a bunch of papers stuck in it like an oversized bookmark.
“Wait a minute.” She glanced at her backpack. This wasn’t her book. Removing the sheaf of papers, she laid them on the nightstand and thumbed through the book. Handwritten notes were scrawled in the margins throughout—some with her name underlined twice. Hunter’s notes.
Toni felt as if she hovered above herself, reading his comments and realizing her entire relationship with the only person who ever claimed to love her was nothing but a joke. Hunter had read the book and played her like Jimi Hendrix played his Fender Strat.
Why Hunter had done it was a mystery, but she’d known enough men to know sometimes there was no rhyme or reason for the hurtful things they did. To see how far they could go or what they could get away with was usually sufficient incentive. In Hunter’s case, he’d gotten away with her heart.
Toni looked around their joke of a love nest as the walls closed in on her. She tried her cell, remembered its uselessness, and tossed it into her backpack before grabbing the landline to call for reservations.
Toni listened to the Muzak playing and the recording thanking her for her patience. The only thing holding Toni together was the need to be far away from Hunter before he returned. No explanations necessary—she’d read the writing in the margins.
She didn’t know how he’d gotten a copy of the book. Sure, there were bookstores in Sun Valley and Ketchum, but she didn’t remember him leaving the inn without her. It had to have been Karma—she must have brought it to him, which meant his brothers probably knew too. God, she was the joke of the entire family. Hunter had played her from the first day, and everyone was in on it. He’d done it with forethought, malice, and help.
“May I help you?” The Muzak had stopped, and a real human voice drew Toni back to earth.
Toni cleared her dry throat. “Yes. I need a ticket from Friedman Memorial Airport in Hailey, Idaho, to JFK. What’s your next available flight?”
When she had come back from the meeting, she’d dropped her clipboard on the table by the door. Too bad the old-fashioned phone cord wouldn’t reach that far. She grabbed the first piece of paper she saw, something from KidSports, and scribbled her itinerary on the back along with the number for Sun Valley Limo.
She disconnected the call and dialed the limo service. “Hello, this is Toni Russo, and I need a limo from The Sawtooth Inn to the Hailey airport as soon as possible. When can you get here?” Checking her watch, she nearly groaned. “Noon would be fine, but earlier would be better. If something opens up, I’m in cabin seven.” She gave them all the necessary information and paid with her corporate credit card. At least she had a plan. Apparently, that was all she was good for.
Toni finished packing and tried to decide what to do about Hunter. She’d never broken up with someone before and wasn’t sure how. She would rather just leave, never to be heard from again, since the thought of having to see Hunter was too painful to imagine. Maybe she’d leave the book opened to that interesting section he’d highlighted about insecurities and baggage. That would suit her just fine.
Dragging her luggage behind her, Toni gathered Hunter’s papers and his copy of the book. The words Deal Memo caught her eye. She did a double take and wondered how documents from her office got here.
The memo was written on the template Toni had designed. It was copied to Hunter Kincaid, River Runners Camp; Bianca Ferrari, Action Models; and Kevin Shultz, KidSports. “So that was the hush-hush deal Bianca had been busy negotiating.” A deal with Hunter, a man Bianca wanted, and working together would put them in very close proximity. Knowing Bianca, that was exactly what she had planned. Now the kiss was beginning to make more sense.
Toni scanned the memo and nodded. It was everything necessary to obtain Hunter’s goal, maybe more than he needed. Of course it contained more strings than the inside of a regulation baseball. Toni knew how much Hunter wanted that camp, and Bianca had just handed it to him on a silver platter. How could he refuse Bianca and not the deal? Why would he?
Toni waited for another slash of pain, but it didn’t come. She figured by this time there was nothing left of her heart to break. Her eyes burned, and she blinked a few times. Feeling like a ghost looking down at herself going through the motions, she wondered when the numbness would wear off. She set the book and the memo on the table for Hunter to see when he returned. He was a bright guy. He’d figure it out event
ually.
Toni removed her copy of the book from her bag. Lord knew she didn’t need it now. The last thing in the world she ever wanted to do was put herself in the position to feel this way again.
Glancing around the cabin once more, Toni made sure she’d remembered everything and wished she’d never stepped foot in Idaho. She tossed her key card on the table, grabbed the boots she’d planned to leave at Hunter’s, and tossed them and her book where they belonged—in the trash.
Rolling her bags out the door, Toni decided she’d rather wait alone in the middle of the freakin’ forest than in the cabin she’d shared with Hunter.
Chapter 17
Hunter jumped out of the van and headed to the cabin. Without Toni being there to keep the shoot moving, the day had taken much longer than they’d planned. Bianca had been unprepared, even with Toni’s notes. She should have known that and let Toni do her job.
He’d negotiated the waters and the people with a sense of impending doom. He’d lied to Toni. Sure he told himself he hadn’t had the time to tell her the truth, but when it came right down to it, he’d been afraid to. He’d been afraid of the look he knew he’d see in her eyes. Afraid of letting her down. Afraid of losing her.
He’d spent the entire day worried about Toni, Emilio, the camp, and the deal with Bianca. He dropped his gear on the porch, slid the key card in the lock, and stepped into the cabin.
“Toni?”
The second he saw her boots and the book in the trash can, all the air left his lungs. She was gone. The memo and his well-read copy of that same book stared up at him as he crumpled onto a chair beside the table. Toni’d found out and left. He sat staring at the evidence of his stupidity. Sure, he’d just gotten the book as a joke at first, but then he used it to try to win her over. Toni would only see the negative.
The ringing of his phone cut through the fog of shock and self-recrimination. “River Runners.” Hunter didn’t recognize his own voice. It sounded as if it came from far away.