Homecoming Reunion

by Carolyne Aarsen

  Chapter Twelve

  “Hello, Dad,” Larissa said, trying to get her head around the fact that her father was here, not Japan where he’d been the last time they spoke. “I thought you weren’t coming back for a couple of days?”

  “I completed my business early and thought I would surprise you. Clearly I did.” Her father shot a sidelong glance at Garret, then looked away, as if dismissing him. He walked up to Larissa and bent over to kiss her lightly on the cheek. “Hello, dear.”

  “Welcome back,” she replied, happy to see him, yet unable to stifle a sense of guilt that he had caught her with Garret. “How was the trip? How did you get here from the airport? Why didn’t you call?” She thought for sure, after an absence of a month, that he would at least want her to meet him at the airport.

  “Baxter said you were busy, so he came and picked me up from the airport.” Her father straightened and frowned as he looked around the room. “I see what you’ve been busy with.”

  “We did some painting and got some new bedding,” Larissa said, trying not to feel defensive about the simple changes they made. “We needed to do a quick, inexpensive overhaul of the top floor. We’re getting ready for a conference that we just scored. The entire upper floor will be filled.” She stopped herself there aware of how apologetic she sounded. As if what she and Garret had just accomplished was substandard instead of pretty amazing considering their timeline.

  Jack looked around, his eyes taking it all in, his expression revealing nothing, but Larissa knew her father well enough to feel his disapproval. “Looks like a bed-and-breakfast. I wonder what your mother would think.”

  He spoke his words quietly, but they held a sardonic edge that hurt Larissa. Nothing about their achievement. Nothing about filling half of the inn—something that hadn’t happened in the last three years.

  “Thanks to Larissa’s ideas and organization, we got the rooms painted and refurbished very quickly,” Garret put in. “Because of that speedy turnaround, Pete Boonstra chose to have his conference here, which will be a huge boost in the arm for the inn’s bottom line.”

  Larissa was grateful for Garret’s support but at the same time disheartened at the terse note in his voice and at the narrowing of her father’s eyes in response.

  A sudden uptick of tension in the room caught her in its net. Why had her father decided to come back now when things were still so tentative between her and Garret?

  Jack looked around the room again, the frown on his face creating an answering flush of irritation in Larissa. “I guess what’s done is done,” he said. Then he motioned to Garret. “We need to talk. Meet me downstairs in the office.”

  Larissa saw Garret stiffen at the overbearing tone in her father’s voice. For a moment she wanted to remind her father that Garret was not his employee anymore. But years of obeying her father, letting him determine the course of her life, made her keep her comments to herself.

  Garret glanced over at Larissa and flashed her a crooked smile as if to show her he didn’t mind. Then he followed Jack out of the room.

  As the door closed behind them, Larissa felt suddenly deflated and spent. Why did the sight of her father make her feel as if she’d been sneaking around behind his back?

  She wasn’t a child anymore. But as her father’s eyes shot from her to Garret, she felt as if time had wheeled backward and again she was a young girl of eighteen and Garret the boyfriend her father didn’t approve of.

  She closed her eyes, trying to center herself. Please, Lord, she prayed, help me to try to please You more than my father. Help me to take care of Garret and myself first.

  She waited a moment, as if to get her bearings.

  Then she drew in a long, slow breath and strode out of the room and down the stairs. In spite of the tension of her father’s unexpected return, she had a conference to get ready for.

  * * *

  Garret closed the door of the office, wishing he didn’t feel so much like the teenager he used to be, sneaking around with the boss’s daughter.

  As Jack took his place behind the desk and Garret sat down across from him, Garret reminded himself that he had as much right to sit behind that desk as Larissa’s father had. He wasn’t Jack’s employee. He was his partner.

  He couldn’t help remembering, however, the last time he and Jack were together as employer and employee when Jack had all the power.

  Jack leaned back in the chair, unbuttoning his suit jacket, looking across the desk at Garret. “So. This is an interesting turn of events,” Jack was saying, his deep voice not even betraying the slightest hint of awkwardness.

  Garret just nodded, deciding to let Jack determine the direction of this conversation. There were too many things he wanted to say to Jack but none of them would fall under the category of “business.”

  “I have to say I was stunned when I found out that Baxter sold his shares in this inn to you,” Jack continued. “You were the last person I ever thought I would be partners with.”

  “I’m sure that was a surprise,” Garret said, crossing his arms over his chest. Bad body language, but it kept him from fidgeting.

  Jack said nothing to that, as if waiting for Garret to explain how this happened. Garret was tempted to make some smart comment about turning a thousand dollars into a couple of hundred thousand, but he knew that would lead to a conversation about what Jack had told Larissa and he wasn’t ready for that.

  Jack eased out a sigh and leaned forward. “I also know you originally wanted to buy Baxter’s share of the mill. I’m surprised you settled for this inn.”

  “Baxter changed his mind about selling,” Garret replied. “He offered me this and I thought it would be a good opportunity.”

  “Six years ago it might have been,” Jack said. “But a lot has changed since my wife’s death...” He let the sentence trail off. The sorrow in his eyes created an answering thrum of sympathy in Garret. All history with Jack aside, Garret knew that he loved his wife.

  “I was sorry for your loss,” he said.

  “Larissa told me you sent flowers.” Jack tapped his fingers on the desktop. “She really appreciated that.”

  Garret again chose not to reply to the comment.

  More finger tapping, then, “So what made you decide to come back? What made you decide to purchase this inn?”

  Garret held Jack’s intent gaze, taking his time to formulate his response. “I came back to keep a promise to my grandmother. Plus I wanted to settle in the community. Originally I thought I was buying Baxter’s shares in the mill, but when this opportunity came up I took it.”

  “What part does my daughter play in this?”

  He wanted to say that it was none of Jack’s business. But because Larissa was Jack’s daughter, that wasn’t true. However, Garret wasn’t one-hundred-percent sure where things were going with him and Larissa. He knew he loved being with her. He knew that when he was with her his restlessness eased away. He also knew that in the past few weeks, as he spent time with her, he had been doing something he hadn’t done since he left Hartley Creek.

  He had started thinking about the future of his life instead of his bank account.

  “I care a lot about your daughter,” he said finally. “She’s important to me and I believe she feels the same way.” He stopped there, unwilling to expose too much of this fragile relationship too soon.

  And he was also afraid that if he said too much, he wouldn’t be able to contain his simmering anger.

  “You don’t like me, do you?” Jack threw the question down like a challenge, obviously picking up on what Garret had tried so hard to suppress.

  Garret waited a beat, unsure of how to respond to this direct question. “Is that important to you?” he asked instead.

  Jack curled his one hand into a fist, then uncurled it again. “If you and my daughter are getting involved again, then I guess it factors in.”

  Involved again. Those seemingly innocuous words quickly dredged up all the resentment that h
ad built since Larissa told Garret about the money Jack had supposedly given him. Garret quashed the feeling, struggling to relegate it to the past where it belonged.

  But he knew that as long as his and Larissa’s relationship was going the way it was, he would have to have that conversation with Jack sometime.

  Then his cell phone buzzed and he pulled it out of his pocket, glancing at the display. Benny Alpern.

  “I’m sorry, I should take this call.” He didn’t really have to, but he was thankful for the diversion. “Unless there’s something else you need to discuss?”

  Jack shook his head and sat back in the chair. “Take the call. We’ll need to go over a few things later on, though.”

  Garret nodded, as he got to his feet. He waited until he was outside the office to answer the muted call.

  “Benny, what can I do for you?” he said as he closed the office door behind him.

  “The check you wrote me bounced.”

  Garret frowned at the blunt pronouncement. “What? How could that happen?” Though they were looking at the end of the operating loan, there was still a few thousand left in it.

  “I brought it to the bank. I get it back. Insufficient funds. That’s how it happened,” Benny snapped.

  “Okay. I’ll look into this right away,” Garret said. “Sorry about that. You’ll get your money.”

  “I better. I got bills to pay too, you know.”

  “Of course you do.”

  Garret managed to placate Benny, then hung up just as Larissa came down the stairs. As soon as she saw him, she hurried over, glancing at the office doors behind him.

  “So, what did my dad want?” Concern edged her voice and pulled her brows together in a frown.

  “Just to touch base.”

  Larissa’s frown deepened, as if Garret’s answer didn’t satisfy her. “You look upset. What did he say to make you angry?”

  Garret shook his head and gave her shoulder a quick squeeze of assurance. “I’m upset because Benny Alpern just told me his check bounced.”

  “What? We had enough money to cover that.” Larissa bit her lip, then shot Garret a horrified look. “If Benny’s check bounced, that means we won’t have enough to cover the credit card bill.”

  “I’ll look into it,” Garret said, not wanting to bring up what he’d been pushing for lately. Online access to the bank accounts for himself and Larissa. Right behind that came an ugly thought. Was Orest involved in the reason the inn couldn’t seem to turn a profit? Was he skimming?

  Larissa looked back at the office door. “So are you and my dad okay?”

  “We’re okay,” he said with forced cheer. But behind his smile, thoughts and concerns festered.

  Now that her dad was back, how would that affect their relationship?

  * * *

  “Don’t drop that plate now.”

  Shannon’s quiet voice broke into Garret’s wandering thoughts.

  “Sorry, I was just thinking,” he said, giving his cousin a quick smile.

  “Surprised you can above this noise,” Shannon said, setting another dripping plate on the drainboard between them.

  Adam and Natasha were playing an overly loud game of Go Fish in the dining room to the left of the kitchen and from the living room around the corner, boisterous conversation punctuated with the occasional laugh from Hailey floated back to them.

  Shannon and Hailey’s sister Naomi had returned to Hartley Creek yesterday and the family was circling the wagons around her, determined to make her transition back into family life and town life as easy as possible. Hence the dinner at Nana Beck’s.

  Larissa had asked if Garret wanted to come with her for a walk up Hartley Pass, but he had to beg off, because of Naomi. Larissa understood and for a moment he’d been tempted to ask her to come here.

  But at the last moment, he stalled out. Taking her to a Beck family get-together just seemed to be pushing things too quickly.

  Garret gave the plate he still held on to a quick wipe with his dishcloth just in case he’d missed something, wishing he’d given in to the impulse now.

  “The inn still going strong?” Shannon asked.

  “Stumbling along,” he said, pulling his attention back to his cousin. “But we have Pete Boonstra’s conference this week and that will help. The dining room is starting to turn a real profit so, yeah, we’re moving toward strong. I hope.” He tried not to think about Benny Alpern’s bounced check. They would deal with that the next time they met with Orest.

  “You sound doubtful.”

  Garret wiped a mug, wishing he knew exactly what to say and how to say it. He’d been on his own so long, he had forgotten how to share what he was thinking.

  Thankfully Shannon just kept working, letting the rhythm of something as simple as doing the dinner dishes ease the awkwardness of the moment.

  “I’m starting to think about my future,” Garret finally said as he wiped the last of the glasses.

  “I thought that was the reason you came back here. To settle down and build your future here.” Shannon lifted her shoulder and wiped away a few errant bubbles that had landed on her cheek as she drained the water from the sink.

  “It was. Still is. But I came with different ideas and plans.” Garret set the last glass into the cupboard above the counter, tossed the tea towel over his shoulder and leaned back against the counter. “I wanted to show Hartley Creek what I was made of. To come back a man of substance.”

  Shannon brushed her wavy hair back from her face and leaned against the counter as well, unconsciously mimicking Garret’s stance.

  “You’re part owner of an inn. I think that gives you some substance.”

  Garret laughed. “It does I guess. Though I wouldn’t enjoy it near as much if it weren’t for Larissa.”

  “You sound doubtful.”

  Garret sighed, wishing he knew exactly how to articulate the reshaping of his emotions, plans and priorities.

  “I’ve always been the kind of guy who makes a plan and sticks with it,” he said, shoving his hands into the pockets of his pants. “I’ve never had second thoughts. But lately...” He let his voice trail off. “Lately all I can think about is creating the kind of life I can be proud of. A life that will allow me to take care of...” He hesitated, his feelings for Larissa, though changing and growing, still almost too sacred and special to articulate.

  “To take care of Larissa in the manner to which she is accustomed?” Shannon finished for him.

  Garret chuckled at the old-fashioned phrasing. “Yeah. I guess that’s it. You know what her parents’ house looks like. It’s a mansion.”

  “So. Do you think that matters to her?”

  Garret thought of the differences of opinion they had on the renovations at the inn. How she wanted to do things right. The money she was willing to spend.

  Yet she had settled for something simple. Easy. Inexpensive. And seemed happy with it.

  “I’m hoping it won’t.”

  “I don’t think she’s the kind of person who cares how much money she has in her bank account as long as she is with someone who loves her,” Shannon said, a faint tone of censure in her voice.

  “That sounds all noble and good,” Garret said, a faintly harsh note entering his voice. “But you and I both lived with the results of being broke and not having enough. It’s humiliating and it’s not fun. I wouldn’t wish that on my future wife and children.”

  “I still believe that if you’re with a person who loves you then money isn’t as important as you seem to think it is.”

  Garret thought again of the inn’s balance sheet and how long it would be, even with Pete’s and Rene’s business, before the inn showed the kind of profit he knew the mill would.

  “I can tell you’re still not sure.”

  “I’m trying to reconcile what I want for her and what I’m able to give her. If I stay owner of the inn, I don’t know if I can support her.”

  “The inn is supporting her now,” Shannon
said.

  “I suppose,” he conceded, thinking of the salary Larissa was pulling from the inn. It was a reasonable sum, but it wasn’t a huge amount.

  “Remember the story of August that Nana loves to tell us?”

  Garret nodded, smiling as he thought of the necklace and Bible his grandmother had given him when he came here. The necklace he wanted to give to Larissa when the time was right.

  “August made choices too. At first, he made the wrong ones. He chose to chase the illusion of wealth. But he realized what a mistake he made and he came back to Kamiskhak. Which is a good thing because otherwise you and I wouldn’t be here to have this conversation,” Shannon said with a laugh. “But he knew he made the right choice. In the end, even though it would have made a difference for them, they didn’t do anything with those gold nuggets either, did they?”

  Garret laughed at that. “No. I guess they didn’t.”

  Shannon lifted the nugget on her necklace, looking down at it. “And neither did we.” She smiled, then tucked the nugget back into her shirt, looking back at Garret. “When Ben asked me to marry him, the last thing, the very last thing on my mind, was how he would support me or how we would live.”

  “Considering he’s a doctor and you’re a nurse, that was a no-brainer,” Garret joked.

  Shannon smacked him lightly on the shoulder. “It wasn’t even a blip on the radar, mister. Even now, as we’re trying to find a place to live, what matters more to me is the home we’re going to make, rather than the house we might be living in.” Shannon stepped closer to him and rested her hand on his shoulder. “You have to let go of your ideas of what success is. You have to recognize that making a success of a relationship is far, far more important than making a success of your life. Wasn’t it Emerson who said that laughing often and winning the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children and leaving the world a better place because you lived was his definition of success?” She clapped her hands.

  “I guess as a Christian I would add that to know you loved God and loved the people around you more than you loved yourself would define you as a success. At least in my eyes and I know, for sure, in Nana’s eyes as well.” Shannon patted his shoulder then stepped back. “I see how Larissa looks at you. It’s the same one that I see when Hailey looks at Dan, when Emma looks at Carter. Give Larissa credit for caring for you—enough that to her it doesn’t matter how much money you have as long as you love her.”