“I see the look in your eyes, Buster. An old man cannot do this job. Yes, Matthew treated me badly, but he has also apologized. An apology that was more sincere than I would ever have expected from Matthew.” Charlie held up his hands. “And before you ask, no the apology was not just to get me to be his foreman. It was genuine and very heartfelt. Me agreeing to the position confirms a truce between us and shows the town that we have put everything behind us.”
“I’m glad he’s apologized, Mr. Li. But doesn’t he need a foreman with experience?”
“His father reminded him of my background and suggested I oversee the job in Matthew’s absence.”
“Your background?”
“I was an architect for many years and have managed plenty of construction projects. I can’t do the fancy computer designs you do these days, but I can draw up plans, read plans, and have a team implement plans. It will be no problem. Now, where are the plans, I would like to review them. I’ve already spoken with the demolition team this morning. They will be finished by lunchtime tomorrow, and the first stage of the project can begin. I will ensure the plans have my sign off by then.”
“Matt’s already signed off on the plans,” Buster said. “I have copies in my truck to show you.”
“Very good. The plans, however, will need my sign off too. Feel free to contact Matt if you would like to know how we will work.”
Buster shook his head slowly. “No need. Matt’s message was very clear that what you say goes. I just…” Buster’s words trailed off. He just what? Just didn’t expect a man in his nineties who probably hadn’t worked for close to thirty years to be in charge of this project? “I guess I’m still surprised you would do something to help Matt. He treated you so badly, and while I know I’m speaking out of turn, he has asked Travis and me whether there’s any way we can stop Asha’s project.”
Charlie laughed. “I would expect no less of any businessman who wants that land for himself. I would hope that helping Matt now will help make him a better man when it comes to his business dealings moving forward.”
“I would like to think so too, Charlie, but I wouldn’t count on it.”
Charlie’s smile slipped. “I’m not counting on anything, but I do believe in helping a man when he’s facing difficult circumstances. Whether Matt would do the same is not the point, the point is that others have been there for me when I needed it, and I will pay that forward. Look at how both Zane and Asha helped me.”
Buster nodded. It was an admirable way of behaving. He still had his concerns about Charlie running this project, however, and realized it must have shown on his face.
Charlie tapped his arm lightly. “Consider this a trial run for Asha’s project. I’ll be the foreman on that development too.” He winked. “This gives me a chance to practice at Matt’s expense. Now, let’s look at those plans.”
❖
Steph groaned as the email she’d spent the last ten minutes one-finger typing disappeared from the screen. It wasn’t the first time it had happened and probably wouldn’t be the last. She was trying to reply to Matt’s questions about Heat Wave, but it was taking so long. This was one of the many reasons she didn’t do computers. It would be much quicker to speak to him.
While the computer felt like an annoyance, she did have to admit that the phone was already coming in handy. She’d worked out how to divert Heat Wave’s phone to her number so that there was no reason for her to be at the studio unless a class was on. Bodhi had always done this. She was surprised at how many phone call inquiries the studio received each day. She generally knew who was calling—after all, it was a small town—and it allowed her to chat with them and encourage them to try out a class.
She closed the lid of the computer, deciding she’d message Matt later. She was sure he was busy with his dad and unlikely to have time to reply. What Steph wanted to do was write up all of her ideas for Heat Wave in the notebook she’d bought especially for the project. She’d lain awake in the early hours of the morning, her usual awake time, thinking through a range of ideas. She planned to go back to Heat Wave after lunch and spend the afternoon in the gardens and around the cottages making plans. The quicker she did this, the faster she’d have an excuse to speak to Buster. She shook herself. She didn’t need an excuse to speak to him. She was going to be his client. It was crazy to think about how much time he now needed to spend in Hope’s Ridge. If she were still trying to avoid him, she would have found it very difficult. With Matt’s apartment project, Asha and Charlie’s development, and now Heat Wave, Buster was going to be a regular fixture in town.
She leaned back on the couch. If it wasn’t for the accident, it was unlikely she would have had an opportunity to get to know him. Not that she really knew him, but they had an undeniable connection. She shook her head and stood. She kept thinking about Buster, and it was scaring her. She wasn’t looking for a relationship, she knew he definitely wasn’t ready for a relationship, yet her mind kept going there.
She was about to make a cup of tea when she stopped. A small smile played on her lips. It was change. For all of her spouting to Asha, that life unfolded as it was meant to, to live in the moment, and to be patient, she had trouble with change. It unsettled her, rattled her even. And this was what was happening now. She was clinging to the idea of Buster because it seemed stable. Whereas Bodhi had suddenly left, she might be going into business with Matt Law; Ryan and Margie had returned to the Ridge; and if Asha accepted Zane’s proposal, which Steph was sure she would, Steph would probably need to find a new roommate. For someone who didn’t cope well with change, it was no wonder her thoughts were all over the place at the moment.
She let out a long breath, relieved she’d had this realization. Buster would make a good friend, nothing more. He had enough problems to deal with, including his little girl’s birthday on Tuesday. Her mind wandered briefly to thinking of his ex and how the visit would go, but she quickly shut it down. No more thoughts of Buster. She needed to focus on Heat Wave and the excitement the new business could bring.
❖
Buster had returned to the office in Drayson’s Landing shaking his head following the meeting with Charlie.
“You okay?” Travis asked, poking his head around the door of Buster’s office.
Buster indicated for him to come in and take a seat. He then went on to explain the strange turn of events with Charlie now working for Matt. “I get what he was saying,” Buster said, “about paying good deeds forward, but I’m not sure Matt falls into that category.”
Travis laughed. “Be careful what you say about one of our best clients.”
Buster sighed. “I know I should be more generous in my thinking about him. It’s a bit hard when I’m double-checking everything he’s asking us to do for him just in case he’s trying to do something underhanded again.”
“There’s nothing to worry about now with the Lake Drive apartments,” Travis said. “Plans are all approved, and the team is in place. The demolition should be complete by the end of the day, and we have the pre-build meeting on Thursday with the construction crew to go through the site plan. Matt usually claims the role of foreman, but he does share the responsibility with Jerry. He’s working on this project so that it will be a similar setup. Having Charlie as an extra pair of eyes won’t hurt. But I do agree, it is a strange decision. I would have thought he would have checked Zane’s availability rather than one of the town’s seniors.”
“Knock, knock.”
Buster and Travis turned to the door, where Jodi stood holding two to-go cups. “Thought you might both like an afternoon pick-me-up.”
Buster smiled. “Thanks, Jodi. You’re the best.”
She stepped into the office and gave Buster his drink and held out the other one for Travis. Buster noticed a look pass between the two of them before Jodi turned to him.
“We know tomorrow’s going to be a hard day, Buster. Is there anything we can do to help?”
Buster dropped hi
s gaze to his coffee cup.
“Really,” Travis added. “Anything at all, you just let us know.”
He raised his gaze to meet their concerned looks. “Thanks. I’m going to see Eve. Being together might help, I’m not sure.”
Jodi’s eyes widened in surprise. “Eve?”
Buster nodded. “I saw her last week for the first time. You were right, Jodi, about her suffering postpartum depression. I should have done something a lot earlier to help her.”
“I didn’t know for sure, Buster. I just said it was a possibility. Give her our love, please. And,” she hesitated for a moment before clearing her throat, “if you’re okay with me visiting her, and she’d like to see me, please tell her I’ll visit. I haven’t suggested it before out of respect for our friendship with you.”
“I appreciate that, Jodi, I do. And I think Eve needs our support. I’ll ask her, but I’m sure she’d love to see you.”
He was right.
Operating on very little sleep but a lot of coffee, Buster arrived at the prison at nine-thirty, allowing plenty of time for processing before seeing Eve at ten. His heart contracted the moment he saw her red-rimmed eyes. He’d had the benefit of the eye drops Jodi had given him the previous week to help mask the emotions he’d been through that morning. Waking to a silent house on the morning of what should have been his daughter’s seventh birthday. His mom had rung him to tell him she loved him. As much as he appreciated the call, he could tell that she was doing her best not to cry. There were certain days that he didn’t have the emotional capacity to take on anyone else’s grief. Today was one of those days, but he would make an effort to be there for Eve.
He reached across the table and quickly squeezed her hand, releasing it before any of the guards noticed or reprimanded him. They sat in silence for a few moments, their eyes and faces saying everything. They had both lost so much.
Buster cleared his throat. “I’m not going to ask you how you are. I can see exactly. It’s a hard day, Eve, and it will be every year. But we’ll get through it.” He forced a smile. “Holly would have been seven today, and I thought of seven memories I want to share with you.”
“Oh, Henry.” Eve buried her face in her hands, her shoulders shaking as tears racked her body.
Buster twisted his hands together. “I wish I could hug you right now. Do something to help.” He meant it.
Eve calmed her crying, wiped her eyes on her sleeve, and looked at him. “Do something to help? You have no idea what you being here has done for me. You’ve helped me more than anyone. I’m not crying because I don’t want to hear the memories, I’m crying because you thought to do that for me and I’m crying because that’s all we have. Memories.”
Buster blinked back tears. “At least we do have memories, Eve. We had a beautiful little girl, and we both adored her.” He cleared his throat. “Memory number one.” He smiled as he launched into his memory of Eve’s pregnancy, and Holly kicking her like she was practicing soccer every time Eve ate an olive. The second memory took them to Holly’s birth, and the rest of the memories Buster had decided to share all depicted their happy times as a family. They were both crying by the time he spoke of her fourth birthday party. It was the last birthday they’d shared with Holly as a married couple. The separation and divorce proceedings had occurred in the eighteen months following that birthday.
“I still can’t believe you rescued that one,” Eve said, smiling through her tears.
Buster chuckled. “Your face when you dropped the cake. I thought you were going to have a heart attack.”
“And you fixed it.”
“We were just lucky we had so much frosting left over, and only the top hit the floor. Other than you and I, no one even realized we sliced the top off and redid it.”
Eve laughed. “Holly loved it, and her present. Remember her bike?”
Remember it? Buster saw it every time he drove into his garage. He didn’t tell Eve this, just nodded.
They continued reminiscing about Holly, sharing both laughter and tears. Buster was glad he’d come. For all of the horrible things that had resulted in his marriage breakdown, to be able to share this part of him with Eve was special. No one else knew how he felt. Sure, if he chatted with any of his friends or family, he’d see their sympathy, but that wasn’t what he needed. He needed to talk about Holly with someone who wanted to hear the stories and remember her as badly as he did.
Buster glanced at the clock high up on the wall, realizing he only had another five minutes before his hour would come to an end. “I think you should pursue the appeal,” he said.
Eve’s eyes widened at the sudden change of topic. “I wasn’t sure you’d want me to get out.”
“Of course I do, Eve. I’m not sure you should even be here. Regardless, you’ve been punished, and the reality is neither of us will ever get over Holly’s death. I hope we’ll both learn to live with it and be able to move on and find happiness again, but it will always be part of us. Being locked away from your mom and family when you need their love and support isn’t exactly helping.”
Eve nodded. “If the appeal is successful, it means I’d be able to go home.”
“You would.”
Eve closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She opened them and looked directly at Buster. “Is there any chance that home could be our home?”
Buster was silent. What did she mean by that? That she wanted to buy the house from him to feel closer to Holly? Or did she want him in the house too? “Together?”
She nodded. “Don’t answer now. I’m just putting it out there. Mom and I were talking, and she reminded me of how much you and I have shared, and how much we’ve both lost. It appears illness on my part played a big role in it. It’s no excuse, but it does help explain to me why I felt the way I did and why I acted how I did.” She held her hand up as he opened his mouth to speak. “Think about it. Mom’s advice was good, I think. To take things very slowly. See if we have any chemistry or connection left.”
Buster wasn’t sure what to say. She was right that they’d shared a past and shared a loss, but he wasn’t sure that that was something that would bring them together now. “I’ll think about it and try to come back and visit next week. It might need to be over the weekend. I’m getting busier during the week.” And trying to finish projects so I can leave the area. He didn’t say that, but it was true, wasn’t it?
Buster’s mind raced as he drove back to Drayson’s Landing. Was Eve suggesting they get back together? Or was it Cora suggesting this? Whoever was suggesting it, it wasn’t a scenario he’d considered. If she hadn’t had postpartum depression, where would they be today? In love, celebrating their seven-year old’s birthday? His gut churned at that thought. Their marriage had cracks in it before Holly’s birth. As much as he hated that postpartum depression had played a role in her death, he wasn’t sure it was what had ended his marriage.
He thought of Steph’s words that everything was predestined. If that were true, would he have lost Eve and Holly anyway? He pushed the thought from his head. The question now was whether he had feelings for Eve. And if not, did he owe her to try to develop some?
❖
Steph gratefully accepted the coffee Asha passed her from the serving window of the food truck. The raised eyebrows didn’t go unnoticed.
“I know, I know, I say I don’t drink coffee and then I do. I’m a terrible example to the yoga community.”
Asha laughed. “I’m not complaining. What you’re saying is the coffee I serve is so good that you can’t go without it.”
Steph smiled. “I wish that was the only reason.”
“Nightmares?”
Steph nodded. “You’d think after this many months, I’d be used to them. I had a week or so without any dreams. I thought things were getting better. But last night was probably the worst one yet.”
“Oh Steph, I’m so sorry.”
Steph blinked back tears. “Don’t be. I’m just tired and emotional.
I’ve never been that great with change, and with everything going on right now, I’m stressed.”
“Did you want to talk about the stress or the dream?”
Steph shook her head. She didn’t want to let on to Asha that it wasn’t just Holly in her dream last night, Buster was in the car with her. She’d watched them both being pulled under the lake’s surface when the car sank. Her heart always raced whenever she remembered the scene of the accident or dreamt about it, but last night she’d woken feeling like it was breaking.
“If you need any help with Heat Wave, you’ll speak up, won’t you? Especially with the technology side of things. That’s something I can help you with.”
“I was going to ask you about that. We never did much online with Heat Wave. With the community being so small, we’ve never really needed to promote the business or advertise.”
“You’re thinking of doing that now?”
Steph nodded. “I wondered if we should be doing something now to get ready for when the retreat’s ready. Maybe a Facebook page and Instagram. I know I’ve hardly spent any time on either of those, but I thought putting up photos of what Heat Wave’s like now and documenting the construction and transformation phase might be a good way to get people’s attention and hold their interest. We have to keep in mind that our target market for the retreat isn’t Hope’s Ridge residents. It’s people from outside our community.”
“You sound like a real business owner,” Asha said. “Planning so far in advance.”
Steph sipped her coffee. “I need to. Hopefully Matt’s dad will recover quickly, and he’ll come back so we can finalize the partnership arrangement.”
“He’s coming back this afternoon for twenty-four hours,” Asha said. “Ryan popped over about an hour ago to check that we’re still on for drinks tonight. He’d just heard from Matt. He left in such a hurry when he got the call about his dad that he didn’t have time to bring everything he needed.”
Steph frowned. “I can’t imagine he’ll have time during his visit to discuss our arrangement. There’s no real hurry. I’m fine with the conditions set out in the temporary contract.”
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