by Rachel Lee
“A little of both, I suppose. It was always just assumed that we’d work in the resort after college, though we were never actually ordered to do so. Shelby was always the most enthusiastic about it. She loves the bookkeeping and true business end of the company. She and Aaron will undoubtedly take over someday, though it will be several years before the generation above us is ready to step down, of course. Steven is off pursuing his dream of fighting forest fires, but maybe he’ll come back someday and resume his place in upper management. Hannah will probably be content to handle the marketing from Dallas and sit in on regular family board meetings while she raises Claire and any other children she and Andrew may have. As for Lori—”
She shrugged at the mention of her young cousin who’d recently eloped to California with a rebellious musician. “Who knows if she’ll ever be back? Maybe if she and Zach split up, which most of the family considers inevitable, she’ll want to come home.”
“And what about you? You don’t want to compete with Shelby and Aaron to take over the whole operation?” He kept his tone teasing, but he was genuinely curious about her ambitions for her future.
“Me?” She laughed and shook her head. “No secret desire for power here. I’m perfectly content to let the parents and the cousins rule the resort.”
“Upper management doesn’t interest you?”
“Stress, headaches, worries about weather, insurance and liabilities, government regulations, taxes?” She made a show of shuddering delicately. “No, thank you. Supervising my staff gives me all the challenge I desire. I hire judiciously to minimize the problems as much as possible, but we still have the occasional drama or staff shortage or other personnel problems.”
Garrett doubted that Maggie dealt with an excessive amount of drama among her staff. From what he’d observed, the workers she’d hired were cheerful and dedicated. They seemed to like working for her—though he couldn’t imagine why they wouldn’t—and he suspected they were fairly compensated for their hours. The Bell family was known for their generosity and contributions to local charities, earning a good living for themselves through their hard work but also willing to spread the profits within their community. He knew Jay had advised several members of his congregation to fill out applications for the rare job opening at the resort.
“So, no secret desires to leave the resort and pursue a childhood dream, like your cousin Steven and his firefighting?” he asked lightly.
She shrugged. “I don’t have an overwhelming urge to pursue another career. I like the flexibility of working at the resort, so that I’m in charge of setting my own schedule to an extent. I arrange my calendar to give me the freedom to spend a few hours a week at the gym or take the occasional weekend off with friends. There’s even more free time during the off-season. This coming winter I’m planning a trip to Jamaica with a couple of friends from college. We haven’t nailed down a date yet, but we’re thinking sometime in February. I love to travel and hope to do more of it in the future now that things have settled down at the resort.”
She certainly seemed to be popular enough with those friends she had mentioned. Though she had silenced the ringer on her cell phone, he’d heard the soft buzz of the vibration feature quite a few times. She glanced at the screen occasionally—presumably making sure none of the calls were emergencies—but didn’t answer, giving her full attention to their conversation. He appreciated that courtesy.
It didn’t sound as if she was in any hurry to settle down with a husband and kids. As young as she was, she had plenty of time for those things. He couldn’t blame her for wanting to enjoy her freedom while she was young and single, something he’d never really done. Despite the mistake he’d made in marrying too young and too impulsively, he couldn’t regret the outcome, wouldn’t trade his girls for any measure of carefree independence.
Something she’d said suddenly struck him. “You said things have settled down at the resort?”
She smiled wryly and reached for her wineglass. “The past couple of years were a little stressful, to say the least. I don’t know how much you’ve heard...?”
He shrugged. “Not a lot. I heard talk about some arrests being made last year, but that was just about the time I was settling here with the girls, so I didn’t get a lot of details.”
She leaned back a bit to allow their server to quietly slip their meals in place on the table. After declining a wine refill, she resumed the conversation. “It all started with Hannah’s ex-husband—or as he’s known in the family, the evil ex. We’d just started to recover from the economic downturn a couple years ago when her ex started threatening lawsuits against the resort for breach of promises he said we’d made when he joined the family and went to work for the resort. I use the term work loosely in his case, since he never put a lot of effort into any of the various positions he decided to sample. He claimed to have a prenup that Hannah swore she’d never signed, said he had a paper trail promising him a partnership in the business, that sort of thing.”
Garrett grimaced. “Extortion?”
“Pretty much,” she agreed. “It got so bad that Dad and Uncle C.J. decided to bring in an investigator to check out the threat. That’s how we met Andrew Walker, who works for his family’s investigation and security firm in Dallas.”
“Andrew who is now married to Hannah,” Garrett said to prove he was following along. “And the identical twin brother to your cousin Shelby’s husband, Aaron.”
She smiled. “Yes. Hannah and Andrew met almost two years ago when Andrew started investigating the evil ex. It wasn’t the most auspicious beginning to their relationship, but they fell in love anyway. They just didn’t admit it, even to themselves, until almost a year later, when Hannah was pregnant with Claire. But that’s another story.”
A story that sounded interesting in itself, but Garrett let it go. “So Andrew was able to debunk the evil ex’s claims?”
Chuckling at his use of the derogatory nickname, Maggie nodded in satisfaction. “Not only that, he found rock-solid proof that Wade had embezzled funds from the resort before he and Hannah split and that he’d forged checks and purchase orders. Not only did Wade fail at bankrupting us, as he was trying to do, he served time for fraud and embezzlement. He got out last month, but last I heard, he’s left the state. I can’t imagine he would attempt to bother any of us again.”
Garrett wound pasta around his fork. “I wouldn’t think so.”
“Then last June some moron tried to set up a stolen-goods fencing operation out of cabin seven....”
He looked up with a lifted eyebrow. “Seriously?”
“Yes. Shelby suspected something was going on and asked Aaron to help her look into it. Aaron was here for nothing more than a vacation and didn’t even work for his family’s investigation agency, but she figured he’d been exposed to the P.I. business enough to qualify,” she explained with a laugh.
Having known Shelby for a few months now, Garrett wasn’t particularly surprised by the somewhat convoluted logic.
“Anyway, they uncovered the operation—during which the scumbag held Shelby at knifepoint for several hours hoping to use her as a hostage so he could escape.” Her faint shudder was entirely genuine this time, and he could tell the memories of her cousin’s ordeal still troubled her.
“Aaron was able to rescue her without anyone getting hurt,” she went on. “But needless to say it was a traumatic experience for Shelby and for the rest of the family—especially when it was followed only days later by Hannah being stalked by one of the evil ex’s dumped girlfriends. The woman was emotionally disturbed, and she blamed Hannah for Wade’s arrest. She slashed Hannah’s tires, sabotaged her porch so that Hannah could have been injured in a fall while six months pregnant and threw a rock through a window where Hannah and Andrew were standing.”
“Wow.”
“During the same period, Steven broke his leg in a mowing accident and announced that he was leaving to train in firefighting, and Lori quit college an
d ran off to marry a guy her parents disapproved of, and then Hannah married Andrew and moved to Dallas with him and the baby. Fortunately the past six months have been busy but uneventful, which is the way the family tends to prefer things.”
“As do you?”
She smiled. “Absolutely. The quieter it is at work, the fewer responsibilities fall on me, which makes it easier to slip away for me time.”
Someone who didn’t know better might think Maggie wasn’t a conscientious, hardworking member of the Bell Resort team. Despite her teasing self-deprecation, Garrett did know better. “I think you mentioned me time earlier.”
“It’s very important,” she assured him gravely, though her eyes danced in the candlelight. “I highly recommend it. Even for a busy single dad.”
He took a sip of his wine and returned the glass to the table. “I’m certainly enjoying this evening. As much as I like spending time with my daughters, it’s nice to eat a meal without having to tell Kix to stop talking for a minute to breathe. Or chew.”
Maggie gave a little laugh. “She does like to talk.”
“Yes, she does.”
“So when’s the last time you went out to see a film that wasn’t animated or featured talking animals?”
He frowned as he tried to remember the last time he’d sat in a theater that wasn’t filled with babbling kids and crying babies. “It’s been a while.”
“That new summer blockbuster spy film premieres next week. Not an intellectual film, but not a kids’ movie, either. Want to check it out with me?”
He felt his left eyebrow rise a fraction. Was she asking him out again?
Maggie giggled at whatever she saw in his expression. “It’s part of my campaign to loosen you up and teach you about me time. Or I guess technically it’s you time. No strings, no expectations, just a couple of single adults having fun together. If you like, of course.”
“I like,” he said, his voice just a little husky to his own ears. He stuffed his mouth full of pasta to keep himself from following up with something stupid. He was way out of practice when it came to flirtation. How long had it been since an attractive young woman had so casually asked him out? Not counting the man-hungry mama at Kix’s birthday party, of course.
No strings, no expectations. Maggie had made it clear she wasn’t looking for a relationship with him—no surprise since she had plans for travel and fun that didn’t include a ready-made family. But he wasn’t looking to add anyone else to his already hectic household, either. A summer fling—even if only a couple of dates—sounded like exactly what he needed right now. And he couldn’t think of anyone he’d rather spend those evenings with than pretty Maggie Bell, until her attention inevitably moved on from this impulsive project of teaching a harried single dad about me time.
Chapter Five
All in all, Maggie was quite satisfied with the outcome of her brazen commandeering of the evening. Behind the wheel of his SUV, Garrett looked more relaxed than she’d seen him—well, pretty much since she’d first met him. He was smiling, even gave a sexy rumble of laughter occasionally. They had lingered over dessert without talking about either of their families, their topics centered instead on books, music, local politics—an adult conversation he seemed to enjoy as much as she did.
She had no doubt that he looked forward to returning to his family retreat at the resort, that he was enjoying the time with his children, his mother and his grandmother, but he’d needed the brief respite from them, too. There had to be a satisfactory compromise between his late ex-wife’s continuous escape from her responsibility to her children—at least, from what Maggie had surmised—and Garrett’s totally selfless dedication to them. It was no hardship for her to volunteer to give Garrett an occasional glimpse of his options. It wasn’t as if he had no one to help with the girls, or had to leave them with paid chaperones. His mother was perfectly capable and obviously willing to spend time with them.
His phone buzzed just as he drove into the resort. It was still early evening and the sun had not yet set, though long shadows were beginning to spread across the grounds.
Garrett braked at the side of the road to answer the call. “I just drove through the gate, Mom. I’ll be— What? When did you see her last?”
Maggie didn’t like the sound of that question. She swiveled in her seat to watch his face. The relaxation was gone now, replaced by stern lines around his eyes and mouth. He didn’t look so much worried as annoyed, she decided in relief.
“I’ll find her,” he promised his mother. “I’ll be there with her shortly.”
“What?” Maggie asked when Garrett shoved his phone back into his pocket.
“Mom let the girls walk down to the shoreline behind the cabin to take pictures of the sunset with Kix’s new camera while she cleaned the kitchen. Kix came back inside a few minutes ago. Payton didn’t.”
She winced. “Did Kix say where Payton went?”
He put the SUV in gear again. “She said Payton decided to take a walk. Kix warned her she should ask first, but Payton wouldn’t listen.”
“What about her cell phone?” Maggie knew Payton had one because she’d sent and received several texts while they’d decorated yesterday, though Payton had complained that she had to be careful not to go over her allotted number of monthly texts. Apparently her father wouldn’t spring for the unlimited texting plan that “all the other kids” had.
“Mom said she left it in the cabin, which is a surprise. I was beginning to think it was permanently attached to her hand.”
Maggie peered out the front window, looking for a glimpse of Payton as Garrett drove slowly toward the marina. Quite a few guests were still milling around the playground, the pool, the marina and the swimming area on this pleasant summer evening, but she didn’t immediately spot Payton among them.
“I’m sure she’ll be fine,” she said. “The resort really is quite safe.”
“Still, she knows better than to run off and worry her grandmother this way. She should have asked permission.”
Knowing how protective Paulette was toward her granddaughters, Maggie suspected Payton had avoided asking because she’d figured she would be turned down. Which didn’t excuse her behavior, of course, but she could see how a girl in her teens would be inclined to chafe against such close supervision. Maggie and her sister and cousins had always treated the entire resort as their personal backyard, as at home in the campgrounds as in their own living rooms. They’d had rules to follow and curfews to meet, but they hadn’t been guarded every waking minute. She knew there were no hard-and-fast guidelines for successful parenting—another reason the very idea struck fear into her heart—but she supposed Garrett and his mom were proceeding as they thought best.
Garrett spotted his daughter first. “There she is.”
Following the direction of his nod, Maggie glanced toward the day-use area near the designated swimming beach. Picnic tables, fixed charcoal grills and public restrooms were located in the small park. Three teenage boys and a girl gathered around one of the picnic tables, the girl sitting on the tabletop, the boys jostling and milling around her. Payton was the girl on the table.
She heard what might have been a low growl rumble in Garrett’s throat.
“You can let me out here,” she said rather too quickly as she motioned toward the main building. “I’ll see if Mom needs help closing the store.”
Keeping one eye on his daughter, who hadn’t yet noticed his arrival, Garrett stopped in front of the building. “I enjoyed spending the day with you, Maggie. I’m sorry it had to end this abruptly.”
She couldn’t help wondering how their evening might have ended differently had it not been for Payton’s rebellion. Would there have been another spontaneous kiss? Or two? A pleasant, if necessarily brief, interlude of acknowledgment of their healthy, mutual attraction?
Maybe it was best that they hadn’t had that opportunity, she acknowledged regretfully. As it was, their outing had ended with a practical r
eminder of the obstacles standing between them when it came to any sort of long-term relationship, even if either of them had been looking for one.
“I understand. It’s all part of parenthood, I suppose.”
He grunted. “Got to admit, it’s not my favorite part.”
Just as she reached for her door handle, Garrett asked, “Do you know those boys?”
“I recognize the Ferguson brothers,” she said, glancing that way again. “I don’t know the other boy.”
“He looks older than the Ferguson kids.”
“Yes, he does.” Maggie figured the guy standing closest to Payton was at least seventeen. “I haven’t seen him before. He must be staying in the campgrounds.”
Garrett nodded grimly. “Maybe I’ll just go introduce myself to him.”
She started again to open the door, then paused. Aware that she was offering assistance that had not been requested, she said carefully, “Um, Garrett? I know you’re going to yell at Payton, and I don’t blame you because she upset her grandmother—but maybe you’ll wait until you’re back at the cabin? Girls her age are so easily humiliated.”
She was relieved to see that he didn’t look any more annoyed by her advice than he’d already been at his daughter’s behavior. He merely nodded. “I’ll try not to emotionally scar her,” he said ironically. “But I want her to know she owes my mom more respect than this.”
“Of course. But treating her like a little girl in front of the boys she’s trying to impress would probably mortify her more than teach her a lesson. Trust me, I was a thirteen-year-old girl and I still cringe at a few memories from that awkward time.”
A possible solution occurred to her. “Why don’t I go get her for you?” she offered impulsively. “I’ll tell her the family’s waiting for her to watch a movie or something. That will let her save face and then you can rip into her in private.”
Again, she was stepping in where she wasn’t sure she was welcome, but he merely shrugged one shoulder. “You’re welcome to tag along, but I want to talk to those boys.”