by Maggie Marr
“Let’s go.” Brinn walked toward the office doorway. “We’ve got a whole lot of work to do with a limited amount of time.”
*
Annalise strolled into her office and Tyler followed her. She walked over to the giant oval conference table where Mr. Morgan, Annalise’s father, was already standing and looking at Tyler’s plans.
“Tyler, good to see you.” Mr. Morgan clasped Tyler’s hand in a firm shake. He had a skier’s tan and blue eyes that contained a sparkle but he also had a keen sense of business.
“Sir. Thank you both for the opportunity.”
Annalise flashed her father a look and he nodded.
Tyler’s shoulder muscles tightened.
“Daddy and I both like your vision for the expansion.” Annalise tapped the section of Tyler’s drawing where the luxury condos were located. “There are elements that we feel are exactly what the Grande stands for and should always stand for.”
There was a but coming.
“But we still need to hear from one other firm. The one out of Chicago.”
“Fair enough. Is there anything that you want to discuss regarding the plans? Questions that you have?” Tyler looked at Mr. Morgan. He stood across from his daughter and leaned over the plans.
“Your budget is firm? The estimates you’ve made? They include the additional costs of building in the mountains?”
“And your desire to leave a minimal carbon footprint.” Tyler glanced at Annalise. From their discussions, he knew this was paramount to the Morgan family. “We understand building in Colorado. It’s our specialty. Plus, since I grew up here in Powder Springs, I know the community. I also know the additional costs and challenges that come with building in the Rockies. I think that gives us a distinct advantage over any other firm whose primary business isn’t Rocky Mountain building.”
“You raise a good point.” Mr. Morgan quirked an eyebrow. “We intend to make a decision in the next few days. Before Christmas most definitely.”
“I understand.” Tyler reached out his hand and shook Annalise’s hand and then Mr. Morgan’s. “Regardless of what you decide, thank you again for the opportunity. The idea of being a part of the Grande expansion… I have to say, this place is a part of Rocky Mountain history. A part of my history. This project speaks to me in a very personal way.”
“We understand that and we’d like to stay local.” Mr. Morgan placed both his hands on his hips. “But we have to ultimately do what’s best for the Grande. We’d be remiss if we didn’t hear from the other firms.”
“We’ll see you at our holiday party? Friday night? After the Christmas castle dedication?”
“Wouldn’t miss it.” Tyler exited Annalise’s office. In the hall stood two guys and one woman, each in a suit and carrying a laptop bag. Ah, the Chicago firm. Why hadn’t his own partners come up for the meeting? Damn. Mistake? Maybe. Perhaps he’d played the hometown card too long.
He got into the elevator. The door closed and he scrubbed his hand through his hair. Damn! He’d been so focused on Charlotte and recovering from the hit they took when Charlize left that he’d definitely let bringing in new clients to the firm slide. He was rusty. Of course he should have had his other two partners come up for this meeting. He paced the rectangular space as the elevator descended.
And Charlize with her horrible sixth sense and how she always seemed to call when a big event was happening in his life. He closed his eyes and shook his head. Damn, he needed to call Mom and make certain that Charlize hadn’t upset Charlotte. And what the hell did she mean when she said she didn’t think she could see Charlotte? It had been three weeks since Charlize had called Charlotte and nearly six months since Charlize had seen her daughter, and now she didn’t think she had time to see Charlotte in January?
What the hell? He pressed the back of his head against the elevator wall. There were a couple of good things he had going for him. The elevator doors slid open and he stepped off the elevator. One of those good things was hidden behind the blackout drapes in the lobby. The top of the Christmas castle peeked out over the top of the blackout curtains. Why had they brought those out again?
Was this part of the unveiling? They wanted to cloak the castle until tomorrow afternoon when they had the official ribbon cutting? He didn’t remember that ever being part of the Christmas castle tradition at the Grande, but hey, maybe with a new baker came a new tradition?
Tyler pushed aside the heavy curtain and walked through the opening. Brinn was on her knees with a pastry bag of icing. Hans kneeled beside her while Pieter stood at the ready beside a rolling rack with a tub of icing, a spatula, giant rectangles of gingerbread, straight pins, and a host of other kitchen gadgets.
“I’m going to smooth that out and then reapply once more.” Brinn leaned closer to the castle. “Then I think we adhere the new gingerbread.”
That was a mean-looking fracture in the Christmas castle’s foundation. Tyler’s jaw flinched. He built things, big things, for a living, and with a crack that big, there wasn’t much you could do. Brinn’s attempt at reinforcement looked good. They were making a solid attempt. They might even save the Christmas castle… for a while… but ultimately the crack would grow and the castle would collapse. Please let the collapse come after Christmas.
Brinn looked over her shoulder toward Pieter and her eyes traveled up to meet Tyler’s. Her lips were pressed together and worry shadowed her features.
“Hey.” She reached for a clean spatula, which Pieter handed to her. She smoothed the icing she’d used to fill the crack, then stood from her squatted position. “We need to wait a while. I really want to try to let that harden a little longer.”
“I agree.” Hans crossed his arms.
Tyler walked up beside them both. “Problems with the foundation?”
“Very bad problem. We need to save the castle until after Christmas. We can even bring it down on the twenty-sixth if we must, but we do not have time to rebuild.”
Brinn looked at Tyler. “I’ve never had this happen. Not on any of the sixteen castles I’ve built.”
“Sometimes…” Tyler raised his shoulders. “Who knows? I’ve only had a cracked foundation once on a building site and it was a mess. We managed to re-pour the cement, but you know what that means.”
Brinn nodded. The best they could do was reinforce the foundation enough that the structure remained viable until after Christmas.
“How was your meeting?” Brinn’s voice was hopeful and both her eyebrows lifted.
“They’re meeting with the Chicago firm now. They brought a big team with them.”
Brinn tilted her head. “Did your partners come up from Denver?’
Tyler shook his head. He took a long, deep breath. Brinn’s expression said everything he felt, her mouth down-turned and lips pressed as though she kept herself from asking the question he’d had on his mind since leaving Annalise’s office. Why not?
Damn. He kept messing things up. He’d failed in his personal and work life. Was it only a matter of time before he failed with Brinn? Could he make Brinn happy? Did he have what it took to split his focus between Charlotte and work and Brinn? He’d failed miserably in that attempt when he was married. He’d failed now, with the Grande, not even thinking to have his partners come up from Denver.
“I have to wait a couple of more hours for this to dry. Want to come back to the kitchen? Edgar was going to fix some lunch.”
Tyler took a deep breath. He wanted to be with Brinn, but he really needed to go to his parents and check on Charlotte. Debrief Mom on what she heard Charlotte say to her mother. See if he couldn’t get his two partners on the phone and tell them about the meeting today. Get their take on if he’d irrevocably messed up.
“I have too much to do right now.” Tyler couldn’t even force a smile onto his face. “But you’ll be there tonight, right? Family dinner?”
Brinn nodded. She looked worried. Of course she was worried, he’d just had the biggest pitch meeting o
f his career and he was completely pulling away, but he needed to be alone; he wanted to be alone.
He grasped her upper arm and leaned forward. “I’ll see you tonight, okay?”
“Okay.”
He pressed a quick kiss to her and turned away, but Tyler overheard Hans as he slipped through the blackout curtain.
“That, Brinn, is not a happy man.”
Chapter Sixteen
Brinn put the finishing touches on the chocolate Yule log she’d made for the Emerson family dinner. She placed a sprig of real holly on the end and walked toward the blast chiller. She’d raced back to the bakery around four. The new piece of foundational gingerbread was adhering to the cracked piece of the foundation. They’d know more in the morning. Regardless of how well the fix appeared to hold, there was now a real problem in the foundation. So much for feeling excited about the Christmas castle ceremony. For the next week, she’d worry the castle might fall. If the castle could just make it until the end of next Thursday, Christmas Day, then she and Hans could begin deconstructing it.
Brinn opened the blast-freezer door and slid the Yule log into the chiller. She’d go home, shower, do her hair, and even put on makeup. Her stomach tightened. Her nerves. She couldn’t shake her nervousness about dinner with the entire Emerson family. She’d pick up the Yule log on her way to Tyler’s house. She shut the freezer door, and there stood Ma.
Brinn pressed her lips together. She hadn’t seen Ma since the incident with Dom. Avoidance had been pretty easy. This was their busy time, and Brinn was at the Grande for half the day every day. Brinn crossed her arms over her chest.
Ma nibbled her lip. “Do you have a minute?”
Brinn shook her head and then pulled her Bea & Barbara apron over her head. She purposefully wadded the apron into a giant ball and tossed it toward the laundry bag. Ma cringed.
“I really don’t.” Brinn reached for her coat near the back door. “I have plans tonight.”
“The Emerson family dinner?”
Of course Ma knew. Ma and Carol Emerson had gone to the church coffee earlier in the week. Brinn grew up in this small town, and yet she kept forgetting that there were no secrets. Not even the ones Ma thought she could keep. Brinn reached for the bakery’s back door.
“Brinn?”
Brinn stopped and turned back toward Ma. “I really do need to get ready. They expect me at seven.”
Ma glanced toward the clock above the back door.
“Five minutes?” Her eyes contained a softness, a sadness, a need for Brinn to pause and listen to what she had to say.
Brinn slipped off her coat and followed Ma into the tiny office. Ma closed the door.
“I want to apologize for embarrassing you.” Ma closed her eyes as though she was absolutely horrified at what Brinn had witnessed in the upstairs hall earlier that week.
“Embarrassing me?” Brinn scrunched her eyebrows together. “You didn’t embarrass me.”
Ma’s mouth dropped open as though Brinn had just said today was the final day of planet Earth. Ma couldn’t fathom that Brinn wasn’t embarrassed by her behavior.
“I love Dom. I think you guys are great together. I used to wonder why the two of you never dated.”
Ma dropped to the chair beside her desk. She clasped her hands in her lap and twisted her wedding ring. “I just”—she glanced up at Brinn—“I never wanted you and Deborah to be embarrassed over the things I did. I wanted to make sure that you could always be proud of me. Never embarrassed.”
There were many possible responses to Ma’s words. Not the least of them being that Ma obviously needed some serious therapy with regards to her childhood and her relationship with Nonna.
Brinn took a deep breath. She didn’t have time for that discussion with Ma. The idea that Brinn would be embarrassed by her mother, the fact that Ma had obviously been embarrassed by Nonna, the twisted family dynamic that made Ma feel like she needed to hide the things that made her happy, it all caused Brinn’s anger to soften. She even felt a little bit sorry for Ma.
“Ma, I want you to be happy. I don’t care who you date, or when you date them. What you do or don’t do doesn’t embarrass me. You’re you and I’m me. We are two separate people. Maybe living in San Francisco for so long made me realize that you really can’t be defined by the members of your family.”
“Maybe.” Ma’s gaze dropped to her lap. She pressed her hands into a tight ball. She looked up, and the pain in her eyes caused a knot to tighten in Brinn’s heart. “I never, ever, meant to imply that you aren’t good enough for Tyler Emerson.” Ma’s bottom lip quivered. “You’re better than good enough. Tyler Emerson should be so lucky to find a woman like you after the harpy he married.” Ma reached for a tissue from the box on her desk. “What I was trying to say, and what I got so horribly wrong, is that when you have a child with someone, even after you divorce, that person remains a big part of your life because of the child. And the choice he made to marry Charlize? A woman so lacking in love and compassion, so different from you—”
Brinn stiffened at Ma’s words.
“No, wait, not better, not more beautiful, different in all the wrong ways. She’s cold and selfish and I think a bit unkind.” Ma lowered her voice. “I never liked that girl or her mother. They’re cold, hard creatures, those Dumont women.” Ma twisted the tissue between her fingers. “I don’t want you caught in something that could hurt you, that could break your heart. I just watched you recover and it was difficult to see and not be able to fix the pain you felt because of what that asshole did.”
“Ma!” Brinn was shocked—Ma never swore.
“Marco was an asshole. You know it’s true. He never deserved you, and he knew it. That’s why he couldn’t behave properly. Just a complete jerk.”
Brinn’s face cracked into a smile. “I love you, Ma.”
“I know, and I love you too.”
She hugged Ma and then Ma pulled back.
“So, you would be okay if Dom came to our Christmas Eve dinner at the Grande?”
“Of course. I’d love it.”
Ma took a deep breath. She slid her fingertips over her skirt. “Now I just have find the courage to tell your sister.”
“She knows.”
“You told her?”
“No, Ma. According to Nonna, everyone knows.”
Ma’s face reddened and her nostrils flared.
“I mean, they’re not talking about it and nobody thinks anything bad. But people know.”
Ma closed her eyes and nodded her head. “Okay, okay. I can get used to this.”
“Ma, people will love you no matter who you date.”
“Thank you, Brinn. I’m so proud of you and how confident you are.” Ma’s face flushed and she patted her hair.
“Ma, I really need to go or I’m going to be stuck wearing this to dinner.” Brinn opened the office door. “Love you, Ma. See you later.”
Ma forced a smile to her lips. She picked up the phone and started to dial. Perhaps she was calling Deborah next.
*
Tyler paced in the pantry off the kitchen. “Pick up the phone.” He paused and waited for his ex-wife to answer her landline. No response. Then her voice mail message. Tyler’s hand fisted at his side. “Call me back. We need to discuss Charlotte and her visit to New York, and I’d prefer tonight.”
He pressed the Off button on his phone a slid it into his pocket. He’d now left two messages on Charlize’s landline and her cell phone. When he’d returned home from his meeting at the Grande, Mom told him about Charlotte’s conversation with Charlize.
“She told Charlotte that she can’t come to New York.”
Tyler had grasped the stair railing. His gut tightened. First he’d failed his partners, and now his ex-wife was horrifically failing their daughter.
“Did she say why?” Not that Charlize ever had a reasonable excuse as to why she couldn’t see or call Charlotte. Had Charlize always been this self-consumed? This cold? How had he fai
led to notice her bad behavior in all the years they were together? How had he chosen this woman, not only to be his wife, but to be the mother of his child? Was he a fool? Completely blind?
Tyler scrubbed his hand through his hair. Would he make good decisions now? All his decisions in the past were completely suspect.
What about Brinn?
She was kind and honest and wonderful, but he’d thought those things about Charlize once upon a time. No, Brinn and Charlize were not similar. Not in any way. But what if Kent was right? What if his attraction to Brinn was temporary and just a direct reflection of his feelings for Charlize? What if he woke up one day and realized that he’d made a mistake? Tyler shook his head. Everything was questionable right now. Every thought, every decision, everything. Pain pummeled through his chest.
“Daddy!” Charlotte slid down the hall in her stockinged feet. She raised her arms above her head, and Tyler lifted her and swung her in a big circle. This. This child. His daughter was the one thing that wasn’t suspect, the one love of which he could be sure, the one person he needed to concentrate on and make happy.
“Hey, lovebug! How was your day?”
“We went ice-skating!”
Tyler set Charlotte on the kitchen floor.
“That’s what I hear.” He grabbed an almond from a dish on the kitchen island and popped it into his mouth. “Grandma’s a pretty good ice-skater, isn’t she?”
“She’s so good! I’m going to take lessons! Grandma talked to one of the coaches while we were there.”
“She did, did she?” Tyler glanced toward his mother who stood at the stove, stirring one of the pots.
“I start after Christmas.”
“Sounds like a plan.” Tyler tossed another almond into his mouth. “When do the cousins get here?”