He shook his head. “Nope, that’s not it. You look fantastic. Refreshed. There’s pink in your cheek that I haven’t seen since before your mother got sick.”
Hayden shifted under his scrutiny, looked over his shoulder for a quick getaway.
“I remember you looking that way when you were in love with Tom Beale.”
Hayden laughed. Tom Beale had worked for Verde LaPointe at one time. He’d been the hunk of Clarksport, and man, did he know it. She’d fallen in love with him for about a week before his preening personality made her fall out of love with him in lightning speed. Comparing him to Ben was the most ludicrous thing in the world.
“Oh, let’s not dredge him up, please,” she said with an over exaggerated groan.
Carl laughed. “Well, something is different and I expect a full report at dinner time. Right now I’ve got to go replace a light switch in three, but I’m taking you out to dinner tonight and you can tell me all about what went on out in South Dakota.”
Hayden leaned over and placed a kiss on her stepfather’s cheek. “Deal. I’m heading over to the lighthouse. Unless you need my help.”
“Oh, you know how much I love electrical work. I won’t share with anyone. You go on, enjoy the day and we’ll talk later.”
Carl left her with a wink and headed down the hallway.
Hayden headed off in the opposite direction, out the front door, off the wraparound porch, and down toward the path that led right for the head light.
Standing tall against the sky, the white tower looked bright and fresh, as if it had just been painted. Expecting a surge of joy to flood through her, instead she only felt a mellow sense of elation. It was like coming home, but no longer was it the only home.
Hayden took her place in the grass in the shade of the tower. The Atlantic glittered limitlessly, and it was a fine late summer day for boats, both pleasure and working. The “Lena May” chugged along, heading toward a bright red and white buoy that marked Verde LaPointe’s lobster pots. The thought of a fresh lobster for dinner made Hayden’s mouth water.
Three sailboats skimmed the bay, catching the light wind in their bright sails. She’d forgotten how busy it was in the late summer. She’d gotten used to a different kind of busyness at the ranch. She’d missed the boats, but sitting there, staring out at a fishing boat that floated lazily out by the point, she found herself wishing she could take a ride out on the prairie with Roxy. With Ben and Ricochet by their side.
Hayden looked down at her lap. The drawing pad sat open on her knees and the tip of the pencil rested on a sketch of Sky Butte. She hadn’t even realized that her hand had been moving on its own. The landmark had become familiar enough that she didn’t even need to concentrate on it, to see it, to be able to draw it.
She sighed. Coming home wasn’t going to be what she expected at all.
Chapter Nine
Ben looked up at to the sound of tapping at the door, irritated at being disturbed.
“Come in,” he called and turned his attention back to the pile of bills in front of him.
“Sorry to bother you,” came the soft voice at the door. Ben glanced back up. Sally shut the door behind her.
“It’s okay. What can I do for you?”
“I wanted to say goodbye. I took a nursing job in Minneapolis.”
He felt a bit guilty about the rush of relief that washed through him, but he hid it behind enthusiasm. “Wow! Congratulations. That’s wonderful!”
Sally smiled and shrugged. “There’s not much to keep me here, is there?”
“You have family and friends, Sally.”
Her smile was sad and Ben felt sorry for her again. For the first time in her life she looked lost, but then he realized that a lot had been taken away from her as well over the past few days.
“But I don’t have a home.” Her mouth trembled and a tear slid down her cheek. “And I don’t have you.”
There, she’d said it. Ben closed his eyes. Damn, he thought, why did she have to? But was it really such a surprise? She’d been a shameless flirt as long as he could remember and he knew that she’d always held on to the hope that someday they might get together, although he’d never encouraged her.
“Sally—”
“No, you don’t have to say anything about it, really. I didn’t say it to make you feel bad.” The sadness in her eyes turned hard and cold. Her jaw tightened. “I know that you and Hayden have hooked up. If she ever comes back from Maine, I hope she’ll make you happy. It’s just one more kick in the butt for me, but I’ll survive.”
“Sally, you knew that you and I weren’t going to happen. You’ve known that for years and I’ve never pretended otherwise. I’m sorry if you thought differently.”
She smiled again but it was chilly. “I know, you never encouraged me. It was my problem. I wanted you to have this, though.” Sally reached into her big handbag and withdrew a thick envelope. “I’m sure you’d be interested in just what Hayden has planned for Primrose. It’s a shame, really, and may affect The Painted Horse Ranch too. This may explain her bailing out so quickly. I wouldn’t want to be around when this hit the fan either.”
Sally handed the envelope to Ben. “Good luck to you, Ben. I’ll see you around.”
Without another word, Sally walked out of the office. For a long moment Ben stared at the door. So that was all? With little fuss she walked away. Of course she couldn’t go without leaving a little bit of trouble behind. Ben’s gaze dropped to the envelope. It was addressed to Hayden with a date stamp of two weeks ago. The name and address at the top left hand corner. Prender Development Inc. out of Sioux Falls.
A sharp jab of anger stabbed at Ben’s gut. He’d certainly heard of this company. They bought up land and were putting up housing developments all over the Midwest. Many, including himself, had fought against that intrusion on their land.
How was it possible that Hayden could be considering turning Primrose land into dozens of houses? How long had this been on her mind? It had only been days since Lu had passed away. Obviously Hayden had started looking into this as soon as she found out she’d be inheriting the property.
Ben’s fist tightened around the envelope. They were going to have a talk about this. There was no way he was going to allow her to do this and risk his own business in the mix.
He pulled his Rolodex toward him and opened it to Widow’s Walk Inn in Clarksport, Maine and as soon as he had the number he picked up the phone and dialed it. As it rang once, twice and a third time, he took a deep breath, willing his nerves to calm so he could keep his thoughts together while talking to her. He would be cool and collected, but just the thought of talking to her, for the first time since they spent the night together was enough to tie his nerves into tight knots.
“Widow’s Walk Inn,” a man’s voice greeted.
“May I speak to Hayden Merrick, please.”
“Certainly,” the man replied. “May I tell her who’s calling?”
Ben gritted his teeth. “Ben Winslow.”
There was a pause and then the man cleared his throat. “Just a moment.”
Ben was put on hold, pleasant Celtic music playing to keep his mind occupied with something other than the hellish way he missed Hayden and the nagging questions that he had for her.
He was about to give up when the music finally cut off.
“Ben?”
He drew a deep breath. Just hearing her voice was like an ointment on his hurt. God, he didn’t want to be mad at her, didn’t want to think that she would even think about chopping up her property and selling it off to Prender.
“Hi, Hayden,” he replied.
Before he could say anything more, she rushed on. “I’m sorry to leave you so quickly the other day. I feel horrible, but I had to get back. I hope you understand.”
He took another deep breath in and glared at the envelope next to the phone. “It’s okay, the letter explained a lot,” he assured her, though it was far from okay. “I’m sorry I could
n’t have driven you to the airport at least, see you one more time.”
“I couldn’t do that, Ben. I don’t think I would’ve been able to leave if I’d seen you again. And I really needed to come back here.”
“I understand. I called for something else though. I’ve got to know, Hayden, are you selling Primrose to Prender Development? Because if that’s your intention, I’ll match their offer. I’m not going to have that land eaten up by a bunch of houses.”
“Whoa, wait a minute,” Hayden exclaimed. “I haven’t made any decisions about the land and house, or Prender. How in the world do you know about that anyhow?”
Ben could hear the steel in her voice, mixed with the confusion. Damn, he thought. So he’d been right. It was the last thing in the world he wanted. He pressed his hand against his forehead.
“Sally told me,” he admitted. No point lying about it. “You can’t do it, Hayden. I’m not going to let a housing development run my business into the ground. I’ve worked too hard for it and nothing is going to ruin it. Lu would agree with me.”
“First of all, I can’t believe you’d buy anything out of Sally’s mouth about me. I’m not exactly her favorite person and it doesn’t shock me that she’d make something up like this to make me look bad. What does shock me, Ben, is that you’d believe her.”
Things were going from bad to worse, he felt it deep down in his heart. “I have the envelope right here, Hayden, from Prender Development. Sally brought it to me.”
“No wonder I couldn’t find it,” Hayden replied coldly. “Have you opened it?”
“Of course not. I wanted to talk to you about this.”
“Open it and call me back. If you want.”
The line went dead but Ben held the receiver for a long moment before replacing it to its base. He transferred his attention to the envelope. Did it hold something other than an offer to tear up the prairie and stick up a dozen identical houses? If it was what he had thought she would’ve admitted it right there and then, would’ve been remorseful but honest, not outraged and cold.
He reached for it and pulled out the contents, with each second that passed knowing he’d probably made a huge mistake just a moment ago and he was going to have to do a lot to put things to rights.
Ben unfolded the sheaf of paper and looked at the letterhead. Sioux Falls Renovations and Design, a subsidiary of Prender Development. Reluctantly, he read the introductory letter, feeling lower and lower by the moment. The letter didn’t say word one about developing the land, just the house. She just wanted to renovate the inn with the idea of reopening it. The correspondence even stated that the land would not be touched, as the beauty of the prairie was a big draw to many.
Again he reached for the phone. This time Hayden was quick to pick up, but she didn’t sound remotely pleased to talk to him.
“I’m having a large helping of crow right now,” he said grimly.
“Good, I hope it doesn’t agree with you,” she shot back. “How could you think I’d sell off that land to someone who’d just throw up houses? I thought you knew me better than that, Ben. It really hurts.”
“I know, honey, I can’t say how sorry I am.”
“I’ll sell you the land, Ben. I know you want it. I don’t know what I’ll do with the house right now, but I can’t stand the thought of it being torn down. I can’t talk to you right now, I’m too angry, but I’ll be in touch when I can think straight and we’ll come up with a deal.”
Again she hung up before he could even say anything.
****
Hayden hung up the phone with a little more force than she’d wanted, attracting Carl’s attention.
“Everything okay?”
Hayden shook her head. “You think you know a person. I mean, why in the world would Ben take Sally’s word for anything without talking to me first? I thought he loved me. Oh, never mind. It just caught me off guard.”
“Maybe she had some compelling proof. By the way, what are we talking about?”
“Before Gran died we discussed some ideas for the property. One of the ideas was to open it back up again as an inn. I thought it would help The Painted Horse Ranch when Ben has guests in for his clinics, and it would be more personal than the motel on the outskirts of town.”
“Sounds like a good idea,” Carl agreed.
“Gran thought so. I think she liked the idea of getting Primrose back in business. She suggested a design company out of Sioux Falls to do a quote for me. They also happen to be a company that buys land and puts housing developments up. My dear cousin, Sally, found the envelope from these people, stole it, gave it to Ben and insinuated that I was going to just callously sell off my inheritance. He couldn’t even be bothered to give me the benefit of the doubt before he told me I couldn’t do it. I don’t know if it’s a good thing that he didn’t open the envelope or not. If he had, he’d have seen what my intentions really were, but if he had…”
“That would’ve been a breach of trust too? It’s a tough one.”
Hayden nodded. “I thought we had that whole trust thing in the bag. That had been the least of my worries when it came to him. But now I just don’t know. Going back is just going to be that much more difficult.”
“But you have to?”
“But I have to. At least to get things in motion. I can sell him the land and use that money for the renovations on the house. It can really work.”
Carl smiled warmly and took her hand. “You sound like your mother. You have her determination.”
“I can only hope that I’ll have her success.”
Carl laughed. “I’m not worried about that. I do worry about losing you again to South Dakota.”
Hayden smiled fondly at her stepfather. Of course he’d worry, and she’d worry about him too. “I never said I’d go out there forever. I’ll probably end up finding someone to run it for me. I don’t plan to leave you alone with Widow’s Walk for a long period of time.”
“Don’t trust me? You have a life to live too, Hayden. If that life is out in South Dakota then so be it. Don’t you dare stay here on my account. I’d never forgive myself if I held you back.”
“You’re not holding me back, Carl. Not at all. I just hate the thought of leaving Maine behind.”
“As much as you hate leaving that man of yours out in Burton?”
Hayden scowled. Her man? If he were her man then he’d have some faith in her decisions. “That may not be the case.”
With a shake of his head, Carl turned back to his desk. “If you let this ruin something special, Hayden, you’ll be making a mistake. Don’t do that. True love is a rare thing. Sometimes it only comes once in a lifetime. I think you owe it to yourself to find out if that’s what you have with Ben.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” she replied. On the back burner for now. Other things needed to take priority over her wounded feelings. Like Primrose.
“Well, there’s no point in my waiting to get this project off the ground. I just need to find some representation out in Burton.”
That representation, she decided, would come from a highly unlikely source. She picked up the phone and dialed another number in Burton.
****
“You look just a little bit lost there, Ben. What’s going on?” Jaycie slid into the chair across from Ben and put her feet up on the desk, ignoring the look of disapproval he shot her. She’d been back at The Painted Horse for a week and he was glad to have her there, though she would be heading out shortly to return to her classes. She brightened the place up after Hayden’s departure and it was plain good to have someone to talk to. It hadn’t taken long before she knew the whole story about Hayden and Lu Gardner. He touched upon his feelings for Hayden, but his sister was too sharp to miss what was really going on.
“I just got off the phone with Hayden and reached a deal on the land over at Primrose.”
“Well, by the look on your face she must have taken you for a ride,” Jaycie commented. “Or maybe it means s
he’s not coming back?”
Ben shook his head. He felt as if he’d been dealt a blow as far as his relationship with Hayden went. Like her selling him the land was just one more string cut between them and there was only a few more remaining.
“Has she even talked about coming back? At all?”
Ben shook his head and stared down at the numbers scratched on the pad of paper in front of him. “Not one word. I haven’t pushed her, though.”
Jaycie swung her feet down and leaned forward, resting her elbows on the desk. There was a seriousness in her eyes that must have been newly acquired on her travels over the summer. She had taken on a new sophistication, a certain maturity. She’d grown up.
“Just how much in love with her are you? I mean really really in love or ‘I’ll get over it’ kind of love?”
Ben pursed his lips. “Really really,” he replied tightly. It was the first time he said it out loud to anyone and doing it made it much more real and much harder to deal with.
“I’ve seen what you’re doing out on the prairie. I can’t believe after that you’re just going to sit here and hope that she comes back. If she won’t come here, have you thought about going out there? Things are quieting down here now. Why don’t you take a little trip to Maine and see what’s all that interesting about that it could keep her there? Maybe you can convince her to come on home.”
Ben must have looked doubtful. He sure felt doubtful. He didn’t like the idea of going out without an invitation. Hayden might not like the idea of him coming out uninvited.
“Don’t give me that look, Benjamin Winslow,” Jaycie pushed, her voice stern and too mother-like. “Is this woman worth it to you? I mean, come on, if you’re really really in love with her then you at least owe it to yourself to find out if there’s even a shred of hope left.”
“Well, hell, you make me sound pathetic,” Ben grumbled.
“Not pathetic at all, unless you want to call someone who’s hopelessly in love ‘pathetic’? I’ve never been there so I couldn’t tell you. What I do know is that you’re not going to make things any better pining away after this chick. You either get on the phone with her and demand an answer or get your butt out there and find out face to face.”
Summer on Main Street Page 116