Tommy muttered an expletive in response, then walked off.
Just then B.J. came bounding back out the door, his expression dismayed. Boone reached out and grabbed him by the shoulder, then hunkered down in front of him.
“Hey, buddy, what’s the problem?”
“Emily’s gone,” he said with a sniff, his eyes filling with tears. “Nobody knows when she’s coming back.”
Blast it all! Boone thought furiously. This was exactly what he’d feared all along. “When did she leave?”
“This morning, I guess.” He gave Boone a betrayed look. “I should have been here, but you made me stay with you. Maybe if I’d been here, she wouldn’t have gone.”
“You knew all along she’d be going back to her job, back to where she lives,” Boone said, though he was as thrown by the suddenness of her departure as B.J. was.
“But not yet,” B.J. protested. “It’s too soon. I thought she was my friend, and she just left without even saying goodbye.”
Exactly as Boone could have predicted, he thought heatedly.
“I’m sorry, pal. You said she’ll be back, though, right?”
B.J.’s shoulders heaved in what could have been a shrug or a heartfelt sigh. “I guess. That’s what Ms. Cora Jane said.”
“Then I’m sure she will be,” Boone said, though he was certain of no such thing. Needing to do something to put a smile back on his son’s face, he said, “Why don’t you get your game out of the truck and show it to Jerry? I’ll bet he’d like to play it with you.”
There was a brief spark in B.J.’s eyes. “It’d be okay?”
“I think just this once, yes.”
B.J. took off across the parking lot.
“Slow down!” Boone called after him.
B.J. obediently slowed. Once he’d retrieved the game, he walked back, exaggerating each careful footstep in a way that had Boone hiding a smile.
“Just so you don’t start running the second my back’s turned,” he commented as his son passed him. B.J. gave him an impish grin but kept his pace slow.
As soon as B.J. was back inside, Boone pulled out his cell phone, found Emily’s number still on the list of incoming calls from the other night when she’d phoned from Ethan’s clinic, and called her.
“Boone?” she said when she answered.
“I warned you,” he said, his voice low and furious. “I told you not to hurt my son.”
“What are you talking about?” she said softly. “I didn’t do anything to B.J.”
“You left without even saying goodbye. He’s devastated, Em. He doesn’t understand. He thought the two of you were friends.”
The harsh words she uttered under her breath were filled with self-derision. Aloud, she protested, “But I’m coming back, Boone. Didn’t anyone tell him that?”
“He’s eight. His mother left and never came back, even though I’d reassured him she’d be okay. He’s not exactly trusting when it comes to that sort of thing. He’s feeling abandoned. I told you it would be like this. I begged you to keep him at arm’s length.” Unable to help himself, he lashed out. “If you do come back, I don’t want you to have anything to do with him. Is that understood?”
“Boone, you can’t mean that,” she protested, sounding stricken. “What will that accomplish? He’ll think he never mattered to me at all.”
“And what do you think he’s thinking right now?” he said angrily.
“I’ll make it right. I’ll call him right this minute. Are you two at Castle’s?”
Boone wanted to tell her not to bother, to leave it alone, but that was his anger talking. It wasn’t what was best for B.J.
“I’ll go inside. Call my cell back in five minutes. I’ll give him the phone. You can say goodbye, apologize, whatever. Just don’t make any promises you don’t intend to keep.”
“I won’t,” she said softly. “I’m sorry, Boone. I wasn’t thinking. I would never have hurt him intentionally, you know I wouldn’t.”
“You never mean to hurt anyone, Em. It just seems to happen.” He sighed. “Five minutes, okay?”
“Absolutely,” she said.
Boone disconnected the call and went inside to find his son, praying that he’d done the right thing. Maybe it would have been better to let B.J. go through this disillusionment now, rather than later, when it might be even more difficult.
* * *
Emily paced the airport, checking her watch as the five minutes Boone had requested ticked by way too slowly. What had she been thinking? After all Boone’s warnings, she’d done exactly as he’d feared. She’d hurt his son. Just as he’d said, it didn’t really matter that it hadn’t been intentional. It had been careless.
And wasn’t that exactly why she’d left, because she’d been afraid that she was going to eventually hurt both father and son? It seemed she simply hadn’t taken off soon enough. Better yet, she probably should have made her excuses and stayed away, but how could she have let Cora Jane down like that?
When the last second of the five minutes had ticked by, she called Boone’s cell. He answered, his tone terse, then immediately handed the phone to B.J.
“Emily?” B.J. said hesitantly.
“How’s my consultant?” she asked, trying to sound upbeat.
“Okay,” he said.
“I’m sorry I took off without saying goodbye. I need to go check on a couple of jobs, so I left in a hurry.”
“Okay,” he said, none of his usual exuberance in his voice.
“I’m going to show the client in Aspen the furniture you helped me pick out for his ski lodge,” she said, thinking that would please him.
Silence greeted her words, but she waited him out, hoping his natural curiosity about her work would get the better of him.
“Will you show him the red?” B.J. asked eventually.
“I will,” she promised.
“Will you tell him I helped pick it out?”
“Of course. You’re my consultant, aren’t you? I always give credit where it’s due.”
He released a little sigh then. “When are you coming back?”
“I’m not exactly sure,” she said honestly. “But soon.”
“Soon, like when? Tomorrow?”
“No, not that soon. A few days, more than likely.”
“By the weekend?” he asked, his voice hopeful. “My soccer team’s playing again on Saturday. You could come with Dad. He never misses a game.”
Emily saw that for the minefield it was. Even if she should be back, she doubted Boone would want her anywhere near that soccer field.
“No promises,” she said carefully. “I’ll have to see how it goes.”
“But you will come, if you’re back?” he persisted.
Suddenly she heard Boone’s voice in the background, asking for the phone.
“Emily has to catch her flight,” he told B.J. “Say goodbye.”
“Dad says I have to say goodbye,” B.J. said, his frustration plain.
“Bye, sweetie. Be good. I’ll see you.”
“Bye, Emily.”
“Tell me you did not promise him you’d be at his soccer game,” Boone said, his voice hushed, clearly trying to keep B.J. from overhearing.
“I told him I wasn’t even sure if I’d be back by then,” she said. “I know you don’t want me there, even if I am back.”
“You’ve got that right.”
“I’m so sorry,” she apologized again, though she knew she was probably wasting her breath. In Boone’s view, what she’d done was inexcusable. And to be honest, she was none too happy with herself. The only possible bright side was that it seemed B.J. had forgiven her. All that told her, though, was how easily a little boy’s emotions could be sent on a devastating roller-coaster ride.
She had to avoid doing that again, no matter what it cost her.
* * *
The next three days were a whirlwind of activity. She spent two of them with Sophia, making sure that every single detail of her new interior design was to her liking and ready for this weekend’s gala fund-raising dinner. Though Sophia had been happy with the results, she was dismayed by the news that Emily wouldn’t be there for the event.
“Don’t you realize how many excellent contacts you could make?” Sophia had asked. “Everyone’s going to be asking who made all these lovely changes for me.”
“I could leave you some business cards,” Emily said, knowing that what Sophia really wanted was to show off her latest protégé. She loved being seen as the mentor to the latest hot talent in Los Angeles, whether it was an artist, a singer, an actor or an interior designer. And she had gotten Emily the meeting with the actor who’d had her update his villa in Italy, the design that had been photographed for a major design magazine. Emily owed her.
Sophia greeted the business card suggestion with the disdain even Emily knew it deserved. “Darling, that simply isn’t done,” Sophia said.
“I know. I was joking,” Emily assured her. “And I would be here if I could be, but I left my family in the lurch to come here to be sure everything was ready for this party of yours. And you are the one who hooked me up with Derek Young. He needs to see these ski lodge designs before he loses patience, too.”
“Oh, all right,” Sophia had said, relenting. “Your loyalty to your other clients and to your family is admirable. I can hardly argue with that.”
If only the meeting with Derek had gone half as well. Though he was pleased with what Emily had to show him, he wasn’t pleased with the overall progress.
“We’ll never make that deadline,” he grumbled. “You need to stay right here and get on this now.”
“The deadline was always unrealistic,” Emily said. “I told you that in the beginning. Even so, I think you will be ready to open before Christmas.”
“Can you commit to that?”
“Once you give me an okay on what I’ve shown you, I’ll set everything in motion. Give me a week and I should be able to give you a firm date.”
“That’s reasonable, Derek,” Tricia chimed in, giving her husband a chiding look.
Emily regarded her with gratitude. She knew if it weren’t for Tricia’s more reasonable expectations, Derek would probably have fired her, or perhaps never hired her in the first place.
She looked from Tricia to Derek. “You have my promise to make this a top priority.”
“And you can do that from North Carolina?” Derek inquired skeptically.
“Of course she can,” Tricia answered for Emily. “Look what she’s already accomplished from there. It’s going to be lovely, exactly what we were hoping for.” She smiled at Emily. “And you tell that young man who’s helping you that I am very excited about the red fabric he chose.”
Emily laughed. “You do know he’s only eight? He’s probably going to insist that his father bring him out here so he can see for himself that you actually took his suggestion.”
Tricia chuckled. “We’ll give them the best room in the lodge,” she said. “Bring them anytime.”
Emily heard the sincerity in her voice. “I’ll definitely let him know,” she said, though she was doubtful that Boone would ever take advantage of the offer, not if there was even a chance they’d cross paths with her.
Emily gathered up her papers and closed her laptop. “We’re all set, then? Any changes you’d like to see? If not, I’ll have the contractor in here first thing tomorrow and start making the calls to order the furniture and accessories.”
Tricia slid closer to her husband and tucked her arm through his. For all of his gruff demeanor with Emily, it was evident that when it came to his wife, he was putty in her hands. “Derek, everything’s perfect, isn’t it?”
He smiled at her, his expression indulgent. “If you say it is. There’s little question that you have better taste than I do when it comes to this sort of thing.”
Tricia laughed. “If we left it to him, everything would have been brown so it wouldn’t show dirt,” she confirmed. “You have our go-ahead, Emily.”
“Fantastic. You’ll have updates from me every day, and I’ll be back as soon as I can manage it,” she promised.
From their private quarters at the lodge, she headed straight for the airport and the connecting flight that would take her to Denver. From there she would have to fly to Atlanta and then to Raleigh. She figured that would give her just enough time to try to figure out what she could possibly say to Boone to make him relent about her spending time with B.J. Unfortunately it probably wasn’t nearly enough time to imagine any scenario in which he’d forgive her for hurting his son in the first place.
* * *
Now that Tommy and his crew were working on his restaurant renovations, Boone had managed to stay away from Castle’s for a few days in a row. B.J. had complained bitterly about that, and none of the activities Boone had arranged for him had gone over well. Apparently he’d been impossible when he’d spent the day with Alex, had been rude when he’d gone to a minor league ball game with another family and had sat in stubborn silence in front of the TV all day when left at home with a sitter.
“Do I have to ground you to get it through your head that being rude isn’t acceptable when someone’s included you in an outing?” Boone demanded in frustration. “Because if that’s what it takes, I will do it. You’ll spend the rest of the summer at home with a sitter, and there will be no games and no TV.”
B.J. simply stared at him mutinously. “Whatever.”
“That attitude is not winning you any points,” Boone told him.
“Whatever,” B.J. said again and stormed off to his room.
Boone stared after him in frustration. This was all Emily’s fault. He didn’t have a doubt in the world about that. Other than that one call, she hadn’t been in touch. Not that she’d even promised to be, but B.J. had obviously been missing her and hoping for another call.
Tomorrow was B.J.’s soccer game, and Boone was torn about whether to take him or keep him home as punishment for his behavior the past few days. He finally decided to take him. The poor kid was miserable enough without losing out on the soccer game he’d been looking forward to. Maybe playing would boost his spirits.
The game was scheduled for first thing Saturday morning. Boone woke B.J. at seven.
“I’m not going,” B.J. said.
“But you’ve been looking forward to this all week. It’s the first game since the hurricane.”
“I wanted Emily to see me play.”
“She’s not even in town,” Boone said, praying that was the case.
“How do you know? Did Ms. Cora Jane tell you?”
“No, but Emily told both you and me that she probably wouldn’t be back in time.”
“But she might be,” B.J. said hopefully. “We could call and find out. You have her number.”
The hopeful expression in B.J.’s eyes tore at Boone’s resolve. Still, he tried to put him off. “I’m sure Ms. Cora Jane would have let us know if Emily had come back.”
“Not if she thinks you’re mad at her,” B.J. said reasonably. “And I’ll bet she won’t come to the game unless you tell her it’s okay.”
The kid was obviously too darn smart and overheard way too much.
“Fine. I’ll call her,” Boone said through gritted teeth. “But don’t be surprised if she’s still in California or Colorado or wherever she had to go.”
Once again he found the number in his caller ID directory and connected. Emily answered almost at once. The sound of her voice set off feelings he’d really hoped were dead and buried after her latest stunt.
“Hi, it’s Boone,�
� he said tersely.
“I know.”
“B.J. wondered when you’ll be back in town,” he said, wanting it to be clear that he personally didn’t care one way or the other.
“I got in last night,” she told him. “Grandmother says you haven’t been around much. Is that because you don’t even want B.J. around my family now?”
“No, it just seemed best. I’ve had a lot to do at my restaurant.”
“So you were just too busy to drop him off and risk having him run into me again?”
“Okay, yes,” he admitted.
“Boone, why are you calling?”
“B.J.’s soccer game is this morning,” he said.
“I know.”
“He wants you there.”
“And you? What do you want?” she asked pointedly.
Boone lowered his voice. “I want him to be happy again,” he said, knowing the response was way too telling and gave her way too much power.
“Then it’s okay with you if I’m there?” she said, clearly wanting reassurance.
“I’ll make it work,” he said. “But Em—”
“I know, Boone. I’ll do everything in my power not to be careless with his feelings again. Besides, I have big news for him.”
“Big news?” he asked cautiously.
“My client loves his fabric choice for the ski lodge. In fact, they want the two of you to come to Aspen sometime as their guests.”
Boone couldn’t believe his ears. “You’re kidding me. They took the advice of an eight-year-old? Did they know that?”
“They did, and that invitation was serious. I have to admit I wasn’t nearly as sure about the red as B.J. was.”
Boone recalled the day B.J. had made the suggestion, the day he’d talked to Emily about his mom and her love of red. How crazy was it that the interior of this fancy ski resort would wind up being some kind of tribute in a way to Jenny, thanks to his son?
“You’re going to make him very happy,” Boone said.
Of course, the real truth was that B.J. was going to be over the moon simply because Emily was back and attending his soccer game. His so-called interior design success was just going to be the icing on that cake.
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