by Cora Seton
“We’ll put in a geothermal system, of course,” Clay was saying when she drew near, speaking loudly for the sake of the film crew. “And the design for these homes will be slightly different from the first set we built.”
“We’ll add more wind turbines to our grid,” Jericho added happily. “And the homes will have solar, of course. There are some great new panels that integrate right into the roofing materials…”
They were talking about expanding Base Camp, Avery realized. Bringing in new people to grow the sustainable community once the show was over and they’d won. Everything would change around here. No film crews. More newcomers.
She hadn’t let herself think about that yet.
“We’ll need more greenhouses, too,” Boone called out as they approached the others. “I’ve got some new ideas for those.”
“Aren’t you putting the cart before the horse?” Renata asked. Even though she had married Greg Devon and was officially part of the cast of Base Camp now, she still helped to direct the show, and today she was acting as interviewer. “After all, Walker’s not married yet.”
“He will be,” Angus said confidently. “He’s got two women after him now.” He caught sight of Avery behind Boone and coughed. “I mean—sorry, Avery. That wasn’t a very good joke.”
She hoped her cheeks weren’t burning, but she refused to turn and run away, knowing all this would end up in the next episode. Besides, everyone would probably follow her.
“Come on, take a look.” Boone steered her to the rectangles marked on the hillside. “A whole new neighborhood. Look at the views from here. We’re taking all we’ve learned from building the previous houses and making these even better. Clay, show Avery the plans for one of your new houses.”
As the crew filming them turned to focus on her, a thought occurred to Avery. Boone had come to find her specifically; he hadn’t asked Walker or Elizabeth to come along—or even Hope.
Because Walker and Hope had tiny homes already, and Boone thought Elizabeth would soon share Walker’s?
“Why are you showing this to me?” she demanded.
Did Boone even care who Walker married? Probably not as long as he was able to stay at Base Camp, she decided. Boone would do anything to keep Riley happy, which meant he’d do anything to accomplish the goals set out by Fulsom.
Including accepting Elizabeth as Walker’s wife.
She looked around at the ring of faces watching her. They would all do that, if it came to it.
“Why?” she asked again. She wasn’t going to let Boone off the hook.
“Because—” Boone stopped.
“Because Walker is going to marry Elizabeth?” she prompted. “And you’re going to shunt me out here in the suburbs away from everyone else? Is that your plan?”
She couldn’t believe Boone had the guts to try to spin it as a good thing.
“I’m not shunting you anywhere. I’m trying to tell you you’re still part of Base Camp no matter what Walker does.”
Still part of Base Camp? Had that ever been in question?
Fury flooded her. She’d come to Westfield the same day he had.
“These new houses are roomier, for one thing,” Boone went on. “We’ve figured out a way to make them more efficient so we can up the footprint, and we’ve got an improved system for piping water to them, and—” He caught sight of her face, ran both hands over his short hair, then held them to the sky. “Look, I don’t want this either, but Walker’s ties to the reservation…” He shrugged. “I don’t understand how it all works. It’s like Sue has something over him.”
“If he wants to marry Elizabeth, he can.” She crossed her arms over her chest, struggling to contain the pain threatening to overtake her. She’d be damned if she was going to live in the new settlement away from all her friends, no matter what he said.
It’s just a few hundred yards away, she told herself sternly, but she knew it wouldn’t be the same. She’d be lumped in with the newcomers, and Elizabeth would take her place as a founding member of Base Camp. How was it fair that Riley, Savannah and Nora, who’d come here with her, were getting everything they wanted while she was being pushed aside? What had she ever done to deserve being treated like this?
“He wants you,” Boone said bluntly. “But want comes second to honor with Walker. You know that.”
His understanding surprised her. “What does Elizabeth have on him?”
“Wish I knew, but I don’t. There are some parts of his life he keeps zipped up.”
She took a ragged breath. “So you can’t help.”
“Not with that.”
“Hang on,” Renata interjected. She held up a finger, and everyone paused while she pulled out her phone and took a call. Avery exchanged a puzzled glance with Boone. Renata never stopped filming, especially in the middle of getting footage that would definitely land on the show. When she hung up, she was smiling. “I’m so glad you’re here, Avery. It’s perfect timing.”
“For what?” Avery didn’t think she could take much more today.
“You asked Boone for a backup husband a while back, didn’t you?”
Avery groaned. “And then Fulsom said I have to have one whether I want to or not. Boone Rudman, tell me you didn’t put out an ad for a husband for me.”
“You knew I had to,” he said defensively, “but I haven’t started going through responses yet. I was letting them pile up.”
“Well, I have,” Renata said. “I found you the perfect backup husband. His name is Gabe Reller, and his cab just pulled into the parking lot. Let’s go. We’ll meet him at the bunkhouse.”
Disbelief flooded Avery. “You got me a backup husband? You can’t be serious,” she hissed at Renata. “You’re supposed to be a friend.”
“I am a friend. Fulsom will kick you off the show if you don’t have one. Wouldn’t you rather I pick him out than Boone?”
“I suppose so.”
“I’m good at picking out backups,” Boone put in.
Renata ignored him. There was nothing for it but to follow everyone else to the parking area. What kind of man had Renata picked out for her? Who would want the job?
“Gabe is a scientist. Something to do with climate change, which is what caught my eye. Seems really nice. Maybe you’ll like him.” Renata marched on, everyone else trailing her.
Avery stalked past her toward the bunkhouse, burning for the chance to tell this interloper where he could get off.
When she arrived there, however, Elizabeth was already squaring off with the stranger, a muscular blond man wearing what looked to Avery like high-end hiking gear. She had one hand on her hip, the other wagging in the man’s face, but when she caught sight of Avery, she cut off mid-sentence. Both of them watched her approach, Elizabeth warily, the man with a speculative look in his eyes.
“You the guy who thinks he’s hot shit enough to be my backup husband?” Avery asked him.
To her surprise, Elizabeth laughed. The man scowled.
“I’m—”
“Gabe Reller. I know. What I don’t know is why you’re barging in here where you’re not wanted.” She crossed her arms, hoping to look intimidating.
“That’s exactly what I asked him,” Elizabeth said crisply.
“That’s rich. You barged in where you’re not wanted, too,” Jess called out from behind her camera.
“Pipe down!” Renata barked at her.
“Sorry!”
Gabe smiled ruefully. “Barging in where I’m not wanted seems to be my specialty,” he admitted. “I’m here because I’m dying to check out Base Camp for myself and see if I can help in some way. A friend turned me on to the show, and I’ve been watching it avidly ever since.”
Elizabeth snorted. “Don’t trust him, Avery. Anyone can tell he’s one of those guys who thinks everything’s about him. Believe me, I know his type—I work with men like him all the time.”
Avery glanced at the crew ringing them. They were loving this.
&nbs
p; “What makes you think you can help?” she asked Gabe.
“Don’t encourage him,” Elizabeth said.
What was her problem? Renata had said he was a climate scientist. Had they crossed paths before? “Do you know him or something?” Avery demanded.
“I know his type,” she snapped. “Do-gooders who don’t believe in mixing politics with science.”
“Maybe that’s because mixing the two can be dangerous,” he countered.
Was there such thing as rival wildfire scientists? Avery wasn’t sure, but Gabe and Elizabeth were glaring at each other like lifelong enemies.
“Aren’t you happy Gabe is here?” Avery asked Elizabeth. “You came to steal Walker from me. You should be glad I have a backup husband.”
“Exactly what I was telling her before you came,” Gabe said smugly.
Elizabeth blinked. “You know what? You’re right. I don’t care what you do. Invite him to stay. Marry him if you want to.”
“Maybe I will.” Avery looked over Gabe frankly. Anyone who could rile up Elizabeth was okay in her books. “I could do worse, I guess.”
“Thanks a lot,” Gabe said dryly.
“Whatever.” Elizabeth stepped into the bunkhouse and shut the door behind her.
“You sure got on her bad side fast,” Avery said.
“Guess it’s a good thing I’m not here to marry her. Now what do we do?” he added. “Like I said, I watch Base Camp. I know you want to marry Walker Norton, and I understand you probably aren’t too pleased to see me, but will you at least show me around before you kick me out?”
She supposed she could do that. She liked Gabe’s forthrightness. They could use some of that around here. “We have to travel in groups,” she informed him. “Someone was sneaking around the place last night.” She turned to Boone. “Should we give Gabe a tour?”
“What’s going on out here?” Walker came out of the bunkhouse, and Avery wondered if Elizabeth had said something about Gabe’s arrival. Maybe Walker needed a reminder why it would be worth the discomfort of standing up to Sue in order to save their relationship.
“This is my backup husband, Gabe Reller,” she told him. “I’m about to give him a tour of the place.” She took Gabe’s arm. “What would you like to see first?”
Jealousy ripped through Walker when Avery took Gabe’s arm. He wanted to knock Gabe aside. Tell him to get the hell off the property—away from his woman.
But Avery wasn’t his woman, and it was all his fault.
He forced himself to keep quiet as they walked away. Felt for the door handle behind him and stumbled back inside.
“Did you get a load of Romeo and Juliet out there?” Elizabeth asked. She was holding a cup of tea, gazing out a back window, through which Walker could see Avery, Gabe and the others heading for the greenhouses.
“Yeah,” he made himself say, wincing at the roughness of his voice. “You must be happy. Your competition is distracted.”
“I always thought she’d marry you in the end,” Elizabeth said absently.
“What?” Walker straightened with surprise.
Elizabeth came to herself and turned sharply away from the window, nearly spilling her tea.
“You thought she’d marry me?” he pressed. “But you said—”
“I was making a joke.” She took a sip from her mug and swore. “That’s hot.” She waved away his next question. “I’m here to marry you, you know that. Stop trying to find ways to wiggle out of it.”
“You’re the one who—” Walker didn’t bother to finish his statement. “Tell me this, then. Who are you always talking to on your phone?” He needed something to focus his anger on. Might as well be her.
“Work.”
“I thought you were on leave.”
“They can’t seem to do without me.”
“And when you’re married? What then? Are you going to take off again? Leave me holding the bag?”
She sighed. “Walker, give me a break. I’m doing the best I can.”
Walker went to the window, but Avery and the others were out of sight. Could she really marry another man? Live on the same ranch as him and Elizabeth?
That would be hell.
“I can’t do this.”
He didn’t realize he’d said the words out loud until Elizabeth set down her tea on the nearest flat surface and marched right over to him.
“You will do this.” She jabbed a finger in his chest. “You will do this because you owe me. Because your family owes mine. Because my parents are gone, and you owe me every goddamn thing you can.”
She left him stunned, slamming the bunkhouse door behind her. Alone in the sudden silence, Walker felt all chance for happiness in this lifetime slip away.
She was right; he owed her everything.
Which meant he was going to lose it all.
“I think it’s a great location,” Gabe was saying enthusiastically about the new settlement when a group of men Avery didn’t recognize tromped over the crest of the hillside, their arms full of wooden stakes and white ribbon. She was already regretting her moment of false enthusiasm for giving Gabe a tour. For one thing, she didn’t want to encourage Renata, Boone or anyone else to interfere in her life. For another, she didn’t want to push Walker into Elizabeth’s arms.
Did he understand her feelings were hurt, or did he think she was callous enough she could transfer her affections to someone else? She had every right to be angry and upset, she told herself, but she couldn’t help but worry she’d cut off her nose to spite her face.
“What on earth? Who are those guys?” Boone pointed at a group of strangers a few hundred yards ahead of them. He hurried in their direction, the rest of their little group trailing behind.
“Are those surveyors?” Avery asked, taking in the equipment they were carrying.
“They could be,” Gabe said.
“Do you think Montague sent them?” Savannah asked.
“Probably.” Jericho scowled. “Out to make more trouble.”
Boone had reached them already and was deep in conversation, gesticulating as he spoke. “…don’t have any right to be working here. We haven’t lost yet!” he was saying as they approached.
“Fulsom gave us permission,” a man said. “Montague needs us to survey the property so he can start making plans. It’s already May—building season is passing by, and when he takes over this land, he needs to be ready to break ground.” Several of the men were already at work hammering stakes into the ground and running ribbon between them.
“What are you outlining?” Jericho demanded. “An airplane terminal?”
The foreman guffawed. “It’s a house! Airplane terminal,” he repeated as if that was the funniest thing he’d ever heard.
“That’s a big house,” Savannah said. “Almost as big as my parents’,” she added in an undertone to Avery.
“What else would you expect from Montague? He builds only the best,” the foreman boasted.
“I thought he was going to build an amusement park,” Boone said.
The man waved that away. “He thought about it. Figured this was easier—and more profitable.”
“I don’t want to listen to this,” Savannah said. “Avery? Come on, let’s go somewhere else. Fulsom is just yanking our chains.”
“That’s what I think, too,” Jericho told her. “You ladies head out. Angus, Byron, mind going with them? Take Gabe here to see the rest of the place. Boone and I will sort this out.”
Avery was only too happy to walk toward the manor, but Gabe’s presence was a clear reminder of how off-track her life had gotten. Her thoughts returned to Walker. What was he doing now? More to the point, what was he thinking about?
Elizabeth was with him, while she was wasting time with a man she couldn’t care less about.
“Do you really think Montague will build three hundred houses that big out here if you lose?” Gabe asked. “Who’s going to buy them?” They walked past the tiny houses that had already been b
uilt and picked up the trail that led to the manor.
“We’re not going to lose. Like Savannah said, he’s trying to intimidate us. It’s a bluff,” Avery asserted. She refused to think about the possibility she could be wrong.
Color flared in Savannah’s cheeks. “Fulsom is going for drama again,” she said indignantly. “He plays with us like we’re a bunch of pawns, and I, for one, am sick of it. You should run away while you can, Gabe.”
“Sorry. Can’t do that.”
“Those jerks up there are only half of what’s making me so mad.” Savannah shifted Jacob in her arms, bouncing him gently to settle him down as she walked. “That stupid Star News had Jericho and me in their sights this time. You should have heard their laundry list of all the pitfalls of green energy. They made us look subhuman for even considering it. They blasted us for our electric trucks. Had ten ranchers on the show, and each of them doubled over in laughter when they heard about them. ‘Electric trucks?’” she parroted. “‘What kind of fool drives an electric truck?’ I’ll tell you who: any fool who gives a damn about the world he lives in!”
“They’re trying to make us so upset we make a mistake and lose,” Avery said.
“They’re trying to ruin everything we’ve worked so hard to build!”
“At least they didn’t attack you,” Avery said soothingly. She bent close to give Jacob a little kiss. A familiar longing kicked up inside her, but she refused to pay it any attention.
Savannah snorted. “Yes, they did! Apparently, I’m the weak little fool who married a man who destroyed my career and stopped me from rising to the top of my profession. And what if they’re right? What if I could have been the best?” Savannah blinked back tears, shifting Jacob again. “Was I stupid to throw my chance away?”
Avery ached for her friend. She knew what a hard decision it had been for Savannah to walk away from her career, just when she was ready to work to resume it.