6. Ellis
Chapter six
Ellis
Theo had rented a room at the Cascadia Bed and Breakfast for me. It was a pretty Victorian-style building with white wood siding, ornate roof gables, and a wraparound porch.
The inside looked equally storybookish: wooden floors, vintage chandeliers, and plush chairs.
A gray-haired woman greeted me at the antique-looking wooden reception desk, introduced herself to me as Jane Grant, the owner, and led me up the stairs herself.
“I reserved the best room for you, Mr. Benton,” she said. “I hope you will enjoy your stay.”
I took a look at the large four-poster bed, the heavy cream-colored drapes, and the antique vanity table. The tiled bathroom had copper fixtures and a claw-footed tub. All very charming.
“I’m sure I will,” I said with a polite smile.
Mrs. Grant nervously rubbed her hands together. “Just call if you need anything.”
“I will, thank you.” I led her to the door. As friendly as she was, I was in desperate need of some alone time.
As soon as she left, I shrugged off my suit jacket and went into the bathroom to splash some water on my face.
My first day at Brightwater had held some unexpected surprises, and none of them had been especially pleasant.
First, Terrence Spencer had refused to sign the contract. The land was very suitable for our factory, but he was still hesitant, and no amount of smooth talking had changed his mind. He wanted more time to think about it, so I needed to be patient.
And then there was Cara.
She was the sole reason I’d taken over the project, the reason I’d come to Brightwater, but meeting her within the first few minutes of my stay had caught me off guard.
And the worst thing was that she seemed less than thrilled to see me. I don’t know what I’d expected, since things had ended between us the way they did, but it wasn’t the look of terror on her face when I stepped into the Spencers’ house. Seeing her looking at me like that had torn open some wounds that hadn’t healed properly.
The fact that she apparently was good friends with the owner of Cedar Creek Ranch further complicated things. I had a gut feeling she wouldn’t be very happy about leveling the entire ranch to the ground to make room for our new factory.
If I wanted to get close to her again, that was the worst possible start.
To end the already bad day with another low blow, my phone rang, and a quick glance at the display told me it was my father.
Damn. He’d gotten wind of my secret endeavor fast, and I already knew he wouldn’t be happy with me.
For a moment, I considered letting the call go to the mailbox, but I knew I couldn’t delay that conversation long, so best get it over with. I would try to salvage the situation as best as possible.
“Hello, Dad.”
“You went behind my back.”
No “Hello,” no “How are you?” Cutting straight to the chase.
I cleared my throat. “What do you mean?”
“The chip plant.” His voice was icy.
“It sounded like an interesting project, so I took over, yes. Didn’t you tell me you wanted more initiative from me?”
“Don’t play me for a fool,” he barked. “I know damn well you took over because you hope to run into that girl again.”
That was, of course, exactly right, but I couldn’t admit that. If he’d frowned upon my interest in Cara in the past, he surely wasn’t going to be happy about my attempt to reconnect with her, so I feigned ignorance.
“What girl?”
“Cara Shepherd.” He spoke her name like it was some kind of insult. I didn’t like that at all, but that wasn’t the right moment to call him out.
“Oh, you mean Harper and Brooks’s old nanny? Right, now that you mention it, she does live here, doesn’t she? But why would I seek her out? I haven’t seen her for over a decade.”
A long silence stretched out on the other end of the line.
Had I managed to fool my father ? Probably not. He wasn’t the type of man that was easily fooled, but to my surprise, he put the topic to rest, at least for the moment.
“Have these horse ranchers signed the contract yet?”
“No, the man is still reluctant. He’s very emotionally attached to his property.”
“They always are,” my father said. “Do whatever you have to. We can’t afford to delay that project any longer. I need results, and I need them fast.”
“I’m sure I will convince him in time.”
“Not ‘in time’, Ellis. Get that contract signed before the end of the week, or I will pull you off the project, and we will look at another building site.”
I swallowed. By the end of the week? I had no idea if I could talk Terrence Spencer into signing over his land that fast, but I couldn’t admit that. Uncertainty meant weakness, and my father despised weakness.
“Don’t worry. I will,” I promised.
“Don’t disappoint me, Ellis,” my father said. “Do what you must to seal the deal. Understood?”
“Yes, father.”
“Keep me updated.”
“I will, father.”
“And stay away from that Shepherd woman.”
A crack on the phone told me he’d hung up without any further goodbyes.
I sat down on the bed and took a deep breath.
I had a week. Otherwise, the project would be over before it had begun, and I would have no reason to stay in Brightwater any longer.
But I needed longer. I needed time to get through to Cara.
As standoffish as she was at first, I could tell there was still… something between us. Her story about us being a meaningless summer fling was too easy to see through. We both knew very well that it hadn’t been like that between us. There was more to the story of how and why she’d left me so suddenly. For some reason, she wasn’t being honest with me.
She’d rejected the accusation my father had made, but of course she would not admit openly to stealing. My first instinct had been to not believe the story either, but what if it was true, after all? It would explain her sudden disappearance and her strong reaction upon seeing me again. I remembered money had been very tight for Cara. Maybe she got so desperate that she could see no other way. But we’d paid her well—of that I was sure—and Cara just didn’t seem like the type who would steal, no matter how dire the situation looked.
Then again, my father usually was right. Was he right about Cara? Did he have a good reason to dislike her? Maybe my view of the woman was still distorted by the rose-tinted glasses I’d worn as a twenty-two-year-old.
I needed some outside perspective, and there was only one person in the world I could talk to about my father, so I picked my phone back up and dialed .
It took her a moment, but she eventually picked up the call.
“Ellis, you have no idea how glad I am you called. I’m bored out of my mind.”
I smiled. “Where are you?”
“At some super lame charity dinner. Dad made me do it.”
“What for?”
“To punish me, I assume. Although I’m not sure what I’ve done wrong to deserve this torture.”
“No, I mean, what’s the charity dinner for?”
“Um… sorry, I’m blanking. Veterans? Kids? Cancer? Underaged veterans who have cancer?”
I chuckled. “You get to eat expensive food and wear a pretty dress. There are worse plots in life.”
“The portions are tiny, and the dress is uncomfortable.”
“How terrible. Maybe we should start a charity for you, then.”
“You jest, but you’ve never had to wear high heels and a push-up bra for five hours, Ellis,” she said. “Does your call have a purpose, or did you just want to add to my misery?”
I hesitated for a moment. “I need to talk to you about something private, but now is probably not a good moment.”
“No, now is the perfect moment. Give me a second to step outside.”
I could hear the faint sound of chatter and music in the background fading away.
“Okay,” she said. “I’m outside in the garden, right in front of a charming fountain with a peeing toddler on top. Now, open up, brother. What’s troubling you?”
Now that Harper was all ears, I struggled to find the right words.
“The project is not going well.”
“The factory, you mean? Yeah, I heard you took over behind Dad’s back. He was frothing at the mouth when he found out. I’m impressed, Ellis. Didn’t know you were capable of such insubordination.”
“The current owners of the land we want to buy haven’t signed the contract yet.”
“Why not?”
“Silly sentimental attachments.”
My sister huffed. “Stop talking like father, Ellis. It doesn’t suit you.”
“This project is going nowhere if they won’t sell their damn horse ranch.”
“It’s a horse ranch?” she asked with a dry laugh. “You are aware that you are currently the villain in every teenage horse movie, right? The evil businessman from the city who wants to buy the beloved ranch, turn it into a soulless, environment-destroying factory and turn all the horses into sausages.”
“I don’t want to turn the horses into sausages.”
“But otherwise, the shoe fits, right?”
“Listen, Harper. It’s not my fault these people can’t afford to run their ranch. They put the property up for sale, and we want to buy it. That’s all I care about.”
“Tell that to our father, but I know you do care. That’s why you are my favorite family member.”
I let out a sigh. “Okay, fine. Yes, it’s a shame. It’s a beautiful property, and our factory will be an eyesore. Happy now?”
“ Happier , at least,” Harper said. “Now, tell me why you really called. Because I know you don’t need emergency Harper phone support because a work project isn’t going as planned.”
I paused. Typical Harper. She knew me better than I knew myself, and she was the only person I felt comfortable being honest with.
“It’s about Cara Shepherd,” I said.
“Cara Shepherd?” Harper sounded confused. “Oh, you mean Cara, our old nanny? That Cara? Hold on, wait. Ellis… have you taken over the project because of Cara?”
“Yes.”
“Ha! I knew it! There was something going on between you two back then, wasn’t there?”
“You noticed that?”
“Not then, of course. I was too young to get it. But in hindsight, I pieced things together. So you and Cara, hmm? Was it serious?”
“Yes,” I said. “At least I thought so.”
“What happened?”
I sat down on the bed. “I don’t know. She just disappeared between one day and the next.”
“Yes, I do remember that part. I cried into my pillow for days because I missed her so much. She was my favorite nanny ever.”
“So did I.”
“Aw, Ellis.”
“It’s okay. I’m over it now.”
“Are you?” she asked. “Then what are you doing in Brightwater?”
I hesitated. Good question. What was I doing here? Was I really chasing after a summer love from thirteen years ago? Was I that pathetic? I’d told myself I wanted answers, but why? We were ancient history, and no possible explanation of her past behavior could change that. But still, something just didn’t add up, and I was sure I wouldn’t be able to close that chapter of my life if I didn’t find out the truth.
“I want to find out what happened, why she disappeared from my… from our lives without a word.”
“I bet Dad had something to do with it.”
I leaned back against the headboard of the bed and shook off my shoes. “Do you believe that story about her stealing?”
“Not really,” Harper said. “I mean, employees sometimes do that, but Cara does not strike me as the type. She was super cool and very kind. But then again, I was only a little kid when all of this went down, so what do I know? Do you believe it?”
“I don’t think so. I asked her, and she said no.”
“You asked her? Does that mean you already met with her?”
“By accident.”
“Listen, Ellis. I’m probably not the right person to hand out dating advice, but if you want to win back your ex, you probably shouldn’t start off by accusing her of theft.”
“I… I don’t want to win her back,” I said defensively. “I’m just here to solve a question that’s been bothering me for years.”
Harper snorted. “Uh-huh. Sure, you are.”
“No, really. We haven’t seen each other for over a decade. She has a child with another man now. She’s probably married, too.”
“Probably? Did you see a ring?”
“No,” I admitted. “But—”
“Lots of people raise kids on their own. She might be single,” Harper said. “And so are you, for some reason I don’t understand at all because beautiful women keep throwing themselves at you and then bounce off you like you’re impregnated with anti-love spray or something.”
“Thank you for the reminder. I’m aware.”
She wasn’t wrong. My family name and fortune attracted a lot of women. Most of them were beautiful, and some of them were also rich and from good families, but none had managed to garner my interest. They all just felt fake—superficial. I’d tried—I really had—but I never connected with anyone again as I had connected with Cara.
As if reading my thoughts, Harper suddenly spoke up. “Ellis, have you not had a serious relationship because you are still hung up on Cara?”
I exhaled deeply. “I guess I’m here to find out that too.”
“You need to talk to her. But this time, don’t bring up stealing, okay?”
“I’m not sure she wants to talk to me again. I don’t think I made a very good first impression.”
“You came all the way to Brightwater, spiting our father, just to find out what happened between you two, and now you’re already giving up?”
“You think I should seek her out?”
“Absolutely!” she said, full of enthusiasm. “Oh, I’m loving this. This is all so very dramatic. And I bet Dad totally hates that you’re going after her again.”
“I was hoping this project would be a good cover-up for my true intentions.”
“Not a bad plan. Is it working? Is Dad buying it?”
“He’s letting it slide for now, but I’m not sure how much longer I can fool him, especially if the Spencers won’t sell and this project goes nowhere.”
“Put on the heat, then. Don’t let these horse people ruin your ex-back mission.”
“I thought you were on the horse people’s side?”
“Yes, when I thought we were in a teenage horse movie. But this has much greater potential, Ellis. This might be the beginning of a really great romance movie, so don’t mess it up.”