Eight
Natalia
Though I’d filled myself up with a hearty breakfast this morning, it did little to ease the empty feeling in the pit of my stomach as I approached Reid’s office on heavy feet.
I came to a stop outside the door, let out a long breath, and lifted my hand to it. After knocking, I forced a smile onto my face. But then I thought better of it. No doubt Reid would see right through that.
Guilt ate at me, and I needed to apologize for what I’d done.
“Come in.”
Stepping into the room, my eyes were immediately on Reid. No matter that he’d been here nearly two weeks now, and I’d had daily interactions with him, I couldn’t read anything in his expression.
He always looked the same. Of course, it wasn’t like his mood ever really shifted from one of complete misery.
“What do you need?” he clipped.
Right.
So, there was all the explanation I needed.
“I came to apologize.”
My voice came out strangled, and whether it was my tone or the words I said, I didn’t know, but Reid became impossibly still. Nothing moved, except for his mouth. “You came to apologize? For what?”
Rubbing at the dull ache I felt at the center of my chest, I murmured, “I’m the kind of woman who takes charge, who jumps in whenever I think I can be of use and help someone. I took liberties yesterday at the farewell dinner, and I’m sorry.”
Reid’s expression remained impassive, and he said nothing.
Then again, I barely gave him the opportunity to speak before my own lips parted again.
“Barrett always speaks at the dinners, and I don’t think Danielle gave it a second thought when she urged you up there.
I saw how shocked you were, and I deemed you to be uncomfortable with the request. I mean, I’ve been in your presence every day since you started here, and you don’t say much.
I assumed you wouldn’t be interested in speaking, and since I have no issues with talking to anybody, I didn’t think twice about stepping in.
I came up with what I did on the spot, knowing Barrett would have said something similar.
I hope you didn’t take offense to anything, but if you did, I’m truly sorry. ”
Long, agonizing moments passed without a word from Reid. I wasn’t quite sure what else I could say, so I stayed where I was, fidgeting with my hands, as he considered me. “What you did and said was fine.”
I blinked in surprise. “But… Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
He offered no additional explanation. I should have left it alone at that, but I guess that just wasn’t who I was.
“But I didn’t see you.”
“What?”
I inhaled deeply, taking a steadying breath. “After I gave that speech, I saw you walk out of the lodge. And you never returned. Not even for dinner. If what I said and did wasn’t a problem, why did you leave?”
His elbow had been resting on his desk, his hand balled into a loose fist in front of his mouth as he studied me. “My reasons for leaving have nothing to do with you. I didn’t want to be there in the first place.”
Well, that was that.
I wondered if Barrett knew the depths of Reid’s disdain for so many wonderful parts of this business.
Granted, I could understand him not wanting to make a big speech in front of a group of people he didn’t know or hadn’t even met, but Reid never made the effort to do much outside of the confines of this office.
“Okay. So, you’re not mad at me?”
He shook his head.
I wasn’t quite sure I believed him based on the way he looked at me, but I wasn’t going to argue with him. Only a fool would question him in this scenario.
I stood there awkwardly, unsure what to say.
“Is there something else you needed?”
“No. No, just that. Well, and I guess to promise you that I’ll give you a heads-up before the next farewell dinner, so you can come prepared. If you want, I’d be happy to prepare a speech for you.”
Reid narrowed his eyes on me.
“Anyway, I’ll leave you to it now. I’ve got to get over to the Scarlet House to deal with a guest’s concern. I’ll… I’ll see you later.”
Relieved that this hadn’t gone as badly as I imagined it might have, but uncomfortable with the tension it was creating, I didn’t wait for Reid to offer up a response.
Instead, I turned and walked away from his desk to the door, unaware that his stare remained on the spot I last was until long after I’d left it.
Reid
When I woke this morning, gratitude seeped into my bones.
Not for any specific things that had happened, but merely because it was Saturday and there was a list of things that wouldn’t happen.
I didn’t have any need to run back to Pittsburgh this weekend, and I definitely didn’t need to wind up in my new temporary office to do work I hated, so I’d finally have the opportunity to take some time for myself.
I had every intention of getting away from the retreat for the day while getting in some fun and exercise that I desperately needed. It wasn’t as though I was getting any sort of a physical release any other way, and with all that I’d endured over the last two weeks, I needed something.
So, I didn’t hesitate to get myself out of bed so I could eat some breakfast and get myself dressed. Before I knew it, I’d done that, grabbed what I needed for my morning, and was out the door in a flash.
But I hadn’t taken more than two steps across the porch and toward the stairs that would lead me away from the cabin when my body came to a grinding halt. Any of the appreciation that’d been flowing through my veins from the moment I peeled my eyes open this morning had vanished.
Standing at the edge of the lake, only a few hundred feet from my cabin, was Natalia. She appeared not to notice me—though that could have just been part of her plan—as she picked up stones and tossed them out into the water.
As quickly as I could snap my fingers, the anger bubbled up inside me. What was her deal? Could she really not leave me alone for just one day?
If she and my father thought they’d convince me to reconsider my plans for this place by consistently putting Natalia in my face to the point I couldn’t even enjoy a single weekend alone, they were sorely mistaken.
In fact, it was having the opposite effect.
If my dad would’ve signed this place over to me today, I wouldn’t hesitate to do what needed to be done.
And this game they were playing was only pushing me toward doing it without a care in the world.
Feeling the fury build inside me, I wouldn’t be able to enjoy my day off without dealing with this situation first. I descended the stairs and used the walk toward Natalia to attempt to cool my anger.
I wasn’t quite sure I’d made that happen by the time I came to a stop just a few feet away from her.
“Is this some kind of joke?”
Natalia spun around, her eyes rounding at the sight of me. I didn’t understand why she seemed so surprised. She knew which cabin I was staying in, and she knew this lake was right outside my front door.
Her brows shot up, questioning me, but there was a hint of amusement in her features. “A joke?”
I indicated her and the lake with a wave of my hand. “Yes. What are you doing here?”
She smiled brightly at me. Like I’d just told her I’d found the cure for some horrible disease.
“I’m skipping stones. It’s one of my favorite things to do in the whole world.
I’ve been doing it since I was little. My dad taught me when I was only four years old, though I wasn’t very good at it back then.
But I continued to practice, and over time, I got better and better at it.
I find it both fun and relaxing. I’m sure you can understand.
Growing up here, you’ve probably done it hundreds of times. ”
I might’ve been astonished—once again—by the way Natalia seemed to have no qualms about sharing so much information if I weren’t so perturbed by what she was doing.
It didn’t bother her to tell me part of her life story when we knew nothing about one another, when I never asked for the information.
And that was a concept I couldn’t quite wrap my head around.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have the time or patience to consider it, because I was too furious.
If I’d had any doubt about it before, it was safe to say now after her little speech that the doubt was diminishing.
Natalia knew precisely what she was doing.
Maybe that was why she was so open with me.
But it sucked for her that I could see right through it.
Ignoring all the backstory she felt so compelled to give me, I explained, “That’s not what I meant when I asked what you were doing here.”
Confusion washed over her. “Oh. Well, I’m afraid I don’t understand, then.”
I shrugged. “I guess it’s just awfully convenient that you happen to be here this morning when you know that I’m staying in the cabin over there. One might think this was just a ploy of yours to be able to see me again today.”
Natalia cocked a brow, her lips twitching.
She turned toward the lake, let a stone fly from her hand, and watched as it skipped impressively across the lake.
When it finally stopped and sank, she turned her attention to me again.
Some laughter spilled out as she countered, “You think I’m this good at stone skipping by chance?
And you think I’d purposely bring myself here, only so I could catch a glimpse of your happy face? ”
I forced a smile onto my face just to drive the point home. “It’s awfully convenient.”
She lifted her chin and regarded me carefully. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. Of course, you’d think that. You’d genuinely believe that I’d want nothing more for myself on a Saturday morning than to be chastised by you for simply existing.”
Shooting her a knowing look, I said, “Well, it is a Saturday.”
Natalia crouched to pick up a few more stones. “What does that have to do with anything?”
And it was that question right there that did it for me. Because even if she believed she had one up on me when it came to the work we did here, Natalia was making it clear that she believed I was an idiot.
“You don’t work on Saturdays. Or, at least, you aren’t required to work on the weekend given your position here. And yet, you still show up at this place. Doesn’t that seem strange to you?”
She remained silent for several beats, her eyes roaming over my face. As the early morning sunlight glinted through the strands of her hair, I could see her mind working. “I don’t find it strange at all that someone might want to do something they enjoy outside the place they live. Why would I?”
It was like I’d been slapped across the face. “What?”
“This concept is confusing to you?”
“You live here?” My eyes darted around to the cabins around the lake. “Which one is yours?”
“I don’t live in these cabins. There’re the spots across the property where some of the staff stay.
Buckeye Lodge. From the outside, they look like two cabins stuck together.
They aren’t nearly as spacious as the ones right here, but they do the job.
I have all I need there. And I realize it’s on the other side of this land, but I thought I was free to roam wherever I wished on the property, whether to skip stones on this lake or to hike on the trails weaving through the trees.
But since it appears to be an issue for you, I can stick to driving myself out to Lake Erie to get my fix in the future. ”
“Natalia, I wasn’t saying?—”
“It’s fine, Reid. I get it. You don’t like me.
” Something that looked a lot like hurt flashed in her face as she dropped the stones that had been clenched in her fist to the ground.
It was like I’d done just what she told me the day she’d fallen on the stairs of my cabin—I was stealing her joy.
“I’ve been out here for a while as it is. I can go.”
She took one step to move around me when I said, “You don’t have to leave.
I… I…” My voice trailed off. I should’ve apologized.
If I’d been home in Pittsburgh, I would’ve done that.
It was likely I wouldn’t have been so miserable to begin with.
But I was bitter being here, and this woman was getting the short end of the stick as a result.
“You can stay. I’m not going to be here this morning anyway. ”
Her eyes dropped to what I held in my hands, and judging by the look that washed over her, it was the first she’d even noticed it.
“Is that… Are you a skateboarder?” Natalia’s attention shifted between my face and the board.
The look of pure shock on her face was enough to have me clamping my lips together to swallow my laughter.
“It’s a streetboard.”
Questions filtered into her expression, her brows knitting together. “And that’s different than a skateboard?”
“It is.” I held the board up between us to show her the difference as I explained, “With a skateboard, you can hop on and off easily. With a streetboard, your feet are strapped in.”
“That’s kind of like a snowboard.”
One half of my mouth quirked up. “Exactly. But if you look at this board, you’ll see that you can pivot on your feet in a way you can’t on a snowboard. These pivots and the movement of your body are the way you get the board to move.”
Surprisingly, Natalia reached out to the end of the board and shifted it. “Wow. I’ve never heard of streetboarding. And I’ve never seen one of these. It sounds like it’d be fun.”
Whether she genuinely meant that, was hoping for an invite to try it out sometime, or perhaps a combination of both, I didn’t know. Even if I thought that teaching someone like her could be enjoyable, I didn’t dare make the offer. “It is fun. And it’s great exercise, too.”
The defeated look in her expression that had been present only moments ago was gone, replaced by a warm smile and relaxed shoulders. “Well, you should get to it, then. Don’t let me keep you here.”
I nodded, jerking my chin slightly at the lake. “And you should stay. Throw your stones.”
Her features softened further, her eyes gleaming. “Okay. Just for a little bit longer. Enjoy your day off, Reid.”
The genuine tone in her voice had me swallowing roughly. So quick. Natalia had been on the brink of devastation moments ago, and just like that, even if I didn’t necessarily deserve it, she found it in her heart to be kind to me.
“You, too, Natalia.”
Without another word, I turned and walked off. And though I didn’t dare look back to confirm if I was right, I swore I could feel her stare on me until I disappeared out of her line of vision.