Chapter 7
“Hey, you okay over there?”
Despite his subdued tone, Paxton jumped at the sound of Sawyer’s voice coming from just over her shoulder. She didn’t turn, but continued to stare out the window, watching the breeze blow gently through the arching branches of the oak trees that peppered Heritage Park.
“I’m okay,” she said. “Just…thinking.” She took several steps back, realizing that she was crowding his workspace. “Sorry for being in the way.”
“No,” he said. “You can stay where you are. I’ll be at the conference table for the rest of the afternoon anyway. I just needed these.”
Paxton glanced over her shoulder to see him picking up the master materials list from his desk. A list that was based on maps that were likely unreliable and could lead to tragedy for her small hometown.
She shut her eyes tight and fought back the truth she could no longer deny. Turning to Sawyer, she folded her arms across her chest and ran her hands along them.
The smooth, dark brown skin on his forehead creased as he frowned at her. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
She shook her head. “Not really. It’s hard to be okay after what we saw today.”
Sawyer set the binder back on his desk and took a couple of steps toward her. The concern in his gaze warmed her from the inside out, or maybe it was just her body’s reaction to the way his powerful, sinewy body moved, both purposeful and graceful.
To say he was handsome seemed woefully inadequate. His compelling brown eyes, generous mouth, and sharp chin belonged in a magazine spread.
“It was a pretty heavy day,” he said.
“Sobering,” Paxton said, then pulled her bottom lip between her teeth and soaked in the calming scene on the other side of the window before looking back at him. “Both Belinda and Shayla tried to describe how bad the flooding had been, but it took seeing it with my own eyes to truly understand.”
“Same here,” Sawyer said. He leaned against the wall. “It’s scary to think of how much worse it could have been.”
Studying his strained expression, Paxton found the same worry that had been eating away at her since they left the animal shelter. “What if that worst-case scenario happens? And what if it isn’t just a tropical storm the next time? This town could be devastated.”
“The possibility is there. If Gauthier is hit by a category three hurricane—hell, even a strong, slow-moving category two—the damage would be significant.”
“Some people in those low-lying areas could lose everything,” Paxton whispered. “The animal shelter…” She trailed off, unable to finish the thought.
She turned fully toward him.
“You’re right about the maps.” It was time she owned up to her mistake. “You tried to tell me, but I’m stubborn. And I don’t like anyone proving me wrong. But I’m also a realist, and it cannot be ignored. Not after what I saw today.”
Sawyer’s eyes shut. He blew out a relieved sigh, his shoulders going limp.
“Thank you,” he said.
“I’m planning to contact my supervisor at Bolt-Myer this afternoon.
I’ll tell him your theory, along with the evidence we saw today.
It’s going to set us back, both time-wise and with the budget, but we need to get those surveyors here before we move forward.
We need to figure out what went wrong with Tropical Storm Lucy, because something definitely went wrong. ”
“I can be in on the call if you want me to explain it,” he offered.
Paxton held up her hand. “I want to talk to him first. If I need you to explain the mechanics in more detail, I’ll call you in.
” She released a breath and looked across the room at her desk.
Her cellphone seemed so innocuous, but the call she needed to make could determine the course of her career with Bolt-Myer.
She had so much riding on this project, but Gauthier’s safety trumped it all.
“I should call him now,” she said. “The sooner we get the ball rolling, the better. I just… I need a breather.”
Sawyer gestured toward the window with his chin. “It’s a pretty day out there. How about a walk?”
Paxton returned her gaze to the inviting view, her spirits lifting at just the thought. She looked back at him to find him looking at her with expectation.
He’d been such a surprise today. Actually, he’d been a surprise period.
From his willingness to set aside petty arguments and work together over this past week and a half to his driving out to Landreaux to support Belinda’s grand opening, to her learning about his huge donation to the animal shelter.
And that he possibly used to visit it back when they were kids just to see her.
Something warm and significant began to swirl in her belly. It had taken a while to accept it, but Paxton was starting to believe that she’d read Sawyer Robertson all wrong.
She wanted to be wrong about him. Because if he wasn’t the pampered, rich playboy she’d made him out to be in her mind, and was instead the warmhearted, generous man she’d witnessed since they began this project, it could change…everything.
“An afternoon stroll around Heritage Park is exactly what I need. But only if you join me.”
Sawyer smiled. “That was never a question.”
Paxton left a note on Carmen’s desk, letting her know where they would be in case anyone came to the law practice looking for them.
Even though they had yet to be visited by anyone from the community regarding the proposed flood-protection system, being available to answer questions was one of their duties during this phase of the project.
She locked up using the key Matt had given them, and she and Sawyer then walked the short distance along the brick sidewalk to Heritage Park.
They entered underneath the arching wrought-iron entranceway.
Fragrant vines of coral honeysuckle twined within the sign’s intricate lacework.
The park, like most of the downtown area, had experienced a resurgence in the past few years.
Various clubs and civic organizations took turns maintaining the grounds, and every six months there was a community-wide cleanup day, where everyone pitched in to do their part in keeping downtown Gauthier beautiful.
They were even dabbling in a bit of culture. An art installation was on display in the park. Several steel pieces—nothing that Paxton could decipher the meaning of—surrounded the park’s central feature, a classic wooden waterwheel that, after years of sitting idle, was finally churning again.
Instead of checking out the artwork, Paxton headed straight for her favorite area of the park, the arbor. In the spring its rustic, spindly branches were covered in sweet-scented wisteria, fostering the perfect hideaway to steal a few moments of peace.
“I love this place,” she said, pulling in a deep breath even though the last blooms of wisteria had left with the hot summer sun. “On my list of top ten things I’ve missed about Gauthier this past year, this park is number two.”
“What’s number one?”
“My dog, of course,” Paxton said.
He chuckled. “Not your mom?”
She shook her head. “Belinda and I talked on the phone every single day, but I missed not having Heinz around to nuzzle.”
“Why didn’t you bring him with you to Arkansas?”
Paxton shrugged. “I have a condo in Little Rock. Heinz needs space to run. And he’s always been Belinda’s companion just as much as he’s been mine. I didn’t even bring him with me when I bought my house over on Pine Street here in Gauthier. I couldn’t take him away from everything he’s known.”
“You sold that house, right?”
She nodded.
“Why?”
Paxton’s forehead scrunched up with her confused frown. “Because I was moving.”
“So Little Rock wasn’t just a trial run. You plan to stay there?”
Her steps slowed until she stopped completely. With a shake of her head, Paxton admitted, “I still don’t know.”
Sawyer leaned back against one of the arbor’s thick support beams and shoved his hands in his pockets.
“Can I ask you something?” he said.
The weighted tone of his voice told Paxton she probably didn’t want to hear what he had to say, but she decided not to be a coward for once and answered, “Go ahead.”
“Did you leave because of what happened between us?”
She’d expected his question would be along these lines, but she was still a bit awed by his boldness.
“That happened three years ago, Sawyer. I left last year, two years after you were already married and living in Chicago,” she pointed out. “Why would you think you had anything to do with my leaving?”
He hunched his shoulders, looking chagrined. “Wishful thinking.”
“So you wish that I was still so affected by that one night we spent together that I had to pick up and leave everything I love?”
“When you put it that way, it makes me seem arrogant.”
Her brow arched. “You think?”
She was proud of the calm facade she was able to maintain.
Because the truth was that he did have something to do with her leaving.
She’d wanted him for so long but had convinced herself that there was no way a poor girl from Landreaux could ever be with one of the richest guys in town.
Then, three years ago, on a night that she still dreamed about all too often, it had all changed.
She’d fulfilled her longtime fantasy. And after just that one taste, she knew it would never be enough.
Paxton also knew she would never find someone living here in Gauthier who made her feel what Sawyer had made her feel that night. She’d left for Little Rock hoping to find his replacement out there somewhere.
It had been a fool’s mission. There was no one else who could replace him.
But, then again, after what she’d learned over the past few days, it was possible that finding a replacement was unnecessary. If Shayla was to be believed, the real thing had wanted her all along.
“I have a question for you,” Paxton said. “I was talking to Shayla yesterday and she mentioned that time in high school when she tutored you in math.”
“Okay,” Sawyer said.