Chapter Eight
N atalie sat inside her rental car back at the Bramble House as night fell across Marietta, forehead resting on the steering wheel.
An endangered species. Unknown leases and competing small-scale lodges she could work around, but there was no getting around the US Environmental Protection Agency. This project was as good as done for.
Foiled by a ferret.
If I tell anyone.
And therein lay the moral dilemma. If what Madison had told her tonight was correct, only a small number of people had seen the black-footed ferrets near the Nelson property.
With corporate missing yet another potential development conflict, reporting the sighting rested squarely on Natalie’s shoulders.
For now, anyway. Once the land-moving equipment arrived on-site, anyone working for Terakion would have the opportunity to see them for themselves.
But how many people would know what they were looking at was an endangered species?
Then again, if someone did recognize it as such or heard down the road that the Miles family had told Natalie of their findings, she could be in trouble for not reporting it to corporate.
And if that happened, she might as well kiss her promotion—and possibly her job—goodbye.
On a sigh, she stepped from her car and headed inside to call her best friend back. It was Cyn who had called during dinner—a planned interruption, to provide her an excuse to leave in case dinner hadn’t gone well. But it had gone well, incredibly well, up until that stupid ferret burst her bubble.
“I don’t see what the big deal is, Nat,” Cyn said across the miles a few minutes later. “So the project can’t happen. Why would corporate deny you this promotion for some endangered species crawling out of the woodwork? Besides, isn’t it their job to vet all this out ahead of time?”
Nat dropped onto the bed in her room and stared up at the ceiling, grateful her bestie had taken her call despite the two-hour time difference. Sometimes, she just needed to talk things through in order to wrap her head around the best outcomes. Tonight was one of those times.
“Because the job descriptions specifically states the prerequisite of thirty successful projects. I’m sitting at twenty-nine.”
“Well, that seems dumb.” Cyn snorted. “What if you’re an amazing person with really bad luck?”
Natalie laughed. “Then you’re probably not who corporate would want in the higher position because the bad luck would follow.”
“Oh. Good point.” Cyn laughed softly. “But they know you, Nat. Look how many great projects you’ve helped get across the finish line.”
“Yeah, but there are other people who have been there longer who are about to hit thirty successful projects as well.”
“But are they as good as you?”
It was a fair question. “I mean, the numbers sort of speak for themselves.”
“Which means you’re being modest again.” Cyn paused, and Natalie could nearly hear the eye roll across the line. “Listen, spare your conscience, and tell your boss. Let him go to bat for you. That’s his job.”
Technically, it wasn’t his job to help her get promoted, but Natalie didn’t want to bemoan the point. “Yeah, but—”
“Nat, seriously, why are we even having this conversation? You know you’re going to tell him because it’s the right thing to do. And you always do the right thing. Even when I tell you not to.”
Natalie grinned. She’d known Cyn since grade school, which meant her best friend had witnessed countless scuffles between her and her older sister, Julianna.
Time and again, when Julianna had badgered Natalie about one thing or another, Cyn had offered to put Jules, as she’d nicknamed her, in her place.
But each time, Natalie had spared her sister the strife and pledged to take care of it herself.
Which, usually, meant bowing to her sister’s will and keeping the peace.
Not ideal, but no one ever seemed worse for the wear.
“I know. And you’re right—I can’t not tell him. It’s just…” She blew out a sigh, her smile slipping. “I’m kinda homesick, Cyn.”
“You? Little Miss I Love to Travel?”
A door closed somewhere down the hall, the sound followed by muted footsteps and voices.
When she’d first taken the job at Terakion, Natalie had loved the novelty of the position.
Traveling to places she’d never been. Getting to meet people, to learn about all these amazing small and midsized towns.
And she still loved that part of it; she just wished she could do it from the comfort of her own home.
“Right? And other promotions will come along eventually, but after this opening it could be a while. Like, a long while, which is why I’m in a bit of a panic.
Cyn, I’m starting to miss my house, my stuff.
Heck, I miss sleeping in my own bed. The one I bought just before getting let go from Thinkology.
I swear, I’ve only slept in it few dozen times and that was more than four years ago.
” She barked a soft laugh. “I know, first world problems.”
“So, what I hear you saying is you miss me?”
Natalie’s vision swam, fatigue setting in. “More than you know, my friend.”
“Ah, girlie, I miss you, too. Want me to jump on a plane and fly out for the weekend?”
“Oh, no. I see what you’re doing there, and I’m not falling for it.”
Cyn’s voice took on a higher pitch as she played innocent. “What am I doing?”
“You’re trying to find an excuse to come out and size up the cowboy who’s been giving me fits since I got here.”
Yes, she’d told Cyn about tripping and falling into him at the hearing. And running into him at the saloon. She’d also mentioned the physical attraction she felt every time he was nearby, which now she was second-guessing.
“Heck, yeah, I am,” Cyn countered. “The way you describe him, he sounds good enough to eat.”
Natalie’s thoughts shifted to Sam. He’d looked handsome as ever tonight.
But, Lord, when that man smiled, it did things to her.
Got her insides in a tangle and almost made her think she was ready to come off her self-imposed dating sabbatical.
Too bad Terakion had a policy about not mixing business with pleasure.
Then again, it wasn’t like he was a developer or contractor. Sam was just a landowner, a resident of the town she was staying in.
“ Helloooo , Earth to Natalie. I know exactly where your thoughts just went, and you know how I feel on the subject.” She lowered her voice and murmured, “What corporate doesn’t know can’t hurt them.”
Natalie laughed softly. Some days, she felt like Cyn knew her better than she knew herself. “We’ll see.”
“ Pfft , which means no . But if you have a chance to step outside your comfy little box and play on the wild side, I say go for it. Besides, when—not if—you get this promotion, you’re going to be back home with a schedule that will actually allow you to date again.
Might as well get a little practice in, especially if Mr. Cowboy is game.
They don’t make ’em like that out here, you know. ”
Natalie laughed and wrapped up their conversation. Cyn needed to get to bed since she had to get up early for work in the morning, and Natalie needed some time alone with her thoughts about work. About ferrets. About Sam.
For a moment tonight, he’d almost looked like he was thinking about kissing her.
But he hadn’t. Was it because she’d read him wrong or because he was waiting for her to make the first move?
Goodness, did she even know how to make the first move anymore?
It’d been a few years since she was in that position.
Position.
Now her thoughts were going down an entirely different path. A forbidden path.
A lost-cause path.
Daydreaming, she could do. But actually acting on it? Natalie wouldn’t even know where to start. Besides, she had bigger fish to fry at the moment. Like why corporate had blown it not once but thrice now. It really was starting to feel like someone at Terakion didn’t want her to get this promotion.
But who?
She rolled up to a seated position and texted her boss. Call me when you’ve got a free minute. Stumbled across another possible complication.
It was only a matter of seconds before her cell phone began to ring.
Fifteen minutes later, her boss was up to speed and in agreement with her—they needed to vet this claim about the land Terakion was about to purchase.
If it was truly habitat to an endangered species, this project might need to be relocated.
The good news was, that didn’t count as a failed project on the books for Natalie.
The bad news, however, was that shifting the design to an alternate location could take several months.
There was land to target and a community to reengage after all the other contenders had already been told they were runners-up to Marietta.
And time was something she just didn’t have when it came to this promotion.
“Keep working on the community’s key players,” Steven told her. “If the ferret habitat isn’t confirmed, we can hopefully still get a yes vote from the planning board. And I’m still working on acceptable alternatives for the farmland lease. Should know more early next week.”
“That’s great, because, right now, they’re the only landowners who seem strongly opposed to the project. A few other families spoke out, but no one relied on the property we’re looking to buy more than the Flying J Ranch next door.”
“Good to know, and more ammunition for me to push up the ladder. But now that we’ve got a potential endangered species to confirm, we’ll need to reach out to land acquisition and have them do some additional research on EPA guidelines.
Also need to get a professional photographer out there to validate the claim.
Preferably one with wildlife photography experience.
I can have Joyce go back in the files and see who we used last time. ”