Chapter Fifteen #2
There, at the front of the Nelson property, was a large, newly erected sign. With no traffic in sight, he eased onto the road and kept his speed low to give him a chance to read what it said.
COMING SOON: RIVER BEND RESORT
LUXURY VACATION DESTINATION
SPONSORED BY TERAKION INDUSTRIES, LLC
Sam’s earlier anxiety, which had eased with news of the ferret discovery, ratcheted up again. Had Natalie’s company had a change of heart? He snapped a picture and stepped on the gas, eager to ask her himself.
*
Natalie had no sooner returned from her meeting with Chuck than a familiar knock sounded at her door. Grinning, she closed the laptop she’d literally just opened; the email update to her boss could always wait. It was Sam at the door, as she’d guessed, but the furrowed brows were unexpected.
“Hey there, handsome.”
The frown remained. What was going on?
“Afternoon, beautiful. Mind if I come in?”
“Be my guest.” She stepped aside, curious as to what had him frowning, then closed the door behind him. “So, what’s up?”
With a Stetson in one hand and a to-go container of food in the other, her larger-than-life cowboy’s presence, as usual, shrank the space. But as he studied her in silence, fear crept into her veins. Was Sam here to break things off?
She’d woken this morning worrying that things between them seemed almost too good to be true.
Heck, she felt a closer connection to Sam after a week than any of the longer relationships she’d had.
And because those had all eventually fizzled, she expected this magnetism between her and Sam to do the same.
She just wasn’t ready for it all to be over.
“Does corporate know about our planned photography project?” he asked.
It was her turn to frown. “I mean, my boss helped me set it all up, so I can’t imagine that they don’t. Why?”
Sam set his things down by the tiny kitchenette in her room and retrieved his phone.
After a bit of tapping and scrolling, he turned the screen around for her to see.
It was a large, white sign with her company’s logo displayed in the upper left and Marietta’s town logo in the upper right.
She stepped closer to get a better view.
“What on earth?”
“So, you didn’t know about this either?” he asked.
“No.” She met his gaze. “Where did you see this?”
“On the Nelson property, just now.”
“I can’t believe someone just dropped this onto the site without telling me.” Natalie ran a hand over her hair. “No more wondering if someone has been tampering with my project. This is proof, and I will get an answer.”
She went to her laptop and composed an email to her boss, requesting that he call her as soon as he was able, citing concerns with her current project. She was about to hit send when Sam’s hand caught her arm.
“Thank you.”
“Of course.” These mishaps weren’t just affecting her or Sam but ultimately how people could view the company. “I’m so sorry we got hit by another surprise. This is just unacceptable.”
“Hopefully, your boss can get things figured out. I can’t stay long—there’s plenty more emails and invoices to look over for my father. But I’d needed a break and had hoped to make this a lighthearted visit. Then I saw the sign and… well, got a little preoccupied.”
Natalie placed a hand over his. “Preoccupied or not, it was a wonderful surprise to find you at the door.”
He pulled her to her feet and pressed his lips to hers. They lingered there, the long, slow kiss growing needier. God, she was going to miss this, miss him. Though there was no sense in wasting opportunities to enjoy him while she could.
Natalie met his gaze. “You don’t have to rush off right this second, do you?”
Thankfully, he did not.
Also, midafternoon quickies were becoming one of her favorite things.
Half an hour later, Sam kissed her goodbye—again—and headed back to the lodge to finish his work before dinner. And, yes, she’d quickly accepted the invitation he extended to join them again tonight. But until then, she had some work to do of her own. Specifically, investigatory work.
Who on earth was trying to sabotage her Marietta project?
Steven was just as surprised to hear about the sign as she was. He promised to place a call with corporate to have it removed immediately but set aside in case it was needed later. Then he listened to her update from the brunch meeting with Chuck.
“Sounds like Mr. Banyard is a staunch supporter of this project. Keep me posted on any further conversations you have with him,” Steven said.
“Oh, and if you can, pass along to the mayor and representatives for the Miles family that corporate is prepared to buy out their lease for this year and pay them that amount times one and a half the next two. Hopefully by then, they’ll have found another supplier or another plot of land. ”
Natalie scribbled down the information. But what the Miles family really wanted was for a few little ferrets to go on camera at the end of the week and avoid having to find another supplier. “Great, I’ll pass that along.”
“And make sure to let me know if that sign isn’t down by tomorrow. Also, I take it that you saw my email about Libby’s baby coming a month ahead of schedule?”
Natalie nodded. “Sure did. Praying everything goes okay for them. And I’m happy to help with the Greensboro project remotely, just please don’t try to fly me out there right now. We’ve got too much in motion here for me to pack up and leave.”
Also, she wasn’t ready to leave, not yet.
Steven expressed his gratitude at her flexibility and promised not to pull her away from the Marietta project prematurely. It all seemed like a win-win to Natalie. The extra work would keep her days full while Sam was out working, too, then leave her evenings open for time out on the ranch.
Where she wanted to spend as much time as possible her last guaranteed week here.
Natalie started to question her rationale an hour later, buried beneath a dozen forwarded emails from Steven.
Holy crap, had Libby not done anything the past few months?
She’d missed deadlines, town leaders were frustrated with Terakion’s lack of communication, and the actual site evaluation hadn’t been properly compiled or distributed.
And Natalie thought her project was a mess.
She worked on digesting as much as she could until five, then shut down her computer.
Two hours behind the East Coast, no one would be calling her with requests tonight.
So Natalie freshened up, then headed to the ranch for dinner.
Greensboro could wait; she had a limited amount of time left with Sam and his family.
Tuesday, she had another brunch meeting in Marietta—this time with Tom Felz, the other planning committee/board of works member.
Tom was less eager to see a large, corporate-run vacation resort be placed in their backyard.
She made sure to make notes of his concerns, then headed back to her room at the Bramble House to pick up on helping the Greensboro project.
She’d just begun reading one of the dozen latest emails her boss had forwarded when her phone buzzed.
Grinning, she picked it up. It was likely something from Sam.
Instead, her sister’s name appeared. Can you call me?
Natalie sat back in her chair with a sigh.
If Julianna wanted to chastise Natalie again for her desire to change positions, she was going to have to wait.
But the longer Natalie considered the request, the more it piqued her curiosity.
If Julianna had wanted to badger Natalie, she would have just called.
This seemed more like a sincere request, and an unexpected one at that.
So, she took a cleansing breath, turned from her laptop, and tapped the call icon on her phone.
“I take it you got my text?” her sister answered.
It was just like Julianna to bypass the pleasantries. “Sure did. Caught me in between tasks, so I figured now was a good time. What’s up?”
“I spoke with Steven this morning.”
Natalie pinched the bridge of her nose. “Jules, if this is about me applying for that promo—”
“It’s not. Well, not like you think.” On the other end of the line, Julianna blew out a huff. “Steven said you’ve been having troubles with your project, and I think I know why.”
“Go on.” But her sister said nothing. Several seconds passed. “Jules?”
“I’m here.” Her voice was softer than usual. Less domineering. “I—It was me.”
Natalie’s jaw dropped. “What?”
“Not personally, but I think I was the cause. I thought you were nuts for wanting to switch to a different department, because you’re doing really well where you are. Like, Steven brags on you all the time at other meetings.”
He did? That almost made Natalie smile. Almost, because she was too mad at the moment to do so.
“Anyway, I was dating a guy named Brice in the site procurement group when you first mentioned your intention to switch, and I sort of told him my feelings on you considering walking away from your current position.”
Natalie frowned. Months had gone by since they’d last spoken and now she wanted to share her soap opera life? “So?”
“So he may have mentioned that there were ways he could keep the project from going smoothly, since I’d said you were one successful project away from being a slam dunk for the promotion.”
“I can’t even believe what I’m hearing.” Natalie rose from her chair and paced the room. “After all I went through, losing my job at Thinkology and having to basically start from scratch at Terakion? How could you go and sabotage your own sister’s career!”
“But I didn’t!” Julianna cried. “I swear I didn’t. And I guess I shouldn’t have vented to Brice. He promised he wouldn’t actually do anything, but after talking with Steven, it sounds like he did.”
“And he didn’t tell you what he was doing?”
“No, he never said anything about it. But some of that stuff he could have set into motion well over a month ago, maybe two. And I’m not about to go ask him—I broke up with him a few weeks ago. Things just weren’t working out between us.”
Well, at least Julianna had gotten one thing right in all of this mess.
“Did you tell Steven all of this? Because this is not cool, Jules. If that guy messed with my project, there should be repercussions. Something in the file so that if this project goes south, the blame should point to him, not me.” Never mind that the ferrets could undermine the whole project, this was her reputation at stake.
“I didn’t tell him because Brice quit the end of last week. And I was so relieved to see him go, knowing I wouldn’t have to avoid him at work anymore. For the record? I understand now why people always say not to date a coworker.”
Especially one with a penchant for tarnishing others’ reputations. “Damn. Well, I’m glad you won’t have to dodge him anymore, but that doesn’t really fix anything.”
“I’m really sorry, Natalie. I had no idea he would do something like this.” Julianna sighed. “If there’s anything I can do to help fix this mess, tell me.”
“Thank you, I appreciate that.”
An apology—that was the most she’d gotten from her sister in years.
But after talking with Sam about his siblings, she realized that a single apology wasn’t nearly enough.
This time, Jules had to be a part of the solution, too, no ifs, ands, or buts.
Brice might have pulled the strings, but she’d put the idea in his head to begin with.
“So, here’s what we’re going to do to try to fix some of the mess you made. First, you’re going to call Steven.”