Chapter 23
The trail system in this park is confusing.
I grabbed a map, but it’s not very helpful. The orange and red lines squiggle across the sea of pale green, but there are no landmarks displayed.
I can hear rushing water up ahead and some little dog barking, but that hardly helps my situation. What would help is if there was some indication of a waterway on this map. Then, I might be able to figure out where I am.
I asked a middle-aged woman, back in the parking lot, if she’d seen Gwen while out walking her dog. ‘She has auburn hair, usually she’s wearing a sweater…”
“Pretty girl? About thirty?”
I nodded. “That’s her.”
“She’s on the Ancient Oak trail,’ the woman said.
And now, I’m on the Ancient Oak trail. These trees lining the dirt path must be hundreds of years old. The woods on either side of me are incredibly dense. Barely any sunlight reaches the leaves and dark green moss that covers the ground. Sunlight does make it to the cleared path, though. It looks like pale yellow paint on the dirt. I feel like a character in The Wizard of Oz, following a yellow brick road.
The path curves. The sound of water flowing over rocks is louder now. The air’s cooler, too, in that way that happens near water.
That dog won’t stop barking.
The bark is sharp and rapid. I know dogs better now—not that I’m an expert or anything—and this sounds urgent.
The dog is beside himself, like he’s spotted an intruder.
What’s going on?
I continue walking and see a flash of pale clothing up ahead. A woman in a cream-colored sweater crouches down.
Auburn hair.
A little snow-white dog barges up to her and barks right up into her face.
Gwen.
She reaches out, pets the dog, and speaks to it.
I can imagine how soothing she must sound right now. The dog clearly gets the memo: he stops barking and wiggles his backside. Then he puts his two front paws up onto her knee. I catch a glimpse of pink—his tiny tongue—licking her face.
She smiles at the dog.
A thin beam of sunlight hits the top of her head and cascades over her pretty face like a waterfall. She says something to the dog. Her smile is fleeting. Now, as she talks, I see she’s concerned about something.
About what?
When she raises her eyes, she catches sight of me.
Those blue-green eyes—the color of the Caribbean Sea.
Man, I missed those oceans of aqua. I feel dazed as I close the gap between us.
The dog, excited still, romps off.
By the time I reach Gwen, everything I want to say to her is jumbled inside my head. I want to know if she had anything to do with my failed product launch. I want to know if she’s upset with me. I need to know how she’s doing, how she’s feeling, and whether we can get through the storm we’re caught in.
I fired her without hearing her side. That was wrong.
I want her to know that, too.
But even though I have so much I want to say, I can’t get the words out. Because right now, when I reach the spot in the woods where she’s standing, a new view opens up.
Vanessa Von Kemp is six feet away, standing on pale river rocks that line a rushing creek. She picks up the little dog, and she holds him close to her chest, like a baby. She looks so tall, standing next to her companion—Clarice Manning.
For a minute, anger sears through me. They’re all here, plotting against me.
But Kate was right when she defended Gwen.
I know in my heart there’s more to the story. I have to hear it from Gwen.
“Brock—what are you doing here?” Gwen asks.
I face her. “I had to see you. I had to talk to you. I fired you without giving you a chance to explain.”
“Explain what?”
“Those visits with Clarice. Your work for Fit For Life.”
She furrows her brow. “What are you talking about?” When she swivels to check on Vanessa and Clarice, I do the same.
They’re whispering together. Urgently.
I feel Gwen’s eyes on me. “Did you fire me… because of something Clarice told you?”
“I heard it from the PI.”
It’s so good to have found her. I’ve been looking for hours. For an instant, my concerns about the spying, the theft of information, and my next launch all take the back seat. All I can think is that it is so good to see her.
“I didn’t have anything to do with Clarice,” Gwen says. Her eyes burn with defiance. She clears her bangs away, then gestures down at the two women, still whispering together by the water. “I think those two set me up… for something. I don’t really get it, but I heard them talking about it.”
Now, a new kind of relief mixes in with the emotions already swirling in my body.
She’s innocent.
Kate was right.
Gwen wouldn’t betray me. She’s not like that.
“I should never have listened to Brian Campbell,” I say, though I’m so flooded right now with care for Gwen that I barely register my own words.
Who cares about Brian or how he steered me wrong? I can’t waste time feeling resentment when Gwen stands here on this sunlit path right in front of me.
It doesn’t matter to me that Vanessa and Clarice are both glaring.
Clarice leads the way toward us. Vanessa follows.
As they breeze past, Vanessa pauses. “Brock… I’m sorry. For putting on an act with you.”
Clarice reaches for Vanessa’s arm and tugs it. “What are you doing?” she hisses.
It hits me, then. Vanessa’s seductive tactics weren’t an attempt at becoming Mrs. Benson, like I assumed. She was after my launch plan.
She was after it, and she got it.
She snuck onto my laptop in my home office. She had so many chances that night at my house.
What an idiot I was to overlook her.
Clarice keeps tugging at Vanessa’s arm. Soon, they’re both traipsing along the path, clearly intent on putting as much distance between me and them as possible.
I expect to feel mad about the retreat, but I don’t.
I’ll deal with setting Clarice straight another time. My lawyer will help. I have a more important matter to attend to right now.
Gwen deserves an apology.
In the distance, I hear Vanessa’s shouts. “Cocoa Bear, where are you going? You little rascal, come back here!”
Gwen shakes her head. “Those two… they were scamming you or something?”
“Not important,” I say, my tone deep, husky, true. “All I really care about right now is that you know I’m sorry. I’ll be honest with you. I was scared… of this. Of how I feel. Took an excuse, bailed, and…” I reach my hand up and rake my fingers through my hair. My exhale comes out in a rush.
I wish I could explain in a way that makes sense.
I don’t know if I’ll be able to.
Her eyes search mine. “What are you saying, Brock? I don’t want to get it wrong again. I think I read too far into things before. Now you’re here… Are you here to see me or because of something else? I’m pretty sure I saw your friends in the lot earlier. Are you looking for them?”
I shake my head. “I’m here for you. To find you, Gwen. To talk to you. You’re what I care about.”
A branch pokes my leg.
Her wide eyes flicker with amusement. The corner of her mouth twitches. “You’ve got a friend.”
Is that what that tickling feeling is, down at my ankle?
The small white dog presses his nose into my pants. “I don’t know when dogs started to like me. They never used to.”
Vanessa’s voice rings through the forest again. “Cocoa, you nut! Where are you, Bear? Come back to Mamma.”
The dog won’t stop nudging me.
“Dogs get it,” Gwen says in her gentle, warm way. “They see straight past all the outside stuff, you know? They sniff out what’s true about a person.”
I stoop to stroke the dog’s fur. He wriggles faster.
When I straighten up again, I point out toward the trees. “Go on back to your person.”
He trots off.
Gwen takes a step closer to me. “You’re saying it was a mistake, firing me?”
“A mistake I take full responsibility for. I’ll do whatever it takes to make it right.”
“Maybe we made a mistake, crossing lines we shouldn’t have.” Even as she says it, her eyes reveal the truth—she doesn’t think it was a mistake. Not really.
She’s happy I’m here. I can see it.
As happy as I feel.
“You don’t think it was a mistake,” I say.
“Is that an educated guess?”
I nod. “I’m good at them. Not to brag.”
“Oh, go on and brag. I might try to brag a little from here on out, too. And you’re right. I don’t think it was a mistake. I think—I think it was the best thing that ever happened to me.”
Typically, I have a lot to say.
When it comes time to record a podcast, I can talk on and on. Public speaking is no big deal, either, and the same goes for interviews and videos.
Usually.
Right now, no words come.
I’m speechless—too busy reveling in what she’s just said to come up with a response of my own.
Her eyes are warm as they search mine. “So, you’re really here, in this park, on this path… ‘cause of me?”
“I went to your place first. Then, the dog park in East Windsor. Jordan finally told me you were here.”
“Well, I’m glad you found me,” she says.
“I wish I could take credit. But I didn’t find you. Not at the beginning. We were thrown together.”
Her lip twitches again, and this time, the smile catches hold. It reaches her eyes. “We were, weren’t we?” Her hand feels so good when she places it on my lower back.
I wrap my arms around her waist.
She looks up into my eyes. “I don’t need to understand everything that happened. All I need to know, you’ve already said. You messed up, and I forgive you. Want to know why?”
“Why?”
“Because I’m glad my path crossed with yours. It was just another Monday morning until it wasn’t.”
I want to kiss her.
I want to, and I will.
But first, I have to make sure she knows something. “This is new territory for me. I’ve been single for a really long time. I might get afraid again. I might mess up again.”
She nods. Her eyes remain on mine. Sunlight kisses the bridge of her nose. “It’ll be an adventure.”
“Will you be the guide?”
She tilts her face so the angle mirrors mine. “It’s going to be new for me, too. I think we should figure it out together.”
“I’d like that.”
“Let’s shake on it,” she says.
“I have a better idea.” I dip my lips down, and we seal the agreement with a kiss.