Starting Over (Nugget Romance 4) (28 page)

“You know them?” George asked.

“Everyone here knows everyone. But those two are my good friends. Harlee is the fiancée of the furniture builder I told you about. She owns the
Nugget Tribune
. And Darla and her father have the barbershop.”

“Can a person make a living in this town?” George seemed to be enjoying his chicken, so Sam gave him a piece of hers.

“Yes. A lot of small business owners, ranchers, and railroad workers. A number of people commute to Reno, though.”

George blinked. “That’s an hour’s drive.”

“About fifty minutes when there’s no snow.”

“And this Breyer fellow, he owns another nine hotels in San Francisco?”

“Mm-hmm. The Theodore is his flagship and it’s spectacular. And he just bought a bungalow colony fifteen minutes from here. It’s next to a touristy town with lots of ski resorts.”

“Why does he bother with this?” He waved his hand at the inn. “I mean, it’s handsome enough, but it can’t bring in that much revenue.”

“I don’t know whether it does or not,” Sam said. “But he and his sister Maddy bought it when it was practically falling down, and restored it. Maddy lives here full-time—she’s married to the police chief—and runs it, but is on maternity leave. They love the inn.”

She told him about the Landon Lowery family reunion. He’d never heard of Lowery, but Sam explained that in the tech world he was a god. Later, after she’d gotten most of her work done, she took her father on a tour of the town, introduced him to some of the town’s characters, including Owen and Donna, and bought a soft-serve at the Bun Boy. Tomorrow, when he’d had time to settle in, Sam wanted to show him McCreedy Ranch and Lucky’s fledgling cowboy camp.

Griffin dropped George’s rental car at the Lumber Baron and Andy gave Griff a lift back to the Gas and Go. George begrudgingly admitted that folks here were pretty accommodating.

“We all help one another out,” Sam said. “It’s nice.”

That evening she treated George to a steak dinner and martinis at the Ponderosa, which he seemed to enjoy.

“Is it always this full?” he wanted to know, as pins crashed in the adjoining bowling alley.

“Yep. It’s the only sit-down restaurant in town.”

“They should charge more.” George scanned the menu.

“Then it wouldn’t be so crowded,” Sam said. “This is a modest town, Daddy.”

“I can see that.”

After dinner George followed her back to her house in Sierra Heights.

“Interesting place,” he said, standing on her back porch, taking in the big log homes. “You say that young man, Griffin, owns the development?”

“Until he can sell all the houses, he does. He bought it while it was in bankruptcy, as an investment. And I think he’s having a hard time selling homes. They’re expensive. But the place has beautiful amenities. I thought that tomorrow, while I’m at work, you could hang out at the pool.”

“Sounds good.” He looked longingly at the golf course. “Anyone use it?”

“Of course. It’s open to the public and it’s Griffin’s bread and butter as far as Sierra Heights is concerned. There’s a driving range if you want to hit balls tomorrow. I don’t have any clubs, though.”

“Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.”

In the morning, George was still sleeping when Sam slipped out of the house. She left a note telling him how to find the pool and that she would call him later. If it weren’t for the Lowery reunion she would’ve taken time off to spend with her dad, but Landon’s family would start streaming in tomorrow and she wanted to make sure there were no glitches.

“How’s it going with your dad?” Brady said when she strolled into the Lumber Baron kitchen to get a cup of coffee.

Sam wondered if the whole town was talking about George’s rude entrance. “So far, so good.”

“Parents can be a real pain in the ass, but you’ve got to love ’em.” Brady grinned.

Yep, she thought, and her father in particular. She grabbed her coffee mug and hunkered down in her office, where she spent the day confirming each and every event planned for the Lowerys, including a bus that would shuttle them to and from the rodeo. Before leaving, Sam checked every vacant room to ensure that it was spotless. The occupied rooms would undergo thorough cleanings tomorrow at check-out time, when the entire inn would be turned over to Landon’s family reunion.

On her way out she snuck a peek inside Nate’s office. He’d been there earlier, but she’d seen neither hide nor hair of him all day, which seemed odd given their big event tomorrow. When she got home her dad’s rental car sat in the same spot he’d left it the night before. Perhaps he’d walked to the pool.

“Daddy?” She walked around the house looking for him, only to find a note on the kitchen island.

Nate sat in his car outside Sophie and Mariah’s house. He’d played nine holes of golf with Sam’s old man, then taken him to see Gold Mountain, had dinner at Rhys and Maddy’s, then driven here, where he camped, trying to get his head straight.

After ten minutes of working up the nerve, he finally got out of the Jag and knocked on their door.

“Nate,” Mariah said. “Come on in.”

“Hey, you.” Sophie came out of the kitchen, a dishrag in her hand. “We just put Lilly down for the night. You want a glass of wine?”

“A glass of wine sounds good.” He gazed around the room.

No matter how many times he saw it, the house never ceased to impress him. Not just the architecture, but there was love here. He could feel it oozing out of the walls, floating off the ceiling, and radiating up through the floors. Everywhere he looked he saw happy family.

“You okay, Nate?” Sophie held out a glass of wine and he followed her into the front room with Mariah.

“Yeah, but I wanted to talk to the two of you about something.”

“Okay.” Mariah patted the sofa next to her and Nate took a seat.

“It’s about Lilly.” He instantly saw the fear in both women’s eyes.

“Oh God, Nate.” Sophie moved closer to Mariah. A show of solidarity. “You promised.”

“I know.” He held up a hand. “I’m not going back on my word. That’s not what this is about.” Lilly was as much a part of them biologically as she was Nate. He just needed to know where he stood in their family, because he was so unsure. “What do we do when she’s old enough to understand? I don’t want her to think I turned my back on her.”

“Of course not,” Sophie said. “Why would she think that?”

“Because some day she’ll want to know why her father isn’t a bigger part of her life.”

“But you are a big part of her life,” Mariah said, and for emphasis added, “You gave her life.”

“What’s going on here, Nate?” Sophie asked. “Why would Lilly ever think that you’re not a big part of her life? Unless you’re planning not to be.”

“That’s the problem, Soph, I don’t know how much I’m allowed to be involved. From the beginning you made it clear that you and Mariah would raise Lilly. So where do I fit in? How close am I allowed to get to Lilly without usurping you and Mariah as parents? What if I have my own kids? . . . I mean more kids . . . You see, I don’t even know what I mean, because I don’t know what the hell I’m supposed to be to Lilly. An anonymous sperm donor?”

“Of course not, Nate.” Sophie sat on the floor in front of him and took his hands. “Have we made you feel that left out? You’ll always be Lilly’s biological father. Nothing will ever change that fact. And as soon as she’s old enough to understand, we will explain it to her. It has always been the plan that she know exactly who you are, Nate. Is there something we should know? Are you expecting?”

“Don’t make a joke out of this,” Nate said.

“I’m not, nor would I ever make a joke out of this. I’m just trying to understand where this is suddenly coming from. I thought we had worked all this out in the beginning.”

“I don’t want Lilly to think that I gave her away,” Nate blurted, and he could feel his eyes well with tears.

Mariah jerked her head back. “She won’t ever think that, because you’ll always be there for her. And when you have children, they’ll be her half siblings, just like all the other blended families out there.”

“You won’t have a problem with that?” Nate asked.

“Of course not,” both women said in unison.

“Nate, you’ve been a huge part of Lilly’s life from the day she was born,” Sophie said. “Haven’t we made you feel welcome?”

They had. It had always been he who felt like he was walking on eggshells, trying so hard not to impose on their family. Not to overstep his bounds. “You have. I guess I just need my position defined. Am I allowed to hang pictures of her in my house, to talk about her like she’s my daughter, to establish a college fund for her? Where am I supposed to draw the line? Because it’s all pretty damned blurry to me right now, and the last thing I want to do is go back on my promise.”

“Of course you’re allowed,” Mariah said. “You’re Lilly’s biological father. We’re the parents raising her. In other words, we’re the ones stuck being the heavies and you’re the guy who gets to take her to Disneyland. And there is always room for another college fund. But seriously, Nate, you’re in this with us. We want you to be an integral part of Lilly’s life. Always.”

He swallowed hard. “So you don’t mind that I come around so much?”

“Never,” Mariah said. “Look, I know in the beginning I was the one least in favor of you being Lilly’s birth father, concerned that this could cause problems in our friendship. But Lilly loves you, Nate. We would never deprive our daughter of her father. Does that mean there won’t be bumps along the road? Hell no. But we’ll learn as we go. All that matters is that Lilly is loved.”

Nate wasn’t the best at expressing his feelings and hadn’t wanted Sophie and Mariah to fear that he was reneging on their pact. But he felt like an enormous weight had been lifted just by finally talking about it.

Mariah was right. There was no playbook for their situation. They would make mistakes and at times Nate would feel left out—and probably a little lost. But their baby’s wellbeing was most important.

And from where Nate sat, no child could be loved more than Lilly.

W
hen Nate arrived at the Lumber Baron the next morning, the place was in chaos. Andy was up on a ladder, hanging the Lowerys’ family crest—who the hell had a family crest? Emily had volunteered to help Brady in the kitchen. Apparently as far as the food was concerned it was all hands on deck. Even Maddy had come in for a few hours to be part of the welcome wagon.

“Nice of you to show up,” she told Nate, looking at her watch. “Nine o’clock, really? There’s like a million things to do.”

“You’ve been gone how long and already you’re bossing me around? For your information, I had to put out fires in San Francisco.”

“Nothing with Fifi Reinhardt?” Sam asked, lugging a small card table into the parlor, draping it with a lace cloth, and stacking it with itinerary packets.

“No, not Fifi,” he said. “What do you want me to do?”

“Uh, could you tell Brady to start putting out the appetizers?” It was the most she’d said to him in a week except when they’d squabbled about George.

Just the sound of her voice caused a tightness in his chest.

“By the way, thanks for keeping my dad company yesterday. He said he had a lovely time.”

“No problem,” he said to her back. Okay, she was clearly done talking.

“What’s he doing today?” Nate asked, just to force her back into a conversation.

“Hanging out at the pool. He may come over later, when things settle down.” She brushed past him and for a second he was tempted to pull her into a corner and tell her that he’d made the wrong decision by breaking up with her. Breaking up? They hadn’t even been a couple. Not really. They’d only fought like one since the day she’d gotten here.

Instead, Nate went to the kitchen to deliver Sam’s message to Brady. Not necessary, since Brady had already started bringing out trays and arranging them on the antique sideboard. With Sam at the helm, Operation Lowery ran like a well-oiled machine. Nate snagged a cheese puff and went in search of his next task.

All around him the place buzzed with activity, everyone taking their directions from Sam.

“I think it should go more to the left,” she told Andy, who had moved on to hanging a welcome banner in the lobby.

Maddy looked over at Nate and gave him a thumbs-up.

“Could one of you turn on the music, please?” Sam called.

Maddy went off to do Sam’s bidding and a short time later classical music wafted softly from the sound system. Sam had moved on from the placement of the banner to fussing with a gigantic floral arrangement at the front desk. It reminded him of the types of arrangements they had at the Theodore. Elegant.

Nate crept up alongside her. “It looks great, Sam. You’ve done a great—”

“You’re welcome,” she finished, and gazed at her watch. “He should be here any time now.”

When Landon Lowery finally made his entrance, Sam was there to greet him. He embraced her like an old friend. Nate supposed they’d spent a lot of time on the phone planning the reunion.

He got lost in watching her. She was so poised and adept at putting people at ease. And when she smiled it was like the sky shooting sun rays. Seeing her that way made his throat constrict and he had to leave the room. On his way out, he backed into George.

“She’s pretty good at this, isn’t she?” he said.

“Yep.” Nate nodded.

“I probably shouldn’t be here, but Sam talks so much about this place that I wanted to see her in action. You want me out of the way?”

“You’re fine,” Nate said. “There’s food in the kitchen if you’re hungry.”

Out of left field, George said, “I want her to come home. She’s all I’ve got and she’s living clear on the other side of the country. I know she loves this job, and planning events, but she could do that at home. I could get her a job with any number of large hotel groups.”

Nate thought it was rather bad form for George to tell his daughter’s boss that he intended to steal her away. It also made Nate sick with worry that the old guy just might pull it off. What if Sam left and Nate never saw her again?

“I was wrong about Royce,” George continued, almost as if he needed to confess to someone that Sam’s ex-fiancé had been a prick. “But I’m right about this. In the long run she’ll be happier at home.” He gave Nate a pat on the arm. “You know, I think I will get myself something to eat.”

Nate watched George walk to the kitchen. More guests had started to trickle in. Andy went up and down the stairs, carting luggage to various rooms. Maddy showed a young woman, probably one of Landon’s siblings, something on a map. Emily poured wine for a group that had assembled in the dining room. Sam stood vigil at the door, greeting newcomers and directing the show.

Nate swept past a few recent Lowery arrivals and tugged Sam’s arm. “I need to talk to you.”

“Right now?” She gave him a look like
This better be life or death
. “Uh, sort of busy.”

“Sam,” Landon called. “These are my parents.”

Sam left Nate and glided across the room as if her high heels were roller skates. “So wonderful to meet you,” Nate heard her say and wanted to pull Landon Lowery by the back of his ridiculous hoodie and lock him in the bathroom.

“Hey.” He grabbed Brady, who’d just come out of the kitchen with more appetizers. “We’re having a meeting at three o’clock. I’m making a big announcement.”

“Today?” Brady asked, and gave him the same WTF look that Sam had just given him. Jesus Christ, you’d think the Lowery family reunion was the most important event ever held at the Lumber Baron. And so what if it was?

“Yeah. Today. After the guests settle in.”

“Okay,” Brady said. “Emily too?”

Technically, she wasn’t an employee, but what the hell. “Yes.”

He found Maddy in the parlor, cleaning up a spill.

“There’s a staff meeting at three o’clock. I’m making a big announcement.”

“In the middle of the Lowery event? Are you freaking kidding me?”

“No. It’s important.”

“It can’t wait until tomorrow morning when all the guests are still asleep?”

“What’s the big deal? By three”—he gestured toward the dining room where most of the arrivals were milling—“they’ll be largely handled.”

“Whatever,” Maddy said. “But Rhys is coming over so I can feed Emma.”

“That’s fine. He can hear the announcement too.”

“What is it?” When Nate wouldn’t answer, she said, “Oh for goodness’ sake, just tell me. I’m your partner, jerk.”

“Not on this.”

 

At three o’clock everyone gathered in the kitchen. Sam found it rather odd that Nate would hold a meeting on the first day of the Lowery reunion, especially since he’d been so obsessive-compulsive about the event in the first place. Even Clay, who’d come to pick up Emily, and Rhys were invited to stay.

Luckily, the guests were either out and about, touring the square, or resting in their rooms. Some had traveled from as far away as the Midwest and were exhausted after their long flights.

Brady had put out refreshments for the meeting. Andy stood in the corner, texting on his cell phone, like he couldn’t be bothered. Maddy was discreetly feeding Emma using one of those nursing covers. George perched on one of the bar stools like he’d been made an honorary staff member.

Nate came in and told everyone he was conferencing in the corporate office, including Lorna, Lisa, and Randall. Maddy looked over at Sam as if to say
I have no idea what this announcement is about.

Clearly, whatever it was, it was very last-minute.

Nate fidgeted with the phone for a bit. It took a while before everyone from San Francisco joined the group, given that some of them hadn’t yet seen Nate’s email with the passcode to get on the call.

He cleared his throat and the room fell silent. “Thanks, everyone, for doing this on such short notice. There are a couple of things I wanted to talk about. For those of you who don’t already know, Maddy and I are currently in escrow on a property not far from the Lumber Baron. It’s an eighty-cabin resort called Gold Mountain that needs a complete redo and will become part of the Breyer Hotel family as soon as it’s a done deal. Maddy and I have a few ideas, but we’ll want to roll out a marketing plan as soon as possible.”

Maddy nodded in agreement and Emma gurgled, eliciting a few laughs.

“For those of you on the phone, that was my niece.” Nate propped one shoulder against the wall, very much at ease. “Any questions so far?”

“It’s Randall, and I have one. We planning to book events at Gold Mountain?”

“Good question, Randall. Absolutely. It’s a perfect setup for weekend weddings, family reunions, group ski trips, and anything else you can think of. The Lumber Baron is also doing a joint venture with a dude ranch up here that wants to attract corporations interested in team building, but doesn’t have the luxury lodging that we do. So it’ll be a reciprocal thing.

“In addition,” Nate continued, “Sam has worked out a deal with the owner of the dude ranch to lease his barn for events too large for the Lumber Baron to handle. Apparently there’s a good market for people who want to hold weddings and parties in a barn.”

There were a few titters on the other end of the line and Nate grinned. Clay shrugged his shoulders like he didn’t know what was so funny. Rhys wrestled Emma out of Maddy’s arms and tried to burp her. George just sat there expectantly.

“I also wanted to discuss the position that Tracy left open. After much consideration, I’ve decided to make Samantha Dunsbury my new VP of corporate events.”

The room erupted in applause while Sam gripped the countertop for support. Now she knew what the cliché “a deer caught in the headlights” felt like. The announcement caught her totally off guard. Nate, who stood across the room smiling at her, hadn’t said one word about the promotion. Not one word. In fact, he’d made it more than clear that he had no intention of giving her the VP position. What happened to her not having enough experience? Or not being with the company long enough? It seemed to her that Nate had made a split-second decision based on her ability to greet guests at the door.

Before she could dwell on it any more, Brady did one of those two-finger whistles and Sam could hear Lisa and Randall cheering over the phone.

Nate calmed everyone down and said, “As far as event planning at the Lumber Baron, there will be some restructuring, which I’ll get back to you on. But I think you all know how hard Sam works, how much she’s done for the Lumber Baron, and how much innovation she’ll bring to this company. And based on the warm welcome you’ve already given her, I take it that you agree.”

More applause.

Maddy wrapped her in a hug. “Congratulations, Sam. Oh my God, I never saw that one coming . . . uh, not that you don’t deserve it, but Nate just stole you from me. When are you moving to San Francisco?”

San Francisco? When Sam had asked for the position, she hadn’t even considered where she would live if she got it. She supposed a part of her had hoped that she could do the job from Nugget. Perhaps a tad unrealistic. “Uh, I don’t know yet. Nate and I haven’t talked about it.”

Understatement of the year.

“Way to go.” Brady gave her a squeeze and winked. “You guys kiss and make up?”

“Well deserved,” Emily said, moving in closer to give Sam a hug. “But we’re sure going to miss you.”

Clay and Rhys both wished her congratulations and Andy clapped her on the back. “Take me with you,” he said. “Get me out of this hellhole.”

She scanned the room for Nate, but he’d already gone.

Her father came up alongside her. “Well, how about that?” he said, and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

She couldn’t tell whether he was happy for her or pretending to be. “Thanks. We’ll talk about it later, okay, Daddy?”

 

On their way home that night Sam told George how the job announcement had come out of the blue. That in fact, when Sam had originally asked for the position, Nate had nixed it.

“Now you would know this better than I,” Sam said, “but isn’t it common practice to offer the job first, before announcing it like it’s a fait accompli? I mean, we haven’t talked about salary or whether I’ll be headquartered in San Francisco. His sudden change of heart—it’s weird, right?”

Her father gave a blasé shake of his head. “Perhaps something happened in the last twenty-four hours to change it.”

“Like my performance on the Lowery event?”

“Could be,” he said, but he sounded evasive. “You like this fellow, right?”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“Sam, it’s no good working for a person you don’t like or don’t respect.”

She sighed. “I like him.” Too much.

“You sure talk about him enough,” George said. “Nate this. Nate that. You never talked about Royce that way.”

She’d never once felt for Royce what she felt for Nate. “I don’t think Royce and I were ever meant to be, Daddy. What do I do about this job? I feel like Nate and I should have discussed the requirements of the position first.”

What she really worried about was working side by side with him every day, given that she was totally in love with the man and he no longer returned the sentiment, if he ever had. At least at the Lumber Baron she was on her own a good portion of the time. And when Maddy returned, Nate would go back to spending most of his time in San Francisco.

“I should’ve had an opportunity to sleep on it and make an informed decision,” she continued. “Don’t you think? Now, I just feel like it’s being foisted on me.” And again, the specter of her last name raised its head. Was that the real reason Nate had given her the position?

“Last time we talked on the phone, you said you wanted the job,” George said. “It was all you could talk about. Make up your mind, my girl. But it sure wouldn’t kill you to play hardball. Tell him that you’re thinking of returning to the East Coast to be with your dear old dad.”