North Dakota Weddings (10 page)

Vance nodded his head in a vague motion. “Yes and no. It’s more likely you answered a questionnaire somewhere or bought a product that’s related to that catalogue—transaction-based data. Still, it’s all about the data.”

Vance took a sip of his tea.

Andi played with her chicken Caesar salad. “So, in the company you work for now, what kind of data mining do you do? What are you looking for?”

Vance nearly spewed his tea. That wasn’t exactly the sort of question he wanted to answer at the moment. He wiped his mouth with a napkin and composed himself, feeling trapped. “Mostly manufacturing applications. Some government applications as well.” There. He’d answered without giving too much away.

Elisa leaned closer. “I want to hear about the government stuff. That sounds so exciting. What do they want to know? Who will be the next president?”

Stellar
. If he kept talking, they’d have him telling them about the confidential contract and the algorithm he’d written. He’d never thought of himself in a cloakand-dagger situation, but maybe that’s exactly what he was in.

“Who would have thought Fargo would be a place for something like that.” Andi laid her napkin on her plate.

“As a matter of fact, Fargo-Moorehead is home to several high-tech companies.”

Andi’s eyes took on that glazed look so familiar to Vance. Disappointment invaded like a virus. Though he’d expected it eventually, it still hurt. He’d be better off with a protective wall like Andi’s.

“Let’s talk about something else,” he said.

When Vance’s eyes took on a distant look, she could tell he was bored with the conversation, even though it was about him. She didn’t know enough to ask intelligent questions.

“I’ll be right back.” She excused herself and headed to the restroom.

In front of the mirror she tried to compose herself, push away the emotions. Listening to Vance talk about his job and his life in Fargo brought images of Jorgen to mind. Vance was no different than Jorgen. Educated. Brilliant. Lived in the city.

When would she get over how much he’d hurt her?

They’d dated through high school, then Jorgen had gone to college ahead of her and she was able to join him for a short period of time until her grandmother died. She’d had to return to take care of Elisa. He no longer had room for her in his life after that. Once he landed a job with a high-tech firm in Fargo he had big plans that didn’t include an uneducated wife. She wasn’t good enough. Never would be. Who was she kidding? She’d started the business to pay the bills and care for her sister, but she’d also wanted to make something of herself.

No matter how hard she worked, life worked against her. God seemed to bless others, while Andi stood on the sidelines. She finally had a glimmer of hope, at least for her business. But was it enough? Though Vance had brought her the hope, she resented people like him—people who were handed things on a silver platter. People who were able to fulfill their dreams without working hard for them.

Andi released a breath of pent-up jealousy, sagging as she washed her hands. No matter how hard she tried, she was beaten down at every turn, and Jorgen’s breakup had almost done her in. But her attitude was wrong. She couldn’t blame Vance Young.

She stared at the mirror again, making certain her face appeared free of the turmoil she felt inside. Vance was her client and to let her mind think of him as anything else went beyond professional. It was ridiculous. Still, she couldn’t fight the sense that there was something more between them—somehow she had to annihilate the idea.

When she returned to the table, Elisa was trying to talk Vance into tasting the sampling of rhubarb jam. Andi slid into her seat as she watched, wanting to forget about the pain she felt over Jorgen and simply enjoy the faces Vance made.

“You’re like a little kid who won’t try something new,” she teased.

“Who said I haven’t tried it? I have, and I remember what it did to my stomach.”

Andi peered at him. “It could have been bad rhubarb or bad eggs.”

Before Vance could answer, the waiter returned and asked if they wanted dessert. Both Andi and Vance said no, but Elisa piped up. “I do.”

Andi shook her head. “You don’t need dessert. We had pie, remember?”

“Look, I ordered a small plate so I could save room.”

Andi sighed. “Oh, all right. I’ll have coffee since I’ve got to wait for you anyway.”

Vance ordered coffee as well. “So, it’s my turn to ask a question.”

Andi laughed. “I can’t imagine what you could possibly ask me that would be of any interest.”

That encouraged a snort from Elisa. “And that’s the truth.”

Hurt but not surprised, Andi stared at her sister. Elisa smiled and looked down. “I’m only teasing, sis.” Then to Vance, “She’s very interesting. You’ll see.”

Embarrassed again, Andi said, “All right, that’s enough.”

“I know you were my uncle’s contractor for Ground Zero, but I get the sense that you knew him as much more.”

“What makes you say that?”

Andi looked into Vance’s sharp eyes. She saw kindness there. Part of her wanted to know him better, much better. Again, she reminded herself it was out of the question.

“You’ve said a few things here and there. But when you say his name, you speak it with a warm familiarity.”

He noticed that? The sensitive way he said the words squeezed her chest. Her heart warmed, sending a soft smile across her lips as she wrapped her hand around her coffee cup.

“I’ll prove it to you. Come on, say his name.”

“What?” Andi laughed. “You’re not kidding, are you?” She cleared her throat. “Mr. Erickson.”

“See? You feel something when you say his name.”

She felt it all right. A blush up her neck and cheeks at the way Vance could tell how she felt. Her pulse raced under his intense stare. “He was a good man, though a little strange. I think you would have liked him a lot. If you’d had the chance to spend time with him.”

“Like you did.” Vance worked to fold his napkin into some sort of origami creature.

This guy was astute, able to read people. She had to squash her growing schoolgirl crush on him—yeah, might as well admit it—before he read that, too. He’d figure out her secret hidden at the missile base.

Sooner or later.

“Your uncle knew my grandparents. He bought the farmland and missile site when it became available several years ago after my grandfather died. Seemed like he was around a lot, spending time with my grandmother. After she died and I had to quit school…” Andi hadn’t meant to reveal that information. A knot formed in her throat.

“Andi.” His voice low, he reached over to place his hand over hers. “You had to quit school? I’m so sorry.”

Electricity surged up her arm. Andi stared at his hand, then slowly lifted her gaze to his. Tenderness, understanding, and longing were all wrapped together in one searching look.

It scared her. He scared
her
. She was in no way ready to be vulnerable again.

Gut it up
. If she didn’t harden herself now, it might be too late. “Thanks, but it’s okay.” She pulled her hand from his and continued her story. “He approached me to do the work and over time I got to know him better. It surprised me to learn he was wealthy. Made me wonder why he stuck around here.”

“So you’re not against getting to know the people you work with.” He appeared to contemplate his words as though thinking out loud.

She couldn’t go there. Not now. Not with him. “Your uncle Vance had the inside story on my grandparents. Had been friends with both of them when they were younger. You betcha, I wanted to hear about them.”

Vance smiled. “Really?”

“Yeah.” Andi nodded. “You see, he’d had a thing for my grandmother. But she was married to my grandfather, of course.”
The letter. Tell him about the letter
. Like Vance, she, too, fidgeted with her napkin but nothing so elaborate as an origami space ship.

Vance pushed against his seat back, appearing surprised. “That is completely stellar and shocking news. It explains a lot, really. You’re working on the missile site where your grandfather was an airman. I had a feeling you were more than a contractor to my uncle—more like a granddaughter.”

Elisa snickered from her corner. “Andi thinks he only hired her because—”

Andi kicked her under the table. “We’d better go. Elisa has school in the morning.” She looked for the check but saw nothing.

Vance held it up and grinned. “You’re not getting this. Now go. I’ve got it. You can get it next time.”

Andi frowned, though a warmth spread through her. He was getting under her skin way too fast. He was exactly the kind of man she didn’t want to allow in. She resolved there wouldn’t be a next time.

Deep
inside—sigh—she
really wanted there to be.

F
or the next week, Andi worked with her crew in the equipment building, preparing load-bearing walls for additional floor space in the form of a loft. One of Andi’s friends agreed to give Elisa a ride from school each day so Andi wouldn’t need to stop work. And when she did, she made sure to avoid Vance, though he seemed to be caught up in a project, albeit computer-related, of his own.

Once, she caught a glimpse of his somber expression and it worried her more than she had a right to be. She’d itched to drop next to him on the sofa to see what bothered him and imagined listening to him explain his work in what would sound like a foreign language to her. Then, all her insecurities would come crashing down. Why couldn’t she just get over what Jorgen had done to her? Why did she believe he was right about her?

Again, she reminded herself, Vance was her client, nothing more, and she intended to keep her distance.

Quitting for the day, Lars and Karl said their good-byes, then took the elevator up. Andi should stop, too, but she wanted to spend a few minutes searching for the elusive item her grandfather hid decades before. The closer she came to finishing this job, the more her hopes sank that she’d ever recover it or that it had even remained undisturbed.

Tired all the way to her bones, her muscles ached and so did her head. As she pondered what to do next, Elisa’s laughter drifted through the tunnel.

That was it, then. After gathering her tools into her tool bag, she headed down the tunnel to get Elisa. Soft voices replaced the laughter. Andi peered through the door to see her sister mesmerized, hanging on every word Vance uttered.

Andi’s breath caught in her throat. She lowered her tool bag to the floor.

Arms folded, she straddled the blast door frame and leaned against it, watching, listening. Her sister was actually interested in the conversation. Did Elisa only act the rebellious teenager while with her? The truth hurt. But then again, that would mean there was more than enough hope for her sister. For them.

Vance pointed out various parts of his telescope, explaining them. His eyes shone with love for the hobby. Funny thing was, so did her sister’s. He’d extracted Elisa from her self-inflicted shell of a bad attitude. Amazing. Another crack in Andi’s defenses. It was one thing to harden herself when his tactics were aimed at her, but getting her sister excited about astronomy—why would she put a stop to that?

She observed them, unnoticed from her perch.

“Oh yeah, star clusters, swirling galaxies, nebulae are all there to show us how big God is…”

Andi became lost in her own thoughts while listening to his soothing voice and watching Elisa’s vivid expression and shining eyes. She’d not done a good job of raising her sister these last couple of years. Regret clung to her.

Still, Vance…he’d changed things, stirring life into her sister in only a few days. Stirring something else into Andi. If only she could bury her heart much deeper, like the launch control center was buried in the ground with shock absorbers to protect against attacks. She almost laughed at the image.

As though she’d laughed out loud and given herself away, Vance looked up from the telescope, directly into her eyes, pinning her with the intensity of his gaze. Without moving, he stared for what seemed far too long. She could live in the warmth of his hazel-eyed gaze forever. Wanting to shake free, she stepped all the way into the room. That did the trick.

Elisa’s demeanor returned to her normal flippancy, hammering the nail of disappointment into Andi. By stepping into the room, she’d destroyed the magic.

“Don’t mind me. I still have work to do,” she lied.