Sand Castle Bay (Ocean Breeze) - By Sherryl Woods Page 0,106
reaction.
“We’d want your help in choosing properties,” Sophia added. “You’d have to budget for the renovations, trying to get the best possible prices, of course. The more donations you could arrange, the better, but you will have funds at your disposal.”
“When?” Emily finally managed to ask, still not entirely able to form coherent sentences.
“We’re all agreed that we’d like to get started right after the first of the year,” Marilyn said.
“That should give you time to finish Derek’s ski lodge,” Sophia added. “And anything else that’s on your plate.”
An image of Boone and B.J. came to mind. They were most definitely on her plate. How on earth would she be able to juggle those relationships with what these two women were proposing? Clearly this new opportunity wasn’t something she could handle from thousands of miles away. It had been difficult enough to get this one safe house completed with her time divided between two coasts. She’d felt pressured no matter where she happened to be.
And yet she desperately wanted to say yes. She’d found the kind of professional fulfillment working on the safe house that had been missing from her other work. She wanted to contribute more, and this was her chance. She’d just had no idea how soon she might need to call in all those chits she’d told Boone he owed her for being the more accommodating partner up to now.
Could she make Boone see how important this work was to her? she wondered. Intellectually, he would probably grasp it immediately. When it came time to translate it into reality, into longer separations, how could she even ask that of him, no matter what she might think he owed her?
“I have to think about this,” she said.
“What’s to think about?” Sophia asked, regarding her with a touch of impatience. “How many times have you told me how much it’s meant to you to work on this project? We’re offering you a chance to do the same thing on a much larger scale. You can make a difference in hundreds of lives, Emily.”
Sophia frowned at her continued silence. “This isn’t about those obligations of yours in North Carolina, is it?”
“They’re more than obligations,” Emily replied, trying to keep her own annoyance out of her voice. “I finally have a chance to work things out with the man I’ve loved since we were teenagers. His life is there.”
“Is it more important than yours?” Sophia asked tartly.
Marilyn held up a hand. “Spoken exactly like a woman who’s ditched more than one husband because he didn’t suit your mood of the moment,” she said mildly, then gave Emily a sympathetic look. “You take your time. This is clearly a big commitment. You need to weigh it with the other priorities in your life and see how you can make it work. We want you for this job, Emily. I promise you we’ll do whatever we can to make it manageable for you.”
Emily gave her a grateful look. “I appreciate that. I really do. And I do understand the enormity of this opportunity. If there were no other considerations, I’d say yes in a heartbeat.”
Marilyn smiled. “So, it’ll take a few heartbeats before you have your answer. Talk it over with this man of yours. We can wait.”
“For a week,” Sophia said determinedly. “Not forever.”
“Then you’ll have my answer in a week,” Emily assured them.
That would give her time to think this through and to talk it over with Boone, though the phone was not the best way to do it. This conversation ought to be taking place face-to-face. Maybe she could squeeze in an overnight visit to North Carolina before she was due in Aspen to finish up the last-minute details at the ski lodge.
She and Boone had been meandering along, feeling their way as they explored the various paths that they could take to make this new relationship work. Maybe this was the push they needed to take that final leap into the future, she thought optimistically.
Or maybe, despite all his promises, it would be the thing that tore them apart forever.
* * *
Boone was on his cell phone pacing the dock outside of his restaurant when he saw Emily crossing the parking lot. Startled, he wrapped up his call and started her way.
“Hey, you,” he said, pulling her into his arms and holding her tightly. “Was I supposed to be expecting you?”
She laughed. “You mean my schedule hasn’t been programmed into your calendar?”