Sand Castle Bay (Ocean Breeze) - By Sherryl Woods Page 0,113

choice but to work through this.”

“Oh, you dreamer,” she accused lightly. “That’s precisely when too many people wind up divorced when things get hard.”

“Not us,” he said with conviction.

“And yet you were the one who ten minutes ago wanted to call it quits.”

“Not quits,” he protested. “Just a break to figure things out.”

“No breaks,” she said with determination. “We work on this one day at a time. I am going to take that job, Boone, because I feel I absolutely have to do it, but that doesn’t mean for a single second that I’m giving up on us.”

“Then I guess I can’t give up, either,” he said. “Not even temporarily. When will you start?”

“After the first of the year.”

“And you’ll be back here for Christmas?”

“Absolutely. I intend to try to make it for B.J.’s Christmas pageant, then stick around through New Year’s.”

“Then we’ll make the most of every day we have,” he promised.

He still wasn’t a hundred percent convinced they could weather the kind of separation she was anticipating with this new job, but plenty of other couples did it, like those in the military. He just had to keep reminding himself what it had been like when he’d thought she was out of his life for good. Surely, compared to that empty time in his life, knowing she’d be coming home, that she’d eventually be in his arms, would be enough.

* * *

As Emily flew to Denver and then on to Aspen, she wished she felt more relieved at having resolved things with Boone. She knew, though, that underneath their agreement was a mountain of doubt. Boone might be willing to try to make this work, but he didn’t entirely believe that it would.

Maybe she was being unfair to insist on trying. Maybe a clean break would have been wiser.

Just like last time, she thought, wincing. That had certainly been disastrous.

No, there would be no break. They were going to make a real effort to work things out. For the first time in years, she had balance in her life—a job she was genuinely excited about and a man she loved with everything in her.

The next few days were a whirlwind of activity as something seemed to go wrong with every single detail at the ski lodge. A major furniture delivery was delayed. The snow they’d been anticipating hadn’t made an appearance until exactly the wrong moment, when deliveries were finally scheduled. Roads were temporarily impassable. Tempers were short. And permits for occupancy hinged on contractors correcting a seemingly endless list of thankfully minor last-minute glitches.

Emily was working from dawn until late at night trying to make sure everything came together on schedule. After a week of nonstop worry and activity, she finally took a deep breath, sat back with Derek and his wife in front of a blazing fire and smiled.

“We’re going to pull this off,” she said triumphantly.

“I was beginning to have my doubts,” Derek said.

“Not me,” Tricia claimed. “I knew Emily had it all under control. And for my part, the caterer for the grand opening party is the best around, the chef I hired is fabulous, the wait staff is well-trained and our ski instructors are excellent. I predict a huge success.”

“I’ll second that,” Emily said, lifting her glass in a toast.

Derek glanced toward the giant fir tree in the lobby that had been decorated with hundreds of twinkling colored lights and shiny, oversize balls in red, gold and green. A train ran through a snow-covered village beneath it. Mountains had been created with tiny skiers on the slopes.

“I love that train,” he said, smiling. “I don’t know why I didn’t think of that. My brothers and I had one just like that, only not quite as elaborate.”

Emily watched the train circle under the tree and thought of Boone. She’d barely spoken to him in the past week. They’d played phone tag a few times, connected once or twice for completely unsatisfying chats. She couldn’t help wondering if he wasn’t pulling away from her after all, especially since her calls yesterday and today had gone directly to voice mail. The fact that he hadn’t called back was even more worrisome.

She’d find out what was going on with him next week, though, when she got back to North Carolina. If he’d had second thoughts after she’d left, that was soon enough to find out. She couldn’t allow anything to distract from getting the lodge open and running. She’d made a promise to Derek, and she didn’t