Sand Castle Bay (Ocean Breeze) - By Sherryl Woods Page 0,98

weren’t there quite yet. Emily was starting to feel pulled in two different directions. And, she admitted, she was starting to resent Boone for not having to give up a single thing thus far. To be fair, though, had she even once sat down with him and asked him to meet her halfway on something? No.

She sighed just thinking about the emotional heavy lifting still ahead for them. Sophia smiled.

“Just sinking in how complicated this is going to be?” she teased lightly.

Emily nodded.

“At least the crisis has been averted for now,” Sophia said. “I’m going to take off and try to sweet-talk a couple of corporate tycoons out of some big bucks.”

Emily chuckled. “They don’t stand a chance. I’ve never known you not to get exactly what you set out to get.”

“Remember that the next time I’m trying to wheedle something out of you,” Sophia advised her. “Give it up graciously.”

“For you, anything, anytime,” Emily said.

“Oh, boy, I have you now,” Sophia exulted. “I wish I’d gotten that on tape.”

“My word’s good enough,” Emily said. “I won’t forget I gave it.”

And now that she had given her word, she just hoped it wouldn’t come back to haunt her.

As Sophia took off, Emily’s cell phone rang. She glanced at the caller ID as she answered. “Hey, Samantha.”

“How are things in Tinseltown?” Samantha inquired.

“Chaotic. How about New York?”

“Way too quiet,” Samantha said, an odd edge to her voice. “Are you getting to Grandmother’s for Thanksgiving?”

“I’m hoping to. You?”

“I’ll head down on Tuesday most likely. Have you spoken to Gabi recently?”

Emily thought of the call she’d gotten in which she’d sensed something wasn’t right with their sister. “I spoke to her a couple of weeks ago. I meant to call you then. She wouldn’t admit to anything, but I felt like something was wrong.”

“That’s what I thought when I spoke to her last night. I was going to go by there on my way to Sand Castle Bay, but she told me not to bother, that she’d probably see me over there.”

“Probably?” Emily repeated with a frown. “What does that mean? Surely she’ll show up for Thanksgiving. Even Dad usually drags himself away from the office for the holiday.”

“I’m not convinced Gabi will this year. I do know if she doesn’t, we might need to drive over to Raleigh and see for ourselves what’s going on.”

“Why don’t I run by her place from the airport?” Emily suggested. “Maybe I can drag her with me, if she’s balking at coming.”

“Even better,” Samantha said. “See you next week, Em.”

“Travel safe.”

“You, too.”

Emily sighed when she disconnected the call. If she’d learned nothing else this morning, it was that once family or anyone else was in your life, it was all but certain to get very complicated.

20

Boone had given Pete a long holiday break to spend with the new woman in his life in New York. The fact that his top executive was actually excited about seeing the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving parade in person had come as a shock.

“You’re just a kid at heart, after all,” Boone had teased him.

Pete had responded with an expletive that was definitely not very childlike.

Now with Pete out of town, Boone had to deal with the calls coming in from various contacts in Charleston as they moved forward on opening their fourth restaurant, hopefully by spring.

“I really need you down here as soon as possible to sign the papers if you want that location you liked in the historic district,” his Realtor announced when Boone returned his call. “There’s another bidder, but the owner’s eaten at your restaurants and he liked your plans. He wants to get the deal in place now before his people start insisting on taking the higher offer.”

“You do realize this is Thanksgiving week,” Boone said. “How about next Monday?”

“How about Friday?” Caldwell Marshall countered.

“Nobody works on the day after Thanksgiving,” Boone protested.

“Sorry. He insisted it be by the end of the week. Even Friday’s pushing it. I think he was hoping for Wednesday.”

Boone sighed heavily. “I’ll try to make it work. I’ll get back to you before the end of the day.”

He hung up and called Emily. “How would you like to take a trip to Charleston on Friday?” he asked when she answered.

“It’s a very romantic city,” she responded cautiously. “Are you suggesting a private tryst, just the two of us?”

“I wish,” he said and explained what had come up. “I can’t call Pete back from New York to handle this, so it’s up to