Up to Snow Good - Kelly Collins Page 0,13
was going.
“I understand it won’t save me long term, but it’s all I’ve got for now. I just need a moment of remission so I can find a real remedy.”
Sam seemed to read her expression, but it wouldn’t have taken much insight for him to know what she was thinking. Everyone expected her to sell.
“Have you given any more thought to selling?”
There it is. She sighed and set down her tea. “I have.”
He brightened up, growing two inches in front of her. “And?”
“And I don’t want to.”
He deflated like a popped balloon, sinking into his chair as the air rushed from his lungs. “Lauren, I know you don’t want to, but life isn’t always about what we want, you know that as well as anybody.”
She couldn’t argue with that. A cold hollow feeling twisting inside her belly was an ever-present reminder of what she was living through.
“There is something else,” his cheeks turned hot pink.
She turned, refocusing her attention on his suddenly awkward demeanor. “What is it?”
“This is um.” He cleared his throat. “We’ve known each other for quite some time now. And while you’ve been gone, I’ve had a lot of time to think about you—about us. I’ve been your family’s accountant for years, and in that time, I’ve grown fond of you; personally, I mean.”
Her heart stilled. Not in an, I’m flattered way, but in the oh, hell no way. “Sam—”
He held up his hand to stop her mid-sentence. “I realize this is sudden, but that’s the way life is, things happen unexpectedly.”
“Sam, that’s so sweet, but …” What the hell is happening to my life? The last man she would consider having feelings for her was Sam. Sure they knew each other, but it was in passing—weekends during college when she’d come home for a visit and later during the times she’d taken longer vacations.
“If you’re not interested, I understand, but I’d never forgive myself if I didn’t put it out there. Whatever you want, that’s what I want for you.”
“Like I said, it’s sweet that you care.”
“I’m not just being sweet. I wouldn’t have mentioned it at all, but sometimes life is strange, and surprising things happen.”
“I’m very flattered.”
Sam nodded, the awkwardness between them unmistakable and almost intolerable. “Just think about it.”
One glance at Ruthie told her she’d heard the entire conversation and had ideas of her own when it came to Sam.
Once Sam left, Lauren walked into the kitchen, shaking her head.
“I don’t know what to make of it, Ruthie.”
Ruthie clapped her hands and rubbed them together. “You make him a husband, Lauren.”
“You can’t be serious.” Letting Sam into their books was one thing, but into her heart and body was another.
Ruthie shrugged. “He’s a good man, and you know him.”
“I hardly know him, and I don’t love him. All these years, and he’s been harboring feelings? It’s just too weird and unbelievable.”
“Dat how love is sometimes, child! You must choose wisely, and not that Hunter man with his song and dance.”
“It was just a song, there was no dancing,” Lauren said, knowing what her old friend meant. If she closed her eyes, she could remember when they were teens and the way he held her and moved her around the room to music. Their bodies fit together like yin and yang—perfectly.
Ruthie wagged her finger in front of Lauren. “You are like my own, and I speak to you like I do my child. You need a man—every woman needs a man, and a child to call your own.”
“I don’t need a man. I’ll have a man when it’s right for me, and only I get to choose when it’s right for me.”
“What right man will find you up on this hill? No man will seek you out here.”
“Not true. Sam did.”
Lauren took her thoughts to the lobby, drifting among the guests to offer refreshments. She couldn’t get her mind off Sam’s confession or Ruthie’s endorsement.
Not that Sam wasn’t perfectly good-looking and successful, because he was, and to marry him meant she wouldn’t be living on the street, but even he couldn’t save the lodge, not that she would marry a person for that purpose. She refused to be a prize rewarded for a shrewd business deal.
She drifted toward the big windows overlooking the expansive backyard. Frazier pines and scrub oak filled the landscape, and thoughts of her bizarre meeting continued to fill her head.
Sam wasn’t a bad person. He was a hardworking and decent man and had always done right by them. He treated