Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 86020 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 430(@200wpm)___ 344(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86020 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 430(@200wpm)___ 344(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
This was where she could heal after the long months of caring for Uncle Lochlan. After the years of watching his decline and being able to do nothing about it. This was her refuge.
Here with Dane.
He stood. “Come here. I want to show you something.” He held out his hand, pulling her to the long, latticed windows.
Below them lay the pool and, beyond that, the beach and hiking trails. A rock garden filled with succulents ran beneath the windows, leading down to the pool patio.
“What?” She’d never get tired of the view, and how she’d missed it. He wanted her to see something special, but she couldn’t pick out what it was in all this splendor.
Dane pointed among the succulents and rocks. “Do you see them?”
Cammie was so very aware of her hand still in Dane’s warm, comforting grip. And finally she saw… something. “What are they?”
“Charlie Ballard’s Zanti Misfits.”
“They look like weird bugs. With big bug eyes.”
Dane laughed. “That’s exactly what they are. Bugs. From an old episode of The Outer Limits.”
Cammie gasped. “Uncle Lochlan loved that show! We often watched reruns. Now I remember the Zantis.” She craned her neck. “Charlie has got them down pat.”
“I was going to have her make a T. Rex, but she gave me these guys instead. Rex loves barking at them.”
She chuckled. “A big Tyrannosaurus Rex would have terrified him.”
Squeezing her hand, he said, “That’s what I finally decided.”
She looked at him, smiling. “I love them.”
“Thought you would.”
She wondered if he’d chosen the Zanti Misfits as much for her as for Rex. Probably. It felt like she was finally home again.
“Where is he, by the way?” Rex was usually wherever they were.
Dane rolled his eyes. “Fernsby is baking.”
That said it all. And now she needed to work. “Let’s talk and see where we are.”
Though she would have loved to stand there holding hands with him all day, it was impossible. She backed away from the window, then rounded the desk and pulled out the chair in front she always used when they discussed plans or swapped ideas. The indents in the plush Persian carpet were still there, as if Dane hadn’t moved the chair in five months.
“I was able to finish most of Uncle Lochlan’s estate issues. There’re a couple of minor things left, but it’s pretty much done.”
As he took his seat, his eyes softened to a sweet blue flame. “I know how that stuff can consume you to the point that you can’t even grieve. Then, all of a sudden, you wake up months later and realize you’ve never even cried.”
“Thank you for understanding.” He was thinking about his parents and the difficult estate issues he’d had to deal with. Thank goodness Uncle Lochlan’s estate was so much less encumbered. If they had a different relationship, she’d have walked around the desk to hug Dane, giving him comfort, taking comfort for herself.
But they didn’t have a different relationship.
He laid his hands on his desk. “That’s why you should still take it easy. Don’t jump into everything immediately. In fact, don’t start work for a few days. Just lie by the pool, read, take long walks. You need recuperation too. This has been traumatic.”
He didn’t want her to come back to work? She’d thought he understood what she needed. The agony of the past months suddenly welled up in her. “I need to work. It’s the only thing that helps me through the grief.”
“But I can’t help worrying about you.”
She felt almost militant. “I’m perfectly capable of coming back as your personal assistant.”
He held up his hands in surrender. “You’re right. About everything. I don’t know anyone else who could go through what you have and come out so well on the other side. But I won’t stop you from doing what you need to do. I love all your ideas. I want to hear more about them.”
His words deflated her. She actually sagged in the chair, and her grip on the armrests relaxed until her hands simply hung there. She hadn’t even been aware of holding on so tightly. “I didn’t mean to shout. I guess I’m still a little emotional.” God, she’d almost lost it. But there was one more thing she had to add, then they never had to talk about any of this again. “I’m going to step up my payments to you for Uncle Lochlan’s care.”
“Cammie, you don’t need to worry about paying anything back.”
She held up a hand, stopping him. “You and Ava made his last years so much better than they ever could have been otherwise. I can’t thank either of you enough. I need to return all that to you.”
His head slightly bent, he waved a hand. “Fine. Good. I understand. But there’s no time limit. You don’t need to make yourself crazy taking care of it.”