Page 20 of When I Fall In Love

“It’s possible,” I say on a sigh. “Leaf peeping season is always busy and as there aren’t too many places to stay, they fill up quickly.”

“Bad luck. Don’t you have friends there you could go stay with? You grew up there after all.”

“No. And I don’t want to go to Vermont.” Verbalizing this has to help, right? Even if my heart tugs at the images still filling half of Jana’s computer screen.

Jana gives me a hard stare. “Where do you want to go then? Because I checked: you have six days of leave banked, Beth. That’s a week you can take now because there won’t be time to take leave again until Christmas. Not with the competition bureau hearing coming up and the new clients we onboarded.” She shakes her head. “And honestly? I don’t see you making it to Christmas without taking a break, so I’m going to make you take all of it.”

I suppress a groan. We might be friends and have an easy relationship, but Jana is still my boss and senior partner. I can only push her so far. “At least give me time to wrap things up here. I can’t just drop everything—”

“As if you’re dead?” Jana huffs. “Sorry, bad joke but that’s what happens when people keel over.” She closes the websites and minimizes the internet browser, signaling that this meeting is over. “You have until Friday to wrap up. We’re onto new clients and HarperFynnFoods is done now. While we’re waiting for the competition bureau hearing, we’re in limbo with that merger. The timing couldn’t be better. A week isn’t much and you’ll catch up quickly once you’re back.”

I nod, knowing deep down that she’s right. A nervous breakdown isn’t going to help anybody. But would going to Vermont and dealing with the farm sale help me emotionally? The realtor promised the property would go quickly, especially if it gets sold for development. Imagine having it done and dusted in two months. Maybe I can even sign on the dotted line while I’m in Vermont.

“I’ll think it over,” I say.

“Don’t think too hard, okay? Doing something on a whim is sometimes the only way to do it,” Jana says.

“Okay.” With a last nod I walk out of her office. She makes sense of course and with Kyle running with the farm’s sale I haven’t really paid much attention. From a lawyer perspective I should go and make sure all the documents are in order. Do other lawyer-y things. Go see and verify what we’ve put on the market and make sure we get a fair price.

Kyle hasn’t been back to Ashleigh Lake either and maybe at least one of us should go. I get to my desk and sit down for a moment, hesitant to message him. I don’t want him to know that Hunter’s been in town and basically unleashed a landslide of emotions. Eventually I sent him a text.

Have you ever thought of going to Ashleigh Lake?

I wait for his reply which comes in a couple of minutes. To go see the farm? he asks.

Yes.

A long pause follows, and I can sense that this simple question has unearthed something for him as well. To go see the farm from a business point of view is one thing. To go back for a walk down memory lane is a whole different story. I’m not sure if either of us are ready to stomach everything that would entail.

It has crossed my mind. I still regret not taking Mom before she got too sick.

Oh God. She brought it up with him too in a longwinded, indirect way? We were so blinded by her illness. I bite on my lip, knowing that Kyle had tried to put the past behind him as much as I had and that’s probably the reason why he hadn’t acted on Mom’s hints either.

I’m still deep in my own remorse when another message from Kyle pops up. To be honest I don’t think it’s a good idea.

You’re probably right I reply and then close the app so it would seem that I’ve gone off-line.

Would it really be such a bad idea? It wouldn’t even need to be for a week, it could just be for a couple of days. A quick in and out. I don’t need to stay in town—I could avoid the locals by booking a cabin outside of Ashleigh Lake. With a rental car I could stock up on food in Burlington and wouldn’t have to show my face in Ashleigh Lake’s streets once.

I’d be incognito.

Nobody needs to know. Nobody can know that I’m in Ashleigh Lake. I don’t need a local picketing protest on my hands because we chose to sell for development. There’s a reason why Ashleigh Lake is probably named the most romantic town in Vermont: it isn’t overrun with touristy shops that sell cheap imports. From what I’ve seen, it’s kept its small-town idyllic atmosphere and charm—something that could be destroyed with a giant ski resort opening on its doorstep.

I close my eyes and release the breath that has sat tight in my chest for the past ten minutes as I visualize a week on a lake in Vermont with fall in full swing. It sounds like heaven and I could do with a slice of that right about now.

By the time I walk out of the office that evening, I’m resigned to taking leave.

Vermont.

One last time. As my mind digested each layer of Hunter’s revelation last night, it had whispered to me its own conclusion: I have to go. Kyle might be able to never go back, but now that I’ve seen Hunter, the lure has become too strong for me to resist.

By the time I get home, my mind’s made up.

9

HUNTER

It’s been a week since my impromptu trip to San Francisco and the ‘socializing’ of my problem has stalled with no solution at hand. There’s been no more news on Collingwood Farm’s sale—not that I’ve heard of at least, but I also know how this works. The person who the situation touches the most is the last to hear a thing.

---