Page 62 of Paging Dr. Breakup
Then the Avilas, the elders, the Zieglers, and the Garretts all agreed to pause any decisions to allow access for now.
Ruth said, “Motion to create a working group of involved and interested parties to study this question further. Recommend that we agree to proceed as one voice in the future.”
The future. Deirdre glanced at Calvin while those in the meeting discussed the subcommittee. She hadn’t given much thought to what her own future might look like. Not since Elijah died. Burying herself in work, and now helping Mav with the lodge, kept her too busy to do much more than tread water.
Calvin glanced over at her with a smile that looked both heated and regretful. Then he looked away.
How easy had it been to envision a future, working together with him and helping to care for the place she loved—both with respect to the mining potential on her property and with local healthcare.
That personal future—the one with Calvin as a partner building a life with her—she couldn’t even consider that possibility.
Actually, shehadconsidered that possibility more than once. It scared the hell out of her.
It wasn’t the possibility that scared her. It was the chance of losing her future again. Deep in thought, she zoned out through the remainder of the discussion.
After the meeting ended, Calvin turned toward her and murmured, “Good to see you.”
A shiver slid up her back. “You, too.”
“Still up for dinner tomorrow night?”
“Is it fake or real?” she said, low enough that only he could hear.
“Depends on what you want.”
Her face heated as the people around them—Bruce, Aggie, and Mav—sat way too quiet and still. “Send me the details.”
Maybe this was the right person. Maybe she could trust herself to take a risk and see if a future could happen for her and Calvin, after all.
“Will do.” He briefly touched her arm, then dropped his hand and turned toward his parents and the other people present.
Chapter Twenty-Three
The next dayCal stopped to catch his breath after chopping another cord of wood at his parents’ place. He checked his watch. 5:25p.m. He’d need to jump in the shower soon if he was going to be on time to pick up Deirdre for dinner at 6. Nothing like keeping up appearances to fake date the woman he had not-fake slept with.
No. They were truly dating. Problem was, neither of them would acknowledge that it was real.
He rubbed his sweaty brow and took off his fleece jacket, hanging it off a hook sticking out from the side of the metal garage. Rolling up his flannel sleeves, he exhaled and let the clean, crisp air flow over him.
He hated pushing Deirdre, but for his own mental state they needed to talk through this situation and decide together how to proceed. Tonight, then.
Pulling out his phone he texted, “Still on for dinner?” Thank God the homestead had been finally set up with satellite internet Wi-Fi so he could make calls and text.
A few seconds later, she replied, “Yes… finishing work at Mom and Pop’s. No change in your plans?”
He chuckled. “At this point it would be an act of God for me to no show.”
Her response. “Not reassuring!”
He laughed out loud and stowed the phone in his pants pocket.
Deirdre always made him smile. On the one hand, he could picture himself seeing her lovely face every day. On the other hand, his lingering self-doubt about measuring up to Elijah and the potential impact to his career in Seattle stopped him cold.
He hated to admit it, but at the end of the day, it might be that he and Deirdre were different people in different places in their lives with different priorities. Right people, wrong time. Damn, if that ended up being the case, it would suck.
Could he accept that reality? He had a lot to think about.
Thankfully, with his folks and Doofus gone to Fairbanks, Cal had used the day to clear his mind with some physical work.
