Page 37 of A Family Affair: The Plan
“What if I care about you? I have to stay and make this right.”
His mouth flattened and when he spoke, there was no emotion in his words. “Stay away from me and get out of this town.”
And then he turned and walked out of her life, taking with him the possibilities and the dreams she’d begun to believe could happen.
18
Mimi found her an hour later, sitting at the kitchen table, staring at the apple pie she’d made Sam.
“Goodness child, what’s wrong?”
Hope dragged her gaze to the woman who’d become her friend. “Oh, Mimi. I’ve made such a mess.” Fresh tears slipped down her cheeks, her voice clogged with grief. “I swear I didn’t know.”
Mimi sank onto the chair next to her, clasped her hand. “Are you talking about the young man who wanted to buy this place?” Those blue eyes turned fierce, her voice firm. “There’s no way he’d ever get near it, and I know you’re not part of that man’s scheme. I can’t believe he was ever your beau.”
“I guess I only saw what I wanted to see, and that wasn’t the real person. Or maybe that’s who I thought I needed… But it’s so much worse than Kent wanting the Heart Sent.” She blinked hard, forced out the words that had destroyed her chances with Sam. “Kent went to see Sam’s father. He wants to buy the clinic and the acreage that goes with it, and he’s using intimidation to do it.”
Mimi laughed as though she found humor in Hope’s statement. “Edgar Harrington is a tough old bird and he’s not going to letanyonepush him into selling.”
“Sam says Kent threatened to squeeze him out by driving business away.” She rubbed her left temple, wished she’d never told Kent about Edgar Harrington or his rocky relationship with his son. “Kent wants to build a bed-and-breakfast on Edgar’s land, which would…”
“I see. If they build a bed-and-breakfast, I imagine they think it will drive me out of business.” She patted Hope’s hand, shared the rest. “Edgar and I are old-school. We know what it’s like to struggle and work hard for what we believe in, and nobody is going to take that from us.” A sigh, a shake of her head. “People like to throw around money and platitudes about how much better our life would be if we only ‘followed their plan’. We believe in following our own plan, the one that comes from our heart and lives inside us.” Another pat on the hand, another sigh. “Anything worthwhile is going to present challenges, and your company is just another challenge.” Pause, followed by a huff of annoyance. “One I will gladly accept, and my guess is that Edgar feels the same. Nobody’s going to interfere with our livesorour choices.”
More people should be like Mimi and Edgar Harrington: determined, committed, steadfast. But what would happen when those people faced struggles and challenges? Would they give up? Simply quit and convince themselves to take the offer because money would make them happy? Or would they stop fighting because it was just too darn hard to keep doing battle, even if you believed in the cause? “Sam will never forgive me. He thinks I’m part of some plan to take over this town. I would never do that, Mimi. I would never…”
“Of course you wouldn’t, we all know that. I could tell after the first week you were here how interested you were,and it wasn’t about business. Heavens, you were pouring through my cookbooks, studying my recipes and you might have been thinking they would make good additions to the bed-and-breakfast you planned to build, but I saw more. I saw someone who was desperate to belong.” Her voice turned soft and soothing. “Youdobelong, Hope. You belong with Sam Harrington.”
Hope had just begun to believe that when Kent arrived and her world imploded. “Kent promised he would leave, and I believed him. I never thought he’d approach Sam’s father and I certainly never thought he’d try to push him out.”
“Maybe you didn’t know him as well as you thought you did, and if your boss condones it, then maybe you don’t know him as well as you thought you did either.”
Hope had been wondering the same thing. She needed to call Martin but at the moment she couldn’t think of anything but how she’d hurt the people who’d come to trust her, especially Sam.
“Sam will come around. You just have to give him time.”
Misery filled her heart as the truth settled in. “He thinks I betrayed him.” More misery, more sadness spread through her words. “He’ll never trust me again. If you can’t trust someone, what then?”
“Then…”
Mimi didn’t have to say more because Hope already knew the rest.Then you don’t stand a chance.
“I see you made an apple pie.” Mimi’s lips pulled into a soft smile, her voice gentle. “You made it for Sam, didn’t you?”
A nod, a shrug. “You said it was one of his favorites and I wanted to surprise him.” A sniff, another shrug. “Guess I’m the one who got the surprise.”
“You can’t give up, Hope.”
“I never wanted to care about anyone this much and I vowed I wouldn’t.” She’d spent years protecting herself. “Then I met Sam and it didn’t matter what my brain said.”
“Because your heart had its own answer.”
“Pretty much.”
“My guess is you’ve spent years building walls and protecting yourself from ever getting hurt. If you want a life that fills your soul and gives you meaning and purpose, you have to open up and risk getting hurt. I’m so sorry you’re hurting right now, butdo not give up, do not close yourself off yet again. You’re worth so much more than that, and when I think of you and Sam together? I see beauty and hope, and I see love.”
A sniff, a swipe of her eyes. “We both said we didn’t want long-term relationships, that we weren’t looking for more than short-term. I think we both knew it didn’t matter what we wanted because we already cared about each other.”
“Indeed. Stay strong, have a conversation with your boss about this mess and when Sam comes back tonight, you need to talk to him. Tell him how you feel.” And then she spoke the words Hope had not been willing to admit. “Tell him you love him.”
