Winter wanted to dance in place, but she would keep her feelings under wraps. “How soon do you want to open?” Crossing her fingers would reveal too much, but Winter couldn’t help sending positive energy out into the universe. Please let it be soon. Please let it be soon.
Janet shook her finger at Winter. “I like you Kingfishers. Your brother has always been one of them enigmas, but my boy Sam admires him, and that’s good enough for me. Your daddy? He’s charm personified, and your mama...” Janet stared out at the street for a second. “Gotta appreciate a woman who holds her ground. Plus, she’s got good instincts. That night out at the reserve’s ranger station open house, we talked about the skeeves and how that Callaway boy had always given ’em to her. She was pure joy when you pushed him in the water. In my book, the Kingfishers are quality people. Untangling yourself from the Callaways’ll take some time, but you let me know how I can help.” Janet clasped her hands in front of her. “Get to work right now if you’d like. Got a carpenter coming to put up some shelves and a party planned in two weeks. Let’s say twenty hours a week for now. I’d suggest you ladies get a move on getting us ready to open.”
“I will.” Winter smiled serenely, but inside her head a loud parade had formed because she’d be working again.
Janet tapped the Choose Duncan Again button that Winter had been faithfully wearing. “Lose this. Say what you want, but no wearing politics while you’re working here, especially not that guy. I still work at the school three mornings a week and the teachers would never let me hear the end of it.”
The celebratory parade ended with a sad trombone. The button was Winter’s single, constant, pitiful effort at impeding Whit Callaway, Jr. Twenty hours a week. She could take off the button for twenty hours a week and a paycheck. That meant Winter had to find something more effective.
Janet glanced at her watch. “If you want to make yourself scarce, I’ll understand, but I got an important client coming. Regina, my business partner and best pal, usually negotiates all the contracts, but she’s over in Cherokee doing some gallery scouting. Woman’s a pure genius for scouting, I tell you. Got a line on a computer system that’ll make tracking our inventory and sales a snap.” The musical bells rang and Janet turned. “Just one second, Mr. Callaway. I’m finishing up some business.”
At some point, the name Callaway better stop showering her with cold anxiety and then hot rage, but Winter wasn’t there yet. She had no real interest in talking to any Callaway.
Janet leaned forward. “Caleb Callaway. He’s hoping to rent a place close to the reserve. Got some business here in town for about six months. Guessing construction of that lodge is about to start.” She winked. “His money’s the same color as everyone else’s, so I figure, why not? The man did put a stop to destroying The Aerie, something this town was firmly behind.”
She waited for Winter to argue.
The town of Sweetwater had initially squared off against her brother, the only man determined to save The Aerie, a rare habitat in the reserve, from development because the town needed the business the lodge would bring in. Ash had been Sweetwater’s Most Wanted for a minute.
And that had been Winter’s fault, even though she knew Ash would agree she’d done what she needed to do if he ever found out. Slipping the governor a way to take down the Callaways in order to protect the reserve? Less noble.
The Kingfisher way was to stand up bravely to do the right thing. Her attempt to save her engagement by sneaking around? That had been a mistake. If anyone ever found out she’d been the anonymous source, instead of Caleb Callaway, Ash would forgive her. But Sweetwater would take longer to forgive and forget.
Caleb had taken the credit and the heat for pulling in the governor.
At her request.
He’d taken the heat for her.
Of all the Callaways, he was the one she was least prepared to face at that second.
When he paused in the open doorway, his jeans and rough denim coat a far cry from his brother’s polished loafers and wool sweaters, a hard knot formed in her stomach.
He hadn’t expected to find her standing there, but the serious expression on his face was fair warning that their business was not finished.
She’d begged him to confess to leaking the environmental-impact report to the governor’s office and take the heat off Ash. Telling the truth, that she’d been the one to sneak the report in during a random visit to the education coordinator at the capitol, would have done nothing to save Ash’s job.
Caleb Callaway, the family playboy who’d built a reputation for solid building practices and being at odds with his brother, had been the only answer at that time. When she’d evaluated her options to save Ash’s job and The Aerie, Caleb Callaway’s intercession had been her only choice.
She’d done what she had to do to get the Callaway playboy to show up for the board meeting and throw his support behind Ash. He’d done it. He’d confessed to leaking the report. Caleb had helped her, going beyond her request to make certain Ash kept his job, had gotten Ash’s idea for the new lodge heard and had gained a seat on the Callaway board of directors.
Caleb had given her more than she’d expected, including a promise not to tell anyone about it.
Guilt triggered a small panic attic as tingling heat spread up the back of her neck. He was here in Sweetwater as a result of helping her. She just knew it. From the expression on his face, he wasn’t pleased about it, either.
What would he ask for in return?
AFTER A WEEKEND spent scrambling to get the plans in place to start the lodge on his stepfather’s accelerated timeline and move his crew to the reserve, Caleb was rushed, frustrated and annoyed that he hadn’t skipped dinner on Friday night. This time frame set by Senior was ridiculous. The only way to make it work would be to spend nearly every minute at Otter Lake. He’d end up swinging a hammer himself.
Then he remembered his mother’s confused frown and determined smile.
Senior was worried. Even Whit had been subdued. The family dynamic had changed. People were depending on him.
He could do this, even if he’d rather not be stuck in Sweetwater. Proving that and meeting Senior’s deadline would go a long way to smoothing over family tensions. It was worth the sacrifice.
Thanks to an unexpected phone call from Mitch Yarborough, who was ready for a builder’s signature on the dotted line in order to get his Nashville subdivision underway, Caleb was thirty minutes late meeting Janet Abernathy, Sweetwater’s charming kingpin of rental properties. He was also completely unprepared to run into Winter Kingfisher then. As soon as he’d entered the cute, cluttered tourist trap of Sweetwater Souvenir, he could hear the murmur of womens’ voices, but when he’d paused in the open doorway to the other side of the shop, he’d slammed on the brakes.
Retreat was not a good option, and then her eyes met his. He couldn’t have turned his back to save his life. Why did she seem scared when he was the one having trouble catching his breath?
“Here’s a Callaway I’m prepared to welcome to town.” The woman marching toward him crackled with energy, even if her voice had pieces of slow Southernness to it. “I’m Janet Abernathy. We’ve spoken on the phone, but I don’t remember meeting in person. You don’t get to town often, as I understand it.” She smiled slowly as she offered him her hand. “I count that a real shame. We’re gonna fix it, though.”
Charmed and caught off guard at a warm welcome,