“They were stuck living separate lives.”
Katie didn’t know if Maggie would have seen it that way. From what she’d said in her journals, she loved her husband dearly, but worried about his gambling addiction. She had a thriving business, a daughter she adored, and good friends who cared about her. Giving up that kind of security to live with a man who wasn’t the most reliable person in the world would be hard for anyone.
With a grimace, she realized she was beginning to think like Barbara. “Patrick might not have been as bad as we think he was. If his brother had died or abandoned his wife and children, Patrick might have been in Whitefish looking after them.”
Barbara sat back in her chair. “But did he do it out of a sense of obligation or guilt?”
Katie frowned. Trust Barbara to look for the negatives. “Does it make any difference?”
“It did to Maggie and our grandma. From what we’ve discovered, they hardly saw him.”
Diana sighed. “Grandma was the most forgiving person I know. Regardless of what her father was like, she loved him. I never heard her say one unkind thing about her dad.”
Katie glanced at Barbara, hoping her opinion of Patrick softened. “It was a different time. We only have our great-grandmother’s journals to know what their lives were like and, from what we’ve read, they weren’t easy.”
“No one’s lives were easy then.” Barbara rubbed her forehead. “I’m sorry for what I said about Peter and staying here. Whatever you decide to do, we’ll understand and support you.”
Diana nodded. “And whether you write more books or not, we’ll still love you.”
With a heavy heart, Katie looked at the spreadsheet she was holding. After talking about Peter and moving back to Los Angeles, the marketing plan for her books didn’t seem nearly as important as it was an hour ago.
* * *
Peter closedthe door to his office in New York City and sighed. After spending two weeks here, he couldn’t wait to return to Sapphire Bay.
A year ago, he would have told anyone he enjoyed his job. Developing high-tech solutions to everyday problems made the long hours he worked worthwhile.
Meeting with suppliers, funding agencies, and the technical teams he employed made each day different. He thrived on a challenge, and BioTech certainly had a lot of those.
But, after working from Sapphire Bay, he craved the peace and tranquility that came with living in a small town. He even missed seeing Mabel and Allan in the general store and walking into Sweet Treats to sample Brooke’s latest batch of fudge.
When he’d told his colleagues about Sapphire Bay, he thought they’d think he was mad to want to leave the bright lights of New York City behind. Surprisingly, the complete opposite had happened.
Before they joined his team, two of the IT specialists working on the prosthetic project had worked in Bozeman with a tech start-up company. They hadn’t been to Sapphire Bay, but they’d traveled around Flathead Lake, stopping at Polson, Whitefish, and Bigfork. When he’d half-jokingly mentioned opening an offsite lab in Sapphire Bay, they’d jumped at the chance of relocating to Montana. Even David, his clinical director, had asked probing questions about the price of houses and the quality of the coffee.
A few days later, more staff stopped him in the corridors and in the cafeteria. They asked if he was serious about setting up another office in Montana. If the gossip mill went any faster, half his staff would be packing their bags and coming back with him.
Walking across to his office window, he stared at the streetlights far below. He could imagine the sound of taxi horns honking as they lined up like Formula One drivers at the traffic lights, the toxic smell of exhaust fumes, and the window displays from the stores dotted along the street.
Right now, he’d give anything to be sitting in front of the huge fireplace at The Lakeside Inn sipping coffee, and listening to Katie tell him about her latest book. Just thinking about being there made him homesick—and that was something he hadn’t felt in years.
A soft tap on his door made him turn around. “Come in.”
David stepped into the room. “I saw your lights were still on. How was the meeting with the Galloway Trust?”
“Better than I expected. Ian had a lot of questions, but seemed happy with our answers. He’s given me his verbal agreement to fund stage two of the project. His legal team will draw up the funding contract in the next few days.”
David tilted his head to the side. “That must be a relief?”
“It is.”
“It doesn’t sound like it. The Peter Bennett who started this company would have been buzzing with excitement if he’d had that type of news.”
“That was a few years ago.”
“I keep forgetting you were a child protégé. Even thirty-six-year-old men are allowed to get excited about a multimillion-dollar funding package. Especially when it will change people’s lives.”
“I am excited.” Peter forced a smile. “See. This is my happy face.”
