David’s eyes narrowed. “What’s wrong?”
“You’ll think I’ve gone insane if I tell you.”
“Is this about your grand plan to open another office in Sapphire Bay?”
Peter sat heavily in his office chair. “It’s more than that. When I’m not here I miss my family and working alongside you and the rest of our team, but I don’t miss Manhattan. I think I’m going through a mid-life crisis.”
“Or a re-evaluation of what’s important. You’ve found someone special in Sapphire Bay. Don’t give up on her.”
“Are those wise words coming from personal experience?” Peter only knew the bare facts about David’s last girlfriend, but even that was enough to make him want to take the next flight back to Montana.
“Chrissy and I had a great relationship. I enjoy my job, but leaving her was the worst thing I ever did.”
“Have you called her to tell her that?”
“There’s no point. She’s engaged to someone else.” David sat in the chair opposite him. “I’m forty years old with no wife, no children, and a mortgage that makes my eyes water. I have a great job, good friends, and a sweet tooth that constantly leads me astray. If I were in your shoes, I’d be setting up an office in Sapphire Bay, too.”
“Katie wants to live in Los Angeles. By the time everything’s organized, she’ll be gone.”
“Maybe. Maybe not. If you can negotiate a multimillion-dollar funding deal, you can convince her to stay in Montana. Or come here. Or help you find a building big enough for half your staff in Los Angeles.”
“You make it sound so simple.”
“It is, if you want it to be.” David picked up his backpack. “I’m heading home to console myself with a tub of ice cream. Do you want to join me?”
Peter looked at the stack of folders on his desk. There was nothing that couldn’t wait until tomorrow. “Are you still obsessed with buttered pecan ice cream?”
“I’ve moved on to cookies and cream.”
“In that case, I’m in.” Pushing his future to one side, Peter followed David out of the office. If his friend could find comfort in ice cream, there was hope for him, too.
CHAPTER17
Katie checked her watch for the tenth time in as many minutes. Peter should have arrived hours ago. But, after flying into the airport at Kalispell, he’d been held up behind an accident somewhere between Elmo and Sapphire Bay. To stop herself from getting too anxious, she’d offered to help her parents in the general store.
“Take this box of fabric across to the quilting area before you wear a hole in the floorboards,” Mabel said. “Peter will be here as soon as he can.”
Taking the cardboard box out of her mom’s hands, she maneuvered around their customers. The quilting table was full of fabric swatches in all colors of the rainbow. Taking pride of place behind the fabric was the sewing machine that had arrived before Christmas. She was surprised it was still here.
The bell above the door jingled, but she didn’t pay it any attention. With all the ski fields closed because of the weather, many of the tourists who’d traveled to Montana were exploring the towns around Flathead Lake.
Opening the box, she sorted the fabric squares into colors and carefully laid them on the table. Anyone who enjoyed quilting would be excited to see the gorgeous fabric.
“That’s my favorite.” Mabel pointed to a rich, ruby red fabric with tiny yellow bumblebees on it. “It reminds me of the beehives your granddad used to have. There was nothing he liked better than spending time with his bees.”
“Your neighbors enjoyed the hives as well,” Katie said. “Especially after granddad harvested the honey. He was a talented man.”
Mabel nodded. “He would often stare across the lake from his rocking chair and tell me this was his little patch of heaven. It only seems like yesterday he was in the garden, pruning Grandma’s roses.”
Katie remembered talking around the dinner table about the new varieties of roses and which ones her grandma wanted him to grow next. “He loved making Grandma happy.”
“She felt the same way about him.” Reaching into the box, Mabel placed half a dozen blue fabric squares beside the purple ones. “Barbara said you still want to move back to Los Angeles. I thought you and Peter were getting along really well.”
“We are, but I need to be where the editors and publishing houses are based.”
“Wouldn’t New York City be better? Not that I want you to move there, but it makes more sense for your writing career.”
“All the publishing houses I want to work with have offices in California. My agent lives in Los Angeles and, out of the two options, she thought I’d have more chance of being picked up by a publishing house if I lived in California.” Katie looked down at her cell phone. “I’ll just get this call.”
