boss’s daughter. But he just couldn’t ignore how the moment had seemed so right, and the kiss, as brief as it had been, had shifted his world. So much so that he’d made a date with Natalie Reynolds, his old girlfriend just to forget the whole incident. He’d taken her to the lodge for a canoe ride. Carly had left the next day, leaving him confused and guilt ridden, and with pain he’d never experienced before. The memory could still send tiny pinpricks of hurt along his nerves.
As much as he hated to admit it, Carly was part of his life and always would be. No matter how much he wished he could stop caring. It would be easier to stop breathing.
Carly watched her sleeping daughter. She envied the ability to simply set aside the events of the day and drift off. Her thoughts were too stirred up to consider sleeping. She needed to move, to do something. Slipping from the room, she made her way quietly downstairs, relieved to find the lodge silent and empty.
Carly fingered the key in her hand, fighting the knots in her stomach. She wasn’t sure why she was doing this. She didn’t want to remember the past, but something inside her compelled her to visit the place where she’d grown up.
Inserting the key, she turned the lock and opened the door, stepping into the rooms that had been her childhood home. The west side of the lodge consisted of a two-bedroom apartment, so large and spacious it had never felt like an apartment. With open rooms, a second floor and wide private deck, it had provided a sanctuary for the family away from the constant flow of guests staying at the lodge.
Carly stepped into the rooms, bracing for a barrage of bad memories. What slammed into her, however, were the good ones from when she was small. The winter evenings spent in front of the fire, the Christmas tree sitting by the large windows looking out onto the lake.
She turned when she heard tapping on the doorframe. Dwayne stepped in, a small smile on his lined face.
“It’s good to see you in these rooms again, Carly. They’ve missed you.”
She set her jar. “I doubt that.” She noticed a collection of photographs on the mantel. She picked up one, shocked to see a picture of Ella when she was small. “What are these doing here? How did he get this?”
Dwayne tugged on his ear and grinned. “Your husband sent them. He felt it was the right thing to do. Wade wanted to see his grandchild.”
A hot flush washed through her. Of course her father would want to see Ella. Troy tried repeatedly to convince her to visit her father and bring Ella, but her anger and hurt had run too deep. She never wanted to feel that sense of betrayal again. Yet Troy had betrayed her, too, and gone behind her back.
“Your papa cherished those. It wasn’t all bad, you know. You were happy here. But after your mom came back and took you away, nothing was the same. Especially your father.”
“What do you mean, came back?”
“Don’t you remember? It was that summer you were sixteen. Your mom walked out real sudden-like. She was gone a week, then she showed back up, caused a scene and took you away. Your dad never told me what happened, but it nearly killed him. It took him years to fight through that.”
Carly shook her head. “No. That can’t be true. He caused her to leave. It was all his fault.”
Dwayne studied her a moment. “Maybe things aren’t quite the way you remember them. When we’re young, events don’t always make sense.”
She crossed her arms over her chest and set her jaw. “No. It made sense.” She knew exactly why her mother had left.
“Well, I’ll leave you be.”
Carly rubbed her forehead, struggling to understand what Dwayne had said. What had he meant about her mother leaving? She tried to remember but came up empty. Climbing the stairs, she went into her old room. It looked different yet still the same. A new solid blue bedspread replaced her flowered one, and most of her posters and decorations were gone. Apparently her dad hadn’t done the old make-my-child’s-room-a-shrine thing, which only proved that he hadn’t really cared for her the way she’d believed.
Her old desk was still there, and she sat down and scanned the items on top. Her old digital camera. It was the last gift her father had given her, and she’d carried it everywhere. She’d loved to capture those once-in-a-lifetime moments where the sun shone just right over the lake or the moon glistened through the pines leaving rays of white light on the trail. She’d decided she would become a professional photographer. Sadly, she’d lost sight of that dream along the way.
Sliding open the middle drawer where she kept all her special mementoes, she touched the assortment, little flashes of memories flaring, each one bringing a warmth to her chest. Her fingers picked up a small silver earring inlaid with a pearl and a diamond. A lance of pain and sadness sliced her heart in two. It wasn’t her mother’s. She had pierced ears. This was a clip-on and she’d found it on the floor of her dad’s car. Proof of what her mother had told her. The reason her family had been torn apart.
Her dad’s unfaithfulness.
She shoved the jewelry back in the drawer, slammed it shut. Tears welled up in her eyes as she hurried back to the main room of the lodge. She wanted to go home. She wanted out of this horrible arrangement, and she wanted away from all the memories.
Just then, her phone rang. She recognized the name of the company calling, and her throat closed as it always did when the bill collectors harassed her. They had no problem calling at all hours. There was no point in answering because there was nothing she could tell them. She still didn’t have the money to pay them. She shoved the phone back into her pocket, unwilling to even contemplate the consequences she might be facing soon. She prayed that a buyer could be found for the lodge quickly; otherwise, she and Ella might be homeless.
* * *
Carly took as much time at breakfast as she could, hoping to postpone the tour of Longleaf Lodge with Mack. Despite her issues with him, he still had a way of stirring up feelings she didn’t want stirred. Her relationship with him had always been conflicted. She’d been drawn to him since the moment they’d met, but his close relationship with her dad had always filled her with resentment. She envied the closeness they had shared and the time they’d spent together. So many years away from the lodge and Mack hadn’t changed anything. It was a realization she had no idea how to process.
Carly pushed back from the table in the large kitchen. “Thank you for the breakfast, Thelma. It was wonderful as usual.”
“I’m loving cooking for you again, Cupcake.”
“Are you sure you don’t mind watching Ella while we’re gone?”
“No indeed. I plan on making special pancakes for the girls when they get up, and Dwayne is bringing the dogs over from our place. They’ll enjoy playing with them.”
“Dogs? Is Bully still around?” Her dad’s black Lab had been as much a part of the family as she was.
“No. Bully went on to his reward. Your dad got a German shepherd from a friend and called him Riley. He’s a good watchdog. Then Dwayne and I rescued two little Lhasa–shih tzu mix pups. Poppy and Petunia. Sweet little things. They like to cuddle.”
“Ella will love them. She’s always wanted a dog. Thanks again, Thelma. I don’t think we’ll be long.”
Thelma patted her arm. “Cupcake, try and keep an open mind, okay? Make sure you see everything the way it is, not the way you remember.”
Carly wasn’t sure what Thelma was trying to convey but she promised. Thelma was a wise woman, and it wouldn’t hurt to take her words to heart.
Mack was standing by the golf cart wearing that crooked grin of his when she stepped onto the wide front porch.
“Good morning, Carly. Are you ready?”
“As I’ll ever be.” She tried to halt the wave of appreciation that spiraled up unexpectedly into her chest. Mack had always been too handsome for his own good. A large part