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Nathan left the boardroom at Mount Morgan Mining’s Prince George offices with a hopeful glow burning in his chest. He’d had this meeting with the Specialist in Vendor Management and various other purchasing officials scheduled well before Melanie’s announcement about the promotion, but the pressure to make it productive had definitely amped up. He was heartened that he’d been asked to prepare a substantial proposal and arranged to present it in one week. He’d offered to have the bid ready sooner, but the committee had held firm on their timeline. They had promised to make a decision within seven days of receiving the proposal, but that meant he wouldn’t have their answer in time to include on his CV before the posting for the promotion closed. The best he could hope for was good news in time to announce it during his interview. While the delay rankled, he knew putting the package together would take up much of his free time as it was, so maybe it was a good thing.
Since he had nothing other than work to occupy his hours. Certainly not time spent in Helen’s bed.
He was still reeling from her news, still processing the abrupt changes their relationship had gone through in the last few days. She was a good friend—maybe even his best friend—and having sex with her had broken a barrier in his heart he hadn’t even known was there. To have a fatal illness rear its terrifying head again, barely a day later, left him staggering and off-balance.
While he didn’t the same commitment to Helen as he had had to Wanda, the similarities were disturbing—a woman he cared for caught in the web of cancer just as a critical moment in his career. Assuring himself he didn’t have to feel guilty if he put his job first this time hadn’t eased his mind one bit.
He was barely out of the parking lot when his phone rang. It automatically connected to his SUV’s handsfree system and his middle son’s name appeared on the screen.
He connected the call. “Hi, Greg! How are you?”
“Doing good, Dad. Did I catch you at a bad time?”
“Just on my way back to the office, but I’ve got a minute.” Mount Morgan’s offices were in an industrial area on the south side of the Fraser River. Taking a left instead of the right that would lead him to the city centre, he drove a few metres down the gravel road that ran along the ridge above the river and pulled onto the shoulder. “What’s up?”
“Lorne told me about the regional sales manager job.”
“Ah.” He’d known the news would get around soon, but hadn’t thought it would be this fast.
After fleeing from Helen last evening, Nathan had paced his house, unable to settle. Needing time to absorb her news, he had sought distraction by video chatting with his oldest son and two grandchildren. He hadn’t meant to mention the possible promotion, but his subconscious had obviously had other plans, and once it slipped out there had been no taking it back.
“Don’t get too excited. I haven’t even put in my resume yet.” Because he’d superstitiously decided to delay until after today’s meeting with Mount Morgan. If things had gone completely sideways, he might have had to rethink his plans. With the glimmer of hope he’d been given, sending off his application was the first thing he’d do when he returned to his office.
“That’s what Lorne said. After he told me, I talked with Lyle, and we’re all on the same page. We want you to go for it, Dad. It would be so awesome if you were on the Island.”
He was happy his sons wanted him nearby and slightly guilty at giving the impression he was ambivalent about the promotion. He wasn’t. He wanted it as much as he had five years ago, maybe even more since it would bring him closer to his boys.
It wasn’t the first time the topic of Nathan uprooting from Prince George had been broached after Wanda’s death, especially since Lyle had made the move to the Island last year. The two oldest were married and grandbabies were appearing with startling regularity, and while Nathan connected with them via text, phone, and video chat often, it wasn’t the same as being there.
“It would be awesome, I agree. You know I’d love to see everyone more.” Nathan stared blindly out the windshield. Power lines swooping from huge, metallic structures stretched across the wide, mud-coloured water, ruining the rustic setting, but it was an impressive view, nonetheless. He fell back on his usual excuse. “It’s not that simple, though. Your grandparents are strong and healthy now, but that won’t last forever. They’re going to need more help at some point, and if I’m on the Island, I won’t be available.”
Greg replied with his usual rebuttal. “Auntie Dana and Uncle Mattieu will still be there. And it’s only an hour’s flight from Victoria to Prince George.”
He wasn’t wrong. Nathan’s sister and her husband could be trusted to step up, and he knew his admitted reason was weak. “True, but—”
Greg cut him off. “Even if you don’t get the promotion, we think you should move. I’m sure you could find another job here if you wanted. Or you could retire, spend more time with the grandkids. And the weather is so much better here. You must be tired of shovelling snow by now.”
Nathan paid Twin Rivers Landscape and Maintenance—another client of his—to clear his driveway and mow his lawn, but he knew what Greg meant. Watching the heat waves shimmering off the stretch of road before him, it was hard to believe that, in a few short months, frigid temperatures and blankets of snow would once again be the norm.
The thing was, Nathan’s life was in Prince George. Not just his job and his parents, his friends and his history, but Helen, too. He couldn’t mention her to his sons, though. He wouldn’t know where to start if he tried to explain their relationship—not even before all that had happened in recent days.
After Aaron had died, he hadn’t wanted to leave her to face her new reality alone, even for the pleasure of his sons’ regular company, a chance to get to know his daughters-in-law better, and the joy of seeing his grandchildren more often. Looking back, he wondered if his subconscious had been considering the possibility of nurturing something deeper with Helen—something more than simple physical attraction.
But now she might have cancer. And Nathan didn’t know if he was strong enough to stand by her side while she went through what she’d have to endure.
She deserved someone who could. .
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IT WAS AMAZING WHAT people said while in the tattoo chair. Helen concentrated on the infinity symbol she was inking on Lynn Kolmyn’s inner wrist while listening to her talk of things her best friends probably didn’t know.
“All I’ve ever wanted was a normal life. A job I liked, a husband, a couple of kids. Then two weeks ago, my fiancé of seven years dumps me to chase a dream. And here I am, with no hint of husband or babies, and I’m thirty-eight years old. Thirty-eight! How did that happen?”
The blonde woman had entered Golden Dragon around four o’clock, setting the old-fashioned bell above the door jingling. She was slightly above average height and dressed fashionably but casually in slim dark jeans and a silk tank. Helen had recognized the slightly nervous, vaguely lost look of a tattoo virgin and had slipped into her usual patter. Lynn had been the first walk in that day, and Helen was grateful finally to have something to occupy her other than thoughts of next week’s biopsy. Together they’d flipped through Sven’s portfolio, and Lynn had decided on the interlinking loops, balking only slightly when Helen said it could be done immediately.
“Life has a way of slipping by when we’re not paying attention. That’s why we have to grab what we can when we can.” Helen dabbed with a gauze pad to remove the tiny dot of blood that had welled, and considered the truth of what she’d said. If she wanted to grab her own opportunity and take on Golden Dragon, she might have to break her unwritten rule and ask for help. Even if she did have cancer, it didn’t have to mean putting her entire life on hold. She’d just have to get creative about it.
“I was paying attention. I had it all figured out. I established my career, found a good man, got engaged.” Lynn hissed in a breath as Helen set the tattoo machine to her flesh for the final touch. “Then it all fell apart, and now my biological clock is ticking so loudly I can’t sleep at night. I’m a cliché, I know.”
“That doesn’t make what you are feeling any less valid.” Helen sat back. “There. What do you think?”
Lynn studied her wrist with a bemused air, twisting it back and forth to see the design from all angles. “I really must be having a crisis. I only came to the plaza to pick up my dry cleaning, and then next thing I know I’m in here. But I like it.”
“Great.” Helen rose from her stool. “Feel free to hang out for a bit while I tidy up. Some people get a little light-headed after being poked with a needle for an hour.”
She busied herself putting away her equipment while Lynn sat quietly in the chair. The younger woman’s expression was pensive, and Helen didn’t think her thoughts had anything to do with the tattoo she’d just received.
Lynn’s words resonated with Helen. Her life had also come to an unexpected crossroads. She, too, might be running out of time to do things she’d planned. And while she’d been desperately lonely after Aaron died, she’d come to appreciate her solitude.
Which didn’t mean she wanted to be alone. Too bad she’d screwed up her chances of having Nathan be the one by her side.
As Lynn rose from the seat and took her purse from the hook on the door, Helen gave into impulse. “Feel free to say no, but I run the Silverberry Book Club. We meet once a month, have drinks, snacks, talk about books. Would you like to come? Maybe meet new people?”
Lynn gave her a startled glance, and then hope gleamed in her eyes. “Do you mean that? You don’t even know me.”
“Our next meeting is mid-August.” Helen’s heart fluttered. By then she’d know whether she had cancer or not. She wasn’t sure whether she wanted time to speed up or slow down. “It will be at the cabin one of our members has on Cluculz Lake. Given how hot this summer has been, we thought we would mix business with pleasure, so to speak.” Nathan was the member in question. She assumed he wouldn’t withdraw his invitation regardless of what had happened between them. He wouldn’t do that to the club.
Lynn’s smile lit up her rather sober face, and Helen blinked at the transformation. “That sounds great. Thank you for inviting me.”
She smiled back. “Wonderful! I’ll text you the directions and which book we’ll be discussing. So glad to have you join us.”