It was added salt in her wounds that her ex-husband had been one of the buyers.
When she was on her game as a customer development specialist, Nadia was the best, but she hadn’t been on her game in a while. That wasn’t Gabe’s problem to solve, but she was in Knights Bridge. He needed to straighten her out. Bad enough that Felicity had been stuck dealing with her. He didn’t want Nadia pestering Dylan and Olivia.
As he started up Carriage Hill Road, he glanced back up toward the barn. Quite a spot it was. His brother had done a fine job in designing the house and barn, making them seem part of the rolling New England landscape. Gabe was suddenly sorry he hadn’t been out here sooner. Maybe his delay had prompted Mark to hire Felicity on his younger brother’s behalf.
Gabe smiled. “No. If Mark was pissed, he’d just threaten to throw me in the river.”
The party had made sense, and he appreciated Mark’s help.
Now he just had to make sure Nadia Ainsworth wasn’t going to cause problems.
* * *
The village of Knights Bridge with its oval-shaped green had changed little in decades—probably not since well before Gabe was born. The oldest house, located on South Main Street, had been built in the late eighteenth century, the newest—across the common on Main—before World War II. The library had gone up in the 1870s, and the Swift River Valley Country Store had opened in 1910, or close to it. Gabe didn’t remember every date in his hometown’s history. A few businesses had come and gone—a yoga studio had opened in what once had been a hardware store—but the houses, shops and offices had never been destroyed by fire, bulldozer or well-intentioned village renewal.
Gabe eased into a parking space on Main Street, in front of the small bank Felicity’s father had shepherded through several decades. He turned off the engine and sat for a moment, pulling himself together. He was off balance, and he hated it. It wasn’t just Knights Bridge or Nadia sneaking into town and manipulating Felicity into lunch. It was Felicity herself. He’d thought he was in control of his “reentry.”
“Yeah, right,” he muttered. “Should have known better.”
He got out of his car, shut and locked the door and looked across the street to the common, dotted with shade trees, benches and monuments. He’d already spotted Nadia sitting alone on a bench. He had no idea if she’d noticed him or even would have recognized his car.
He crossed the street. She glanced up, smiled and waved.
He waved back. So far, so good. She hadn’t leaped up and run screaming to him. She’d done that in February in a Beverly Hills restaurant. He’d contacted each of his workers personally to let them know he had a buyer for the company. With Nadia, he made it a face-to-face meeting. David, her about-to-be-ex-husband, had asked him to give her the news that he was the buyer. Gabe had managed to get her to calm down before someone called the cops. She hadn’t said so in as many words, but she must have known the sale would be the death knell to her marriage.
He crossed soft, sunlit grass to her spot in the shade. “Hey, Nadia,” he said casually. “Nice day to sit in the shade.”
“I’d have sat in the grass but there are ants.” She pointed at a small mound by the bench. “See them? They’re little bitty black ants. I’ve been watching them do their ant thing.” She raised her chin to him, squinted. “It’s something to do in a small town.”
“How long do you plan to stay?”
“As long as I want.”
“It was just a friendly question, Nadia.”
She made a face, as if chastising herself. “Sorry. I was going to drive out to Carriage Hill Road, but I decided to take a walk after lunch. I faded pretty quickly.” She tucked her legs up and wrapped her arms around her shins. “It’s lovely here, but it’s humid today. I don’t like it. I overheard kids talking about swimming holes. Gah. It was like listening to Tom Sawyer.”
“There are some great swimming holes in the area,” Gabe said.
She smiled up at him. “No wonder you left. I bet you couldn’t wait to get out of here.”
“Nadia...” Gabe realized he had no game plan. “Nadia, you can’t be here, pretending you work for me—claiming that I asked you to get involved in the entrepreneurial boot camp. Pretending to be something you aren’t isn’t going to help anything.”
“Is that what your friend Felicity told you? Did she accuse me of harassing her?”
“No. And it’s not what I’m saying, either. Look, why don’t we go for a walk—”
Nadia leaped to her feet. “I should have known I’d be misconstrued. I was just trying to do a good deed. I know how you are about this place. Your hometown. And I know you can be impulsive. I was worried about this boot camp and this last-minute party.”
“How did you find out about them?”
“David mentioned them. We had—” She brushed hair off her face. “We had some matters to discuss, and he told me. From what little contact we had, it’s obvious Felicity is perfectly capable of handling everything. She’s a pro. She has good experience. There’s no reason for concern.”
“Nadia, I appreciate that you want to help, but you don’t work for me anymore.”
“I know, Gabe. I’m a friend. And I never did work for you. I wasn’t your employee. I was a contract worker. The same as this Felicity MacGregor, except we didn’t go to nursery school together.” Nadia crossed her arms on her chest, looking more annoyed and aggrieved than embarrassed or apologetic. “Don’t worry. I’m not going to send you a bill for checking her out.”
It wasn’t a bill that concerned him, and she knew it. Gabe decided not to argue with her. “Where did you park? I can walk you
