So far things were going well with her decorations. Orders were coming in on her website and she’d had to limit the number she would release otherwise there wouldn’t be enough time for her to work on the ones she needed for the tree. Dakota desperately wanted to win the competition one day and the next she didn’t care so long as she got to show off her designs.
Tiny wandered through the bushes. “Tiny, come back here.” The little black dog came back, her head down. “You can’t keep wandering off like that. Let’s go back to work.”
Head down, Dakota got back into soldering her angels together. Tiny lay by the doorway as if sitting there would make her owner notice how desperately she wished to be somewhere else.
*
“I’ll owe you if you do this for me.”
“I know exactly how you can repay me too if there’s any way you can make it happen.” Ryan went on to explain what he wanted in return for ditching his wife and children for a weekend to help Adam out.
Adam leaned back in his chair and stared at the passing traffic outside the office. “I’ll do the best I can but please, I beg of you, don’t tell anyone else I’ve done it. Dakota is under the pump trying to get her own inventory done for the gala night. I hate to put more pressure on her than I have to.”
“Totally understandable but I know how much the wife loves her stuff. She was so upset when Glitterz went quiet. If she knew what you’ve just told me about her starting up again, she’d be over the moon.” Ryan chuckled. “Look, do your best but don’t worry if you can’t. We can work it out somehow. Maybe later when Dakota has had time to catch up she might have time to make the wife something special. I hate to put pressure on anyone.”
“So that means you’ll come then?” Things were working out better than he hoped.
“Sure. The kids will survive if I opt out of one organized campout. Who knows, I might like Cherry Lake so much I can bring them there for a holiday? I’ll tell them I’m doing a discovery tour for next off season.”
“Appreciate it, Ryan. It’s going to be such a great day with you there. I can feel it.” Adam hung up the phone and ticked the goalie off his list. Now if he could only get at least one more player to promise to join them, it would be a fantastic day.
By the time he’d spoken to all of his teammates and caught up on news, Adam felt as though he’d talked himself hoarse. It’d only been a few weeks since he’d come home but it seemed like so much had happened with the other members of his team. They all wanted to hear how his father was doing and couldn’t wait for him to return.
He rocked back and forward in his chair, thinking about what he’d said to Buzz last night about retiring. After his years of being in the limelight, would it be enough for him to only work part time reporting on the sport rather than playing it? He was a far different person now to the boy who first started playing professional soccer.
Somehow he’d imagined doing something with the media that involved sports after retirement. Plenty of elite sports people did. But would that give him the thrill that discovering new talent would? Was it possible to do both? He wondered if he should have kept his idea to himself and thought over the idea of retiring once he’d seen the doctors. Nothing like jumping the gun with his career and his love life but it felt right at the time.
Chapter Twelve
Dakota soldered the wings on another glass angel, put down her stinking hot iron and leaned back, heels of her hands pressed into her eye sockets. Her eyes were dry and gritty, painful to keep open for much longer. She’d been at this for hours without a break but the schedule she’d drawn up for herself had to be heavy if she wanted to have any chance of making this tree a winner.
“I need a coffee, a huge slice of cake and some fresh air before I fall asleep.” She slid off her stool and plodded out to the kitchen, blinking rapidly in a vain attempt to get moisture back into her eyes. Once she had coffee in one hand, cake in the other, Dakota walked out the front door with Tiny at her heels and padded over the road to the lake’s shoreline.
She stood with her feet in the sand, eyes closed and breathed in the fresh air. Dakota had taken on a lot by putting her name in the ballot for the tree when she was busy trying to rebuild her business but she couldn’t help herself. She was desperate to belong, to fit into the town.
“Hey.” Cory came running up to her and skidded to a halt on the sandy shore, dropping to his knees. Tiny pranced up to him, her tail wagging. “Hello cute thing.” He cuddled the poodle letting her jump up and lick his chin, much to her obvious delight.
“Hi, Cory. Finished school already?” Dakota hadn’t even glanced at her watch today.
“Yeah. No homework either ’cause the holidays are almost here so it’s a good day.” He picked up a twig and shredded the bark off of it then tossed it toward the water’s edge for Tiny to retrieve.
Dakota could see he was warming up to say something so she kept silent and waited.
“Can I ask you a favor?” He glanced up at her with pleading eyes.
“Sure.” Dakota crouched down on the ground, then eased her butt back onto the sand so they were at eye level. “What can I do to help?”
“I want you to try and talk Adam into keeping his promise.” He picked up another small piece
