“Manicotti. You getting enough to eat over there?”
“Yes, but not near enough carbs,” he admitted. The wheat crop they’d planted the prior year hadn’t done well, so they were eating a steady diet of vegetables and meat. They were beginning to harvest some potatoes now, but there had been months when they’d lacked even those after their root cellar had been raided.
“Just wait until that show of yours is over. You can come home, and I’ll cook you up a feast.”
“Sounds wonderful.”
“Are you worried?” she went on, her light tone falling away. “About drawing the short straw?”
He considered lying, but this was Maureen, and she’d been privy to his secrets ever since she came into his family’s life and very patiently and kindly picked up the pieces of his heart and made it almost whole again. Angus’s sisters had been devastated, too, of course, and she’d dealt with their rebellious teenage outbursts with a wisdom he deeply respected now. They, too, had become close to her over the years.
It was Maureen who’d assured him a hundred times it wasn’t his fault his mother needed to pursue her happiness elsewhere. Maureen who’d put a thriving nursing career of her own on hold for several years to be there when Angus and his older sisters came home from school and his father pursued the tenure track at Cornell.
“I’m your rock,” she used to tell him. “Here I am and here I’ll stay.”
“Yeah, I’m worried,” he admitted to her now. “I’m not ready to marry.”
“Will you ever be if it’s not Win you’re marrying?”
“I don’t know.”
“You’re caught in a hard place between your heart and your word.”
She always had a way with summing up a situation. “That’s right. I’ll go through with it whenever it’s my turn, but it doesn’t feel right.”
“Wish I had some advice. All I can say is be truthful with the woman in question. Make sure she knows the score. You might find you can love again in time, you know.”
“I suppose.” It didn’t seem likely, though, and the woman in question—Leslie—didn’t spark any kind of tender feelings in him. When he looked at her photo he felt… nothing at all.
“I’m proud of you for being a man who keeps his word,” Maureen said. “If I’d known ahead of time what you were agreeing to, I’d have cautioned you against participating in this show, but that’s water under the bridge. You’re facing up to your commitments. Not everyone would in your shoes.”
“I know.”
“This is going to work out okay,” she assured him. “I feel it. Stick to your principles and the truth, and you won’t go wrong, Angus.”
“Sure thing.”
She sighed. “Try to focus on your friend tomorrow. It’s his big day.”
“Of course.” Angus didn’t know what he’d hoped for from this conversation. Her permission to flee Base Camp and let all his friends down? He’d never do that regardless. Still, he roused himself from his sour mood. “You really think there’s some way I can fix this mess I’m in?”
“I do. If you keep your eyes open for the good, the good will find you.”
He hoped that was true.
“Call me tomorrow, after the wedding. Tell me what happens. Don’t keep me waiting all week until the episode comes out.”
“I won’t.” For the first time, Angus smiled. “Tell Dad I said hi.”
“I will. Love you, Angus.”
“Love you, too.”
Win was hurrying to pack when she heard the front doorbell and the quick footsteps of the housekeeper moving to answer it.
When she heard the housekeeper ascending the stairs, Win shoved her suitcase out of sight behind her bed and moved to the door of her large bedroom.
“Leif Dunlevy to see you.”
Leif was here? She didn’t have time for this if she wanted to face down her folks and still make it to the airport on time for the flight she’d booked.
She considered sending the housekeeper back to inform Leif she was indisposed, but she figured she might as well get this confrontation over, too. If he’d come back from Europe thinking she’d changed her mind about marrying him, he was dead wrong.
Two bodyguards followed her downstairs. “I’d like some privacy,” she told them, looking forward to leaving them behind again when she left California. It was stifling having them follow her everywhere.
Leif was pacing the living room when she found him. He’d changed since they last were together. He was tanned, his light brown hair almost bleached to blond. He was standing straighter than he used to. Was he more muscular, too?
Win wasn’t sure.
“Win.” Leif came to meet her and gave her a familiar hug. “Good to see you.”
“You look well.”
“Turns out a little hard work suits me.” He smiled.
“I thought you were in Europe making connections so you could open more pathways for your father’s company.” That was a direct quote from Evan Dunlevy when he’d come to dinner a week or two ago.
Leif grinned sheepishly, and she knew she had him. “No,” he admitted. “I’ve been in India building houses for the homeless.”
“Really?” That was the last thing she’d have imagined. Since when had Leif started thinking about anything past the little cocoon of his family’s existence?
“You took off to go on a reality TV show about sustainability,” he said, shrugging. “How was I supposed to top that?”
“So it was a competition.” She took a seat on a plush love seat. Leif chose an easy chair opposite.
“At first, but after a while, the house building became something more. I… liked that kind of work. Even after I moved up the food chain in the NGO, I made sure to get my hands dirty once a week or so. There’s something really satisfying about being able to see what you’ve been working on. When you’re done building a house, you can step back and look at it. There it is. You know what I mean?”
“I know exactly what you mean.” She felt
