“A walking stick?” Avery took it and made a show of examining it. The thing was quite lovely, Win saw. A work of art the way it was carved. Avery was angry, though. “Do you think being without you has aged me?” Her voice rose, and everyone turned to look.
A muscle in Walker’s jaw jumped, but he didn’t answer, just held Avery’s gaze until hers dropped and she colored. “Fine, I’ll take it. Win, you want to help me with the animals, or will you work in the greenhouses?”
“The greenhouses,” Win told her. “I’ll be fine,” she added when Avery hesitated. “Really.”
“Okay. Find me if you need me.” Avery crossed the room to the door, disappearing through it a moment later.
Walker watched her go.
Win’s impatience got the best of her. “She doesn’t want gifts,” she said to him. “She wants you to talk to her.” She left, too, grabbing her jacket before heading outside, although she barely needed it.
Her phone rang, and she pulled it out and took the call before she realized that was probably a mistake.
“What?” she said.
“Win? Where are you? Are you okay?” Her mother’s frantic voice filled her ear, leaving Win to wonder for a moment if she’d been wrong—if Vienna really was ill and missed her—
No. She wasn’t wrong. She’d seen the photo.
Win considered hanging up. Decided she’d better have this out.
“I’m fine, now that I’m away from you. I can’t believe you lied about having cancer. I can’t believe you set up that whole thing to try to stop me from marrying Angus.”
There was a long pause. When Vienna spoke again, her tone was matter of fact.
“Well, you couldn’t have loved him very much. You got on the next plane when I gave you an ultimatum.”
Stunned that her mother didn’t even try to deny her charges, Win searched for an answer. “You are out of your mind. You pretended to be sick for six months!”
“It’s not my fault your farmer never drew the damn short straw,” her mother retorted. “I thought it would be a month or two. Now I’ve wasted half a year!”
Win couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
“I can see what’s going to happen even if you can’t,” Vienna kept going. “You know your presence on that show is complicating things for your father. You’re choosing that bunch of know-nothings over us. You’re refusing to help us even though we’ve always helped you when you needed it. Well, I’ll tell you something. Someday you’ll need us, and we won’t be there for you.”
“That’s the most manipulative thing you’ve said yet,” Win exclaimed. “I never threatened to withdraw my love or my support if you didn’t follow my orders.”
“This isn’t an order. This is me trying to save your ass. That man isn’t right for you. He won’t be there when you need him. You wait and see—I guarantee he’ll let you down sooner or later. You know I’d never do that.”
“Why do I have to choose between you?” Win couldn’t comprehend the conversation they were having. Her mother should be begging her forgiveness. Instead she was acting like Win was the one who’d lost her mind.
“Because Angus’s goals and our goals are completely opposed to each other.”
“You mean his goal of saving the world?” How had she not seen who her mother was before she came to Base Camp? All Vienna cared about was power.
“The world can take care of itself,” Vienna snapped. “Someday you’ll learn that the hard way.”
“I need to go. I’ve got work to do here.”
“Here? Where’s here?”
Win laughed. Was she for real? “Where do you think? Base Camp.”
“You went back there?” Win could almost see her pacing.
“This is where I belong.”
“We’ll see about that.”
Vienna hung up. Win breathed a sigh of relief and turned toward the greenhouses. Time to get to work, she figured. Time to prove she meant to stay.
“Here’s your table, sir.”
Angus nodded to the cheerful waitress and took a seat at an intimate table for two near the rear of DelMonacos, a steak house where he was to have his first meeting with Leslie. Byron had been put in charge of filming the encounter. He was the youngest member of the crew, but he’d matured a lot since he’d come to Base Camp, and it seemed that Renata had come to trust his judgment. As he worked to set up his equipment, Angus ordered a beer and tried to get his thoughts in order. The last thing he wanted was to meet with another woman when he couldn’t budge his thoughts from Win.
Around him, other patrons of the restaurant cast curious glances at him and the cameras, but soon they turned back to their meals. The Base Camp cast and crew were regulars at town affairs, and most people had gotten used to them. Still, their surreptitious looks unnerved him. One older woman some three tables away sharing a meal with a younger tawny-haired man was ogling him with unabashed interest.
“… Angus McBride,” he thought he heard her say.
This meal was going to be downright awkward.
“Angus?”
A chipper voice interrupted his thoughts, and Angus stood up, towering over a petite blonde he recognized from the photograph Boone had shown him.
“Leslie?”
“That’s me.” She smiled, noticed Byron with his camera, and her smile broadened. She waved at him. “Hi!”
“You’re not supposed to talk to me,” Byron told her, but he was grinning at her enthusiasm.
“Sorry!”
“Don’t worry about it.”
“How about you take a seat?” Angus’s trepidation grew. This was all he needed; someone else as dauntingly cheery as Byron was. The cameraman had chattered the whole drive into town until Angus told him to put a lid on it. Normally he wouldn’t have minded, but after everything that had happened during the last twenty-four hours, he was on edge.
“Thank you.” Leslie sat down across from him. Folded her hands and said, “All of us backup brides were happy that you conceded to our requests.”
Requests? More like demands, from the way Boone had told the story.
“Why don’t you tell
