“Boone, you can’t mean that,” she protested, sounding stricken. “What will that accomplish? He’ll think he never mattered to me at all.”
“And what do you think he’s thinking right now?” he said angrily.
“I’ll make it right. I’ll call him right this minute. Are you two at Castle’s?”
Boone wanted to tell her not to bother, to leave it alone, but that was his anger talking. It wasn’t what was best for B.J.
“I’ll go inside. Call my cell back in five minutes. I’ll give him the phone. You can say goodbye, apologize, whatever. Just don’t make any promises you don’t intend to keep.”
“I won’t,” she said softly. “I’m sorry, Boone. I wasn’t thinking. I would never have hurt him intentionally, you know I wouldn’t.”
“You never mean to hurt anyone, Em. It just seems to happen.” He sighed. “Five minutes, okay?”
“Absolutely,” she said.
Boone disconnected the call and went inside to find his son, praying that he’d done the right thing. Maybe it would have been better to let B.J. go through this disillusionment now, rather than later, when it might be even more difficult.
* * *
Emily paced the airport, checking her watch as the five minutes Boone had requested ticked by way too slowly. What had she been thinking? After all Boone’s warnings, she’d done exactly as he’d feared. She’d hurt his son. Just as he’d said, it didn’t really matter that it hadn’t been intentional. It had been careless.
And wasn’t that exactly why she’d left, because she’d been afraid that she was going to eventually hurt both father and son? It seemed she simply hadn’t taken off soon enough. Better yet, she probably should have made her excuses and stayed away, but how could she have let Cora Jane down like that?
When the last second of the five minutes had ticked by, she called Boone’s cell. He answered, his tone terse, then immediately handed the phone to B.J.
“Emily?” B.J. said hesitantly.
“How’s my consultant?” she asked, trying to sound upbeat.
“Okay,” he said.
“I’m sorry I took off without saying goodbye. I need to go check on a couple of jobs, so I left in a hurry.”
“Okay,” he said, none of his usual exuberance in his voice.
“I’m going to show the client in Aspen the furniture you helped me pick out for his ski lodge,” she said, thinking that would please him.
Silence greeted her words, but she waited him out, hoping his natural curiosity about her work would get the better of him.
“Will you show him the red?” B.J. asked eventually.
“I will,” she promised.
“Will you tell him I helped pick it out?”
“Of course. You’re my consultant, aren’t you? I always give credit where it’s due.”
He released a little sigh then. “When are you coming back?”
“I’m not exactly sure,” she said honestly. “But soon.”
“Soon, like when? Tomorrow?”
“No, not that soon. A few days, more than likely.”
“By the weekend?” he asked, his voice hopeful. “My soccer team’s playing again on Saturday. You could come with Dad. He never misses a game.”
Emily saw that for the minefield it was. Even if she should be back, she doubted Boone would want her anywhere near that soccer field.
“No promises,” she said carefully. “I’ll have to see how it goes.”
“But you will come, if you’re back?” he persisted.
Suddenly she heard Boone’s voice in the background, asking for the phone.
“Emily has to catch her flight,” he told B.J. “Say goodbye.”
“Dad says I have to say goodbye,” B.J. said, his frustration plain.
“Bye, sweetie. Be good. I’ll see you.”
“Bye, Emily.”
“Tell me you did not promise him you’d be at his soccer game,” Boone said, his voice hushed, clearly trying to keep B.J. from overhearing.
“I told him I wasn’t even sure if I’d be back by then,” she said. “I know you don’t want me there, even if I am back.”
“You’ve got that right.”
“I’m so sorry,” she apologized again, though she knew she was probably wasting her breath. In Boone’s view, what she’d done was inexcusable. And to be honest, she was none too happy with herself. The only possible bright side was that it seemed B.J. had forgiven her. All that told her, though, was how easily a little boy’s emotions could be sent on a devastating roller-coaster ride. She had to avoid doing that again, no matter what it cost her.
* * *
The next three days were a whirlwind of activity. She spent two of them with Sophia, making sure that every single detail of her new interior design was to her liking and ready for this weekend’s gala fund-raising dinner. Though Sophia had been happy with the results, she was dismayed by the news that Emily wouldn’t be there for the event.
“Don’t you realize how many excellent contacts you could make?” Sophia had asked. “Everyone’s going to be asking who made all these lovely changes for me.”
“I could leave you some business cards,” Emily said, knowing that what Sophia really wanted was to show off her latest protégé. She loved being seen as the mentor to the latest hot talent in Los Angeles, whether it was an artist, a singer, an actor or an interior designer. And she had gotten Emily the meeting with the actor who’d had her update his villa in Italy, the design that had been photographed for a major design magazine. Emily owed her.
Sophia greeted the business card suggestion with the disdain even Emily knew it deserved. “Darling, that simply isn’t done,” Sophia said.
“I know. I was joking,” Emily assured her. “And I would be here if I could be, but I left my family in the lurch to come here to be sure everything was ready for this party of yours. And you are the one who hooked me up with Derek Young. He needs to see these ski lodge designs before he loses patience, too.”
“Oh, all right,” Sophia had said, relenting. “Your loyalty to your other clients and to your family is admirable. I can hardly argue with that.”
If only the meeting with
