Once again he found the number in his caller ID directory and connected. Emily answered almost at once. The sound of her voice set off feelings he’d really hoped were dead and buried after her latest stunt.
“Hi, it’s Boone,” he said tersely.
“I know.”
“B.J. wondered when you’ll be back in town,” he said, wanting it to be clear that he personally didn’t care one way or the other.
“I got in last night,” she told him. “Grandmother says you haven’t been around much. Is that because you don’t even want B.J. around my family now?”
“No, it just seemed best. I’ve had a lot to do at my restaurant.”
“So you were just too busy to drop him off and risk having him run into me again?”
“Okay, yes,” he admitted.
“Boone, why are you calling?”
“B.J.’s soccer game is this morning,” he said.
“I know.”
“He wants you there.”
“And you? What do you want?” she asked pointedly.
Boone lowered his voice. “I want him to be happy again,” he said, knowing the response was way too telling and gave her way too much power.
“Then it’s okay with you if I’m there?” she said, clearly wanting reassurance.
“I’ll make it work,” he said. “But Em—”
“I know, Boone. I’ll do everything in my power not to be careless with his feelings again. Besides, I have big news for him.”
“Big news?” he asked cautiously.
“My client loves his fabric choice for the ski lodge. In fact, they want the two of you to come to Aspen sometime as their guests.”
Boone couldn’t believe his ears. “You’re kidding me. They took the advice of an eight-year-old? Did they know that?”
“They did, and that invitation was serious. I have to admit I wasn’t nearly as sure about the red as B.J. was.”
Boone recalled the day B.J. had made the suggestion, the day he’d talked to Emily about his mom and her love of red. How crazy was it that the interior of this fancy ski resort would wind up being some kind of tribute in a way to Jenny, thanks to his son?
“You’re going to make him very happy,” Boone said.
Of course, the real truth was that B.J. was going to be over the moon simply because Emily was back and attending his soccer game. His so-called interior design success was just going to be the icing on that cake.
9
Emily arrived at the soccer field just after the start of the game. She tried to slip into the stands unobtrusively, but during a time-out in play, B.J. caught sight of her from the field and made a mad dash in her direction. He threw his arms around her in a hug that almost knocked her off balance.
“Dad said you were back and that you were coming,” he enthused. “Did you see me on that last play? I almost made a goal.”
“Did you really?” she said, smiling at his excitement even over an apparent near miss. “I wish I’d been here, but it must have been when I was walking over from the parking lot.”
“You’re gonna stay, though, right? For the whole game?”
“I’m definitely going to be here,” she assured him.
He glanced toward the field where play was about to resume. “Gotta go. I’ll see you after, okay?”
“Okay,” she said.
She’d barely taken a seat in the bleachers when Boone appeared from somewhere above her in the stands and sat down beside her.
“When you weren’t here at the start of the game, I assumed you couldn’t make it, after all,” he said.
“I told you I’d be here.”
He merely lifted a brow at that.
She frowned at him, hurt by his complete lack of faith in her. “Do you really not trust me at all?”
“How can I?” he asked simply.
She held his gaze, her own look steady, until he flinched. “Okay, here’s the deal,” she said finally. “I will do my absolute best never to let B.J. or you down again. When I make a promise, I will keep it. If for any reason on God’s green earth I can’t, I will tell you ahead of time so neither of you will be disappointed. I don’t know what else I can do, Boone. I really don’t. Life’s unpredictable. Things come up. You have a successful career. You must know that.”
“The difference is that I put B.J. first, always.”
She nodded. “I respect that. He’s your son and it’s what he deserves from his dad.”
Boone frowned. “But he’s no real relation to you, so you have no obligation to do the same?”
“That is not what I meant,” she said impatiently. “Of course he’s important to me.”
“But work will always take precedence?” he persisted.
“Not always,” she said, frustrated by his determination to misread her. “But sometimes, yes. Can you honestly tell me that you’ve never once let B.J. down because something came up at work? Not once?”
She watched the play of expressions on Boone’s face and knew she’d struck a nerve. “When Jenny was alive, you thought it was okay,” she guessed.
Boone sighed. “More than I should have,” he admitted eventually. “Now, though, I’m all he has. It’s different. It has to be.”
She touched his arm. “And I get that, Boone. I really do. You have no idea how much I admire your devotion to B.J. He’s incredibly lucky to have you as his dad. Believe me, I know all about workaholic fathers who don’t put their children first, or even second. That is not you.”
“It could have been,” he said quietly, his expression distant. He met her gaze for just a heartbeat. “I came so close to being exactly like that.”
She saw the regret in his eyes, heard the pain in his voice and understood in a way she hadn’t before. Boone wasn’t an amazing dad because it had come to him naturally. He was, at least in part, making up for past mistakes.
And when she screwed up, on some level he saw himself in her actions, and it reminded him of a time he was trying desperately to forget.
* * *
Boone had revealed far more
