“I doubt that’s going to be necessary,” Boone said, though his pulse sped up at the thought.
“Just saying the offer’s there,” Ethan said. “A smart man would take advantage of it.”
Boone wished he were half as certain of that as Ethan was. He had a feeling a really smart man wouldn’t be putting his heart on the line with this particular woman yet again. There was, however, only one surefire way to find out.
12
Emily took a long, hot shower after leaving Boone’s, left her hair damp to curl at will, pulled on a pair of shorts and a tank top, then headed for the porch where her sisters had gathered after dinner. Cora Jane, it seemed, had gone to the movies with Jerry.
“You and Boone make peace?” Gabi asked as Emily settled on the chaise longue with one of the fancy rum drinks Samantha had made. Samantha seemed to have developed a fascination with improving her bartending skills.
“I apologized,” Emily said. “I guess we’re okay, though he wasn’t very happy when I told him I’d be leaving soon.” To keep them from seizing on that, she quickly asked, “What about you two? Have you made plans to go home yet? Everything at the restaurant seems pretty much back to normal.”
“I’ll probably head back on Sunday,” Gabi said. “I’m getting some rumblings that my boss isn’t very happy that I’ve been gone this long. Amanda doesn’t consider being available via phone, fax and email every second to be sufficient dedication.”
“Any rumblings from the boyfriend?” Emily asked.
Gabi frowned at her. “He’ll be glad to have me home again, of course.”
“Of course,” Emily echoed dryly.
“Leave it alone,” Samantha advised. “You and I might not get why this guy has been AWOL the whole time we’ve been here, but it doesn’t seem to bother Gabi, and that’s all that matters.”
Reluctantly, Emily let it be. “What about you, Samantha? You heading back to New York?”
Her sister shrugged. “Not right away. My agent will call if something comes up, and it’s not as if I’m vital at that restaurant where I fill in as hostess from time to time. August is usually pretty dead in New York. Everyone who can takes vacation this month. I might as well hang out here a little longer.”
“That’ll make Grandmother happy,” Emily said. “Be careful she doesn’t figure out a way to talk you into staying for good.”
Samantha smiled. “Not likely. I may not be working as much as I’d like, but what work there is happens to be in New York.” She studied Emily. “But you intend to leave soon even though things between you and Boone aren’t resolved? Why would you do that?”
“What’s unresolved?” Emily asked. “His life is here. Mine’s on the West Coast. How are we supposed to find middle ground? Settle in Kansas?”
Gabi chuckled. “I think you could probably find a better alternative,” she said, then added diplomatically, “Not that there’s a thing wrong with Kansas if the man you love is willing to meet you halfway across the country.”
“I don’t think Boone is interested in compromise,” Emily said.
“And you?” Gabi pressed. “Are you willing to compromise?”
Emily was about to make some flip remark, but instead she actually gave the question some thought. Was there a compromise? Were her feelings for Boone still strong enough to be worth exploring? And how on earth was she supposed to find out if she kept running away? It was one thing to take off in search of some elusive goal at twenty-one. It was quite another to do it ten years later, when she should be smart enough to see that a successful career wasn’t quite as fulfilling as she’d imagined, that maybe there was more to life.
She was still thinking about that when the sound of a car engine drew closer, then cut off.
“Oh, boy,” Samantha muttered as they saw Boone turn the corner of the house and amble in their direction. “I’ll be inside if anyone needs me.”
“Me, too,” Gabi said, leaping to her feet with surprising agility given the two potent drinks she’d consumed. “Hey, Boone.”
Boone stood at the bottom of the steps, his gaze on Emily. “You going to run off, too?”
She smiled. “I think I’ve been rude enough for one day. Besides, this is my home. No one gets to run me off.”
“In that case, mind if I join you?”
“Why not? You want a drink?” She held up her half-empty glass. “I’m not entirely sure what Samantha put in this concoction, but it definitely takes the edge off.”
He shook his head. “That’s okay. Probably better if I keep a clear head for this conversation.”
He took a seat on the glider at the side of the porch, then set it in motion. To be honest, watching him made Emily a little dizzy. She frowned at her glass. “What the devil did Samantha put in here?” she murmured.
Boone chuckled. “Maybe I should make coffee.”
“It might be a good idea,” she conceded, “especially if you intend to say anything you want me to remember.”
“I’ll be right back,” he told her, then held out his hand for her glass. “You should probably be done with that.”
“Probably,” she conceded, handing it over, though with some reluctance.
Boone wasn’t gone long, just long enough for her nerves to quicken as she considered all the possibilities behind his unexpected appearance here tonight. When he came back with two cups of coffee, he set hers on the table beside her.
“You’d better let it cool off a little,” he advised, then went back to the glider.
“I’m surprised you’re here,” she blurted. “Wasn’t Ethan coming for dinner?”
“He came,” Boone confirmed. “One thing about having a really good friend who’s known you just about forever, they say stuff and you generally have to listen.”
“What kind of stuff?”
“In this case, about you and me,” he admitted.
Emily smiled. “Yeah, I’ve been getting a lot of that, too.”
“I have a feeling there’s some consensus on this,” Boone
